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call_me_gwalchmai 's review for:
The Way of Kings
by Brandon Sanderson
There's a weird spot books like this place me. It's not a question of "is it good". The writing is polished and clean, the story compelling, the characters worth every bit of the journey. I enjoyed this book greatly. It is so close to being perfect even for my own tastes it's almost maddening. So to be clear the issue isn't quality.
I, as I mention on occasion, rate books on my own enjoyment. I don’t always explain my ratings in great detail but with books like this I feel almost compelled to write a review to figure out what I didn't enjoy and better understand my own tastes. Simultaneously, these types of reviews can feel a bit nitpicky. So with that in mind I must say that first and foremost, I don't expect writers to be perfect nor should they have to be. I'd rather have more mistakes with writers being true to themselves and growing in their art than manufactured perfection which curtails artists and shoehorns unique works in favor of market speculation.
I enjoyed a number of aspects of this book: its intellectuality, its uniqueness in world, its emotion and feeling, its cerebralness and in world exploration of lore. Pacing was at times a pinch more protracted than my tastes but in all a solid read worthy of a favorite spot on the shelf.
With so much to enjoy figuring out what didn't fully hit with me was a difficult task. It started out as just a feeling and even still isn't fully worked out.
But two things I have managed to put my finger on. The first is the degree of "dropped down in a world" description or lack of description in the early part of the novel. In general I've noticed I like more world building description than Sanderson and have come to expect that but here that is taken to a different extent. Sanderson here employs a more drop the reader in the world style than usual. That style can be effective in allowing for reveals and discovering a world but also runs the risk of leaving readers too much in the dark. Somethings in the early novel are just given a name and no description, tasking the reader to be okay with not having any idea for example what type of creature is pulling the carts for a decent amount of time. There is nothing wrong with building up a world with reveals and such when meaningful but when it's the common beast of burden and readers have to wait to have a picture of the environment of the world, the artistic liberty became taxing for me. The further you get along in the book the more you form an accurate idea so this issue eventually resolves enough to just be playful but it's odd feeling for example what you are picturing as a horse may not actually be anything that looks like a horse in any way even after having finished a novel.
The second concrete element I can put a finger on is the momentum of the ending, where the book unfortunately loses steam for me. As this is the first book in a planned series and a story itself with multiple viewpoints, there are a lot of threads Sanderson is juggling at the end and they for me end up losing their tightness in the mix of having to fulfill plotting and set up requirements. There is a bit too much looking forward to the rest of the story and that begins to take away some from closing out this story with a feeling of completeness and finality its own. This is of course a difficulty of bigger stories and series in general so it's entirely understandable but nonetheless does change how a reader feels when they get to the last word and set down the story. It ends up diminishing what we just read in favor of driving toward what is to come and so the fine balance of priorities just didn't hit for me.
In all, though, even considering these areas, a very solid book of masterful quality. Sanderson shows his skill and crafts a solid opening to his epic. Definitely looking forward to how the journey continues and hopefully the rest of the series is as fantastic as this one and continues to build on the successes started here. It of course goes without saying that I wouldn't at all complain if the rest of the series also aligned still more with my tastes on style but I can't fault Sanderson for writing his books his way. It just means more opertunity for me to see what style I best like and grow in that respect. It's all a journey and so journey before end.
I, as I mention on occasion, rate books on my own enjoyment. I don’t always explain my ratings in great detail but with books like this I feel almost compelled to write a review to figure out what I didn't enjoy and better understand my own tastes. Simultaneously, these types of reviews can feel a bit nitpicky. So with that in mind I must say that first and foremost, I don't expect writers to be perfect nor should they have to be. I'd rather have more mistakes with writers being true to themselves and growing in their art than manufactured perfection which curtails artists and shoehorns unique works in favor of market speculation.
I enjoyed a number of aspects of this book: its intellectuality, its uniqueness in world, its emotion and feeling, its cerebralness and in world exploration of lore. Pacing was at times a pinch more protracted than my tastes but in all a solid read worthy of a favorite spot on the shelf.
With so much to enjoy figuring out what didn't fully hit with me was a difficult task. It started out as just a feeling and even still isn't fully worked out.
But two things I have managed to put my finger on. The first is the degree of "dropped down in a world" description or lack of description in the early part of the novel. In general I've noticed I like more world building description than Sanderson and have come to expect that but here that is taken to a different extent. Sanderson here employs a more drop the reader in the world style than usual. That style can be effective in allowing for reveals and discovering a world but also runs the risk of leaving readers too much in the dark. Somethings in the early novel are just given a name and no description, tasking the reader to be okay with not having any idea for example what type of creature is pulling the carts for a decent amount of time. There is nothing wrong with building up a world with reveals and such when meaningful but when it's the common beast of burden and readers have to wait to have a picture of the environment of the world, the artistic liberty became taxing for me. The further you get along in the book the more you form an accurate idea so this issue eventually resolves enough to just be playful but it's odd feeling for example what you are picturing as a horse may not actually be anything that looks like a horse in any way even after having finished a novel.
The second concrete element I can put a finger on is the momentum of the ending, where the book unfortunately loses steam for me. As this is the first book in a planned series and a story itself with multiple viewpoints, there are a lot of threads Sanderson is juggling at the end and they for me end up losing their tightness in the mix of having to fulfill plotting and set up requirements. There is a bit too much looking forward to the rest of the story and that begins to take away some from closing out this story with a feeling of completeness and finality its own. This is of course a difficulty of bigger stories and series in general so it's entirely understandable but nonetheless does change how a reader feels when they get to the last word and set down the story. It ends up diminishing what we just read in favor of driving toward what is to come and so the fine balance of priorities just didn't hit for me.
In all, though, even considering these areas, a very solid book of masterful quality. Sanderson shows his skill and crafts a solid opening to his epic. Definitely looking forward to how the journey continues and hopefully the rest of the series is as fantastic as this one and continues to build on the successes started here. It of course goes without saying that I wouldn't at all complain if the rest of the series also aligned still more with my tastes on style but I can't fault Sanderson for writing his books his way. It just means more opertunity for me to see what style I best like and grow in that respect. It's all a journey and so journey before end.