The Way of Kings

The Stormlight Archive, Book 1

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer

Length: 45 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

From number one New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the 10 consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where 10 armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of more than 10 years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.

Strength before weakness.

Journey before destination.

And return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson:

The Cosmere

The Stormlight Archive:

• The Way of Kings
• Words of Radiance
• Edgedancer (Novella)
• Oathbringer

The Mistborn trilogy:

• Mistborn: The Final Empire
• The Well of Ascension
• The Hero of Ages

Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series:

• Alloy of Law
• Shadows of Self
• Bands of Mourning

Collection:

• Arcanum Unbounded

Other Cosmere novels:

• Elantris
• Warbreaker

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series:

• Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
• The Scrivener's Bones
• The Knights of Crystallia
• The Shattered Lens
• The Dark Talent

The Rithmatist series:

• The Rithmatist

Other books by Brandon Sanderson:

• The Reckoners
• Steelheart
• Firefight
• Calamity

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2010 Dragonsteel Entertaiment, LLC (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

exceptional

everything you want in a book and the performance is fantastic. can't wait to listen to the next one

Great

For some background, I'm relatively new to the genre and have only read KKC and Mistborn Trilogy (besides various other individual books when I was younger), but if you liked those books, I think you'll most certainly enjoy this one as well. My only gripe was with Kate. Her narration was very hard to get used to; she made all sentences end as if it were a question or she was out of breath. Very annoying at first. She pronounces Sadius (not sure how it's spelt) differently than Michael. Why? Is this some sorta clever way of differentiating the characters? I think it's silly.

The good:
Very detailed world-building, I feel like I understand the world and why characters act the way they do
Deep character development: I want Kaladin and Dalinar (spelling?) to succeed
Magic system is very interesting and unique
Just enough mystery to stay very intriguing but not too much as to make the book convoluted
Basically no slow points!

The bad/just OK:
Kate
The bouncing around from viewpoints was sorta confusing at first, not a huge deal after a dozen chapters or so
That's it!

Audio errors kept me from finishing.

some sort of glitch in the middle of chapter 54 left me hanging. Eventually resolved by deleting and reloading

A bit overly dramatic

The narrators over emphasized certain negative emotions in some characters. Certain other characters were constantly whiny and petulant. It's fair in that some of those are the least likeable characters, but it just gets exhausting cause I find my brain having to deescalate the characters as I process the audiobook recognizing that even the antagonistic characters would be more normal and less theatrical in presentation. They definitely didn't come across that way as I initially read the books. Still thoroughly enjoy these books. I just wish the narrators would chill a little bit, especially Michael Kramer.

Wow!

This is the first fantasy novel that I've "read" without seeing a show or movie adaption for it first and am I glad I stumbled across this series.

love

love Brandon Anderson books voice actors cooluld be better but over all love it....... wow

Get the whole set

I wasn't sure if any book could hold my interest for over 40 hours but here I am at the end. Now I'm buying the second.

Even after 45 hours, I wanted more

The story starts out a little slow, but that's pretty typical of the genre, needing to world build first. Once it gets going (maybe 2 hours in), I thought it was an enthralling story. Jumped right to the 2nd book after finishing.

lived up to expectations

been meaning to read a Brandon Sanderson book for a while and I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype but this was so fantastic I'm going to keep going and roll right into the next book!

Great story, mildly inconsistent narration

Sanderson weaves together a wonderful sword and sorcery tale that highlights the lives of honorable men of the highest and lowest status in Alethi society as well as learned, powerful women. My only mild criticism—and it is truly mild—is that the narrators do not always pronounce the names of characters the same way. Their narration lends additional gravity to the story and was a pleasure to hear.