Tim Clark
A 1,000-page foundation for something that promises to be excellent — which is both its greatest strength and its central problem.
Coming straight from Mistborn, the shift is jarring. No heist, no crew, no magic system that explains itself. Instead: three protagonists being broken in different ways simultaneously across a world that feels genuinely ancient but refuses to explain itself. The storms, the spren, the megacrabs — it's unlike anything I've read, and I mean that as a compliment, mostly.
Kaladin has the best progression of the three. His supporting cast provides most of the warmth. Shallan is chirpy and frustrating in equal measure — she keeps choosing the boring option when the interesting one is right there. Dalinar is solid. The world-building is vast and clearly going somewhere ambitious.
The honest caveat: on its own terms, this is not as good as Mistborn. It's all setup. You're eating your vegetables on faith that the pudding is coming. I'm going in on that faith — Sanderson has earned it — but I'd be lying if I said Way of Kings was a complete, satisfying story in its own right. It isn't. It's a prologue the size of a building.
Three stars for now. I'll revisit when I've finished Words of Radiance — if the payoff is everything people say it is, this rating is going up.
A 1,000-page foundation for something that promises to be excellent — which is both its greatest strength and its central problem.
Coming straight from Mistborn, the shift is jarring. No heist, no crew, no magic system that explains itself. Instead: three protagonists being broken in different ways simultaneously across a world that feels genuinely ancient but refuses to explain itself. The storms, the spren, the megacrabs — it's unlike anything I've read, and I mean that as a compliment, mostly.
Kaladin has the best progression of the three. His supporting cast provides most of the warmth. Shallan is chirpy and frustrating in equal measure — she keeps choosing the boring option when the interesting one is right there. Dalinar is solid. The world-building is vast and clearly going somewhere ambitious.
The honest caveat: on its own terms, this is not as good as Mistborn. It's all setup. You're eating your vegetables on faith that the pudding is coming. I'm going in on that faith — Sanderson has earned it — but I'd be lying if I said Way of Kings was a complete, satisfying story in its own right. It isn't. It's a prologue the size of a building.
Three stars for now. I'll revisit when I've finished Words of Radiance — if the payoff is everything people say it is, this rating is going up.