The Way of Kings takes some time to find its bearings: after a brief, enigmatic prelude in which a pair of centuries-old warriors on a desolate battlefield discuss the abandoning of "the Oathpact," the narrative skips ahead 4,500 years to the assassination of a king in his palace, then another five years to a war fought in that king's memory, then another eight months, as a soldier who distinguished himself in that battle is being transported as a slave.
This is where the novel starts to find its groove, however, as the slave, Kaladin, is sold into bondage with the bridge crews at the Shattered Plains, an expansive landscape of mesas where the Alethi highprinces have gathered their forces to seek vengeance upon the Parshendi (the nation accused of killing the monarch). Though pressed into brutal service in a military quagmire--the bridge crews are essentially used to draw enemy fire, and their high casualty rate is not only tolerated but expected--Kaladin slowly forges his comrades into a fierce fighting unit, intermittently remembering the chain of events that led him to this place. (There's a supernatural element to his success; a fairy-like creature, called a spren, continually goads him from falling back into despair.)
But The Way of Kings is not just Kaladin's story. There's also Dalinar, an Alethi highprince (and the dead king's brother) who seeks a way to hold the kingdom together while struggling with visions of unexplained disasters from the ancient past. Half a world away, a young girl named Shallan manages to be accepted as an apprentice scholar with Jasnah (Dalinar's niece) in order to steal a magical item with which she hopes to restore her family's failing fortunes. Sanderson maneuvers between these three storylines skillfully--although there's a long stretch where Shallan & Jasnah fall off the radar--until forging explicit links in the final chapters.
If there's one thing that disappoints about this sprawling novel, it's that those connections are made, after nearly 1,000 pages, primarily to set up the continuance of "The Stormlight Archive," as Sanderson has named his new series. Every bit of closure is counterweighted with another narrative opening—and that's even before you include the "interludes" that offer additional perspectives on this fantasy world sprinkled throughout the book. Accept the fact that you need to commit for the long haul, however, and you'll gain access to a combination of rousing adventure, insidious intrigue and philosophical probing cast in events where Sanderson is able to push his meticulously etched characters to their most dramatic stress points. --Ron Hogan
Shelf Talker: Sanderson was already a rising star in epic fantasy when he was tapped to complete Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga, starting with The Gathering Storm; the fans he's acquired in the last year should be captivated by this original series.