2014 Book Review #32: The Way of Kings

[jethrien]

Title: The Way of Kings
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Epic fantasy (first of ?)
Thingummies: 3.5

Synopsis: I shall write the next Wheel of Time but I shall make it Even. More. EPIC!

Thoughts: Whoof, there's a lot of book here. Without quite as much plot as you'd expect from the number of pages.

This is basically what could have been predicted by running Mistborn into the Wheel of Time. We have the very detailed magic system creation we've seen with Sanderson before. And we have the echoes-of-ages-past, continent-spanning, end-of-the-world-is-coming massive slow-moving plot that apparently was caught from Jordan like typhoid.

The characters are significantly better, at least. Nearly every time the viewpoint switched, I was disappointed because I wanted to stay with that character, only have the same reaction at the next switch. There's a very compelling meta-story set up at the beginning and then only hinted at. And there's some pretty interesting politics played out. It's a good story, deeply engaging, and I really want to know what happens next.

But oof, a little restraint might have been nice. It's just. Too. Long. for one book. I think really it would have been best to cut out all of Kaladin's backstory. He's the only one who gets the endless flashbacks, but his backstory is no more interesting or complicated than any of the other characters. There's nothing there that couldn't have been given to us in two or three paragraphs--the story of his childhood doesn't actually give us any more information than what we pick up from his present day actions. It just adds a dozen chapters to an already bloated book.

I wish I knew how many books he was planning to make of this thing--I'd be willing to slog through two more, but if he intends to drag this out over fifteen doorstoppers, I think perhaps I'll let go of my questions.

Comments

[fairest.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this one -- I don't mind a dash of creeping-world's-end-doom, especially given Sanderson's previous plot twist successes -- and I couldn't agree more about the improvement in his characters over his previous books. Especially his women, who have left me completely unimpressed in the past; I liked Shallan and Jasnah quite a bit. Hooray!

I'm sorry to report that the second book has less plotting in a similar number of pages -- still enjoyable and worth reading in my opinion, but I couldn't point to as many discrete plot advancements.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I looked ahead--it looks like he's planning ten of these things. While I did enjoy this one a fair bit, I don't think I'm willing to sign on for reading this series for the next twenty years. I think I'm done.