One thing I’ve really appreciated about this series is the wide spectrum of religious beliefs throughout this book. Jasnah is an atheist, Shallan holds onto the tradition of religion. Most of the characters believe and follow the Almighty. Other cultures have their own beliefs.
Szeths culture believes rocks are holy and the Alethi use rocks as a tool in just about every aspect of their lives.
In Words of Radiance, the characters Ym has a conversation with a local boy about religion. He claims, “Iriali need no preaching, only experience.” He believes people came from one consciousness and live seperate lives that will be reunited later on.
Brandon Sanderson himself is a Mormon but he poses realistic debates about if there is a God, and other perspectives on religion. These conversations aren’t the author screaming their opinions, it’s realistic worldbuilding. I’ve read some books that either don’t touch religion in their worlds, or force their worldviews on the reader every other page.
The debates and practices of religion in these books seems very realistic to me and I’ve loved learning about them.
I have actually managed to finish The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Although, I don’t think I would’ve managed it without the audiobook…
I loved the world-building and the diverse array of cultures and people we get to experience through many perspectives.
The characters are deeply flawed in the best way. They have great inner character development and you clearly see their growth from beginning to end. Every one of their stories ends differently than how you thought they would. I won’t spoil it but he ending had me rooting for them and so excited.
That being said…. I have nitpicks
Possibly the biggest nitpick is some of the dialogue is just laughable. Particularly Shallan’s early conversations which were supposed to be witty just felt childish and awkward. her character I found to be a bit annoying because of this but I don’t think it’s the actual character, but the dialogue I didn’t like. There were other instances with Dalinar and Kaladin which also had some unnatural and awkward dialogue.
The “interludes” were a bit jarring the first time reading this. They felt completely unnecessary and you never revisited the characters shown in one chapter. I’m partway listening to this a second time and now I can connect the dots and see how SOME of these flow to the current story. I’m sure they will be more relevant in later books.
The story itself I didn’t find all that interesting. The Alethi culture I find confusing and annoying to be honest. That is the point of them but why would a group of people who have a great many ardents that study history, philosophy and everything else not look into the Parshendi?? Why would they not discover more about their battle tactics and how their culture works?
A huge point of Dalinar’s character is that he is apparently the ONLY one who realizes the war has to end at some point. Not one other person does anything to help this war to end. I still don’t understand how Brandon managed to make 60% of this story about going and getting gem hearts because it’s not that interesting… at all. We don’t know if there are any true consequences if they don’t have enough. They are living in wealth and comfort… the only reason they are doing “battle” for these gem hearts is because of status. It’s dumb.
The beginning and middle of the story I begrudgingly listened through but the ending made me want to read the second book. It all came together but I don’t think it needed 45 hours (or 1000 pages) to get there.
Hoid: Shallan, have you ever considered that your little anxiety problems may actually be serious mental illness?
Shallan: What’s *serious* mental illness anyway, are you implying there are carefree, happy go lucky ones? If so, I’d love to trade my anxiety for one of those.
Shallan at a feast, drunk off her ass: If I go to silent hill and there any of those thotty little nurse bimbos trying to stab me I’m fucking stealing shit.
~a few days later~
Renarin, joking: Shallan I liked what you had to say about silent hill but I’m gay so if you could say something about pyramid head?
~a few days later~
Shallan at a feast, dead sober: If i go to silent hill and pyramid head doesn’t have his fucking cock out I’m driving my horse into the lake.
I’ve started rereading The Way of Kings and am noticing a few things.
First, the risk that Sabderson took starting it the way he did. Three different time periods and viewpoint characters before the fourth chapter finally gives us a current-time, main character viewpoint. If I was Sanderson’s editor when he was pitching this, I’d be finding the Cenn viewpoint the hardest sell.
The Kelek one is short, hints at vastly powerful forces, ends with the creation of a great mythic lie, and the “4,500 years later” gives things a properly epic feel.
The Szeth one is fantastic - it starts with an iconic line, has an engaging magic battle scene, and sets up a central mystery: why did the Parshendi betray the alliance and have Gavilar assassinated. It explains enough but not too much of the context (mechanics of Szeth’s ‘magic’ powers: yes; details of the concept of Truthless and reasons behind Shin veneration of stone: no).
But the Cenn one has the combined challenges that this isn’t a main character, dies (though we don’t yet know it) at the end of the scene, and isn’t an interesting person in and of himself. If I was the editor, I’d be asking “Why can’t we have the Kaladin POV here?” But the more we see of Kaladin, the clearer it becomes why his introduction had to be done this way. The contrast between Kaladin in the Cenn-POV chapter and the despairing Kaladin in the slave wagon in the next chapter gains its power and drama from two things: the contrast between who Kaladin was then and now, and the contrast between how others see Kaladin and how he sees himself. Kaladin in that battle wouldn’t have seen himself as the heroic, nearly-miraculous figure his soldiers see him as: rescuing Cenn by fighting six-on-one and killing all his enemies in a matter of seconds, then turning into a healer and bandaging his wounds; training his men to operate as a unit unlike anyone else on the battlefield; spending most of his pay on bribing the support staff to evacuate his wounded; bribing other commanders to give him recruits who seemed militarily useless. He’d have taken that for granted. Kaladin (later) reacts to being pretty much miraculously resurrected by despairing and thinking he’s a failure. The switch of perspective at the start is necessary for us to realize early on that the way Kaladin percieves himself does not line up with objective reality or with other people’s perceptions, and necessary for us to realize how impressive he was, and how others reacted to him, before his enslavement. It’s the essential backdrop for all the horrible early chapters in the slave wagons and Bridge 4. But the necessity of that only becomes apparent once the reader has spent a while with Kaladin.
The second thing I’m noticing is that, while on my first read-through I was overwhelmed and not picking up on this, Sanderson does leave us a trail of breadcrumbs to follow. In the first chapter, four people are named: Kalak, Jezrien, Talenel, and Ishar. Then, only a few pages later, Szeth passes the states “depicting the Ten Heralds from ancient Vorin theology”, naming four: “Jezerezah, Ishi, Kelek, Talenelat.” The names are similar enough that it’s possible to put the pieces together. Even in Kaladin’s first chaptet, the mention of windspren stucking things to other things can recall Szeth’s Full Lashings.
Another thing that jumped out at me: in the first chapter, Kelek mentions “red, orange, and violet” blood on the battlefield. Parshendi blood is orange, but who on Roshar has violet blood?
I once asked about the violet blood in a discord, and someone guessed that it might be Aimians (presumably the Axies model, rather than the Sleepless), but as far as I know there’s no definitive answer.
