The Way of Kings

cbsam74

Just wondering if anyone has read or intends to get Way of the Kings by Brandon Sanderson....What is your take on it for anyone that has read it.

gufnork

Not read it yet, but it's on my to read list. Have an awful lot of books on that list. Did have a read of the first few pages and it certainly seems like it'll be a good read.

shockwave

I finished it a few weeks ago and thought it was brilliant, excellent story with some great characters.

The only downside is the long wait for the second one to come out, apparently its not out untill next year.

cbsam74

thanks for that. just started reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen, by the time im finished that i reckon the next few book will be out hopefully

OwaynOTT

I'd highly recommend it. Its a step up from his other work and that's even more apparent now that I'm reading Elantris.
The god thing about Sanderson's work, is the fact that it's all based in the same cosmere. All the books take place on planets within the same solar system and there is links running throughout the lot of them and all he series, whilst standalones, will lead up to a future project called Dragonsteel.

Sleepy

Recently finished the Mistborn trilogy and will certainly be reading more of Sanderson's work.

Reviews and Books Galore

I liked it, but it wasn't a mind-blower or a game changer. Well, I'd love to see more books with that artwork. Wow I loved that in the book.
The only real problem I had with it was that I felt it could've been edited a bit more. I listen to his podcast, Writing Excuses by the way, and I think it suffered from an affliction of his earlier stories.
I think they called it the "Sanderson Avalanche". It's preety much where a load of revelations happen one after another at the end of the story and it really lessens the impact of the new information. I only really cared about one reveal at the end.
It was

the fact that the almighty was dead

Now that was a shocker.

OwaynOTT

Reviews and Books Galore wrote: »

I liked it, but it wasn't a mind-blower or a game changer. Well, I'd love to see more books with that artwork. Wow I loved that in the book.
The only real problem I had with it was that I felt it could've been edited a bit more. I listen to his podcast, Writing Excuses by the way, and I think it suffered from an affliction of his earlier stories.
I think they called it the "Sanderson Avalanche". It's preety much where a load of revelations happen one after another at the end of the story and it really lessens the impact of the new information. I only really cared about one reveal at the end.
It was

the fact that the almighty was dead

Now that was a shocker.

You really need to read the US version to appreciate the artwork. Hopefully they get they same guy again for the art.
It's not a game changer but what it does it does well and there isn't anything else like it out there at the moment.

Temptamperu

I loved it, read both books in about three days and would highly recommend it.

JTER

Brilliant book, some great characters, most of all I love the structure/logic to Brandon's magic systems. Have since read all his other work except Warbreaker.

Walt Grace

Great book. Certainly a step up from his other work. Has the makings of a great series I think. Pity we have to wait so long for the next one!

Also his podcast Writing Excuses is great, some really good insights into the world of writing every week.

AnCapaillMor

I'm about 95% into it, thought it was a good read and then bam at about 85% it turned into a great f'in read. I'm knackered in work this morning, the only reason i stopped reading was the tablet battery ran out. Its got the WOT "this has happened before" thing going for it. Kalidans an epic character. My only problem is that there'll be more and this is the first.

OwaynOTT

I reckon the series is going to take as a long as King's Dark Tower books to wrap up.

Temptamperu

OwaynOTT wrote: »

I reckon the series is going to take as a long as King's Dark Tower books to wrap up.

Ten books all told, though not all set the same planet, I have read.

OwaynOTT

Temptamperu wrote: »

Ten books all told, though not all set the same planet, I have read.

Ten in the Stormlight Archive. All his other books are set in the same cosmere with different levels of interconnectiveness. A future series called Dragonsteel to conclude and tie in the whole lot. I think I read somewhere that we could be in for 20 novels in total, not including what's already published, to tell the story of his cosmere.
It's an ambitious project to say the least and I wonder if it's too much. Look at hiw Jordan's series is ending and martins the glacial pace of Martin's series. The fact that some of the novels are based on different planets could help diffuse any burnout.

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

OwaynOTT

Way of Kings released 2010. Not sure if the second installement is even started. Earliest to be released would be 2013. That's 3 years for the first 2 books. Even if he releases a book a year, and he won't despite his speed, it will be 20 years.

ixoy

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Way of Kings released 2010. Not sure if the second installement is even started. Earliest to be released would be 2013. That's 3 years for the first 2 books. Even if he releases a book a year, and he won't despite his speed, it will be 20 years.

Ah but he's had to finish off "The Wheel of Time" in between now and then. Once that's out of the way, he's going to be able to focus on the Way of Kings alongside more Mistborn probably.

OwaynOTT

ixoy wrote: »

Ah but he's had to finish off "The Wheel of Time" in between now and then. Once that's out of the way, he's going to be able to focus on the Way of Kings alongside more Mistborn probably.

And sequels to Elantris and Warbreaker. Plus whatever side projects , which Alloy of the Law was because that's not part of the next mistborn trilogy but which might get its own now as well, that he becomes embroiled in. This year alone will see two released novellas.
The man is a machine but eventually he will slow down but maybe not to the same extent as Lynch, Rothfuss, Jirdan, Martin, Brett and all the other 'epic' fantasy writers.
A Stormlight Archive book every 2 years is optimistic in my view and there's still his Dragonsteel series which is the real conclusion. That's another five, so it will be at least 25 years before the end.
I think the cosmere project is too grand but I'll read all I can.

mar-z

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Way of Kings released 2010. Not sure if the second installement is even started. Earliest to be released would be 2013. That's 3 years for the first 2 books. Even if he releases a book a year, and he won't despite his speed, it will be 20 years.

It hasn't been started. His website has progress bars for current projects and he is on a re-read of WoT and 0% done for 'stormlight 2'. On a plus side that would seem to be his next project.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/

AnCapaillMor

Good interview here. Found it while looking at a rothfuss interview.

Looks like he'll be doing flashbacks to tell the backstories on each character in the books. Hope he does Dalinar next book.

OwaynOTT

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Good interview here. Found it while looking at a rothfuss interview.

Looks like he'll be doing flashbacks to tell the backstories on each character in the books. Hope he does Dalinar next book.

Next book is focusing on Shallen, iirc.

Playboy

OwaynOTT wrote: »

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Good interview here. Found it while looking at a rothfuss interview.

Looks like he'll be doing flashbacks to tell the backstories on each character in the books. Hope he does Dalinar next book.

Next book is focusing on Shallen, iirc.

Jesus he has to pick the most uninteresting character in the book to focus on! Has he got a hard on for boring female characters. The main girl from mistborn was a bad female char too and was one the the reasons it wasn't a particularly good series

OwaynOTT

Playboy wrote: »

Jesus he has to pick the most uninteresting character in the book to focus on! Has he got a hard on for boring female characters. The main girl from mistborn was a bad female char too and was one the the reasons it wasn't a particularly good series

Ah she got more enjoyable to read nearer the end and I think she might have some interesting povs in the future using the soulcaster and all that. She also suffered because of the fact that there wasn't anything much going on in her arc until the end compared to the others, some of her parts could of been cut and improved the book but yhe author felt he needed to have her in it throughout. The 'humour' in her parts were truely awful though.
Infact a hundred pages or so could of been edited out to be honest.

septern

i just finished Way of Kings over the weekend and loved it - i haven't enjoyed a book as much in years. I had given up on the Wheel of Time series, but am now tempted to pick it up where Brandon Sanderson co-writes

OwaynOTT

septern wrote: »

i just finished Way of Kings over the weekend and loved it - i haven't enjoyed a book as much in years. I had given up on the Wheel of Time series, but am now tempted to pick it up where Brandon Sanderson co-writes

Gathering Storm is quite good, apart from a few niggles, but Towers of Midnight is a bit of a mess. Lots happens in a haphazard fashion whereas Gathering Storm is a lot more focused and has two main plots with Rand and Egwene. Not so much filler that we have seen since Winters Heart.
Both books could of done with more time devoted to editing and rewrites though.

jamezy

septern wrote: »

i just finished Way of Kings over the weekend and loved it - i haven't enjoyed a book as much in years. I had given up on the Wheel of Time series, but am now tempted to pick it up where Brandon Sanderson co-writes

I too have just finished it the other night. Cracking book. Very alien setting which i quite enjoyed.

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Gathering Storm is quite good, apart from a few niggles, but Towers of Midnight is a bit of a mess. Lots happens in a haphazard fashion whereas Gathering Storm is a lot more focused and has two main plots with Rand and Egwene. Not so much filler that we have seen since Winters Heart.
Both books could of done with more time devoted to editing and rewrites though.

Cant disagree too much with you. I did really enjoy the quicker pacing that Sanderson has brought to the series which, for me at last, makes me look past the few flaws.

OwaynOTT

Some parts of Towers of Midnight could of done with room to breathe.
There was no way Robert Jordan could of finished the series in one book and I think he would of struggled with 3.

septern

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Gathering Storm is quite good, apart from a few niggles, but Towers of Midnight is a bit of a mess. Lots happens in a haphazard fashion whereas Gathering Storm is a lot more focused and has two main plots with Rand and Egwene. Not so much filler that we have seen since Winters Heart.
Both books could of done with more time devoted to editing and rewrites though.

Thanks for that - am 75% into Gatherng Storm at the moment, and am really enjoying getting back into the Wheel of Time again