Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Way of Kings

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The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

69 reviews

annettewolf's review against another edition

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Not my cup of tea. The Mormon mythology/allegory was too obvious and heavy-handed, the descriptions were tedious, and I cared about exactly zero characters. Kaladin's depression was portrayed poorly, specifically his suicidality. It was used to approximate character "growth" and felt forced and fake. I probably could've tuned out a hundred times and not missed much, because the pacing is so slow.

If you want epic fantasy, where you actually care about the characters, read Lord of the Rings. Or Samantha Shannon. Or N. K. Jemisin.

Also, upset at the lack of LGBTQIA2S+ characters. When your worldbuilding is that extensive, and you describe every single character down to what they are wearing, their accent, the color of their skin, and there is ZERO queer representation, that feels like a very conscious choice.

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categalafassi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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readwithzoe_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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coraa's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

EVERYTHING about this was perfect! this is by far the best book i have ever read i loved it so much <3333 the worldbuilding was so well done, i loved how kaladin's mental health was one of the main focuses and the plot was just AWESOME!! the last circa 240 pages were so intense it made me feel all of the emotions existing, the last 50 pages had so many plot twists and revealations that i was not expecting!!

i cannot wait to read the next books, i am so excited to continue the story and find out more about it!!!

if you like high fantasy please go and give this book a try!! it was worth every page♡

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pamshenanigans's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

HUSBAND AND I WILL HAVE A LIVE DISCUSSION ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL ON APRIL 24 8 PM (GMT+8) JOIN US! Subscribe to my channel: Pam's Shenanigans!

DID I FINISH THIS BOOK OR DID THIS BOOK FINISH ME? ? FUCKING FANTASTIC BOOK!! ! I GET IT NOW. I GET THE HYPE. It's such a long series but the writing, the character development, the plot !!!! SO WELL DONE!

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theasbookworld's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious

5.0

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thesinginglights's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Speak again the ancient oaths: Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.

I return to the fantasy book to end fantasy books. The epic fantasy of huge proportions, the heir apparent to the Wheel of Time (baby), the beginning of The Stormlight Archive

Coming back to this nearly a decade later is strange. With the benefit of hindsight I can see how much of future events had been laid out here. It makes the reading a lot richer, even when I did feel like it didn't earn its page count. I initially read it in the two volume format but as it was for the first time, the second half was much sharper when it didn't have to spend so much time setting up the world, characters, etc.

While the worldbuilding is truly impressive with the depth of the systems—the ecology especially is incredible—what Sanderson shines with is the characters. The cast is large but there is usually one character per volume focused on. The series kicks off with Kaladin Stormblessed, a kindhearted and just young man down on his luck. The exploration of his life and struggles is touching and he's so well-realised and complex that I want to hug and shake him in equal measure. Kaladin will standout as one of the great fantasy protagonists. He's amazing.

With that being said, with the tight focus of one character, other characters sort of fall in and out of the narrative for several hundred pages at a time, giving you a sense of loss when at least you reconnect with them.

The magic is another strong point as well. Sanderson is known for his Laws of Magic so naturally he does this fantastically. Stormlight's (the magic) presentation is stellar, especially through the lens of Szeth, one of the book's most intriguing characters.

I could go over several thousand times why I think you should give The Way of Kings a go: its world, magic, and characters, etc. But it is not for the faint hearted. It is a large book and while Sanderson's prose is showing some flair previously absent in his career, it's still the weakest point of his writing overall. He makes up for it in spades in other ways, but know that he has a tendency to overexplain some things in places. It's not super info-dumpy but some of the sentences are clumsy in their exposition. You get used to it. I think this is also not amazingly paced and lagged a bit in the middle but the story is interesting enough to pull you along.

On balance, there's a lot to love about this weighty tome. I do feel like this a bit of contemporary history: we are witnessing in real time the making of an epic that will be remembered by future generations. If that sounds too grandiose, then look at it for what it is: some fine-ass fantasy reading.

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emilyplun's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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baponthecob's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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