The Way of Kings - (Stormlight Archive) by Brandon Sanderson (Paperback)

About the Book

A "New York Times" bestseller--a richly imagined epic by the author chosen to complete Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, set in a world relentlessly blasted by awesome tempests, where emotions take physical form, and terrible secrets hide deep within the rocky landscape.

Book Synopsis

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

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.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

The Cosmere
The Stormlight Archive
● The Way of Kings
● Words of Radiance
● Edgedancer (novella)
● Oathbringer
● Dawnshard (novella)
● Rhythm of War

The Mistborn Saga
The Original Trilogy
● Mistborn
● The Well of Ascension
● The Hero of Ages

Wax and Wayne
● The Alloy of Law
● Shadows of Self
● The Bands of Mourning
● The Lost Metal

Other Cosmere novels
● Elantris
● Warbreaker
● Tress of the Emerald Sea
● Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
● The Sunlit Man

Collection
● Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series
● Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
● The Scrivener's Bones
● The Knights of Crystallia
● The Shattered Lens
● The Dark Talent
● Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (with Janci Patterson)

Other novels
● The Rithmatist
● Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
● The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

Other books by Brandon Sanderson

The Reckoners
● Steelheart
● Firefight
● Calamity

Skyward
● Skyward
● Starsight
● Cytonic
● Skyward Flight (with Janci Patterson)
● Defiant

Review Quotes

Praise for Brandon Sanderson and the Stormlight Archive

Over 15 million Stormlight Archive books sold!

"One of the genre's most beloved authors."--TIME

"Sanderson raises the genre stakes... A fan favorite."--The New York Times

"[Sanderson] is not a brilliant writer of epic fantasy, he's simply a brilliant writer. Period."--Patrick Rothfuss, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"The genre's most popular writer... easily one of the most successful and prolific fantasy writers of the century so far."--Esquire

"Epic in every sense."--The Guardian on The Way of Kings

"Sanderson is a master of many aspects of the fantasy genre: epic world-building, coherent systems of magic and unforgettable character development. All those are in peak form in his masterwork, The Way of Kings."--Paste Magazine, "The 50 Best Fantasy Books of the 21st Century (So Far)"

"Absolutely revels in its fantasy world, one of actual gods, bizarre magic, knights with superpowers, spirits and sorcery, monsters, demons, and magic sword[s] called Shardblades. It embraces the fantastic, and does so with an astonishing amount of creativity . . . Words of Radiance is a must-read."--io9 on Words of Radiance

"Excellent . . . cranks up the level of intrigue to dizzying extremes...Sanderson's experiment is working, and he gets better with every book. The journey will be worth it. Yes, you should buy this book. Yes, this is a series worth following to the end."--Reactor on Words of Radiance

About the Author

Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. His bestsellers have sold 50 million copies worldwide and include the Mistborn saga; the Stormlight Archive novels; and other novels, including Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Rithmatist, Steelheart, and Skyward. He won a Hugo Award for The Emperor's Soul, a novella set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he completed Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time(R). Visit his website for behind-the-scenes information on all his books.