Brandon Sanderson’s well-loved epic is a little too long and overdone for its own good. 

The world is huge, interesting, and filled with vibrant characters, a rich history, and a cool magic system. If you’re a fantasy lover, you’ll really dig the world-building. 

But there’s a point when less would be more, and Way of Kings doesn’t need to be this long and wordy. I imagine Sanderson could have trimmed up to 50% and it would have improved the experience. 

I know some, perhaps especially those who’ve read the three sequels, will say that the payoffs come, and insist on each chapter having relevance. But even if the next four books (the 5th one is being written) made every chapter in this book relevant (many aren’t), I’d still insist on not having them. 

There’s such a thing as payoffs taking too long, and that’s the problem with Way of Kings. 

Bro, do you even edit?

The odd scene aside, the book was an absolute slog until about the half-way point. Even then, it takes a while to heat up. The climax and finish of the book is really sweet. By the end I really liked Kaladin, Dalinar and Shallan, the book’s three main POV’s. There are more, of course, not least of whom is Szeth, who doesn’t get nearly enough screen time (and therein really illustrates my point of how less is more, cuz I probably enjoyed his segments the most). I only found one other non-main-POV interlude memorable, and it was the Prologue. Take out the rest and you have a better book in my opinion. 

*uses stormlight to deflect fanboy flaming*

Funny enough, I watched a Brandon Sanderson lecture (he teaches at BYU) where he confessed he broke a bunch of the standard rules for writers while making the book, simply because he can and wanted to. There’s a time and a place for this, butttt to me this book proves that the rules are there for good reasons. 

There are some great twists at the end, and the final few hundred pages really pick up the pace. Some scenes really had me engaged – one of them literally with the hair standing on the back of my neck in horror – and Sanderson has moments of really great writing. He’s one of the modern-day fantasy masters, and it shows… but even shining moments lose a bit of lustre when the timing isn’t right. 

For that reason, I’d recommend The Way of Kings to hardcore fantasy lovers and fans of epic worlds, but suggest that you start elsewhere if you want to get into the genre or even into Sanderson’s writings. I kinda wish I had! 

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