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Book Cover for: The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive

Brandon Sanderson

Reader Score

93%

93% of readers

recommend this book

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

The Cosmere
The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Edgedancer (novella)
Oathbringer
Dawnshard (novella)
Rhythm of War

The Mistborn Saga
The Original Trilogy
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages

Wax and Wayne
The Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
The Lost Metal

Other Cosmere novels
Elantris
Warbreaker
Tress of the Emerald Sea
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
The Sunlit Man

Collection
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
The Scrivener's Bones
The Knights of Crystallia
The Shattered Lens
The Dark Talent
Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (with Janci Patterson)

Other novels
The Rithmatist
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

Other books by Brandon Sanderson

The Reckoners
Steelheart
Firefight
Calamity

Skyward
Skyward
Starsight
Cytonic
Skyward Flight (with Janci Patterson)
Defiant

Book Details

  • Publisher: Tor Books
  • Publish Date: Mar 4th, 2014
  • Pages: 1008
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.20in - 6.10in - 1.80in - 2.12lb
  • EAN: 9780765376671
  • Categories: Fantasy - EpicFantasy - Military

About the Author

Sanderson, Brandon: - Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. His bestsellers have sold 40 million copies worldwide and include the Mistborn saga; the Stormlight Archive novels; and other novels, including Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Rithmatist, Steelheart, and Skyward. He won a Hugo Award for The Emperor's Soul, a novella set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he completed Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time(R). Visit his website for behind-the-scenes information on all his books.

Praise for this book

"I loved this book. What else is there to say?" --Patrick Rothfuss, bestselling author of The Name of the Wind

"This is a great choice for fans of Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks." --Voice of Youth Advocates

"The best part...is the compelling, complex story of Dalinar, Kaladin, and Shallan as they struggle though emotional, physical, and moral challenges. Fans and lovers of epic fantasy...will eagerly await the next volume." --Library Journal

"Epic in every sense. Sanderson has built a world that leaps to life, a cast of varied characters and a vast history which slowly unfolds with the deepening story of Roshar." --Guardian (UK)

"[Sanderson] will be spoken in the same breath as Tolkien, Leiber, Moorcock, Jordan...and George R. R. Martin." --SFFworld.com

"Featuring ingenious magic . . . feisty characters, and a complex plot likely to unwind over several volumes, this high-spirited, exciting story will appeal to readers of all ages." --Publishers Weekly, starred review, on The Rithmatist

"Sanderson's outstanding fantasy debut, refreshingly complete unto itself and free of the usual genre clichés, offers something for everyone. . . . The intrigue and excitement grow steadily in this smoothly written, perfectly balanced narrative; by the end readers won't want to put it down." --Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Elantris