The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One by Brandon Sanderson

A Hefty Tome…

The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One by Brandon Sanderson, Gollancz Paperback, £14.99

Brandon Sanderson may be best known to some readers for his work in finishing Robert Jordan’s colossal Wheel of Time sequence, to other readers for his own Mistborn sequence, but for the last ten years, he’s written a body of science fiction and fantasy work to challenge anyone in the field. This current novel, weighing in at a hefty 1136 pages, is volume one of The Stormlight Archive, a sequence that he plans to extend over ten books. The book is structured to follow three primary protagonists on the world of Roshar, and a host of other, secondary, characters. All three key protagonists are involved in a war between the Parshendi, and the people of Alethkar, initiated by the Parshendi assassination of Alethkar’s King.

The key three characters are, Dalinar, the late king’s brother, who is running the war effort against the Parshendi with nine other High Princes, Kaladin, the son of a surgeon who is a Bridgeman (a military slave), and Shallan, a young noble girl, who contrives to become the apprentice of Jasnah Kholin, sister of the Alethi King.

Roshar’s construction of magic, gemstones that draw “stormlight” energy from re-occurring and powerful storms are an entertaining, if possibly rather familiar, conceit. The gemstones are used for such things as currency and lighting, but also cover gem-encrusted gloves called Soulcasters, that allow the wearer to wield magical powers, and transmute matter. The societal construction is a caste system, based on eye colour, with blue eyes being the most favourable. Makes as much sense as anything else that’s ever been adopted as a method of discrimination, I guess.

If you like long, complex, multi-viewpoint fantasy novels, this one seems to be pretty much the ticket. Did I mention long? If there are faults with this novel, it is in two areas. Firstly, Sanderson’s prose is pedestrian, and occasionally overworked, which adds to the length of the novel without significantly adding to our understanding of his world or characters. Secondly, the pedestrian element carries on to the dialogue. However, in this type of novel storytelling is king, and a lack of awareness of the actual writing often works to the book’s advantage. In this Sanderson is absolutely on the money. At no point do you stop to criticize the writing, because you’d have to divorce yourself from the story to do so, and the book carries you along with consummate ease. I look forward to the next volume, although the fact that a further 19,000 pages are coming is a little daunting.

Peter Mann

The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One