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

©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!

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.

Overall great read!

While the number of new names and phrases for things were hard to manage at first, they lent themselves to the immersiveness of the story. The word is vast and beautiful and the characters intriguing. The tandem narration was a nice was to split the points of view the listener was expected to switch back and forth from.

My one and only complaint would be the actual narrator, Kate Reading. While she was articulate and had on otherwise pleasing tone of voice, she applied strange inflections to her sentences. Often she would make statements sound like questions which was distracting. Most notable however, Ms. Reading put these inflections in the middle of her sentences, making it sound as though the thought was over. Otherwise she put them at the end of a sentence which blurred the thoughts.

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.

Don’t like two readers

Michael Kramer should be commended for his work on this. He did an excellent job. Kate reading however almost ruined this book for me. Her delivery was bland and robotic. You could tell she was reading a book and I think that’s audio 101. Don’t sound like you’re reading from a book. I’m almost tempted not to pick up the next in the series. It’s nothing personal against her it was just bad delivery all around from her annunciation, to voice changes. She just couldn’t get it to work.

A reliable story. Masterful world-crafting

Took a while to get going, but.. after reading Sanderson's full Mistborn series first, I find that I love the intricate buildup of a larger book. Michael Kramer is a narrator of legendary talent and skill and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance. Kate Reading I had a harder time enjoying as her diction did not flow well and felt unnatural, which really pulled me out of the story. That and she mispronounced a major characters name a whole chapter. Not a fan, but it could just be me.