In rescent years, B. Sanderson has become a safe bet for me.
He writes well, good plot, entertaining.
not as masterful as The Way of Kings, to be sure...but a good book nonetheless.

The only reason I am giving this book a 3 star rating is because I love everything I have read and heard by Sanderson up to now. Maybe someone can enlighten me as to if this is the first book he wrote? Ok back to the book. The narrator? Is horrible. He has no idea how to pace a story and his "voices" for each character are laughable. He makes the characters sound flimsy and whimsical and the main Gods come across as total buffoons and idiots. There is a very interesting story here. It is just not being told very well by this narrator. I stuck it out because as I've said I like Sanderson and I've put up with bad narrators before. But honestly folks, this guy is beyond bad.

Now the story. It is fairly decent but as I said earlier I wonder if this is his first ever attempt at a novel. The depth of some of the major characters is very shallow and the predicaments they find themselves in extremely obvious. I did however enjoy the exploration of the God King and why he/it/she was treated the way they were. Trying not to give anything away here so sorry if seems vague. The lead female character, Serie/Seri/Sirie? Hard to guess the spelling when you've only heard the name. Is interesting and some what refreshing, if a touch predictable. The older sister, Vivinna (sp?) is not. She is exactly what you expect and does exactly what you think she should. Other than Denth and Var (no guessing on those spellings) there is really no one else of note in the book, as far as background goes. Overall a really weak book written around a great idea and plot.

My advice, Brandon find another narrator and re-do this book. Perhaps even flesh your characters out more and give the story a better foundation.

To the readers, if you love Sanderson, you will only be mildly disappointed. If you are new to him, pass by this one and try out the Mistborn series .. it is very good and very well narrated.

This book is Mr. Sanderson's second book and is a vast improvement! The narrator is horrible, it is as if he is reading to intellect-impaired toddlers -- but if you listen in double time it is ok.

This is the 5th book I've had from Sanderson and I do love his stories.
This had a new reader, James Yaegashi, who does not measure up. Very limited in voices and range of characters. Resorts to sounding like a "valley girl/guy," does not fit into the story.
Should have stuck with Michael Kramer. He had great range and very distinct voices without being annoying.
Hope Sanderson brings back Kramer for the rest of the series.

Warbreaker is a fairly decent adult fantasy--not quite as good as some of Brandon Sanderson's other works, but still good. It's definitely worth reading, especially because you can download a pdf of the book for free on Brandon Sanderson's website.

The narration, on the other hand, is atrocious. I can't stand the tenor of James Yaegashi's voice (seriously, listen to the preview and imagine listening to that for 20+ hours). His character voices are especially grating, and I found myself cringing every time he tried to do a female character.

To sum up, this is the only audiobook that I have purchased that I have been unable to finish. I tried twice, and never made it more than 2 or three hours in. Every time I think about trying again, I'm reminded that I felt that I could have done a better job narrating the story--so why should I listen to the audiobook?

I loved Brandon Sanderson's writing in the Mistborn series, and this was excellent as well.

I found the narration a bit off-putting at first, but quickly got used to it, and by a few chapters into the story came to feel that the narrator fit with the story incredibly well. He nailed Lightsong perfectly. I'm glad I took the the time to get used to him.

Great story, great narration. Great audio quality.

When I started this book I was like what?? I'm was confused. I had to start it again. Give it full attention. As the book progressed I couldn't stop, I wanted to have a full understanding of the universe the characters lived in. Then at some point I just loved it. Not sure when, but the more I understood the more I loved it. Unlike other movies or books where you like the mystery until you realize what's really going on like Golden Compass or the Matrix. Once the mystery is revealed you're like oh.. that's stupid. This book was the opposite. The more I realized how it all worked, the more I understood, the more I loved it. Loved all the characters, watching them develop.

I've read quite a bit of Brandon Sanderson's work, but this is the first one I've listened to. I really have to say that I agree with the other reviewers that say that this isn't his best work. There is so much here that is just inconsequential to the story that you really have to work to enjoy the good bits that advance the characters.
Some other good bits are the way that he sets various plot elements out in the beginning and then when they are used later on in the story, it makes sense. He also throws in a few plot twists to keep you guessing. A few of them are a bit obvious and not all that surprising, a few were excellently done and were very enjoyable.
The other issue I have with this recording is the narrator. Normally when I listen to a book, it takes a half hour or so before I get immersed in the story and can hear the voices of the characters and they become fully beleivable. Some narrators are better than others at this, Kate Reading is the absolute best, and Alma Cuervo a close second. But James Yaegashi never really got me past the point of being strongly aware of him as a narrator. I think the biggest issue was that Jame's tone of voice conveyed emotions and ideas about the character that were at odds with what was written. For instance I could never get past thinking of Light Song as a whiny California surfer dude. The other characters were better, though a lot of them never really developed into full people, though the writing is mostly responsible for that.

All in all, I'd not recommend this audio book. Too many negatives, to little to enjoy.

Don't expect plot speed like Mistborn. Otherwise a fantastic novel. Narration I would give a 3 out of 5. The narrator does tend to give most characters a ditsy sort of feeling.

I'm an aspiring writer and I listen to Sanderson's collaborative podcast "Writing Excuses", so I wanted to see how much he practices what he preaches. Without a doubt he didn't disappoint.
The detail in this world was amazing. No question went unanswered, and while the magic system was a bit odd at the beginning, it turned out to be an integral part of the plot and was refreshingly creative. Their were a lot of twists in the plot and a wide variety of characters to like or dislike as it were.

I will say though that this book started slow and the magic system was confusing at first. If I hadn't been a fan already, I don't know if I'd have made it to the good parts. This should have been a series in my opinion.

Hang in there on this one, it does pay off.