The Way of Kings

Book Details:
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Page Count: 1001
Publication Date: Aug. 31, 2010
Why I read it: favorite author
Grade: A+

Cover thoughts:
Beautiful cover! The artwork is amazing, and what's even cooler is there is artwork throughout the book. I love this cover!

About the author:
Brandon Sanderson is the author of Elantris, Warbreaker, and the Mistborn Trilogy. He's also finishing the Wheel of Time series. And he also wrote a middle grade fantasy series. He's a great author, and one every fantasy reader should read.

The plot:
Oh goodness, where do I even start? This is the first of ten planned books in The Stormlight Archive. I assume every serious fantasy reader has already read a plot summary, if not the book itself. The author himself has a hard time introducing the series, so, since I like to keep my blog posts fairly short, if you want to know what the book is about, check out this synopsis on goodreads.

Characters:
With a fantasy novel of this size, you'd think there'd be so many characters that it'd be hard to keep track of them. That's what I've generally found in these doorstopper epic fantasies. Not so in The Way of Kings. There really is only a small handful of main characters, and with the depth and detail in this book, you really get to know and love them, even the lesser characters. Kaladin was my favorite in the story, which I think it fitting since this book is mostly about him.

Setting:
This is the most amazing part of the book. The amount of worldbuilding that went into this book is quite possibly the best I've ever seen. Down to the smallest detail, Sanderson has created a world so different from ours, but not so alien that we can't relate to or care about the characters. I'll admit, I don't understand everything about how this fantasy world works, but I'm looking forward to reading more books and finding out.

Notable quotes:
"Too many of us," she said, "take great pains with what we ingest through our mouths, and far less with what we partake of through our ears and eyes. Wouldn't you say?"

"Let the Vorin believe as they wish--the wise among them will find goodness and solace in their faith; the fools would be fools no matter what they believed."

"'And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.'"

Read this if you're in the mood for: an epic fantasy that has it all.

Continue or part ways? This one's obvious. Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors, and I'll continue to read everything he writes, especially this series. The second book can't come fast enough for me. I can't wait to see what happens next.