Brandon Sanderson

[Peter Ahlstrom]

She has the Lemony Snicket series which she enjoys (have not read myself - just bits). She's read all the Harry Potter. <snip>

She would probably enjoy Brandon's Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series. It has an obtrusive narrator and reacts against some of the Harry Potter tropes. It's middle-grade humorous fantasy.

[Werthead]

700 pages through The Way of Kings. Points of interest:

1. It's his best book to date. Including THE GATHERING STORM. The step-up in quality is greater than the step-up between ELANTRIS and MISTBORN.

2. He has awesome magic systems in the book but doesn't throw them in the reader's face every five seconds. In fact, there's been bursts of magic use but nothing like MISTBORN so far. It's there and part of the world, but the book doesn't revolve around it like it does in the trilogy and ELANTRIS.

3. His worldbuilding is vastly improved. The world in ELANTRIS and MISTBORN feels a little flat, especially outside the main cities where the action takes place. The world in KINGS is far more believable and interesting, dozens of kingdoms and cities spread across a gargantuam continent with tons of cultural details and racial differentiations.

4. This is a more adult work. Those readers who freaked out over his very, very mild swearing in THE GATHERING STORM (if 'bloody' even counts as swearing these days) aren't going to be happy about this one, at all. There's a bit more swearing, a fair bit more violence and one character hints that she has been the subject of sexual violence. The world is also harsher and there's a lot more betrayal and treachery, and some unexpected character deaths. It's nothing that would really give Robert Jordan fans pause, let alone Morgan, Martin or Bakker ones, but those who feel Sanderson has been a bit too conservative and YA up to this point should be satisfied by his developments in this area.

5. Hoid has been mentioned, confirming that the world is set in the greater 'Sanderverse' of MISTBORN/ELANTRIS/WARBREAKER.

[Shryke]

Sounds awesome Wert.

It's always a pleasure to watch an artist develop in front of your eyes.

[Larry.]

700 pages through The Way of Kings. Points of interest:

1. It's his best book to date. Including THE GATHERING STORM. The step-up in quality is greater than the step-up between ELANTRIS and MISTBORN.

2. He has awesome magic systems in the book but doesn't throw them in the reader's face every five seconds. In fact, there's been bursts of magic use but nothing like MISTBORN so far. It's there and part of the world, but the book doesn't revolve around it like it does in the trilogy and ELANTRIS.

3. His worldbuilding is vastly improved. The world in ELANTRIS and MISTBORN feels a little flat, especially outside the main cities where the action takes place. The world in KINGS is far more believable and interesting, dozens of kingdoms and cities spread across a gargantuam continent with tons of cultural details and racial differentiations.

4. This is a more adult work. Those readers who freaked out over his very, very mild swearing in THE GATHERING STORM (if 'bloody' even counts as swearing these days) aren't going to be happy about this one, at all. There's a bit more swearing, a fair bit more violence and one character hints that she has been the subject of sexual violence. The world is also harsher and there's a lot more betrayal and treachery, and some unexpected character deaths. It's nothing that would really give Robert Jordan fans pause, let alone Morgan, Martin or Bakker ones, but those who feel Sanderson has been a bit too conservative and YA up to this point should be satisfied by his developments in this area.

5. Hoid has been mentioned, confirming that the world is set in the greater 'Sanderverse' of MISTBORN/ELANTRIS/WARBREAKER.

I'd add to that improved characterizations and dialogue. The rest I don't care about as much as others, but the characterizations are much better over his first few novels. I'll finish reading it in a few days, once I get some other reviews out of the way first.

[End of Disc One]

Yeah I always sort of thought that Sanderson would never great with prose but that he would continue to write great books due to his skill with planning and his ideas. But The Way of Kings shows a remarkable improvement in prose. If you've only read the prologue and first chapter you wouldn't realize it.

My only "advice" (not that I'm qualified to give it) would be to give less attention to the less important action scenes. In Mistborn the pivotal action sequences were amazing, but the minor ones seemed to drag on because less was at stake. That still seems to be an issue in TWoK.

Anyway I think some of Sanderson's former detractors will be pleasantly surprised by this book.

Edit: I forgot to add that though I haven't read Warbreaker, Sanderson finally (IMO) nailed a great comedic character. This guy is like a ruder Tehol Beddict. I didn't think Sanderson had it in him.

[Liadin]

Good news Wert, I don't know that I'll read any more Sanderson for a couple of years, but it sounds like he's improving on his biggest weaknesses and that's always good to hear.

But honestly, are there really people criticizing Sanderson for "not enough violence"? Basically every other criticism in Wert's post I agree with after reading Mistborn, but violence.... really, there's plenty.

[Tyrellius]

What what?!

This is out already or is it an arc?

[aidan]

What what?!

This is out already or is it an arc?

Review copies have been floating around for a few weeks.

[Switchback]

Jesus, that mini-review just gave me a boner. Can't wait to read this one. That and then Towers soon after makes for a fun few months....

Anyone know what the timetable on this thing is going to be? I know Sanderson writes like a fiend, but will this be a one-a-year type of deal?

[Humble Asskicker]

I'm so excited about this book. Thank God for Sanderson.

There are plenty of quality writers out there, but Sanderson is unique in that he provides consistent quality at an astounding rate. It's great to have the constant north star in the moving constellations.

[End of Disc One]

I don't want this to get hyped in the wrong way though. People should be more excited for a new epic series than for this book itself. I feel like this is a book that can't be properly judged on its own.

[Darkness]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_Kings

"It is the first volume in a planned multi-novel (plotted to require ten books to complete)"

It will be weird for me to actually read an epic fantasy from the start and wait for each release. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_Kings#cite_note-blog_WoK_pub_explain-1]

[Gabriele]

It will be weird for me to actually read an epic fantasy from the start and wait for each release.

I didn't want to do that again, but then TOR posted those sample chapters, damn their hide. ;)

[Werthead]

Anyone know what the timetable on this thing is going to be? I know Sanderson writes like a fiend, but will this be a one-a-year type of deal?

Sanderson is finishing off Wheel of Time before doing anything else, something he doesn't expect to be done with until Spring 2012. So it might be early 2013 before we see the sequel to The Way of Kings. After that it should be one book a year, but Sanderson has said he won't write all ten books right through. He will take breaks to work on other material, including the Mistborn sequel trilogy and some stand-alones.

[Switchback]

Sanderson is finishing off Wheel of Time before doing anything else, something he doesn't expect to be done with until Spring 2012. So it might be early 2013 before we see the sequel to The Way of Kings. After that it should be one book a year, but Sanderson has said he won't write all ten books right through. He will take breaks to work on other material, including the Mistborn sequel trilogy and some stand-alones.

Dude's. A. Machine!

Thanks for the news.

[Werthead]

Finished it. Review forthcoming, but that was pretty damn good.

The biggest criticism is that given the book's shelf-destroying size, not as much happens as you might expect. It's a slower-paced book than anything we've seen before from Sanderson with much more attention to detail and characterisation, and that comes at the cost of the relentless, furious pace of Mistborn. But given that the world is far more interesting, the characters much more vivid and the story is simply far more interesting, this price would appear to have been worth paying. Another key weakness is that Shallan, the third and least-prominent of the three main characters, is simply not that interesting until literally the last few chapters of the book when much more of her story and backstory rises to the fore in a more interesting manner.

A point of major interest is that the stakes are much higher here, and this series looks like it's going to delve right into the heart of the mysteries about Hoid, Adonalsium, the Shards and other points fleetingly mentioned in Mistborn, Warbreaker and Elantris:

Hoid is a POV character! Well, very briefly. He also appears more prominently than in the earlier Sanderson books.

[polishgenius]

The biggest criticism is that given the book's shelf-destroying size, not as much happens as you might expect. It's a slower-paced book than anything we've seen before from Sanderson with much more attention to detail and characterisation, and that comes at the cost of the relentless, furious pace of Mistborn. But given that the world is far more interesting, the characters much more vivid and the story is simply far more interesting, this price would appear to have been worth paying.

This actually reads as a positive for me- I still haven't finished the third Mistborn, simply because I can't get that into the characters and world and the constant hustling on to the next bit leaves me a bit cold. I was considering not picking this up, but I probably will now at some point.

[Werthead]

The full story:

An assassin in white murders the King of Alethkar, an act commissioned by the enigmatic Parshendi tribesmen of the east. In response the Alethi armies meet those of the Parshendi in battle on the Shattered Plains, a vast landscape of plateaus separated by dark chasms. Progress is slow and gruelling, and Dalinar, the murdered king's brother, adopts a siege strategy to wear down the enemy through attrition.

Meanwhile, Kaladin, a former soldier disgraced and sold into slavery, arrives on the Shattered Plains as a bridgeman, a role designed to help carry and place the immense mobile bridges which carry the Alethi army into battle. Mistreated by his masters, Kaladin begins to burn with the need for freedom and vengeance, and finds like-minded men amongst his fellows.

In distant Kharbranth a woman named Shallan seeks a missing princess, hoping to become her protege and study under the most famous heretic on all of Roshar. But Shallan's quest disguises another, less honourable cause.

These three stories become entwined with the ancient legends of the Knights Radiant and the Voidbringers they fought against. The world of Roshar and the wider cosmere beyond lie in danger from an ancient force, and the key to understanding the nature of that threat lies with a man who can walk amongst the worlds...

There's no faulting the ambition of this novel. The publisher and the author have set out their stall quite clearly: they want the ten-volume Stormlight Archive series to be the next dominant epic fantasy series, replacing the soon-to-finish Wheel of Time sequence. The publishing marketing spiel has cranked up to support this effort, drawing comparisons with Tolkien and Frank Herbert which are more than slightly hyperbolic. Yet The Way of Kings manages to weather these pronouncements to stand on its own merits as one of the best epic fantasy releases of this year.

The Way of Kings is Brandon Sanderson's finest novel to date, showing a remarkable and satisfying maturing and evolution of his craft. Sanderson is a student of epic fantasy who's made it his business to test the limits of the subgenre and take a mass audience with him, and The Way of Kings raises this skill to new heights. Roshar isn't another generic fantasyland, but a dangerous and alien world wracked by devastating tempests which the normal business of humanity takes place in the lulls between the storms. In his previous books Sanderson has used his worlds as effective background locations, but in The Way of Kings the world itself comes to life satisfyingly, becoming a vivid location which the reader ends up wanting to know more about.

Characterisation is an area where Sanderson takes a significant step forward in quality. His characters in The Way of Kings are considerably more flawed and more real than those in Mistborn or Elantris, but he also avoids turning them into grim, grey ciphers. These characters are given motivations and rationales for what they do which make sense, and then evolve satisfyingly over the course of the book. It has to be said that of the three major protagonists Shallan is the one who is not developed very satisfyingly in this way until the very end of the book, when her last three or four chapters transform the reader's understanding of her character and motives in a very impressive manner.

Sanderson has a strong reputation as the creator of impressive magic systems, so it's rather surprising that The Way of Kings pulls back on the magical side of things. There's an excellent opening sequence depicting the assassination which is slightly reminiscent of Nightcrawler's attack on the White House in X2 and is as impressive, but otherwise actual feats of magic are somewhat few and far between in the book (although there is a fair amount of use of magical artifacts such as fabrials and Shardblades), although with plenty of hints that these will form a bigger part of the story in subsequent volumes.

Another surprise is that Sanderson makes a bold move in this volume by putting some of the common mythology of his universe into the centre of the plot: Hoid, the Shards of Adonalsium, the Shadesmar and other elements which have been hinted at in Elantris, Warbreaker and the Mistborn series are here brought into somewhat sharper relief (although foreknowledge of those earlier novels is not required) and followers of this shared-universe element of Sanderson's work will have plenty more to chew on as a result of this book.

On the downside, Sanderson does adopt an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach with the book, and uses some side-plots purely to establish elements which will have no resolution until much later, and as a result there are a few side-stories which simply have no apparent reason for being in this novel (most notably the scenes set on the Purelake). In addition, to achieve greater resonance and carry out more impressive worldbuilding, Sanderson has had to sacrifice the thunderous pace that made the first Mistborn novel very enjoyable, the result being a book which is a good 150-200 pages longer than it strictly needs to be with some repetition of ideas and some action sequences (the chasm battles, whilst very impressive and atmospheric, do start blurring together after a while).

The Way of Kings (****½) has some minor issues, but overall is a deeper, darker and more satisfying novel than anything Sanderson has produced to date. The book will be published on 31 August 2010 in the USA and on 30 December in the UK.

[fionwe1987]

Thanks for the great review!

I've asked others who've reviewed this book, and I'm still curious to know: how do you think Sanderson's work with WoT has influenced this book? I'm sure that a lot of what makes this book great is due to Sanderson's own maturation as an author, but do you think writing WoT contributed?

Further, with this series being touted as the next WoT (and for Tor, they're definitely going to hope this series does as well), are there any similarities? Brandon is one of the few current writers who names Jordan as an influence. Is that felt here?

Seriously can't wait for this. I've held off reading the sample chapters so that I can have an uninterrupted read of the book when I get it.

[Larry.]

Thanks for the great review!

I've asked others who've reviewed this book, and I'm still curious to know: how do you think Sanderson's work with WoT has influenced this book? I'm sure that a lot of what makes this book great is due to Sanderson's own maturation as an author, but do you think writing WoT contributed?

Further, with this series being touted as the next WoT (and for Tor, they're definitely going to hope this series does as well), are there any similarities? Brandon is one of the few current writers who names Jordan as an influence. Is that felt here?

Seriously can't wait for this. I've held off reading the sample chapters so that I can have an uninterrupted read of the book when I get it.

I'm very hesitant to say if there's any one thing or things that can be picked out and attributed to working on the WoT series, but there is a greater focus on surface detail and minor characters in this book. The way the plot unfolds and the type of story being told differs significantly from WoT, so outside of the most minor of touches, there's nothing that couldn't be viewed as being natural progression as a writer. The story, at least nearly 400 pages into it at the moment, does not remind me of WoT at all, to be honest.