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

Worthy Successor to The Mistborn Trilogy.

I'm about halfway through and I've loved it so far. It seems to start off a bit slow but its worth it. Love everything Brandon Sanderson has written. Plus its a great deal 45 hours for one credit. You can hardly go wrong unless its completely boring, which it isn't.

Name of the Wind it the only fantasy book I've read this year that I liked more.

Sanderson continues to impress

I was introduced to Brandon Sanderson when he was hand picked to finish the Wheel of Time series after the passing of Robert Jordan. I was impressed with his work on the WOT series, and have since enjoyed several of his books. The Way of Kings is a tremendous beginning to a series that has the potential to be epic in its own right.

The character development was awesome. The deep rooted sense of honor of Dalinar, the earned cynicism, mistrust, and self doubt of Kaladin, The internalized pain of regret of Szeth, the planned deceitfulness of Shallan; the characters exhibit a wide gambit of traits typical of everyday humans in our trek through life.

The premise of the story at first, seems to be a touch disjointed as the you are introduced to the various characters spread throughout the world, seemingly with no connection what so ever. The quotes at the beginning of the chapters from people just before death? What do they have to do with anything? The characters lives are revealed to be more and more intertwined as the story develops and the quotes are also shown their relevance near the end of the book. The lost histories of the Knights Radiant and the importance of their apparent betrayal of the humans are bound to have a key to humanity's survival of the Last Desolation.

Micheal Kramer and Kate Reading continue their simply amazing narrations. They both have an astonishing number of vocalizations they impart to the various characters, allowing us to connect just that much more with the story.

<EDIT> A re-read brought back one small source of inconsistency which causes the listener to question "what was that"?
These two readers have worked together on many books, and done a remarkable job. There came a time in this book when the chapters told from the woman's point of view over lapped the world as related from the men's point of view. I would have expected Michael and Kate to have communicated so as to keep the pronunciation of the character's name consistent, This failed in one instance, as Michael pronounced 'Sadeas' as SAD-e-as. Kate however pronounced his name as sa-DEE-as. The listener upon hearing this was able to immediately recognize who this was and make a mental 'correction'. Since this occurred over 40 hours into the book, Michael's pronunciation has been ingrained within the listener so that it is the 'correct' way to say the brightlord's name.
This was not enough to reduce my review of the performance, but it was enough for me to notice and wish for a little more communication between Michael and Kate. <END EDIT>

If you are a fan of fantasy, this should find its way onto your 'must-read' list.

"Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination"
"I will protect those who cannot protect themselves."

The ratings speak for themselves

This is a long book, but I wanted more! If you like complex plots, well developed characters, great battle scenes, you'll love this book.

"The Next Great Epic Fantasy series"

Brandon Sanderson does not dissappoint. I thanked Sanderson in person for taking up the daunting task of finishing the Wheel of Time. Now I thank him again for giving us another masterful series to follow, anticipate, and court like a beautiful woman (that means really get to know the series). The ending gives some closure, but Sanderson also gives the reader a great longing to read the next installment. He has said he will finish "A Memory of Light" first, but I fully expect to hold him to releasing the second book in, "The Stormlight Archive" in the next 2 years. He has astounded his current readership with all his great works so far including "Warbreaker", "The Mistborn" trilogy and Now this. Thanks again for treating your fans with respect and honor. (by releasing his books before half a decade passes)

Addictive!

Pros:
This was one of those stories that I couldn't stop thinking about between reads. I found myself daydreaming about this story, characters and trying to predict their fate in the next chapter. As with any good story, there are twist, turns and those moments that leave your jaw open.

Cons:
That connection you make when you know you've got a special read took a little time for me. But by the fourth chapter I couldn't stop listening. Also, the female narrator wasn't my favorite. She is great and has excellet punctuation, but I just felt like she couldn't transform her voice into distinguishable characters like the male narrator. More importantly, the two narrators pronounce names differently.

Other than that, this book was great!

BEST story This book was so good I got the 2nd 1

What did you love best about The Way of Kings?

the bravery and kind but strong and undaunted.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite chapters where about bridge four and how Kaladin helped everyone!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

just loved it and it kept my attention the whole time! JUST THRILLING

Any additional comments?

NOTE TO UNDERSTAND THE SUMMERY:
Vocabulary ----highstorm: a very deadly storm that can kill anyone who is not sheltered by some kind of rock or stone shelter extremely violent storm with much water which inturn make very big chasms!
Kaladin trained Bridge Four from a loose collection of beaten-down slaves into a tight-knit unit. In order to help them escape from High-prince Sadeas’s army, where they were only valued as human bait for the parshendi armies, he brought out their humanity, trained them with weapons, and smuggled money and weapons out of the deep chasms of the Shattered Plains. Kaladin’s outspoken devotion to his men got him strung up (tied to a wall of rock) during a highstorm and earned him the ongoing wrath of multiple superiors, from the gruff sergeant Gaz to the petty light-eyes Hashal, but he turned every ounce of his medical knowledge to keep as many bridge-men alive as possible.

The bridge-men:.............

Notable bridgemen include:

Teft: A former soldier who was raised by a cult that worshipped the ancient orders of the Knights Radiant.
Moash: The last bridgeman to accept Kaladin’s authority. Although taciturn and surly, he became a staunch defender of Kaladin’s ideas, and something close to a friend.
Rock: A Horneater, raised in the Horneater Peaks near Jah Keved, Rock refuses to fight, as it is unfitting for a third son. Instead he cooks hearty meals for the men of Bridge Four. Rock is gifted with the ability to see the mystical spirits called spren.
Sigzil: An Azish man who was apprenticed to Hoid as a Worldsinger before falling into slavery. Worldsingers travel Roshar, spreading information about different nations to promote mutual understanding.
Lopen: A one-armed Herdazian who joined Bridge Four intentionally, despite it having a reputation as a death trap. Lopen has a seemingly endless supply of cousins.
Shen: A Parshman slave who was assigned to Bridge Four by Hashal. Kaladin struggles to convince the other bridgemen to accept Shen, who reminds them of the Parshendi. Shen never seems to speak.


A little more to the book

After the highstorm, and as his powers continued to grow, Kaladin grudgingly accepted that his bond with Sylphrena, an honorspren masquerading as a windspren, was changing him. He began trying to understand his ability to inhale stormlight, and the possibility that his powers connected him to the Knights Radiant.

At the battle of the Tower, Kaladin protected his men by drawing Parshendi fire while wearing Parshendi-carapace armor. When Sadeas betrayed Dalinar, Kaladin and Bridge Four had a perfect opportunity to escape. Instead, he rushed into battle to save the Kholin armies, and in so doing so discovered the Second Ideal of the Knights Radiant: “I will protect those who cannot protect themselves.”



Dalinar Kholin:

The visions that came to Dalinar during highstorms almost convinced him to abdicate his highprincedom to his son Adolin. He struggled with the possibility that he might be going mad, as rumors spread throughout the warcamps. In the end, however, he decided to trust himself, and to work in good faith to unite the bickering Highprinces, starting with his former friend Sadeas. The newly-minted Highprince of Information had been investigating an apparent assassination attempt on the life of Dalinar’s nephew, king Elhokar Kholin, and Dalinar feared that Sadeas would implicate him. Instead, he was exonerated, and he and Sadeas began making concerted assaults on plateaus in order to bring the war to an end as quickly as possible.

However, when they assaulted the Tower, Sadeas betrayed Dalinar, leaving him surrounded by multiple Parshendi armies. Worn down by waves of footsoldiers, and facing the Parshendi Shardbearer, it seemed like the end. Kaladin intervened, though, having fought a path clear for Adolin to rally the armies to a safe retreat. He fought back Eshonai, and saved Dalinar’s life.

Dalinar returned to the warcamps, where he interrupted Sadeas’s staged grieving with a confrontation. He ended a conversation that seems like it could have erupted into civil war by trading his Shardblade to Sadeas for his entire population of bridgemen. He set all of them free, but offered Kaladin and Bridge Four the command of his personal guards, figuring that he would need people he could trust with his life for what was coming next. He gave his Shardplate to Renarin, his sickly second son, in the hope that the strength-enhancing armor could offset his blood illness and let him train to be a soldier at last.

Dalinar then forced his nephew to admit that he had staged his own assassination attempt, and to name him Highprince of War, while dropping on him the knowledge bomb that Dalinar had decided to accept the advances of Navani, Elhokar’s mother.

In a final vision, Dalinar learned that the voice that had been speaking to him was the voice of Honor, who he had called the Almighty. It hadn’t, however, been addressing him directly when it implied that he should trust Sadeas. The messages were left for whoever was in the best position to unite the nations of Roshar against the Everstorm. And Honor was dead, slain by Odium.

Shallan Davar

After spending months as Jasnah Kholin’s ward in Kharbranth, the City of Bells, Shallan finally found an opportunity to steal her Soulcaster. This magical fabrial device, which has the power to transform substances into other substances, had been the center of her scheme to save her indebted family and prevent its ruin in the aftermath of her father’s death. The stress of her plan to rob the woman whose tutoring she had come to cherish so much was augmented by repeatedly seeing mysterious, symbolheaded figures appear in her sketches. When they began to speak to her she inadvertently Soulcast a goblet into blood, in the process travelling to the dangerous Shadesmar. She covered up what she’d done by wounding herself, and the suspicion that she was suicidial gave her the opportunity to safely leave Jasnah’s wardship and return home.

Before she could leave, however, she and Jasnah were approached by Kabsal. This young ardent had been flirting with Shallan for months, and had recently offered to leave the ardentia to be with her. Kabsal was actually a member of a secret society called the Ghostbloods, and on their behalf he attempted to assassinate Jasnah. However, Jasnah Soulcast the antidote, and Shallan was afflicted instead. In order to save her own life, Shallan had to reveal that she had stolen the Soulcaster.

Jasnah arranged to have Shallan sent home in disgrace. However, Shallan realized what Jasnah must have done, and confronted her. She asserts that both she and Jasnah can Soulcast without a Soulcaster, and begs to be admitted into whatever dangerous scholarship Jasnah is undertaking. Jasnah reluctantly relents, and reveals to Shallan that her research leads her to believe that the Parshmen are Voidbringers in waiting.
THIS SUMMERY AND Review By DANIEL S. Myers of Ogden Utah.

awesome story

great story to listen to. Michael Kramer is amazing again. part of the reason I got this book was the mistborn series with the same narrator. Kate reading on the other hand drove me crazy. pronouncing saddius' name completely different than Michael and sounding like a computer AI voice.

great story, but the narration...

this is an amazing story, but listening to the speak and spell like enunciation of Kate reading almost ruined the experience.

The Way of Best Sellers

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Way of Kings?

The mark of a truly great writer is the ability to guide your mind subconsciously to a point in the story where you hope with all your heart that something happens and when it happens your heart bursts with joy. Brandon Sanderson did this and he did it so well. His misdirection is perfect. He does not talk down to you and at the same time he does not drown you in details. I was scared he would in the opening but I was wrong.

What does Kate Reading and Michael Kramer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrators did such a flawless job that they never once pulled me out of the story with "an amazing performance that surpassed the content" and yet they brought every line to life. Really, their performance sold me on a year long subscription to Audible.com.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Ten heartbeats before the storm

Any additional comments?

You will fall in love with the world created by Brandon Sanderson as brought to life by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer. If you loved Eye of the World by Robert Jordan find a synonym here that is its equal in so many ways.

Took a very long time for the story to start ...

Where does The Way of Kings rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It took almost 24 hours into the book before it gets interesting, then the last 8 hours is excellent.

My big issue, is you have to fight so long to get to the real story that you almost feel robbed that you had to listen to the other 75% of the book.