The Way of Kings Prime is the original version of Brandon Sanderson's epic The Way of Kings (2010). The last book he wrote before landing his first publishing deal, this book is significantly different from what originally got published as the first book of The Stormlight Archive: there are no spren, no Shattered Plains or bridge crews, Taln shows up at the beginning rather than the end and is a main character, and Merin (the character who eventually became Kaladin in The Way of Kings) accepts the Shardblade he won rather than turning down the honor of being a Shardbearer!
Sanderson has said in the past that he wrote this before becoming a good enough writer to do it well, and it wasn't until after the rapid leveling-up of his writing skill forced upon him by the process of finishing The Wheel of Time that he really had the chops to do it right, which is why The Way of Kings came out after The Gathering Storm.
In July of 2020, 10 years after the release of The Way of Kings, Sanderson released a free download of ''The Way of Kings Prime''
on his website, stating that it should be considered an Alternate Universe version of The Way of Kings, giving a What Might Have Been look at a very different Roshar, and should not be considered canonical in any way for The Cosmere.
