My love of all things Brandon Sanderson is probably quite well established on here by now. I've read pretty much of everything of his so far and am usually enthralled, captivated and enchanted by his storytelling and his world-building skills. Way of Kings is no exception, a "swords and battles" epic with a hint of magic and a ton of depth.
Free from the need to get the Wheel of Time series tied up and neatly packaged away Sanderson is planning to devote more time to his own epic series, The Stormlight Archive. Way of Kings is the first of a planned 10 book series and this review actually only covers the first part of the first book, which was published in two halves due to its sheer volume.
Sanderson really is in the middle of something monumental here, and I don't just mean with the Stormlight Archive. A vast majority of his books all take place somewhere called the "Cosmere" and with each new book he is adding another layer on top. The series are completely stand-alone but with an overall arc that will be revealed as we go along.
Way of Kings is comfortably his grandest work so far. It is rich, deep and huge in scope. Unlike the Mistborn Series and his stand-alone novels such as Warbreaker and Elantris (which won't be stand-alone for much longer as he has sequels planned) this just feels bigger.
There are numerous plotlines going on throughout that you know will intersect and interweave but right now feel isolated. The scale of the book allows Sanderson to run both the main story and a backstory together (a trick he employed to great effect in Mistborn). It also allows him to introduce and bed in a good few handfuls of characters, though nothing like the numbers George R. R. Martin is fond of!
The magic system is brought in slowly and subtly and there is no doubt that the surface has barely been scratched in this regard. And the world Sanderson is creating is epic, this is on the scale of Wheel of Time, Song of Ice and Fire and Malazan Book of the Fallen in terms of sheer size and complexity of the world and environment in which the events take place.
Overall I look at Way of Kings as a "leader", it is setting the scene for what is to come whilst at the same time still providing a story line with enough to keep you interested in the here and now.
The only problem I have is that reading this book generates a huge investment by the reader. You can't read this as a single book and not make the massive commitment to finish the series. Well I guess you can but it would seem like a waste. This is not something to start lightly, you might be reading for years!
Verdict
It is quite hard to get a handle on this in terms of a rating as it feels akin to rating a movie from the first ten minutes or a TV series from just the pilot. It is grand and epic and looks like the start of something massive. If that is what you like then go for it, you will not be disappointed. If you like your fantasy novels to be stand-alone and finished in one go, then this won't be your cup of tea as there is too much here and very few questions are answered.
4.5 stars out of 5
Till next time,
DT
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