It follows three main POV's, along with a number of side characters, and takes place amongst an ongoing, several year war between the Alethi people and the Parshendi. The book opens with the King of Alethkar being murdered by an assassin and after the Parshendi take credit a war of revenge begins. The story then picks up a number of years later and follows our three main Characters.
The most prominent of POV is that of Kaladin, a slave who is sold to an army taking part in the war and made to run in a bridge crew. A bridge crew carries large wooden bridges to the battle zone so the soldiers can use them to cross chasms and get to the battles quicker. The bridge crews are considered the lowest of the low in the army and the fatalities are massive.
Kaladin is suffering mental health issues and PTSD from things in his past, which we learn about through flashbacks throughout the book, yet despite this is a natural born leader and skilled warrior. Sanderson is fantastic with creating characters you care about and Kaladin is one of my favourite fantasy characters.
The second character is Dalinar. He is a Highprince, brother to the murdered King and Uncle to the new King. He is honourable and principled, unlike the other Highprinces, and a wonderful father to his two sons. He is also suffering visions which come on when the magical storms hit which unfortunately is quite frequent and because of this is position and reputation is under threat.
The final POV is Shallan. She begins the story trying to become the Ward of the King's Sister, Jasnah Kholin, who is a fantastic scholar but also very controversial in society. Shallan herself is very intelligent and a gifted artist. Her POV is used to do a lot of world building and gives us the history of Alethkar. Due to this it's a little slower paced than the other two POV's but it did always have interesting and valuable information.
This book is an epic. It's huge in idea, world building, characterisation and word count. The Way of Kings, and the Stormlight Archive, is beginning to be seen as a classic of Epic Fantasy and it's reputation is well deserved.
The magic system is amazing and unique. The world Sanderson has created is huge and there are so many different cultures that are touched upon in varying degrees that you just have to marvel at the attention and effort that has gone into building this universe. The history we learn about also makes the world so rich and filled that you feel like you just want to keep reading and don't want to stop, which is a good thing because as I touched in above, the books are huge.
Finally the characters are amazing. The main characters are all fleshed out and interesting, they make believable decisions and have both good and bad moments. They are also different enough that we see a wide view of the culture and world Sanderson has built.
Also, moving away from the main characters there are some great side characters. Some you will fall in love with instantly and some are only touched upon but you will want to know more about them and as this is a huge ongoing series I have no doubt we will.
My only issue with this book, and it is a very small one, is that the book does take a little while to really grip you. Because of all the world building there are passages that slow the pace of the story down and when this happens directly after a compelling action scene you sometimes get pulled out of the story. However the last third of the book really picks up pace and goes hurtling to the ending.
If you like Epic Fantasy and have not picked up this book yet I would recommend it. This is going to be a staple in the Fantasy genre for many years and for a very good reason. It's fantastic.
UK Bookshop code
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/6822/9781473211513
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