The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

[Tes'thesula]

Thanks, looking at that I can't believe I missed it

[Kosciuszko]

I only realized it some 90 or some pages later, when Dalinar started summoning his at some point.

[Gormenghast]

Does this book get thoroughly better? I am halfway through, dont really care about anything and want to quit while I am ahead - especially if this is going to turn into super shardbearer saves the universe from evil voidbringers.

Nope, the first book doesn't even get close to that point ;)

While the end is more interesting nothing major seems to happen and it's just about repositioning the same pieces. The idea of imminent doom through the whole book seems rather distant.

Not unlike the WoT Last Battle.

[Gormenghast]

Discard this.

[Mexal]

Thanks, looking at that I can't believe I missed it

I missed it too. Glad I jumped in this thread :)

[Restless]

Bronn - If your halfway through, i suggest you keep going - it gets better, and the ending is brilliant. Shallan stops trying to be witty, and her plot becomes interesting at the end. Kaladin and Dalinars endings are also interesting.

I also think Brandon has become alot more subtle as a writer when he wants to be. Sometimes too subtle - things which are meant to be important can be very easily missed. For example, there are many hints, some slightly more obvious then others, about Dalinars character - which actually show hes not quite as 2D a character as he first seems.

He still has flaws of course, and while i cant blame him for following his religious views in his writing, i do think his refusal to use sex or swearing in his books can be a bit... jarring. Although its less obvious then it was in Mistborn.

Last 50 pages around Kaladin and Dalinar almost ruined the book for me. As in Elantris and Mistborn after thoroughly creating humans through the book, in last 50 pages Sanderson promotes them in few minutes to God status.

WTF happened with Kaladin? Is this a trend in US sci-fi - the Konan-like Deux ex-machina endings, or just this is the way Sanderson likes to finish his books?

Battle scenes with Dalinar&co, last battle with Szeth, with Kaladin, all these were embarasing. A super-duper ShardBearer who kills everything (hundreds) around without being scratched. Like Topper Harley killing iraqis in hot shots2.

[Darkness]

Last 50 pages around Kaladin and Dalinar almost ruined the book for me. As in Elantris and Mistborn after thoroughly creating humans through the book, in last 50 pages Sanderson promotes them in few minutes to God status.

WTF happened with Kaladin? Is this a trend in US sci-fi - the Konan-like Deux ex-machina endings, or just this is the way Sanderson likes to finish his books?

Battle scenes with Dalinar&co, last battle with Szeth, with Kaladin, all these were embarasing. A super-duper ShardBearer who kills everything (hundreds) around without being scratched. Like Topper Harley killing iraqis in hot shots2.

I think you are talking about Dalinar and his son near the end of book. A shardplate (The suit of armor) increases the persons strength and a shardblade goes through everything except another shardblade or shardplate and it also weights nothing. This is why they killed 100s of people. Armor means nothing to a shardblade. Which is why they are so sought after and which is why they mention kingdoms been traded for it.

If you mean Szeth, he is a Knight Radiant, he has mastery over gravity and increases strength and if he intakes Stormlight he will heal and continue to be stronger and in the palaces they user Stormlight so he has continues supply of it and he also carries money which has Stormlight and has a shardblade.

If you mean Kaladin, he is a Knight Radiant like Szeth but not the knowledge on how to use his powers properly. He does however intake Stormlight to strength and heals himself.

[CryHavoc]

My spoiler has a couple things you won't have gotten from TWOK itself.

Wit's Hoid, a character from multiple Sanderson books. Sanderson has a shared cosmology-- all of his books take place in the same universe, each planet seems to have its own god or gods that was once a piece of a greater god. If the power of one of these gods (called a Shard) is unclaimed, regular humans can take it, i.e. the Lord Ruler in the Mistborn trilogy. I'm guessing the Highstorms represent an unclaimed Shard and Odium is a claimed one. Anyway, Wit/Hoid tends to show up whenever something weird's going on with the Shards. He may be a Shard himself since he seems to jump between planets.

I assumed the half-dead herald was the tenth herald, the one who went back when the other nine broke their oaths. There are hints that another devastation is on the way, and they always came back before the next one. As it seems that there's about to be another, the last Herald returned, but for some reason he died. That's my theory anyway.

Bronn, it doesn't turn into super-Shardbearer vs. Voidbringers. But if you're thoroughly uninterested, no reason to keep reading.

Yeah, Wit's Hoid and the guy at the end is the tenth herald. My assumption, possibly wrong, is that he held out in hell for as long as he could, and after he broke too the "deal" was broken and the countdown to the apocalypse started.

I also think that the woman who's destroying pictures in that mansion is actually the female herald whose statue is noted as destroyed at the beginning of the assassination, and she's wiping out all representations of herself.

[Horatz]

Yeah, Wit's Hoid and the guy at the end is the tenth herald. My assumption, possibly wrong, is that he held out in hell for as long as he could, and after he broke too the "deal" was broken and the countdown to the apocalypse started.

Yes.

Peace gets bought with suffering, but as long as one of the heralds refrains from reincarnating/staying in the living world the agreement is binding.

They break and reincarnate: a desolation occurs that they have to fight.

It's like the Dragon reborn and the Heroes of the horn, only a thousand times worse and no happy reunion in dreamland for anybody...

I also think that the woman who's destroying pictures in that mansion is actually the female herald whose statue is noted as destroyed at the beginning of the assassination, and she's wiping out all representations of herself.

That's pretty much universally accepted now.

[Restless]

I think you are talking about Dalinar and his son near the end of book. A shardplate (The suit of armor) increases the persons strength and a shardblade goes through everything except another shardblade or shardplate and it also weights nothing. This is why they killed 100s of people. Armor means nothing to a shardblade. Which is why they are so sought after and which is why they mention kingdoms been traded for it.

If you mean Szeth, he is a Knight Radiant, he has mastery over gravity and increases strength and if he intakes Stormlight he will heal and continue to be stronger and in the palaces they user Stormlight so he has continues supply of it and he also carries money which has Stormlight and has a shardblade.

If you mean Kaladin, he is a Knight Radiant like Szeth but not the knowledge on how to use his powers properly. He does however intake Stormlight to strength and heals himself.

I accept all of these. But its still unbelievable. 95% of the book are about how real the things are. Killing hundreds in shardplate without being hit several times is just impossible in close combat vs soldiers.

At least Rand al'thor practiced for months, maybe year, before becoming sword master. Kaladin goes from newbie to master in few days. Read (or reread) Elantris - same thing happens, people getting used to super forces in minutes

Now, I horrified by possibility that next book ending will be more of the same - main heroes winning alone, single-handedly. After these battles, in 1st book! - what more can we expect?!

I'm overreacting, but the book was so good till the end :)

[AverageGuy]

the Konan-like Deux ex-machina endings

It wasn't Deus Ex. Half of Kaladin's chapters and most of Szeth's set up what Kaladin would become. The reader was meant to see it coming. Conan-like, I can see that argument.

Also, I don't think they've quite hit god status yet. Superhero status maybe. But they probably will, so you should probably keep that in mind if you decide to go forward. I imagine they'll get to god status by the time they have to face Odium. Much like Vin becoming a new incarnation of Preservation when she had to face Ruin, I'm guessing we'll see ten people become the new Heralds.

If you mean Szeth, he is a Knight Radiant, he has mastery over gravity and increases strength and if he intakes Stormlight he will heal and continue to be stronger and in the palaces they user Stormlight so he has continues supply of it and he also carries money which has Stormlight and has a shardblade.

If you mean Kaladin, he is a Knight Radiant like Szeth but not the knowledge on how to use his powers properly. He does however intake Stormlight to strength and heals himself.

I don't think they're Knights Radiant exactly. Kaladin and Szeth are Surgebinders, like the Windrunners were. Each order of the Knights Radiant had different abilities depending on the spren they bonded to; Jesnah said two orders were made up of Soulcasters.

[Migey]

Kaladin goes from newbie to master in few days.

Not quite. He was in the army for quite some time, and i think it was mentioned somehwere how his drilling seargent told him he picked up the spear faster then any recruit had before. He had a fair bit of practice, and was evidently good enough to lead his own squad.

So he didn't become a master in a few days. And as for his knight radiant powers, well, he wasn't really that proficient with them.

[End of Disc One]

Yeah Kaladin has been a badass fighter for years.

[Gabriele]

Can we parhaps start an official SPOILER thread for this book? I'm getting tired of clicking through all that spoiler stuff in order to read it.

[CryHavoc]

That's pretty much universally accepted now.

Really? Cool. Is there any consensus about others still running around?

[Horatz]

Really? Cool. Is there any consensus about others still running around?

In the intro, Szeth encounters a drunk man who asks him "Have you seen me" after Szeth passed by a display of the ten heralds with one statue missing.

Some of the others might turn up, but that will probably be a very Angst-ridden affair.

[Horatz]

Yeah Kaladin has been a badass fighter for years.

Excuse the undignified comparison but: very much like Ichigo, if not more.

The only one who gets power(s) out of nowhere is

resident red-head Shallan

, and she isn't very good at it.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Killing hundreds in shardplate without being hit several times is just impossible in close combat vs soldiers.

Dalinar did get hit multiple times. Even before the Parshendi Shardbearer showed up, his Shardplate was cracked in many places and its strength was failing.

[Darkness]

I accept all of these. But its still unbelievable. 95% of the book are about how real the things are. Killing hundreds in shardplate without being hit several times is just impossible in close combat vs soldiers.

At least Rand al'thor practiced for months, maybe year, before becoming sword master. Kaladin goes from newbie to master in few days. Read (or reread) Elantris - same thing happens, people getting used to super forces in minutes

Now, I horrified by possibility that next book ending will be more of the same - main heroes winning alone, single-handedly. After these battles, in 1st book! - what more can we expect?!

I'm overreacting, but the book was so good till the end :)

From memory, when his little brother was recruited into the army, they were told he said to serve for 4 years. In one of Kaladins chapters he mentions the look on his fathers face when he said he will continue in the army. He joined the army same time as his little brother and continued to serve which means a minimum of 4 years in the army.

It wasn't Deus Ex. Half of Kaladin's chapters and most of Szeth's set up what Kaladin would become. The reader was meant to see it coming. Conan-like, I can see that argument.

Also, I don't think they've quite hit god status yet. Superhero status maybe. But they probably will, so you should probably keep that in mind if you decide to go forward. I imagine they'll get to god status by the time they have to face Odium. Much like Vin becoming a new incarnation of Preservation when she had to face Ruin, I'm guessing we'll see ten people become the new Heralds.

I don't think they're Knights Radiant exactly. Kaladin and Szeth are Surgebinders, like the Windrunners were. Each order of the Knights Radiant had different abilities depending on the spren they bonded to; Jesnah said two orders were made up of Soulcasters.

They are because

The legends in the Stormlight history says The Knight Radiants could fly, walk on walls and transport themselves from one place to another. So the natural talent to make a deal with Spren means they're Knight Radiants. Which may explains how in one of Dalinars visions it shows them leaving their Shardplates and Shardblades and he mentions how they lost some of their light. Maybe to wield their full power you need to also have made a deal with a Spren. I wonder how strong someone with a deal with a Spren and a Shardplate can be?

[Gormenghast]

I think that as long you accept another story about unwilling heroes the rest is plausible. It's a bit silly nitpicking whether they are or not too overpowered.

I think the problem is that it sits too much in the cliche, but the execution of the cliche is done well.