So, The Way of Kings:
*Disclaimer: you'll notice that I compare The Way of Kings to the Eye of the World a lot. I know that might seem unfair, or strange, but the Eye of the World was the only 1st-in-a-series book that I've read that contained similar scope and depth. So, um, deal with it . . .
What can I say about this book in general? First off, its big. Scratch that. Huge. I finally put it down last night having read all 1008 (or something like that) pages. I can't think of any other fantasy series that has started off with a book that big. At a thousand pages, its three hundred pages longer than Eye of the World . . . in fact, its as long or longer than any of the Wheel of Time books. So if you have a hankering to read it, know that you are picking up a big, big book.
Brandon Sanderson has made a name for himself among the fantasy community for two things: ingenious magic systems and big plot twists that came late in the book. The Way of Kings lives up to both of these expectations, but not in the way I was expecting. Don't worry, I'll explain.
The magic he introduces in The Way of Kings is vast and complex . . . more so than in any other fantasy book I have ever read. Making a quick count, I think he reveals four, possibly five distinct magic magic systems during the course of the novel, each one was unique and incredibly fascinating. However, unlike in Mistborn, where Sanderson lays out the rules of the magic in a clear, concise way, the magic in The Way of Kings is more, well, mystical. There is still more explanation of the magic than you'd find in the Lord of the Rings (which has basically no explanation) but a whole lot less than he gave us in Mistborn or Warbreaker. For one of the magic systems he introduces there is probably about as much explanation as Robert Jordan gives the One Power in the Wheel of Time. For the rest, you get even less. Overall, I really enjoyed this approach to magic, even more than I enjoyed his explanations in Mistborn and Warbreaker. But, like I said, it was definately not what I was expecting.
Now, as far as for plot twisters, The Way of Kings definately lives up to expectations. But for me, this was both a strength and weakness. The bulk of the Way of Kings was definately not a page turner. In fact, it wasn't until I hit page 950 that I had that "Oh my heck I can't put this book down" feeling. But the feeling did hit me, it just took a lot of work getting there. So, the plot twist thing worked, because the end definately was unexpected, and exciting.
But, here's why I also think its a weakness: I think that most fantasy authors, even most High Fantasy authors, don't plan on their series being more than three or four books long. There's the famous quote from Robert Jordan: "It'll be a trilogy" and even George R.R. Martin only planned his series to be four or five books long, in the beginning (I'm not sure what he's planning now). Sanderson, however, went into this series telling the world it was going to be ten books long (I shudder to think what'll happen if he tries to emulate Jordan's ever expanding series thing . . . can you image a 30 book series of 900 page novels?) Well, if you're gonna expect people to invest a big chunk of their time into reading a 10 book series, you'd better start the series off with a real zinger. And The Way of Kings was not a zinger. It didn't read like the first book in a series, in fact, it read more like the seventh book in a series. Sanderson saved his punches (and they were big, awesome punches) for the last 100 pages of the book, but it felt like he should have been delivering punches right from the beginning . . . and he didn't.
When you settle down to read the Way of Kings, be prepared for a huge cast of characters. The Eye of the World is told from the perspective of 5 characters (and the vast majority of the story is from the perspective of just 1 character). I don't have an exact count, but in the Way of Kings you get a POV from nearly 15 different characters, with the bulk of the story being told from the POV of 3 different characters. Spreading the story out between so many different characters made for an interesting read, but it also made The Way of Kings feel less like the opening book of a series. Even halfway into the book I found myself struggling to remember who certain side-characters were. Add to this the fact that one character's storyline jumps back and forth in time, and you have a very complex story.
And although the characters in the Way of Kings are incredibly interesting, varied and well written, the sheer number of them made me come away from the story feeling like I hadn't gotten to know any one of them as well as you know Rand by the end of the Eye of the World.
The world Sanderson created for The Way of Kings is amazing in both its creativity and its depth; but, if you're looking for a classical fantasy world of deep forests and high, snow-capped mountains, this is definately not it. Roshar is an alien place, hard rock devoid of soil and few plants or animals that we would recognize. Instead, it is filled with a plethora of crab- and lobster-like animals of all shapes and sizes, and plants that are more like the corals and sponges you'd find in an ocean reef. Roshar doesn't feel like Bag End.
I found the setting of The Way of Kings both fascinating, and a little disorienting. I had opened the book prepared to read a fantasy, but I could never quite shake the feeling that what I was reading was actually science fiction in disguise. It was interesting to explore this new world . . . but this isn't High Fantasy in the grand old tradition.
To sum it up, The Way of Kings was worth all the time I spent reading it, but it definitely was work getting to the good stuff. I stood in line on opening night to get a signed copy, and for the first 500 or so pages I was regretting that decision. Now that I've finished the book, I don't regret it at all, and I plan on staying up late to get the sequel next year, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.
Brandon Sanderson is at the forefront of a new generation of fantasy writers, and he's definitely good at what he does. But for all its delicious goodness, I set down The Way of Kings feeling a little let down. There was just something missing from this first novel in the Stormlight Archive, something that I'd found in Tolkien, Jordan and Eddings. Sanderson's world was just a little too alien, his magic a little too polished. In the past decade, fantasy has taken a bold step forward, led in large part by Sanderson. But for me, that bold step forward has taken fantasy a long way from what made it special in the beginning.
The genre is in danger of losing the magic that gave it birth.
Later . . .
