Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive

Thats one of the best traits of the book IMO. It doesn't treat us as a reader- it treats us as an observer, and as such doesn't infodump.

Indeed. For me, it's a combination of that trait and the sheer depth and complexity of the worldbuilding.

Checking his website, it seems as though he has not begun the next book in the series. This makes me sad.

Anyway, just finished the book, and goddamn it was just thrilling once the battle of the Tower Plateau started.

Or, with Shallan, once she visited Shadesmar.

edited 26th Jul '11 11:02:21 PM by LuckyRevenant

The Battle was one of the best bits of the book, and one of the parts I consistently want to reread.

At the moment, though, he's working on completing the last book of The Wheel Of Time.

Which is understandable. I'm not a fan of the series—can't be a fan of what I haven't read—but I know that many others are, so I guess it's a good thing he finish it first.

It's funny, I originally started reading Sanderson's work because I didn't want to start reading the Wheel of Time books if the last few were bad, but now I simply love his books.

That, and I'd rather he gets practice writing beforehand, too

Just recently finished reading this,and I must say, I was blown away by it. I had read his other works and liked them a lot, but this was simply amazing, in characterization, plot and setting, but by far the best part was the sheer scope of the thing, simply breathtaking.

When I think that there are ten more where this came from, I'm simply awed.

I'm sort of the opposite. Someone recommended Elantris to me once, I fell in love Sanderson's work, and it was the fact that he's finishing the series that made me want to read Wheel Of Time

edited 27th Jul '11 2:06:11 PM by LizardBite

I picked up The Way of Kings because I'd heard praise for his work finishing Wo T, and I bought The Eye of the World today in large part because I liked T Wo K.

I found out about him when he was picked to finish Wo T, which I'd been a casual fan of,picked up Elantris, decided he was awesome and the rest is history.

Also the Tower Battle was full of epicness on both Kaladin and Dalinar's parts, Kaladin was just ridiculously kickass.

As a Sanderson fan, I liked the fact that it felt more connected to his previous books then other books have been, there was a bunch of little things, mostly in the Letter Epigraphs both also in the text that referenced the overarching backstory to all the books, which was totally awesome.

A friend of mine said his problem was Kaladin was so awesome, he overshadowed everyone else. Me, I thought Kaladin and Dalinar were equally amazing characters, with the former benefiting from the book's focus on him.

Kaladin's my favorite Brandon Sanderson protagonist yet, because he does the whole "inspire hope in hopeless people" thing, but really has to work at it. With Raoden and Kelsier it always felt like things went a little too easily for them.

edited 3rd Aug '11 8:42:09 AM by RavenWilder

Yes. That.

Absolutely, You really get the sense of desperation and despair, and he totally earns his happy ending.I love it when that happens, makes the happy ending so much more satisfying. Sanderson said that in the original version of the book he ended up with a Shardblade in the first scene of the book and was boring thereafter. I can totally see that, most of the appeal of Kaladin's story is watching him fight his way tooth and nail out of the gutter.

Checked this out and read it over the course of several days. I thought it was really good. Best fantasy novel I've read. Full of ideas and life and character. I only hope he doesn't pull a Jordan and take too long between releases and/or lose quality further on. Speaking of which, if he commonly writes this well I might even take up Wo T again.

About Kaladin, am I the only one who didn't feel he was really wangsting? maybe because I digested it in chunks, but his reactions seemed pretty justified, up until the point where he almost made Bridge 4 lose all hope. But then he came out of that with an awesome plan and action sequence so that was cool.

edited 17th Aug '11 6:02:32 PM by mailedbypostman

No, you're not the only one. Poor guy had a hell of a lot of bad things happen to him, and it seemed like just when he was getting over one traumatic event, he gets slammed with another one.

Regarding Brandon Sanderson, I would definitely recommend reading his other novels. I've read several of his novels (Elantris, Mistborn, Warbreaker, the Alcatraz Smedry series), except for his Wheel of Time book, and he is, IMHO, one of the best fantasy writers today and is making a good run at being among the all time greats.

I completely agree, all of his books are good reads, including the Alcataz YA books.

And I also don't think Kaladin was being particularly wangsty, as the world seemed to be kicking him in the face a lot. He's the poster child for Trauma Conga Line, and it's amazing he didn't just snap and end up gibbering in a corner. Or going on a Suicide by Cop homicidal rampage.

My first reaction when I decided to pick this book up was: "1,250 pages? And this is book one? ''Out of ten!?"

But I just finished reading this book and I was extremely impressed. Like it was already mentioned, I really liked how Kaladin actually had to work at gaining respect instead of the universe bending over backwards to hand it to him simply because he was the main character. I also enjoyed the interlude chapters. Since most of the viewpoint characters were previously unknown and were hundreds or thousands of miles away from the action, they helped make the world feel like a real place where everything happens simultaneously everywhere at once.

At first, I was afraid that I would have the same problem with this book as I had the further I got in Wheel Of Time series: I'd get so focused on following the exploits of one or a few specific character(s) that I grew annoyed whenever the point of view shifted to someone else. I eventually dropped the series because there were some point of view characters I simply couldn't bring myself to care about anymore.

This book was different. I thought all the primary point of view characters were extremely fleshed out and interesting, which surprised me because I was convinced that I would find Shallan's plot to be really boring since it didn't directly tie into the main plot of this book. Hopefully, they'll all remain interesting as more books are released. I do have to say that I didn't really like the flashbacks, though to be fair, it wasn't because they were bad, but mainly because I dislike Foregone Conclusion and Doomed by Canon.

But, ultimately, this book resonated with me because of both The Paragon and this strange combination of Humans Are Flawed and Rousseau Was Right undertones. Sure, Humans Are Bastards was in there too, but it almost seemed like that was the exception, not the rule. That's what really grabbed my attention.

edited 20th Aug '11 6:18:11 PM by RedViking

Brandon Sanderson has said that he doesn't think of his books as having villains for the most part, just people who made the wrong choices at some point, although there are exceptions. So, yeah the non-usage of Humans Are Bastards and implications that Rousseau Was Right are pretty much a signature of his books. And something I also find pleasant.

And I liked the flashbacks, because they provided insight into Kaladin's character and made him feel more real. Sanderson says in the next book either Dalinar or Shallan will get flashback chapters, he hasn't decided yet.

Ker-bump, because I've been thinking about this book recently.

What do people think about Jasnah/Shallan soulcasting without a soulcaster, in terms of how it relates to the Knights Radiant and their abilities? Given the brief communication between Shallan and the symbol-heads, my guess is that soulcasting is an ability granted by truthspren, ie the symbol-heads. Not sure how soulcasters fit into that, though.

I'm really interested in finding more about the various orders of the Knights Radiant. Did they all use shards, or were there "non-combat" orders? What, exactly, is the deal with their various abilities? My guess is that each order is bonded with a different kind of spren, all of which are "concept" spren (like honorspren) rather than "physical" spren (like windspren). Honorspren we know about, and I'm guessing the symbol-heads are truthspren, but what other kinds do you think there are? I'm guessing that given they seem to be based on virtues, there's a spren for courage or bravery, one for kindness or compassion... I'd say one for loyalty, but that's probably covered by honor. Given that there are (probably) ten of them, though, there's definitely a bunch that I have no guesses for.

Personally I'm wondering how badass Original Seven's weapons are if they're superior to shardblades.

there were ten heralds, not 7, who knows how badass those swords are though we might find out in book 2 seeing as Talenel is at large with his. (he's not dead because it says in the prelude that the heralds' swords actually vanish when they die unlike regular shardblades.)

and the spren are probably all connected in some way with the "divine attributes" listed on the chart in the ars arcanum, so you have the "truthspren" which are connected with creative/honest (because Shallan only sees them by drawing at first and they ask for truths.)

I finished reading T Wo K for the second time just last week. It is for sure my absolute favorite book - I'm looking forward to Sanderson finishing A Mo L, but I want the next Stormlight book so bad right now.

you should come hang out with us on 17thshard.com and Stormblessed.com, we have lots of discussion going on on the Way of Kings (and the rest of Brandon's books on 17thshard). Also, we have cookies.

Read it in July, but got around back to this thread only now. Awesome worldbuilding, already preordered the next book. Now on to reading Ringworld ->

Oh and on the spoiling discussion earlier: I didn't read the thread before posting my first. And besides I generally read for the how not for the what, so I'm not easily spoiled.

I loved this book and the worldbuilding. Finished it about a year ago. Also, I am okay with Sanderson's WOT writing (except for one character I feel has been Flanderized) and am eagerly awaiting the last book, which comes out in two weeks. The anticipation is why I usually do not start series until the last book or the next to last book is out. For instance, I started WOT a little under two years ago and am still having to wait on the last book.

As for the types of spren, I think they might be connected to the ideals of the orders for the Knights Radiant. For instance, Kalladin takes one of the codes of the second order (defending those who can not defend themselves) and has an honor spren. I believe that the "life before death" ideal is the same to all of them, but other then that one each order also takes its own ideals.

So maybe, some orders are more concerned with scholarship, defense, charity, liberty, etc. than others and their unique ideals reflect that. Therefore, Szeth could have a loyalty spren. If honor would include going against the person whose employ you are in if they order certain things, Szeth would be considered extremely loyal but not necessarily honorable in the way some of the orders of Knights might define it.

Though I can not remember if Szeth can only find honor in serving a master, or if he must serve a master because he has no honor. Either way, I think the loyalty aspect stands.

If that is the case, I think the possible Knight orders represented so far can be classified as: Dallinar - leadership/statesmanship K(forgot) - honor/hope/steadfastness in the face of adversity Jashna and pupil - Truth through scholarship/history/art Szeth - loyalty

edited 25th Dec '12 8:35:26 AM by denisewinters