Title: The Way of Kings
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series: The Stormlight Archive
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 1007
Published: 2010, Tor Books
My Grade: 5 out of 5
Review Summary: Probably the best book I’ve ever read!

FROM THE BACK COVER

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.

The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.

The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.

Or was that victory an illusion all along? Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted? Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer only make for a better grade of sword. But ignore the steel long enough, and it will eventually rust away.

There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the liar, a young woman who wears a scholar’s mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.

The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.

One of them may redeem us.

And one of them will destroy us.

MY REVIEW

How can Brandon Sanderson exceed already sky high expectations? Without me knowing at all what this story was about? I think I honestly can say that this is the best book I’ve ever read.

With no expectations, but hearing from several that Stormlight is Sanderson’s masterpiece, I hadn’t even read the description on Goodreads before picking it up. I am glad I read the full Mistborn before though, but I do wish I had paid more attention to the character in The Lost Metal who was from Roshar and what she could do.

So what made it so great? First of all, not a single character’s story was meh. Usually when a book is following multiple characters, you have an initial thought at the start of the chapter. It’s either: “Yay, finally this one again” or “Aaw, not a chapter following this character”. But not here. Every single setting was so interesting with a great story arc. All of them ended in a massive explosion at the end where you just wanted to know more right away. Even though I really liked Shallan from the start, I did find her personality conflicting and couldn’t relate at all. I recognize myself in her in so many ways, but those specific traits were so contradictory to the witty side. And it actually put me a little bit off because it didn’t feel real to me. Don’t get me wrong, this is fantasy, nothing is real. BUT, Sanderson is so good at making the story and characters feel real and alive so it felt odd that this person initially didn’t. That got better further down the road though, and it was only a thought that bothered me in the very beginning.

Getting closer to the end, I had a hard time putting the book down, I felt like a part of story and some scenes were just so overwhelmingly beautiful. The interactions and communications between a group of people was just so right. So real and genuine. I did fell a couple of tears of joy here and there when the right people actually got what they deserved.

This is a masterpiece and I feel like The Way of Kings is just the beginning. If I know Sanderson by now, there will be plot twist, there will be heartache and there will be character developments and beautiful moments. I can’t wait for what the rest has in store. Can I give it a six? I really want to. This is seriously the best book I’ve ever read.