The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson

When I began this book, I was not sure if I was up to the task of actually completing the entire thing. Now that I have read it from cover to cover, I am worried that I may not be up to the task of putting together a review that can adequately describe what I thought about it all. I shall make a good enough stab at it though, and hope for the best.

As mentioned before, in a day or so I am off on a holiday. I found out how difficult it would be to maintain my usual book count and review level when actually having a social life last week. This of course indicates that the upcoming month may be barren in terms of my usual posts, at least in the pattern of their posting. Now to get back to this book. I finished it with a clock ticking because I have to return it before I head out and that may have added to the thrill of the mounting suspense of the book as the story progressed. It is a massive tome, something I had not paid attention to when a couple of friends of mine told me to read this book and therefore caught me by surprise. Their recommendation came with the warning (as does mine), that the series is not yet complete. Considering the size of the books in question, I would probably catch up as and when the series ends as would you if you took up reading it after looking at this review.

I read another series of the author’s quite recently(The Hero of Ages(Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson) and really enjoyed it and I went in with high expectation which unsurprisingly were met. There is chaos in the world we are introduced to. There is an ongoing war with many players, some of whom do not realize the part they play in the bigger picture. Foremost of whom we have Kaladin, a man nicknamed stormblessed with a very strong sense of responsibility and who swings between being depressed and trying to do the best for the people around him. I am guessing that we will not see his depressed phase much after this book. He is currently a slave but we get a lot of insight into his past and very generous hints about his role in the future. We have Shallan who is trying to do something which she has promised her family but is not happy with. She is the gatherer of information(for us) in this world where men fight while only the women read/scribe. She is an angle that is all set to be explored further in the ongoing battle. Dalinar is the King of Alethkar’s uncle but was once a feared warrior, he seems to have lost his footing but slowly claws his way to a stable position. There is Szeth the assassin in white who is following orders which in part cause more chaos. There are many more people, some briefly introduced, and hopefully I would be able to retain for the next edition.Each person brings with them a whole load of questions and behavioural patterns.

The world building in this book is very intricate and is made even more real with beautiful drawings randomly interlaced among the chapters. There are instances of loyalty, surprise twists and multiple different takes on ‘honour’. It is a saga that I think I am going to be very strongly emotionally vested in, in the future.