Written by The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
“Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination.”
This is the first novel that I have read by Sanderson, and I have to say that I loved it. I know it’s not that surprising seeing as how I enjoy everything, but this one was special. The fantasy kick that I have been on led me to this series as my next adventure. Sanderson has always been a name on my reader, but I bumped this up to the front of the queue after checking out his podcast and writing classes he has on YouTube.
At first, the world building seemed a little steep. There was a bit of a learning curve for the first few chapters as I got all the names and places straight. It was well worth it. Brandon has demonstrated his skill in this novel. As the book progresses and you get deeper and deeper into the immersive worldbuding and characters you really feel apart of the story. The unique elements set this apart from the normal cookie cutter fantasy that is milled out every year.
The characters really ended up impacting me by the end of the book. My heart was racing during the last few chapters because of how much the characters inspired me and the climactic ending. I find myself relating to Kaladin and Dalinar a lot. They both share similar base qualities that was easy for me to relate too.
The word building and magic system was really quite immersive too. The Spren and stormlight are really cool! After watching Sanderson’s full class on YouTube I can see the techniques he taught and used in the story. The different cultures in the world really stood out and felt well fleshed out. The stormlight magic system is unique and really enjoyable. It makes for some really badass action scenes. Not to mention how awesome the shardplate and shardblade equipment is.
This was a really satisfying read for me. Sanderson beautifully combined a ton of elements into this story to create a masterpiece. I am very excited that he believes this will be his best work and he is projecting 10 books for the series. That wait for each new release is going to kill me though…
Life of Chaz 
Hey there! I saw you liked one of my blog posts so I decided to check out your site, and I’m very glad I did! If you really liked Brandon Sanderson, I highly recommend reading the Wheel of Time Series. Originally it was written by Robert Jordan, but Sanderson took over for the last three books, and I think the combination of the two really made the ending enjoyable. As opposed to this review you have here, Jordan doesn’t really have any steep world-building in the beginning and carefully kind of lays out the makings of the world — which, personally, I found to be super great — but he still does have the depth and characterization that you liked in Sanderson’s book.
So, yeah~, I hope you check it out!
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That series is definitely on my TBR list. I was thinking of starting that one or Malazan after I finish The First Law trilogy. Do you think I should start with Wheel of Time first? Either choice is going to be a big time commitment! 😁
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I’ve never heard of The First Law, so I really can’t say which of the two would be better. But I can definitely agree on WoT being a big commitment! Thankfully all fourteen books are engaging so it won’t be a tiring one whenever you do read it, ya know?
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I second the Wheel of Time rec (if you haven’t already started). Sanderson really pulls everything together at the end of the series and does a great job concluding a very long and intricate story packed with characters. Thanks for this review on Way of Kings! I know it’s from a while back but I just found your blog recently and I am playing catch up 🙂
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