Jump to content

"Way of Kings" is anyone else getting a 40k vibe from this? - Spoilers


BuckShotBill

Recommended Posts

Militaristic religious fanatics fighting for glory in their ancient power armor/shard plate with power swords/shard blades.

I'm only 500 pages in and I have only passing knowledge of the 40k universe but this sounds awfully familiar.

I know people have really been gushing over this series lately, but the Shattered Plains feel very table top gamey.

Is this the focus of the series?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sanderson gets plenty of attention here, and the much-awaited third novel came out very recently. I know nothing about WH40k, but the world in Way of Kings has a whole lot going on. The armor and blades are more complicated than just bad-ass armor. There's also characters flying around, machines that magick food (or buildings, or anything) out of the air, little critters that flitter around nature or people having feelings, and a whole lot of other crazy stuff. I was very hyped after the first novel, despite the author's standard iffy dialogue.

It's big, flashy fun. If you're anything like me, though, the cool stuff isn't enough to sustain the series. Hundreds of pages of bloat, insufferably anachronistic characters, and bizarre hyper violence but no naughty words or even passing references to more than kissing have taken away a lot from a promising action-packed series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now that you mention it, it does give a 40k vibe (from what little I know of 40k).

Furthermore, The Stormlight Archives is probably the most "table top gamey" series I've read so far. If not, then it's The Mistborn.

Sanderson literally casts his characters into character classes, especially as the series progresses and new stuff is revealed. It's best to stop there, so I don't let any spoilers slip. ;)

As @Argonath Diver said, it's big, flashy fun. The action scenes are pretty good and the magic system is great (so is the one in Mistborn, by the way). 

Sure, it is bloated a bit and characters are not as well written as they are in some other series, but I wouldn't say they're bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/11/2017 at 1:43 PM, BuckShotBill said:

Militaristic religious fanatics fighting for glory in their ancient power armor/shard plate with power swords/shard blades.

I'm only 500 pages in and I have only passing knowledge of the 40k universe but this sounds awfully familiar.

I know people have really been gushing over this series lately, but the Shattered Plains feel very table top gamey.

Is this the focus of the series?

 

 

I would say if you like epic fantasy then you should stick with the books. The plot thickens quite a bit as you get further in. The second book, Words of Radiance is typically the book that is the most well-received (including by me). So I say you should try and make it through that one to determine if you want to keep reading or not.

I think we can't really answer your question without feeling like we'll spoil something for you. Plus I don't know what all has happened by page 500 since I read on a kindle!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like Sanderson and I like the Stormlight Archive, despite some clunking writing and pacing problems, but yeah, it does feel a little anime-ish and OTT at times. It's more the other way around though: Warhammer: Age of Sigmar feels more inspired by Sanderson than he does from 40K

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...