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A review by cpcabaniss
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
5.0
Reread 2020
This is my fourth read of The Way of Kings, which remains one of my favorite novels. The scope of this world is astounding and I cannot fathom how Brandon Sanderson can keep all of this straight in his mind. I don't care how much help or how many notes you have, it's impressive.
The characters are well drawn and nuanced, each having many layers. Kaladin is my favorite character and the one I find myself relating to the most, though that isn't always a good thing, as he is often very hard on himself when he should not be and that's a trait I see in myself.
There are foundations laid here for some beautiful relationships and I'm excited to get into my reread of the next two books in preparation for book four, so that I can see the progression of these relationships again.
The world building in this is brilliant. Each society within this world has its own peculiarities and it's fascinating to watch them play off of each other. It's very visual as well, which I appreciate, because I feel like I can see and experience the world right along with the characters.
If you haven't read this, I highly recommend you give it a try.
Reread: May 1-May 24, 2015
I read this novel for the first time only a few months ago, so I wasn't sure if it would hold my attention as well as it did the first time around. I really wanted to reread it though and I'm really glad I did. I think with Sanderson novels I'm going to have to start doing this every time. Read and then reread a few months later. There was so much I missed or just didn't consider the first time around. So here are some thoughts from my reread.
-The characters, as ever, were brilliant. There was so much foreshadowing that I didn't pick up as much the first time. Things that made later events make much more sense than they did on my first reading. This particularly applies to the use of Stormlight and the spren.
-Gavilar had a sphere at the beginning (I don't remember that from the first time around) and I'm wondering just what the significance to said sphere is. I have some ideas...Maybe a connection to the rest of the cosmere? Maybe I'm just reading too much into things.
-Rocks. What exactly is the significance of rocks. Maybe I missed something or I'm looking at this too deeply, but I'm sure there has to be some importance of rocks. Tien was obsessed with rocks, Rock was named after a rock, they are mentioned by almost every character at some point. Including Wit. There must be something important there.
-There were a lot of cosmere references as well as mentions of Odium. I hadn't noticed these before and they certainly foreshadow later events. Particularly where Jasnah is concerned. And Odium, he's the connection between all of the cosmere right? Now I have to reread the other novels.
This reading kept me just as captivated as the first time around, if not more so. I did read it much more slowly this time around. Now I need to reread Words of Radiance.
Original Review: Feb. 3-Feb. 13 2015
This book is brilliant and kept me captivated the entire way through. Not a low point in all that bulk. Full review on my blog here: http://courtneysreads.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-way-of-kingsbrandon-sanderson-review.html
"The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that."
This is my fourth read of The Way of Kings, which remains one of my favorite novels. The scope of this world is astounding and I cannot fathom how Brandon Sanderson can keep all of this straight in his mind. I don't care how much help or how many notes you have, it's impressive.
The characters are well drawn and nuanced, each having many layers. Kaladin is my favorite character and the one I find myself relating to the most, though that isn't always a good thing, as he is often very hard on himself when he should not be and that's a trait I see in myself.
There are foundations laid here for some beautiful relationships and I'm excited to get into my reread of the next two books in preparation for book four, so that I can see the progression of these relationships again.
The world building in this is brilliant. Each society within this world has its own peculiarities and it's fascinating to watch them play off of each other. It's very visual as well, which I appreciate, because I feel like I can see and experience the world right along with the characters.
If you haven't read this, I highly recommend you give it a try.
Reread: May 1-May 24, 2015
I read this novel for the first time only a few months ago, so I wasn't sure if it would hold my attention as well as it did the first time around. I really wanted to reread it though and I'm really glad I did. I think with Sanderson novels I'm going to have to start doing this every time. Read and then reread a few months later. There was so much I missed or just didn't consider the first time around. So here are some thoughts from my reread.
-The characters, as ever, were brilliant. There was so much foreshadowing that I didn't pick up as much the first time. Things that made later events make much more sense than they did on my first reading. This particularly applies to the use of Stormlight and the spren.
-Gavilar had a sphere at the beginning (I don't remember that from the first time around) and I'm wondering just what the significance to said sphere is. I have some ideas...Maybe a connection to the rest of the cosmere? Maybe I'm just reading too much into things.
-Rocks. What exactly is the significance of rocks. Maybe I missed something or I'm looking at this too deeply, but I'm sure there has to be some importance of rocks. Tien was obsessed with rocks, Rock was named after a rock, they are mentioned by almost every character at some point. Including Wit. There must be something important there.
-There were a lot of cosmere references as well as mentions of Odium. I hadn't noticed these before and they certainly foreshadow later events. Particularly where Jasnah is concerned. And Odium, he's the connection between all of the cosmere right? Now I have to reread the other novels.
This reading kept me just as captivated as the first time around, if not more so. I did read it much more slowly this time around. Now I need to reread Words of Radiance.
Original Review: Feb. 3-Feb. 13 2015
This book is brilliant and kept me captivated the entire way through. Not a low point in all that bulk. Full review on my blog here: http://courtneysreads.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-way-of-kingsbrandon-sanderson-review.html