The Way of Kings

It has been a long time since I have started a fantasy series. I decided to pick up Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings because I heard from a Youtube book review that it was unlike anything written before. I read it, and thought it was a mostly alright read. 

Kaladin’s story was by far the most interesting out of the three different characters the story follows. It took some time to perceive him as an interesting character, because there were so many changing perspectives at the beginning that were difficult to follow. But once I understood who Kaladin was, I was invested in his struggles and goal to keep his comrades alive. 

Shallan’s story was also fascinating. Scientists and academics in books always interest me; I enjoy reading about what they read, write, and discover. This was the same in Shallan’s case. The student-mentor relationship with Jasnah and long paragraphs about how the magic in the world was structured worked for me, probably because I like academics and science myself. I can visualize myself doing the same things Shallan and Jasnah are in the story. 

However, Dalinar, the third voice, was just SO HARD TO FOLLOW. I barely got through his sections, because I could not understand or relate to any of the characters in it. I would not be able to tell you any of the names in those chapters because it felt like nothing was happening. This is concerning, considering the fact that the title of the book is specifically related to Dalinar’s storyline; in what way, I have no idea. Because I was not paying attention. 

I guess that’s a problem with the book as a whole. The author obviously has all the characters and plot lines figured out in his head. But as a first time reader, all the different exposition dumps and characters were really overwhelming and hard to follow. I almost considered dropping the series, until I heard how other people had the same problem with The Way of Kings, but most of the issues were resolved in Sanderson’s second installment of the series. At this point, I have read the first three books, and I can say that is firmly true. I would recommend not judging the series just by this first installment, because the second book makes up for all the ways the first one is lacking. 

Update: The first book gets a 6/10, but the second jumps to a 7/10!