Stormlight Archive Book One, The Way of Kings Book Review

Overview

Brandon Sanderson burst into the literary landscape when the wife of the late Robert Jordan commissioned him to complete her husband's widely applauded series The Wheel of Time. At the time, he was almost a nobody, barely anyone had heard of him and the choice was very controversial among fans. That's hard to imagine nowadays with Brandon Sanderson now at the forefront of fantasy literature. His books, including the three he wrote for The Wheel of Time, have won multiple awards, but perhaps none of them have been so loved as The Way of Kings. This book is the first in a planned ten-book series called the Stormlight Archive. It introduces the world of Roshar and the three main characters, Shallan, Kaladin, and Dalinar as they begin to see signs of the Last Desolation (Basically the end of the world) and the return of the long-dead heroes the Knights Radiant. 

Negative Content

Brandon Sanderson has earned a reputation for writing clean stories, and The Way of Kings is no exception. There's no sexual content (In fact the characters make pains to avoid having a male and a female alone for the most part) and all of the cursings are made up of curses that don't exist in our world such as "storms". The word Damnation is used as a name for the afterlife, and the name is used flippantly several times. There is some violence but for the most part, it's bloodless, with the only gore being a few blood-splattered armor pieces. One character is a "heretic", which means she is an atheist. Interestingly, Sanderson has her repeat arguments often made by present-day atheists and they remain for the most part unchallenged. However, the book is by no means intended to be atheistic, Brandon Sanderson himself is a religious person. In a few scenes, innocent people are killed by their leaders.

Positive Content

One character begins the book planning to steal something, and throughout the book attempts to justify her actions but in the end, decides that it's wrong. Dalinar cares for his two sons deeply, one is physically unable to fight and is sort of an outcast from his warrior-focused society. Kaladin is a character who watched a brother he swore to his parents to protect die. He struggles with balancing his life as a soldier with his parent's teachings to save life and not destroy it. Kaladin's story revolves around his attempts to save innocent slaves condemned to death to advance the cause of rich nobles. 

Conclusion

The Way of Kings is a whopping 380,000 words long, but every word is well worth it. Sanderson has crafted a world that can be both beautiful and calming, but also horrifying and cruel, and then fully realizes all of these things in the characters he writes about. Kaladin may be the most complex character I've ever read, and if I had to name my favorite character from any book right now I would probably pick him. Dalinar and Shallan are equally as well-developed. In a world where art is slowly turning into mere content, Sanderson has managed to write an epic that is both exciting and majestic.