Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson – Re-Read reactions
"Life before Death....."
With the imminent arrival of the 5th book of the Stormlight Archive, I thought it made sense to reflect on this journey I have been with Sanderson for over a decade. Sanderson touts the Stormlight Archive as his magnum opus and the sheer volume of each book (1000 pages +) makes it quite that. My last experience with the Stormlight Archive was with book 3 – Oathbringer. Even with Oathbringer, I could barely remember the key developments in the previous books and just went along with the journey. When Rhythm of War came out, I decided to completely skip it as I knew book 5 was around the horizon and I would maybe tag team it then. Now is the time to stick to the commitment I made to myself.
Each re-read is a different experience and more so in the case of a beast like the Stormlight Archive. I thought of this series more as capturing reactions & impressions at a high level than really getting into the bones of each book. Here we start with Way of Kings
How I remember this series – An incredibly dense, inventive, imaginative, and ambitious book with a particularly storming, breathless frenetic last 15% - 4.5/5
How I see it now – Ambitious, Imaginative, and Inventive but also quite exposition heavy & draggy at times – But the climax absolutely hits just as hard and I appreciated & understood Kaladin’s lows much better than before – 4/5
Reactions
1000 pages + - I may have bitten off more than I can chew especially in this lack of attention to long-form age & other commitments
In a way that is true, even if it’s a re-read I hadn’t expected this to take up all of my reading time – I was kind of afloat on my ARC schedule but this book engrossing as it is, is also pretty demanding
Kaladin is quite morose at the beginning of the book (don’t ask me when he is not) but it marks a change from usual MC intros in general
Dalinar OTOH is so very intriguingly written & Sanderson does so well to seed in the unreliable narrator trope
I just forgot how irritating the interludes are – and there are a lot that do seem unconnected – they do come together well but they do break the flow and take you away from the story
The sibling relationship is quite refreshingly done – the Kholin siblings share a pretty nice bond as do Kaladin & Tien. Even Dalinar & Gavilar share a healthy bond despite the complexities & differences in characters
Shallan & Jasnah’s storylines tie in with the greater overall arc of the series & are hugely expository – however their conversation dynamic and the tension do make for a good read
This is Kaladin’s book and we do see his journey with the flashbacks peppered in. In a way, it is frustrating because you know he has to rise up to the occasion but Sanderson really wants to drag him down to his lowest before doing so
Wit is quite the hat-tip to Robin Hobb’s Fool
Leading hero characters usually get a sword as their weapon of choice – having Kaladin wield a spear is a pretty interesting tangent
The bridge-running sequences are quite well done and in fact, quite thrilling as well
I didn’t realize the drag of the book when I read it for the first time but on this re-read I genuinely wanted the book to hit that climatic bridge run & Kaladin’s acceptance of his destiny sooner – It was quite frustrating to go through some of the motions to achieve that
The climax when it arrives is every bit as awesome as it was when I read this book for the first time 12 years ago – the betrayal, Kaladin’s decision, the battle sequences, the individual combat sequence, and the confrontation back in the camp – Immense, exhilarating, frenzied and fabulous, it really is one of the best action & action-packed sequences I had read (of course, Sanderson tops that in book 2 but we shall wait for that)
The ending of the book from Dalinar’s PoV is also quite suitably a gut punch while Wit’s ending feels significantly ominous and something I had completely forgotten
