The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive Book # 1) Audiobook Review

By Brandon Sanderson

Read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading

Reviewed by Gabby

Get the Way of Kings on audiobook here

The Way of Kings Overview:

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Roshar is a world of stone swept by tempests that shape ecology and civilization. Animals and plants retract; cities are built in shelter. In centuries since ten orders of Knights fell, their Shardblade swords and Shardplate armor still transform men into near-invincible warriors. Wars are fought for them, and won by them.

In one such war on ruined Shattered Plains, slave Kaladin struggles to save his men and fathom leaders who deem them expendable, in senseless wars where ten armies fight separately against one foe.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Fascinated by ancient text The Way of Kings, troubled by visions of ancient times, he doubts his sanity.

Across the ocean, Shallan trains under eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece Jasnah. Though Shallan genuinely loves learning, she plans a daring theft. Her research hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The Way of Kings Audiobook Review:

STORY

IDEAS

CHARACTERS

NARRATORS

STORY

The Good:

Ok. Drop everything and go and get this audiobook. This is the best story i’ve heard in ages. Sanderson has created an amazing world, so richly detailed that I can visualise it easily even in all it’s weirdness. The Way of Kings is everything you could want in an epic fantasy audiobook, great world building, amazing characters, magic and mystery.  There is almost never a dull moment, I honestly can’t believe this audiobook is 45 hours long because it just went so quickly. Sanderson doesn’t waste time getting bogged down in unnecessary details or sub-plots, he put in the exact amount that was needed to make a good story. The main sub-plots appear in the interludes and although brief, give us an idea that there is something mysterious going on and that everything is about to come to a head. The audiobook is descriptive and detailed where it needs to be, when describing some of the bizarre creatures for example, but Sanderson doesn’t yarn on and on about landscapes and food (unlike some authors i’ve reviewed) . The story regularly switches to another characters perspective, we get to know some better than others. Some characters we know very little of but I found that their chapters really added to the sense of apprehension. We have no idea what’s really behind all the wars and fighting, we understand that we’re only being given a tiny snapshot of the huge, complicated world that is Roshar. Instead of making the story seem overly complex, the snapshots are so tantalising they leave the listener wanting more.

Sanderson’s plot twists really blew me away, he whipped them out and threw them at me with such skill and precision I wanted to cry. I’m not joking. There was one part that was so incredibly intense I started hyper -ventilating. But i’m incredibly nerdy so I suppose it’s ok. Sanderson has said that this is intended to be a massive 10 book series. Luckily he is supposed to be one of the more productive writers, so I absolutely can’t wait to see what the next few years will bring.

The Bad:

There are very few things wrong with this book. I would have liked to hear more from Dalinar Kholin, the badass blackthorn who seems to have had quite a dark past. Although we know virtually nothing about him. It seems that Sanderson is going to fill us in on the characters mysterious pasts in each book. In this one we learn all about Kaladin and in the sequel (which i am currently listening to) we learn about Shallan. So my guess is that we’ll learn about the Blackthorn in one of the later books.

The prelude was a little overwhelming. There were Oathpacts and Knights Radiants, Desolations and Thunderclasts. It all sounds incredible, but I wanted more context. Of course if we had actually started with some kind of story about how things were thousands of years ago, there would be less of a mystery. After all, part of what makes this world so weird is that no one really seems to know much about the history of Roshar. Things like the Desolation are mentioned, but no one really knows what it means, just that it happened thousands of years ago. I think that this 10 part series will be even more enjoyable as Sanderson slowly reveals the answers to the mystery that is this story.

IDEAS

The Good:

Roshar is an incredibly interesting world with eco-systems and animals that are very different from ours. I really liked what Sanderson did with this world, I think too many authors play it safe, drawing on Tolkien style world building and basically creating another Earth, but with bigger mountains and some magical creatures thrown in. Not Sanderson though. The land of Roshar inhabited by wild life similar to that which you would find in the ocean, except they’re all on land. Even the plants are similar to those in the ocean. Roshar is battered by High Storms, so my guess is that Sanderson felt that the only plants and animals that could thrive in such harsh environment would be similar to those of the Ocean (Roshar does have Oceans, they haven’t really been explored though). As a result we have chulls, large crustaceans that are like oxen and pull carts and caravans. Then there are Chasm Fiends- which are basically giant lobsters that live in the crevices of the shattered plains. There are also plants that can retract back into holes to shelter from storms or predators (much like sea anemones). All of this adds so a more interesting world and gives us something we’ve never had to imagine before which is refreshing and exciting.

Sanderson also added in Spren. They seem to be human thought or emotion made real and come in many different varieties. Some are harmless but annoying (like Wind Spren) others are extremely dangerous, like Rot Spren. Those are tiny Spren that appear around a wound and make it more susceptible to infection. The idea is fascinating. It is clear that the people of Roshar don’t really know what Spren are or understand them and are instead content to just live with them. The presence of the Spren add a little extra quirkiness to Sanderson’s world, making it that little bit more unique and giving us more to think about. I really hope that we’ll learn more of the Spren in the following books.

The classes of the main cities are determined by eye-colour. Light eyes hold the main positions of power, the greatest being High Prince. Most dark eyes occupy lowly positions, work standard jobs and are deferential to the light eyes. As a result, the class structure is very rigid and inflexible. Having dark eyes means it would be impossible to become a High Prince, unless you procured a shard blade. But then if that happened, your dark eyes would change to light anyway, so as a dark eyes you can never really win. Roshar is clearly rife with racism and prejudice, but just in a different way from our society, it is quite fascinating to think of a world where your class is determined by your eye colour.

Finally, the Bridgemen. Such a fantastic way to get a character involved in battle, but in such an original manner. I’ve listened to so many stories about soldiers and commanding officers, but never from the perspective of bridgemen. Their job was so gruelling, I was able to vividly imagine how demanding and exhausting their work was.

I could harp on for another 2,000 words about all the amazing ideas and themes that make up this book, but nobody wants to read such a long review and probably best not to spoil all the surprises.

The Bad:

I don’t think there was a bad idea in this book. Although the names seem to be getting stranger and stranger.

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CHARACTERS

The Good:

Kaladin had potential to be annoying as hell. To say that he dwells on the past and everything he’s done wrong is an understatement. Kaladin insists on taking responsibility for the lives of everyone he’s involved with, even if they’d rather just be left alone. Because of this, anytime something goes wrong Kaladin is racked with guilt. He’s determined to always do the right thing, act with honour and above all, fulfil his duty to protect his men. This could have gotten annoying except Kaladin realised that the only reason he’s like this is because he’s selfish as f*ck. He tries so hard to protect his men to make up for his past failings and to make sure he doesn’t ever have to feel guilty again. That’s when Kaladin became most human to me and his sacrifice towards the end of the audiobook meant so much more because of this.

Shallan is a very strong female character. The countries of our main characters are pretty sexist. Women have to wear a glove on their ‘safe hand’ (the left I presume) whilst their ‘free hand’ can be naked. An interesting take on societies forcing their women to cover up so as to be considered pure and upstanding. Sanderson has clearly tried to avoid coming across as overtly sexist through Shallan. She starts out timid and meek, but actually reveals herself to be quite strong and fierce. She is sharp and witty and also extremely clever. I liked Shallan a lot even though I expected not to. With every chapter she grows in boldness and develops into a very strong woman, hinting at her future potential.

Dalinar Kholin is another fascinating character. He’s known as the Blackthorn and supposed to be one of the most ruthless High Princes. Except now he’s a bit older and everyone thinks he’s going crazy. Dalinar is a very likeable character because he treats everyone with respect, is wise and ultimately does not want to be a part of this war. He’s also very mysterious, I don’t know what he was like in the past, or what he did. I expect later books will reveal it, but I think that Dalinar has a dark side I haven’t yet seen and i’m interested to see how it will manifest.

The Bad:

I think Sil could have been given a lot more depth. I wish she had developed a bit earlier into the more interesting Spren she is now. Sil wasn’t necessarily a bad character at all, in fact she helped lighten up Kaladin’s gloomy chapters. It’s just that initially she didn’t seem to have much purpose other than just flying around and asking odd questions.

NARRATOR

The Good:

Michael Kramer and Kate Reading nailed it. I really like having two different narrators for the different perspectives, having a female voice Shallan makes it so much more authentic. In terms of Kaladins perspective, a female narrator could have done a good job, but I think the rough gravelly voices of bridgemen really require a male narrator. Kramer did a great job of Rock’s voice. He’s a horn eater and speaks with a distinct accent (although I can’t really pin point what it might be based off). Kramer makes Rock’s voice jolly and booming, whilst Sigzil is given a softer, more nasally tone. Reading does a great job of Shallan, soft and articulate, but she is also able to easily branch out and voice sailors, servants and the distinguished Jasnah Kholin.

The Bad:

The only problem that comes from having two different narrators is the inevitable crossover with voices that occurs. Dalinar sounds very different in Reading’s voice compared to Kramer and some of the names were pronounced differently. This was only mildly annoying and the cross over was very brief, but was noticeable.

I hope you enjoyed our Way of Kings Audiobook Review, come back soon!