My first adult fantasy book was Eye of The World and my first Sanderson book was Way Of Kings out of spite at people saying they were too difficult to start with
Those are such great places to start, honestly -- I always wanted to enter Sanderson's work through the SA because I love a good challenge, and I hate being told I shouldn't read something! lol
@@ManCarryingThing I've never been part of a book fandom, I just read it as It was recommended it to me, loved the series so far, didn't see it as a "challenging read" - am i wrong? Only time I felt something was challenging was "Malazan book of the fallen" - i don't mean that as an arrogant statement - nobody cares about reading skills lmfao, maybe it is just because i love large world building series that make ya think
@@Mistborn94 Honestly it does not matter. I've read SA first and then I went trough Warbreaker and Mistborn and was like "ooooh, hold up for a moment!" during some moments. As long as you remember what you've read before, you can connect it no matter the order.
i bingeread the first three books in the span of about a week and a half, very much didnt find them too slow was full of suspense just wanting to know what happens next haha
@@ronanward6411 My god you are a trooper sir. I read the first Mistborn book and absolutely loved it. But, I decided to wait on finishing the whole series because I heard about The Way of Kings and how good it was. It took me a whole month to finish it, but I have loved every single page. I'm actually a writer myself, and worldbuilding is by far my favorite part of writing a book. And I'm sure you know how absolutely astonishing the worldbuilding is in twok. The plants, the weather, the geography, everything. I have never felt such love and dedication from a world created by an author. It inspires me to put in the same love and dedication.
Same! Besides the Cosmere, I can count on one hand the number of other series I've read in the past 5 years. I'll probably start reading other books again, once I finish with the Cosmere.
Oh my gosh! I was the exact same. I went several years after college not reading and tried several shorter books to get me back into reading, but it always stopped after a week or two. I tried Way of Kings while in a book store on a whim hoping a giant brick would encourage me to read better than the shorter ones, and I was gripped by the first Kaladin chapter
Not to copy every other response, but this is exactly what happened to me lol. Hadn't read a book for pleasure in maybe 5 or 6 years then I blazed through this book in less than a month. Accessible prose and yet such gravitas when it's needed
This was so great! I really dislike the sentiment that you shouldn't start with the Stormlight Archive, I have NO regrets starting there! It is very slow but the pay-off is so fantastic and the rest of the series picks up the pace so much. I've found that going back to WoK there is so much hidden information that just makes the even richer than I first imagined. Subscribed man :)
Thank you! I'm really glad I started with WoK even though it was a struggle at times. I can tell I'll want to reread it one day - and I'm sure it will be a VERY different experience then
I started with WoK, simply because it was the first Sanderson book I'd heard of. I only learned about the Cosmere halfway through, and then went to read Warbreaker, since it was online for free. In hindsight, I'm REALLY glad I started with WoK. That reveal near the end, when SPOILER . Dalinar finds out that the Almighty is dead, wouldn't have worked half as well, if I'd already read Mistborn, and knew that their "gods" come and go, and can be replaced. I genuinely thought that "THE God" was dead, and mankind was now all alone in the world. So Warbreaker alone didn't spoil it for me, but Mistborn definitely would have.
I think is better not to start with it no because is too long, is because once you read The Storm lights archive, the others cosmere books can't reach that level, and became more boring than if you start with Mistborn or elantris, and, I recommend you to stop in WoK and start the others cosmere books before reading Words of radiance, you'll enjoy more the book if you know the reference in it.
I began with Way of Kings as well and loved it. The only reason I’d suggest Mistborn first, is because I think Stormlight is far better. I went back and read Mistborn while we were waiting for the 4th book of Stormlight and couldn’t help thinking it was a tier below. Still a good series, but it was somewhat ruined for me by the greatness of Stormlight.
Reading the prologue, and then it starts to pay off in the 4th book, that connection as you start to understand what is happening is thrilling and satisfying
"Hmm, I gotcha, huh" The best part is, that this is absolutely something Brandon would say. With about the same inflection, too. Like, that was a spot-on Brandon impression
I guess that sentiment of "Don't start with SA" is really related to that slowness. I've read someone say that ideally you need to "trust" Brandon a bit to understand that it WILL pay off. Which makes sense, because if you've read pretty much any of his other books you know it will. That said, it really depends on the reader, some people have no problem committing to it despite the slowness.
@@Anomanderrake_ That much is true lol Honestly I didn't mind it when I first read WoK either. I'm currently re-reading (well, listening, really, not much time for reading these days so the audiobooks must suffice) SA in preparation for book 5, and it does take a pretty long while to really get going, which becomes very obvious when you start on WoR immediately after.
Reason you should start with Mistborn is because after stormlight Mistborn is less enjoyable. That was my experience anyway. I may have liked Mistborn more if I'd read it first.
@@ManCarryingThing Yeah. Maybe it's best to have finished stormlight up till it's latest point and then fully get into Mistborn. I read the first book straight after TWOKs.
@@ManCarryingThing It's a smaller story, at least in the beginning. The characters are just as good, and the magic system is really fun. Once you get into the full cosmere stuff the scope of the story is daunting but in a good way. There's just SO much to discover, it's great fun. Plus he writes at a truly insane pace so you're not left frustrated like with many other fantasy series.
You might be on to something here. I started with the SA. After I was caught up I read Warbreaker and the first Mistborn book. I was very meh on both of those, I have no motivation to continue through the other Mistborn books. I could care less about the Easter eggs, they’re not ground breaking for me. Quality wise they just seem lightyears away from SA.
The Way of Kings is my favorite book of all time… at least the Kaladin chapters are. I worked as a librarian for 5 years, and every time I found someone who was a fan of fantasy epics, I would bring up Stormlight. The two things I would say to them are 1) it’s slow. It’s an epic. It’s thousands of pages long. It will take you a while to read. And 2) stick with Shallan. She’s exposition the character in book 1, but she gets so much better in the next books. Shallan was my only problem with the book. Every time Kal was starting to do something interesting, Sanderson dragged me back to Shallan, and I got frustrated with that as a reader. I’ve been reading the book, a chapter or two per week, to a group of friends for the past several months and they all agree as well. So if anyone wanders across this comment who has tried to read Stormlight but was caught off guard by how slow Shallan is, just. Bear with her. She gets better. It doesn’t feel like it now, but her questions and mysteries become important later. It’s only upon reading her chapters out loud, having read all the way to book 4, that I have found some of the smaller details in her story from book 1. I’ve read this book cover to cover twelve times and missed so much because I didn’t know what I was looking for. Anyway, fun encouragement video. Interesting new channel for me to watch. May stick around for a bit, who knows.
I think it's more of a subjective matter that you think of Shallan as boring in Book 1. Rereading The Way of Kings makes me feel really engaged with her intricate depth of personality and there is a little bit more going on in her arc than mere exposition. But I think that there are a lot of people who wants to see her in action very early on but get to read about stuffy philosophy instead :D
@@dramalexi I definitely agree with OP that Shallan is boring in book 1 but that's purely because for most of the book she's an exposition machine who nothing happens to until she goes for a stroll with Jasnah. I didn't appreciate the information we get from her chapters or the more subtle story that surrounded her until my second read-through
Funny, because I felt the drag in Dalinar's chapters. Well, yes, Shallan chapters were kinda slow at first but I really enjoyed her later as much as I did with Kaladin. It was really her personality that made me like her a lot.
@@chantararix Same, when I was reading it, Dalinar was the only character that made me consider skipping ahead. I didn't dare miss anything though, so instead I just slowed to 20 minutes per day, until I got past his chapters and got back to the other characters. Then I read their chapters in one sitting, until Dalinar showed up again. (By the end of WoR, Dalinar was my second-favorite character, but he certainly didn't stand out that way!)
Never really understood people who say Shallan is boring. Shallan was my favorite character from book 1. In her chapters at least there was some intrigue going on and also Dalinar's. But I guess it makes sense that it would be boring if you were reading 2 chapters a week.
We were at summer camp and me and some of my book nerd friends brought a bunch of books for the ride up. My friend Zane brought the first three stormlight books box set. My friend Theo read the entirety of Way of Kings during summer camp, it was a five day camp so that's 200 pages a day! AT FUCKING SUMMER CAMP!!! I will never get over that. There was one point where we were hiking and Theo was just reading on the trail. Also Theo ended up starting Oath Bringer on the trip and just brought the book home with him and Zane didnt get his book back for a week
Dang O_o at my summer camp we hardly had any time to do anything besides camp activities. Welp I guess it wasn't a free roam camp because we had to travel in groups but still
Words of Radiance, which is book 2, does everything that book 1 did even better. The joy that you get as the pieces start to come together in the final third of the book is invigorating. And the climax is just grand in every sense.
The prolouge starts off as just another one. But then every book thereafter brings you back to that fateful night --and I'm getting chills just thinking about it-- from another perspective. And you learn something new. Something more. It's better than Rotfuss A way of Three Silence.
I always laugh when people complain about the slow pacing because as a speed reader, I'm always frustrated because most books are over too quickly to really enjoy. The pace of the SA is literally what I've waited my whole life for, and one of my favorite parts of the series.
That's true to me too, also the clear way Sanderson give you the stuff not having to search for subcontext is why I like his writing, because I tend to read books that I like mire than one time. I get tangled, don't know if I make my point understandable XD
The Way of Kings. The most interesting book where hardly any major plotlines playout. The entire first book is all setup and yet, somehow, it's fascinating as hell. Slow as dripping glass but somehow keeps you reading. Wait until things really start up in the sequel. O.O
I get that the books could be hard or boring for some people, but I never found that to be the case for me. I've read all four books in the stormlight archive in the last six months. I had literally never heard of Brandon Sanderson at all, I just saw some big books on the library shelf back in February and went "that. I want to read that." And I am very glad I did. I was hooked by the prologue and just have not been able to put these books down. I can't get enough of the memes and fan culture around it here either.
Some hardcore Sanderson fans get up in arms when you suggest that The Way of Kings is too slow and too long, even when you at the same time acknowledge it’s an incredible book. I totally agree with your conclusion. Fantastic book even if it’s a bit slow and could benefit from being shorter.
Flowery prose is not necessary when your writing ability is at Sandersons level. He can paint a vivid picture with a sentence! people who critique him for not having flowery prose are so pretentious.
Yes! He’s not a classics writer, he’s making his own classic. His prose isn’t too overly complex too, and honestly that’s what I would prefer with so much information that’s thrown at us in his books
why do Sanderson's fans always use the word "flowery" to describe the prose they think his critics would prefer? I would be happy if Sanderson' prose was simply functional and workmanlike without calling attention to itself. In my opinion it is actively bad to the point that it distracts me from the otherwise compelling narrative. how much you can tolerate bad prose is up to you, but let's not straw man the critiques of his writing
I'm a little late, but just passed page 600 and feel I am finally beginning to enjoy the storyline. There were times I wanted to toss the book aside and read something else. I purchased the large paperback. Didn't want to waste my money.
If you don't read the other Cosmere books first you will miss a ton of Easter eggs. Keep in mind these big chonkers are part of an even chonkier universe, and that universe has a timeline, or order of events. Also The audiobooks are much easier (and enjoyable) than the books by themselves for me at least. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are incredible and do all of the Stormlight Archives, and most of the other Cosmere books as well.
I am here. I am back. Three months ago I saw this video, and I picked up the book. Three months later I’m back and I UNDERSTAND. Words cannot express what I’m feeling but I want you to know that this video made me pick up a book for pleasure for the first time in 5 years. Thank you and AHHHHH
Whenever someone says stormlight archive is really difficult I tell them "oh, if you want a super easy read thats really beginners friendly, try out Book of the New Sun or Wizard Knight. Both are under a thousand pages, you'll enjoy them, I swear."
I stopped reading for pleasure for years from like the year before I started Highschool until I graduated, I don't really know what started my desire to read again, but I read a couple short books and wanted to pick up a fantasy series... found Daniel Greene's channel and came to the conclusion that I wanted to experience both Stormlight and Wheel of time, so I chose to read Stormlight and listen to WoT. Oh my god TWOK is daunting when you've read maybe 2 other books for pleasure in the past 5 years, it took me 2 months or so to read, not reading every day, but sitting down regularly for an hour or so. But it was easy to read. A mountain, but one with a nice path going around and up. TWOK is slow, maybe slower than it needs to be, but I've read all Stormlight books out so far, and it's been worth every page, and TWOK is the shortest one. No matter how much or little you've read in however long, you can read and do just fine with The Way of Kings. It's a brick, but it's easy to read, and damn is it worth the effort.
I don't rate the wheel of time, I'm on book 11 now and I'm just listening out of respect for the amount of time I've spent on the series already, not any actual interest in where the story is going
Dude, I really love your channel. I found your channel and absolutely fell in love and then later discovered that you're friends with Donald Green. But I can look past that indiscretion. I don't mean to do the annoying self-promo thing but since you talked about how slow and choppy Stormlight can be, I thought I'd mention that I'm working on a series of videos where I recap each chapter in a minute or less. The idea is that they are for the people who want a refresher/recap of past books before starting to read the next one in the series. I won't put a link here, but if anyone's interested you can find the whole playlist on my channel. I'll be finishing up with WoK hopefully this month and then moving on to WoR soon after that
Two years ago, I had just started getting back into reading after many years. I shared a kindle account with an old co-worker of mine. After finishing re-reading a few beloved classics from my childhood, I didn't know what to read next, and I saw The Way Of Kings on our account. I had never heard of Brandon Sanderson before, I just wanted something to read in my off time. So I thought, why not? There's three books, should keep me entertained for a while if I like them. I didn't even get 100 pages, and I ran to my local book store to purchase all three of the published Stormlights. I've now read almost all of the Cosmere books, a handful of his other books, own a leatherbound of Warbreaker and have plans on getting all of the other leatherbounds. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and I couldn't be happier about it!
Shallan’s part in WoK did annoy the heck out of me the first time I read the book through, but she does get better and her story does get way more interesting… and then when I re-read the books over I find Shallan’s story so much more fun because I know her character improves and grow so much…. Whereas after WoK, Kaladin’s character growth slows down so much that I find myself getting frustrated with how his story drags out. BUT! again, the character growth speeds up for him again in RoW so that is something to look forwards too as well.
Yeah like kaladin is my favorite character in reading ive come across rn because of the growth he goes through in the wok and my biggest issue with wok is, as you said, shallen during wok has very very slow parts, its nessicary for future growth and to add exposition but still sooo slow that it was a struggle to read through those parts grom ger perspective
I didn't find WoK's slow the first time I read it. Probably helped that I saved it for last, but I didn't know about it at the start. I'd heard about Mistborn and started with that. But I found Kalladin's depression and personal struggles captivating, but exhausting. So Shallan's chapters were a nice reprieve. It helped that I identified a lot with her being a socially repressed snarkster. There were a few moments I was upset to move away from one view point to another, but by now I'm just want more. My advice to people feels a bit exhausting, but honestly I feel it's the best way to go about it. They're both 400,000+ word novels, but Wok and WoR should be treated as part one and two of a massive book, in my opinion. A lot of the setup from WoK gets a LOT of pay off by the closing pages of WoR. The characters are much much more linked together, and the true stakes are starting to show themselves. The Sanderlanche descends!
It took me like 6 months to actually read the book. I kept starting and then putting it down for months then having to restart. Then I read it in 3 days and holy shit
Thank you for this. Halfway through and I can't put the book down. Find myself going back and reading earlier chapters. But thanks for the advise about not hyper focusing on details.
After years of an aversion to reading caused by years of reading assignments in school, I've given books another chance partially thanks to this video. Thank you, kind sir-carrying-thing, for making me carry an e-book reader (the thing) everywhere I go.
This is me, guy who read the Silmarillion twice, read the unabridged edition of Moby Dick for fun in High School. I read those big thick thousand page brick biographies, histories, fantasies, etc for fun. I have tried on 3 different occasions to read The Way of Kings and gave up each time. And no it's not the pacing nor the prose, although the pacing is a problem because I could not tell you what the plot even is. It's the worldbuilding or lack of big picture basic world building but that endless firehose of information that you feel like you're in a college lecture needing to take notes and never allowed to ask questions and always feeling like you missed something even if you read a chapter over and over again.
It was pretty good. Not the amazing epic victory that it was touted to be, but pretty good. Brandon Sanderson doesn't disappoint met like so many other modern authors do.
@@cosmicflare_ The way the ending happens is totally formulaic. It's paint by numbers plotting. I actually like Kaladin and his progress along the path. He doesn't just start out OP and really he isn't that OP at the end, just the most potent of his arc in the book. Zzeth is OP. Every turn of the plot was 'textbook' for lack of a better term. The originality in this book is all the 'stuff' in the world and the new magic system. While the magic system does seem to have its rules, it is doled out in a very Deus Ex Machina way. Kaladin doesn't know that he is pulling in storm light to fuel his abilities, he doesn't know he is making the arrows hit the bridge instead of himself. He gets to plod through it all ignorantly because of plot armor. 'Instinctive use of magic'. Shallan does the same with slipping into Shadesmar... though I don't want to talk about her... I really don't like any of the women in the story except the merchant... the one from the Interlude.
I had a pretty similar experience with starting Sanderson, I'm _very_ introverted and am not on the internet very much so I hadn't heard of Sandersin at all. Then over quarantine I discovered the book side of TH-cam and was like "I've finally found my home!" I heard the name Sanderson pop up several times and thought, oh yeah he must be a really good author to have all these good reviews. But I didn't actually fo any digging on what he writes or anything, it was just a note to self in the back of my brain "Sanderson might be cool." One day I was at Barnes and Noble and noticed Way of Kings and thought, "sure ok" and bought it. It has never taken me so long to get through a book lol, but I'm so glad I did it because now it's one of my favorite series
I am starting Warbreaker now. After reading Mistborn first, then Stormlight recently. How did you like Warbreaker's magic compared to the other two? I am hoping it will be even more mystical in, even, everyday use.
@@JawaharPinnelli I thought it was different (in a good way), but easier to keep track of than the other magic systems. It’s a bit more mystical, considering that the characters are newer to it than, say, the thousands of years rosharans had been using their magic system. Idk if that makes any sense haha but I enjoyed it
In hindsight I realise it was in fact fairly slow but I'm such a character-driven reader that I don't think I noticed how slow it was my first read through. I've come to appreciate complex plots more just through reading the other books in the series but you're absolutely right that Sanderson always rewards well you for your time and patience. Now just finished the second Malazan book and loving it so far so I guess slower plots just never bothered me because I love the character development that gets to take place in that time. Shallan drove me crazy in WoK in that well-written character whose decisions you never agree with sort of way, but now after finishing the rest of the (published) books in the series I've come to love her. I did start with mistborn but honestly just by chance because stormlight only had the first two books written at the time (I believe) so it just made sense to read the complete trilogy first. But stormlight is my favourite because after how good mistborn was I didn't think I could be any more impressed by his writing and yet my expectations were surpassed.
To me, the slow pace of this book didn’t feel like a negative. Yes, it takes its time, but it never feels boring. I could just listen to these characters interact with each other all day, especially Bridge 4.
I started reading this after I had just read The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear back to back. Those books blew me away and consumed me like no other books had. So naturally I drug my feet with this book, put it down multiple times, lost my place and got confused with the multiple interludes and character changes. To the point that I got about 400 pages in and just gave up. Boy do I regret that. I wish I had picked it back up sooner. I have only read Elantris and Warbreaker (both great), but I finally got into this book seriously and stuck it out. It was difficult to read when you are constantly changing prospective as soon as you really get interested in something. Then, as you said towards the end it just all comes together and it’s all worth it. I’m picking up Words of Radiance as soon as possible now.
"I've never read a fantasy book this long." That's why people recogmend starting with mistborn. It is a much shorter introduction to Branderson's and showcases his writing style much better then his early books like elantris and more immersive then his Novellas.
"that smug little, ahh I got ya" Yes! XD Thanks youtube for suggesting this a year later. Hoping you got a chance to jump on the KS! I'm looking forward to a year of Sanderson so much!
I read all of the wheel of time. And I thought Sanderson’s books were the best WoT books, so I started the Storm light archive. I’ve really liked it. Rhythm of war was a mixed bag though. A lot of good, some bad, but a heck of an ending.
I love your reflection on where you were midway through the book; you're like, "This book is long, I need a change of pace, I think I'll read War and Peace." 🤣
It legit took me a year to read this because I kept starting and stopping to bleach my brain with random smut romance novels (it's a curse) then once I hit around 50% everything just clicked and I binged the rest in 2 days and now I'm partway through words of radiance, it started off rough with what felt so damn random (the interludes, describing every piece of clothing and food ever) then it just picked up hard, by the end I was so thankful I had the 2nd book, I can already see this being s new favorite series
I pretty much read it in like 1-2 days and i regret nothing. Such a good book honestly and I can’t wait to read Brandon’s other books once I’ve finished stormlight archive
I might add in that I've been listening to this series on Audible as an audiobook, and the format of it fits wonderfully for the medium. I tried listening to the Witcher series like that, and _hoo boy_ that was a mistake- not because the series was necessarily bad, but because Sapkowski absolutely _disdains_ basic chronology in his literature. Meta-narratives within meta-narratives, references to stories about prophecies of future events that would have happened if they'd been properly remembered in alternate timelines by priestesses in drug-addicted fugue-states and oh dear god what the hell is even happening anymore
I love this book series! I started with The Way of Kings, I listened to it on audible (45.5 hrs) and liked the series so much that I ended up listened to basically all of his books. But I loved this series so much I listed to it two more times. ~212 hours for books 1-4 plus book 2.5
I'm about to read this book soon I have already read some of Sanderson books can't wait to read way of Kings the first book I read of his was warbreaker I really enjoyed it 🌈🥰😏😊
I have to ask, have you read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? Your channel name being similar and all, i figured you might have. If not, you definitely should. The Bryan Cranston narration on audible is great.
I got through The Wheel of Time (up to before Sanderson starts writing) back in 2007, so I thought The Way of Kings was a lovely stroll, and I'd love to drink a large glass of hatorade and rant about that series at Sanderson because of how much he loves it. [inhale] Anyone else ever wanna talk to him about the parts that make you cry? It's like, dude, this is good writing, but I don't want you to understand stuff that sucks this much. 😢 I'm rambling, so I'll just say, good video. 😊
I have not actually sat down and read a book in a long time, none-the-less a fantasy one of this size, I'm halfway through and find my something often rereading the same thing thinking I missed something crucial like you mentioned. So I sought out a review for some reassurance for my struggles... well this definetly helped. Thank you!
I read the two first books in my teens, then I forgot about the series for a while, but this year I came back and finished the third one I mean I liked what I have read, AND IM NOT TRYING TO PORTRAIT MYSELF AS A INTELLECTUAL but I never thought it was really hard to read o something like that, for me it seems like easy literature to past the time I am really looking forward for the fourth book
I actually LOVED how slow it was. I often had this visual in my imagination of two distant worlds/clouds/continents/something, moving together extremely slowly yet steadily. And the more I moved forward in the book, the closer they got, the more little tendrils exchanged between the two, like bits of lightning? Like every time the seperate ends of the stories touch, tendrils are echanged, but they're still seperate. And then ... when they finally connect, it is really beautiful. I know this sounds pretentious and needlessly vague, but this is a pretty direct description of what it felt like for me. And I don't know if any book will ever reproduce this feeling. edit: Also, I'm not an avid reader at all, and pretty impatient too. On top, Way of Kings was my first Sanderson book. But I never felt like I was slugging through in hopes for a payoff. I simply enjoyed reading about the characters' experiences and seeing how they live, and I liked all 3 of the main characters (and most side ones too, maybe all), they felt very real.
I started with Way of Kings. Then I read Mistborne. Now I'm caught up on all his books. He's a machine. He does romance really weak. I wish there was more. His mental health and political issues are on point.
The Stormlight Archive IS full of clues that you can find. Sometimes by re-reading parts. ...if you read the other's first. You can recognize patterns, mechanics, characters and devices. Sanderson's style is to not dwell on those things. If you don't know, then you don't know and the thing will just be treated as any other thing that is different from your everyday earth. Even Stormlight Archive is written so that it can be read without havin read the others first.
To everyone wavering about finishing: You got this and please don't wreck your brain about the quotes at the beginning of each chapter! You will, eventually. And it WILL be worth it. Took me 3 years to finish this, and now I am in love. Thanks for the review it is EXACTLY how I felt :D though I actually liked Shallan way more than Kal
just finished the main story and am going to read the final 50 pages of epilogue today, this is my first Sanderson book too and it took me about 4 months to finish
I read WoT as it published and when Sanderson finished it was the only of his work I’ve read. The past couple months I read all the MISTBORN books. I am about a 3rd into WoK and loving it! Lots of info to keep in head, but so good.
I have picked up this series thanks to you. I am now reading Edgedancer in preparation to reading the 3rd book of the Stormlight Archives, Oathbringer. The last 100 pages of The Way of Kings are FANTASTIC. I couldn't help but fuckning scream while reading. Seriously. No other book ever gave me this feeling. I could totally see this as being the next epic fantasy TV show but I am not sure a TV show could to it justice. How would all the sprens be represented ? They would have to tone down much of the fantasy elements, the same way they did the GOT TV show. I think the medium that could do this series justice would be an anime. But I doubt it would ever happen but who knows ? Has Apple TV made an epic Fantasy series yet ? They are such on a roll that I wish they get to do the show !!!
i heard of him when the wheel of time books came out that he authored after jordon passed. i found his writing style to have the soul that robert jordon lacked so i looked for his name at the bookstore and saw the way of kings. a huge book and that was right up my alley so i bought and read it. the book was so good, in particular ;the ending, that after i finished the last page i went right back to the beginning of that 1200 page monstrosity and read it again. his world building is unrivaled. none of his books takes place in medieval england like EVERY OTHER damned phantasy series. but his greatest quality is "the reveal." the staggering plot twists and the way he hides the answer to the main question of the series right on the first page. phenomenal author.
I finished books 1-4 of SA last summer, it just sucked me in so quick, and now I have to wait in agony for book 5. It kind of makes me wish I'd slowed down when reading them, but now I'm passing the time by rereading WOK and it is so much fun on a reread because I actually understand so much more and I'm catching all the little details I missed. If you are considering reading or partway through the series, know that it is totally worth it and I don't think any book series has made me laugh or cry so hard as the Stormlight Archives.
I went into this book knowing even less about Brandon Sanderson than you. I had never heard about him before, and I randomly chose his book from a bargain bin at a local bookstore. I proceeded to read the entire book and... yeah, it good. It real good.
My first adult fantasy book was Eye of The World and my first Sanderson book was Way Of Kings out of spite at people saying they were too difficult to start with
Those are such great places to start, honestly -- I always wanted to enter Sanderson's work through the SA because I love a good challenge, and I hate being told I shouldn't read something! lol
@@ManCarryingThing For me it wasn't a difficulty thing just there's a suggested reading order and you might miss some easter eggs/tie ins otherwise.
@@ManCarryingThing I've never been part of a book fandom, I just read it as It was recommended it to me, loved the series so far, didn't see it as a "challenging read" - am i wrong?
Only time I felt something was challenging was "Malazan book of the fallen" - i don't mean that as an arrogant statement - nobody cares about reading skills lmfao, maybe it is just because i love large world building series that make ya think
Wait till you get through the entire Wheel of Time series. WOW. I lost count of how many times I've read it.
@@Mistborn94 Honestly it does not matter. I've read SA first and then I went trough Warbreaker and Mistborn and was like "ooooh, hold up for a moment!" during some moments. As long as you remember what you've read before, you can connect it no matter the order.
HONESTLY I DID NOT FIND THIS BOOK SLOW AT ALL. Just when I read the 2nd chpt and was absolutely obsessed with this book series
Neither did I. I read it in like three weeks and was completely engrossed the whole way through
i bingeread the first three books in the span of about a week and a half, very much didnt find them too slow was full of suspense just wanting to know what happens next haha
I felt as if Mistborn was a bit slow tbh. As soon as I finished part 1 of Stormlight in about 3ish days, I finished part 2 in about a single day, idk.
BIG facts
@@ronanward6411 My god you are a trooper sir. I read the first Mistborn book and absolutely loved it. But, I decided to wait on finishing the whole series because I heard about The Way of Kings and how good it was. It took me a whole month to finish it, but I have loved every single page. I'm actually a writer myself, and worldbuilding is by far my favorite part of writing a book. And I'm sure you know how absolutely astonishing the worldbuilding is in twok. The plants, the weather, the geography, everything. I have never felt such love and dedication from a world created by an author. It inspires me to put in the same love and dedication.
I've read the way of kings after years of not reading anything and it was so fun and accessible it got back into reading
Same! Besides the Cosmere, I can count on one hand the number of other series I've read in the past 5 years. I'll probably start reading other books again, once I finish with the Cosmere.
Same! I was burnt out on reading after college and then read the first three books in a month
Actually Same
Oh my gosh! I was the exact same. I went several years after college not reading and tried several shorter books to get me back into reading, but it always stopped after a week or two. I tried Way of Kings while in a book store on a whim hoping a giant brick would encourage me to read better than the shorter ones, and I was gripped by the first Kaladin chapter
Not to copy every other response, but this is exactly what happened to me lol. Hadn't read a book for pleasure in maybe 5 or 6 years then I blazed through this book in less than a month. Accessible prose and yet such gravitas when it's needed
Do not make a T.V. series until the book series is finished.
Agreed. We don't need another GoT or Full Metal Alchemist situation.
I’m very surprised considering that Brandon Sanderson writes more than we can read 😅
I don’t think one will release because of hoids actor/voice actor aging.
“He talks a bit like Ben Shapiro”
Now I can’t unhear it
lol im sorry
What was really good was the Daniel's thumbnail 🤣
I heard it too!!!
He talks like Shapiro and Tarantino, but admittedly more like Shapiro
@@ethanmulvihill7177 that's described perfectly
This was so great! I really dislike the sentiment that you shouldn't start with the Stormlight Archive, I have NO regrets starting there! It is very slow but the pay-off is so fantastic and the rest of the series picks up the pace so much. I've found that going back to WoK there is so much hidden information that just makes the even richer than I first imagined. Subscribed man :)
Thank you! I'm really glad I started with WoK even though it was a struggle at times. I can tell I'll want to reread it one day - and I'm sure it will be a VERY different experience then
I started with WoK, simply because it was the first Sanderson book I'd heard of. I only learned about the Cosmere halfway through, and then went to read Warbreaker, since it was online for free.
In hindsight, I'm REALLY glad I started with WoK. That reveal near the end, when SPOILER
.
Dalinar finds out that the Almighty is dead, wouldn't have worked half as well, if I'd already read Mistborn, and knew that their "gods" come and go, and can be replaced. I genuinely thought that "THE God" was dead, and mankind was now all alone in the world.
So Warbreaker alone didn't spoil it for me, but Mistborn definitely would have.
i also started with wok and it addicted me so quick i bingeread the first 3 books one after the other then waited anxiously for book 4 haha
I read this in your voice.
I think is better not to start with it no because is too long, is because once you read The Storm lights archive, the others cosmere books can't reach that level, and became more boring than if you start with Mistborn or elantris, and, I recommend you to stop in WoK and start the others cosmere books before reading Words of radiance, you'll enjoy more the book if you know the reference in it.
I began with Way of Kings as well and loved it. The only reason I’d suggest Mistborn first, is because I think Stormlight is far better. I went back and read Mistborn while we were waiting for the 4th book of Stormlight and couldn’t help thinking it was a tier below. Still a good series, but it was somewhat ruined for me by the greatness of Stormlight.
Reading the prologue, and then it starts to pay off in the 4th book, that connection as you start to understand what is happening is thrilling and satisfying
"Hmm, I gotcha, huh"
The best part is, that this is absolutely something Brandon would say. With about the same inflection, too. Like, that was a spot-on Brandon impression
XD
"he talks a little bit like Ben shapiro" okay do NOT ruin Sanderson for me
im sorry, i cant be the only one cursed with the knowledge
@@ManCarryingThing you will be when i kms over this
thats a win bruh
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought that 😂
Shapiro on slow mo 🤣
I guess that sentiment of "Don't start with SA" is really related to that slowness. I've read someone say that ideally you need to "trust" Brandon a bit to understand that it WILL pay off.
Which makes sense, because if you've read pretty much any of his other books you know it will. That said, it really depends on the reader, some people have no problem committing to it despite the slowness.
It was Brandon Sanderson himself who said that during one of his college lectures on TH-cam.
Yeah, I didn't even realize it was considered slow until now, after reading WoK 3 times.
I have read books 7-10 of The Wheel of Time… The Way of Kings is much faster paced…
@@Anomanderrake_ That much is true lol
Honestly I didn't mind it when I first read WoK either. I'm currently re-reading (well, listening, really, not much time for reading these days so the audiobooks must suffice) SA in preparation for book 5, and it does take a pretty long while to really get going, which becomes very obvious when you start on WoR immediately after.
@@rogthepirate4593 honestly WoR felt a lot slower in the beginning, at least imo
Reason you should start with Mistborn is because after stormlight Mistborn is less enjoyable. That was my experience anyway. I may have liked Mistborn more if I'd read it first.
Oh that's a great point -- excited to start Mistborn soon, but yeah, I'm a little worried it won't be as impressive as Stormlight
@@ManCarryingThing Yeah. Maybe it's best to have finished stormlight up till it's latest point and then fully get into Mistborn. I read the first book straight after TWOKs.
@@ManCarryingThing It's a smaller story, at least in the beginning. The characters are just as good, and the magic system is really fun. Once you get into the full cosmere stuff the scope of the story is daunting but in a good way. There's just SO much to discover, it's great fun.
Plus he writes at a truly insane pace so you're not left frustrated like with many other fantasy series.
You might be on to something here. I started with the SA. After I was caught up I read Warbreaker and the first Mistborn book. I was very meh on both of those, I have no motivation to continue through the other Mistborn books. I could care less about the Easter eggs, they’re not ground breaking for me. Quality wise they just seem lightyears away from SA.
I didn't feel that way at all after a friend had recommended both series. I went through 1-3 SA finished MB, then finished book 4
I started with TWOK, after not reading a single book since high school 5 years ago... fast forward 7 months and boom I'm waiting for book 5
Here to tell you the wait is almost over 👋🏼
The Way of Kings is my favorite book of all time… at least the Kaladin chapters are. I worked as a librarian for 5 years, and every time I found someone who was a fan of fantasy epics, I would bring up Stormlight. The two things I would say to them are 1) it’s slow. It’s an epic. It’s thousands of pages long. It will take you a while to read. And 2) stick with Shallan. She’s exposition the character in book 1, but she gets so much better in the next books.
Shallan was my only problem with the book. Every time Kal was starting to do something interesting, Sanderson dragged me back to Shallan, and I got frustrated with that as a reader. I’ve been reading the book, a chapter or two per week, to a group of friends for the past several months and they all agree as well.
So if anyone wanders across this comment who has tried to read Stormlight but was caught off guard by how slow Shallan is, just. Bear with her. She gets better. It doesn’t feel like it now, but her questions and mysteries become important later. It’s only upon reading her chapters out loud, having read all the way to book 4, that I have found some of the smaller details in her story from book 1. I’ve read this book cover to cover twelve times and missed so much because I didn’t know what I was looking for.
Anyway, fun encouragement video. Interesting new channel for me to watch. May stick around for a bit, who knows.
I think it's more of a subjective matter that you think of Shallan as boring in Book 1. Rereading The Way of Kings makes me feel really engaged with her intricate depth of personality and there is a little bit more going on in her arc than mere exposition. But I think that there are a lot of people who wants to see her in action very early on but get to read about stuffy philosophy instead :D
@@dramalexi I definitely agree with OP that Shallan is boring in book 1 but that's purely because for most of the book she's an exposition machine who nothing happens to until she goes for a stroll with Jasnah. I didn't appreciate the information we get from her chapters or the more subtle story that surrounded her until my second read-through
Funny, because I felt the drag in Dalinar's chapters. Well, yes, Shallan chapters were kinda slow at first but I really enjoyed her later as much as I did with Kaladin. It was really her personality that made me like her a lot.
@@chantararix Same, when I was reading it, Dalinar was the only character that made me consider skipping ahead. I didn't dare miss anything though, so instead I just slowed to 20 minutes per day, until I got past his chapters and got back to the other characters. Then I read their chapters in one sitting, until Dalinar showed up again.
(By the end of WoR, Dalinar was my second-favorite character, but he certainly didn't stand out that way!)
Never really understood people who say Shallan is boring. Shallan was my favorite character from book 1. In her chapters at least there was some intrigue going on and also Dalinar's. But I guess it makes sense that it would be boring if you were reading 2 chapters a week.
We were at summer camp and me and some of my book nerd friends brought a bunch of books for the ride up. My friend Zane brought the first three stormlight books box set. My friend Theo read the entirety of Way of Kings during summer camp, it was a five day camp so that's 200 pages a day! AT FUCKING SUMMER CAMP!!! I will never get over that. There was one point where we were hiking and Theo was just reading on the trail. Also Theo ended up starting Oath Bringer on the trip and just brought the book home with him and Zane didnt get his book back for a week
people who read that fast are likely aliens, not human. be warned
@@ManCarryingThing thank you kind sir, I will keep that in mind and never trust him with a book of such size.
Dang O_o at my summer camp we hardly had any time to do anything besides camp activities. Welp I guess it wasn't a free roam camp because we had to travel in groups but still
@@ManCarryingThing I'm... an alien 😱
@@ManCarryingThingi actually finished WoR pt2 over the weekend😂
Not only I started reading Sanderson's with Stormlight, I started reading again altogether after a decade or so. And guess what ? I regret nothing !
I notice lots of people who haven't read for a long time get back into it because of sanderson
@@ManCarryingThing cause he the man
Words of Radiance, which is book 2, does everything that book 1 did even better. The joy that you get as the pieces start to come together in the final third of the book is invigorating. And the climax is just grand in every sense.
WoR is just fulfilling WoK promises. And I love it for that
I don't know why, but Oathbringer's final third struck me the hardest out of the four books. Loved all of them though.
The prolouge starts off as just another one. But then every book thereafter brings you back to that fateful night --and I'm getting chills just thinking about it-- from another perspective. And you learn something new. Something more. It's better than Rotfuss A way of Three Silence.
I'm only on words of radiance but when I saw the prologue was from jasnah's pov!!!! of that event!!! I screamed
@@ceb0lla904 I most certainly squealed with excitement too.
I always laugh when people complain about the slow pacing because as a speed reader, I'm always frustrated because most books are over too quickly to really enjoy. The pace of the SA is literally what I've waited my whole life for, and one of my favorite parts of the series.
That's true to me too, also the clear way Sanderson give you the stuff not having to search for subcontext is why I like his writing, because I tend to read books that I like mire than one time.
I get tangled, don't know if I make my point understandable XD
The Way of Kings. The most interesting book where hardly any major plotlines playout. The entire first book is all setup and yet, somehow, it's fascinating as hell. Slow as dripping glass but somehow keeps you reading. Wait until things really start up in the sequel. O.O
I first read tWoK in a week and I absolutely loved it. Didn’t feel slow to me.
I get that the books could be hard or boring for some people, but I never found that to be the case for me. I've read all four books in the stormlight archive in the last six months. I had literally never heard of Brandon Sanderson at all, I just saw some big books on the library shelf back in February and went "that. I want to read that." And I am very glad I did. I was hooked by the prologue and just have not been able to put these books down. I can't get enough of the memes and fan culture around it here either.
This video is my emotional support getting through this book
Lol
@@cosmicflare_ it worked too
Ha! This is the best review/recommendation/support group video I’ve seen for The Way of Kings ever 😂
Thank you! Lol
Some hardcore Sanderson fans get up in arms when you suggest that The Way of Kings is too slow and too long, even when you at the same time acknowledge it’s an incredible book. I totally agree with your conclusion. Fantastic book even if it’s a bit slow and could benefit from being shorter.
Flowery prose is not necessary when your writing ability is at Sandersons level. He can paint a vivid picture with a sentence! people who critique him for not having flowery prose are so pretentious.
Yes! He’s not a classics writer, he’s making his own classic. His prose isn’t too overly complex too, and honestly that’s what I would prefer with so much information that’s thrown at us in his books
why do Sanderson's fans always use the word "flowery" to describe the prose they think his critics would prefer? I would be happy if Sanderson' prose was simply functional and workmanlike without calling attention to itself. In my opinion it is actively bad to the point that it distracts me from the otherwise compelling narrative. how much you can tolerate bad prose is up to you, but let's not straw man the critiques of his writing
Ive just read way of kings without ever hearing of it before... one of the best reading experiences of my life
I never thought once that this book was slow. Love to hear other perspectives. I read it again right after finishing for the first time.
Same here. I absolutely adored it and I didn’t find it slow for a second
I'm a little late, but just passed page 600 and feel I am finally beginning to enjoy the storyline. There were times I wanted to toss the book aside and read something else. I purchased the large paperback. Didn't want to waste my money.
If you don't read the other Cosmere books first you will miss a ton of Easter eggs. Keep in mind these big chonkers are part of an even chonkier universe, and that universe has a timeline, or order of events. Also The audiobooks are much easier (and enjoyable) than the books by themselves for me at least. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are incredible and do all of the Stormlight Archives, and most of the other Cosmere books as well.
I am here. I am back. Three months ago I saw this video, and I picked up the book. Three months later I’m back and I UNDERSTAND. Words cannot express what I’m feeling but I want you to know that this video made me pick up a book for pleasure for the first time in 5 years. Thank you and AHHHHH
I'm very close to finishing Oathbringer and I gotta say, this series is the next big thing and I love it
Whenever someone says stormlight archive is really difficult I tell them "oh, if you want a super easy read thats really beginners friendly, try out Book of the New Sun or Wizard Knight. Both are under a thousand pages, you'll enjoy them, I swear."
I stopped reading for pleasure for years from like the year before I started Highschool until I graduated, I don't really know what started my desire to read again, but I read a couple short books and wanted to pick up a fantasy series... found Daniel Greene's channel and came to the conclusion that I wanted to experience both Stormlight and Wheel of time, so I chose to read Stormlight and listen to WoT. Oh my god TWOK is daunting when you've read maybe 2 other books for pleasure in the past 5 years, it took me 2 months or so to read, not reading every day, but sitting down regularly for an hour or so. But it was easy to read. A mountain, but one with a nice path going around and up. TWOK is slow, maybe slower than it needs to be, but I've read all Stormlight books out so far, and it's been worth every page, and TWOK is the shortest one.
No matter how much or little you've read in however long, you can read and do just fine with The Way of Kings. It's a brick, but it's easy to read, and damn is it worth the effort.
I don't rate the wheel of time, I'm on book 11 now and I'm just listening out of respect for the amount of time I've spent on the series already, not any actual interest in where the story is going
I totally did not follow the advice to not hyper focus on details. I TOTALLY loved rereading everytime something came up that I had seen before.
Dude, I really love your channel. I found your channel and absolutely fell in love and then later discovered that you're friends with Donald Green. But I can look past that indiscretion.
I don't mean to do the annoying self-promo thing but since you talked about how slow and choppy Stormlight can be, I thought I'd mention that I'm working on a series of videos where I recap each chapter in a minute or less. The idea is that they are for the people who want a refresher/recap of past books before starting to read the next one in the series. I won't put a link here, but if anyone's interested you can find the whole playlist on my channel.
I'll be finishing up with WoK hopefully this month and then moving on to WoR soon after that
Two years ago, I had just started getting back into reading after many years. I shared a kindle account with an old co-worker of mine. After finishing re-reading a few beloved classics from my childhood, I didn't know what to read next, and I saw The Way Of Kings on our account. I had never heard of Brandon Sanderson before, I just wanted something to read in my off time. So I thought, why not? There's three books, should keep me entertained for a while if I like them. I didn't even get 100 pages, and I ran to my local book store to purchase all three of the published Stormlights. I've now read almost all of the Cosmere books, a handful of his other books, own a leatherbound of Warbreaker and have plans on getting all of the other leatherbounds. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and I couldn't be happier about it!
Shallan’s part in WoK did annoy the heck out of me the first time I read the book through, but she does get better and her story does get way more interesting… and then when I re-read the books over I find Shallan’s story so much more fun because I know her character improves and grow so much…. Whereas after WoK, Kaladin’s character growth slows down so much that I find myself getting frustrated with how his story drags out. BUT! again, the character growth speeds up for him again in RoW so that is something to look forwards too as well.
Yeah like kaladin is my favorite character in reading ive come across rn because of the growth he goes through in the wok and my biggest issue with wok is, as you said, shallen during wok has very very slow parts, its nessicary for future growth and to add exposition but still sooo slow that it was a struggle to read through those parts grom ger perspective
Bought Mistborn first and it stat on my self for a month. Bought Stormlight and read it within a week.
No regrets.
I really agree with the comments on Sanderson's prose. Never understood the criticism, it is very clean yet nuanced.
It’s clean and doesn’t hurt the story but it also doesn’t add to it
Oof "I picked up war and peace as a break" is so true. Still my favorite book lmao
I didn't find WoK's slow the first time I read it. Probably helped that I saved it for last, but I didn't know about it at the start. I'd heard about Mistborn and started with that. But I found Kalladin's depression and personal struggles captivating, but exhausting. So Shallan's chapters were a nice reprieve. It helped that I identified a lot with her being a socially repressed snarkster. There were a few moments I was upset to move away from one view point to another, but by now I'm just want more. My advice to people feels a bit exhausting, but honestly I feel it's the best way to go about it. They're both 400,000+ word novels, but Wok and WoR should be treated as part one and two of a massive book, in my opinion. A lot of the setup from WoK gets a LOT of pay off by the closing pages of WoR. The characters are much much more linked together, and the true stakes are starting to show themselves. The Sanderlanche descends!
Great point! They go perfectly together. Things really start to get different and more complex in the following books
My recommendation: the audiobook. It's long too, but it felt so much more manageable. Listened to about 6 hours daily (during work)
This was my first Sanderson book and the world building pulled me in so much that I blew through it in about a week. It's such a good story
Wow, you got a good vibe man, can’t wait to see more from you!
Fantasy Talk Thanks dude! More to come!
It took me like 6 months to actually read the book. I kept starting and then putting it down for months then having to restart. Then I read it in 3 days and holy shit
Thank you for this. Halfway through and I can't put the book down. Find myself going back and reading earlier chapters. But thanks for the advise about not hyper focusing on details.
i want to start with the BIG final boss!! XD
Brandy Sandy saved my 2020, I ate all his books in the span of a few months it was great.
It's gotta be an anime
I started Sanderson with WoK. I regret nothing 8 months later.
I need those support groups ASAP!!!!! 😂😂
After years of an aversion to reading caused by years of reading assignments in school, I've given books another chance partially thanks to this video. Thank you, kind sir-carrying-thing, for making me carry an e-book reader (the thing) everywhere I go.
Love your channel! Great insight with much needed humor. Hope you keep making more videos!
Thank you!! More to come :)
This is me, guy who read the Silmarillion twice, read the unabridged edition of Moby Dick for fun in High School. I read those big thick thousand page brick biographies, histories, fantasies, etc for fun.
I have tried on 3 different occasions to read The Way of Kings and gave up each time. And no it's not the pacing nor the prose, although the pacing is a problem because I could not tell you what the plot even is. It's the worldbuilding or lack of big picture basic world building but that endless firehose of information that you feel like you're in a college lecture needing to take notes and never allowed to ask questions and always feeling like you missed something even if you read a chapter over and over again.
I always thought the recommendation not to start with Way of Kings was more about not getting the references from previous books
I’d say the Way of Man Carrying is no joke 😉🙃
The true final boss is reading Rhythm of War having not read the first three books
There's no point doing so.
Why would anyone do that?
@@Foxholt to be a pro gamer sigma male Gigachad
It was pretty good. Not the amazing epic victory that it was touted to be, but pretty good. Brandon Sanderson doesn't disappoint met like so many other modern authors do.
I agree. The ending is a bit overhyped, which is mainly because the main characters are too OP.
@@cosmicflare_ The way the ending happens is totally formulaic. It's paint by numbers plotting. I actually like Kaladin and his progress along the path. He doesn't just start out OP and really he isn't that OP at the end, just the most potent of his arc in the book. Zzeth is OP.
Every turn of the plot was 'textbook' for lack of a better term. The originality in this book is all the 'stuff' in the world and the new magic system. While the magic system does seem to have its rules, it is doled out in a very Deus Ex Machina way. Kaladin doesn't know that he is pulling in storm light to fuel his abilities, he doesn't know he is making the arrows hit the bridge instead of himself. He gets to plod through it all ignorantly because of plot armor. 'Instinctive use of magic'. Shallan does the same with slipping into Shadesmar... though I don't want to talk about her... I really don't like any of the women in the story except the merchant... the one from the Interlude.
I had a pretty similar experience with starting Sanderson, I'm _very_ introverted and am not on the internet very much so I hadn't heard of Sandersin at all. Then over quarantine I discovered the book side of TH-cam and was like "I've finally found my home!" I heard the name Sanderson pop up several times and thought, oh yeah he must be a really good author to have all these good reviews. But I didn't actually fo any digging on what he writes or anything, it was just a note to self in the back of my brain "Sanderson might be cool." One day I was at Barnes and Noble and noticed Way of Kings and thought, "sure ok" and bought it. It has never taken me so long to get through a book lol, but I'm so glad I did it because now it's one of my favorite series
Exactly! People say he has no prose but the clarity it beautiful
I started off reading Mistborn, then warbreaker, and once I read Stormlight, my mind was blown.
I am starting Warbreaker now. After reading Mistborn first, then Stormlight recently.
How did you like Warbreaker's magic compared to the other two? I am hoping it will be even more mystical in, even, everyday use.
@@JawaharPinnelli I thought it was different (in a good way), but easier to keep track of than the other magic systems. It’s a bit more mystical, considering that the characters are newer to it than, say, the thousands of years rosharans had been using their magic system. Idk if that makes any sense haha but I enjoyed it
@@ellie-501 That's cool. I'm getting my copy tomorrow. Can't wait.
In hindsight I realise it was in fact fairly slow but I'm such a character-driven reader that I don't think I noticed how slow it was my first read through. I've come to appreciate complex plots more just through reading the other books in the series but you're absolutely right that Sanderson always rewards well you for your time and patience.
Now just finished the second Malazan book and loving it so far so I guess slower plots just never bothered me because I love the character development that gets to take place in that time. Shallan drove me crazy in WoK in that well-written character whose decisions you never agree with sort of way, but now after finishing the rest of the (published) books in the series I've come to love her. I did start with mistborn but honestly just by chance because stormlight only had the first two books written at the time (I believe) so it just made sense to read the complete trilogy first. But stormlight is my favourite because after how good mistborn was I didn't think I could be any more impressed by his writing and yet my expectations were surpassed.
Way of Kings really puts the *epic* in Epic Fantasy.
It's huge, in literally every sense of the word.
To me, the slow pace of this book didn’t feel like a negative. Yes, it takes its time, but it never feels boring. I could just listen to these characters interact with each other all day, especially Bridge 4.
i started with way of kings, stormlight archives are amazing, cant get enough of that universe, now im reading mistborn
I started reading this after I had just read The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear back to back. Those books blew me away and consumed me like no other books had. So naturally I drug my feet with this book, put it down multiple times, lost my place and got confused with the multiple interludes and character changes. To the point that I got about 400 pages in and just gave up.
Boy do I regret that. I wish I had picked it back up sooner. I have only read Elantris and Warbreaker (both great), but I finally got into this book seriously and stuck it out. It was difficult to read when you are constantly changing prospective as soon as you really get interested in something. Then, as you said towards the end it just all comes together and it’s all worth it. I’m picking up Words of Radiance as soon as possible now.
Brandon Sanderson's books are an excellent audiobook experience :)
"I've never read a fantasy book this long."
That's why people recogmend starting with mistborn. It is a much shorter introduction to Branderson's and showcases his writing style much better then his early books like elantris and more immersive then his Novellas.
I started with Stormlight. No regrets! Best series I have ever read!!
"that smug little, ahh I got ya" Yes!
XD
Thanks youtube for suggesting this a year later.
Hoping you got a chance to jump on the KS!
I'm looking forward to a year of Sanderson so much!
I read all of the wheel of time. And I thought Sanderson’s books were the best WoT books, so I started the Storm light archive. I’ve really liked it. Rhythm of war was a mixed bag though. A lot of good, some bad, but a heck of an ending.
Doing audiobooks has changed my life. I was able to just jump into the Way of Kings and conquer it. Working through Rhythm of War now
I love your reflection on where you were midway through the book; you're like, "This book is long, I need a change of pace, I think I'll read War and Peace." 🤣
2x speed makes the video so funny.
It legit took me a year to read this because I kept starting and stopping to bleach my brain with random smut romance novels (it's a curse) then once I hit around 50% everything just clicked and I binged the rest in 2 days and now I'm partway through words of radiance, it started off rough with what felt so damn random (the interludes, describing every piece of clothing and food ever) then it just picked up hard, by the end I was so thankful I had the 2nd book, I can already see this being s new favorite series
I pretty much read it in like 1-2 days and i regret nothing. Such a good book honestly and I can’t wait to read Brandon’s other books once I’ve finished stormlight archive
I might add in that I've been listening to this series on Audible as an audiobook, and the format of it fits wonderfully for the medium. I tried listening to the Witcher series like that, and _hoo boy_ that was a mistake- not because the series was necessarily bad, but because Sapkowski absolutely _disdains_ basic chronology in his literature. Meta-narratives within meta-narratives, references to stories about prophecies of future events that would have happened if they'd been properly remembered in alternate timelines by priestesses in drug-addicted fugue-states and oh dear god what the hell is even happening anymore
I love this book series! I started with The Way of Kings, I listened to it on audible (45.5 hrs) and liked the series so much that I ended up listened to basically all of his books. But I loved this series so much I listed to it two more times. ~212 hours for books 1-4 plus book 2.5
I'm about to read this book soon I have already read some of Sanderson books can't wait to read way of Kings the first book I read of his was warbreaker I really enjoyed it 🌈🥰😏😊
I have to ask, have you read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? Your channel name being similar and all, i figured you might have. If not, you definitely should. The Bryan Cranston narration on audible is great.
I haven't yet - actually the name is from a wallace stevens poem
The ending of Mistborn threw me so bad I had to go take a nap
I got through The Wheel of Time (up to before Sanderson starts writing) back in 2007, so I thought The Way of Kings was a lovely stroll, and I'd love to drink a large glass of hatorade and rant about that series at Sanderson because of how much he loves it.
[inhale]
Anyone else ever wanna talk to him about the parts that make you cry? It's like, dude, this is good writing, but I don't want you to understand stuff that sucks this much. 😢
I'm rambling, so I'll just say, good video. 😊
Brandon Sanderson's books read like YA, but have a lot more, plot, detail, I guess? Very good transitioning to wider fantasy as a teenager
I have not actually sat down and read a book in a long time, none-the-less a fantasy one of this size, I'm halfway through and find my something often rereading the same thing thinking I missed something crucial like you mentioned. So I sought out a review for some reassurance for my struggles... well this definetly helped. Thank you!
I read the two first books in my teens, then I forgot about the series for a while, but this year I came back and finished the third one
I mean I liked what I have read, AND IM NOT TRYING TO PORTRAIT MYSELF AS A INTELLECTUAL but I never thought it was really hard to read o something like that, for me it seems like easy literature to past the time
I am really looking forward for the fourth book
I actually LOVED how slow it was. I often had this visual in my imagination of two distant worlds/clouds/continents/something, moving together extremely slowly yet steadily. And the more I moved forward in the book, the closer they got, the more little tendrils exchanged between the two, like bits of lightning? Like every time the seperate ends of the stories touch, tendrils are echanged, but they're still seperate. And then ... when they finally connect, it is really beautiful.
I know this sounds pretentious and needlessly vague, but this is a pretty direct description of what it felt like for me.
And I don't know if any book will ever reproduce this feeling.
edit:
Also, I'm not an avid reader at all, and pretty impatient too. On top, Way of Kings was my first Sanderson book. But I never felt like I was slugging through in hopes for a payoff. I simply enjoyed reading about the characters' experiences and seeing how they live, and I liked all 3 of the main characters (and most side ones too, maybe all), they felt very real.
I started with Way of Kings. Then I read Mistborne. Now I'm caught up on all his books. He's a machine. He does romance really weak. I wish there was more. His mental health and political issues are on point.
I liked the romance in Mistborn so hard disagree there
@@zipperzee you disagree there should be more romance?
@@CobaltContrast I disagree that it was weak. I would've liked more of everything really and that's a good thing.
I personally never felt any kind of slowness. I was completely invested from the very first page and drank it all up like Dalinar at the feast
The Stormlight Archive IS full of clues that you can find. Sometimes by re-reading parts.
...if you read the other's first. You can recognize patterns, mechanics, characters and devices. Sanderson's style is to not dwell on those things. If you don't know, then you don't know and the thing will just be treated as any other thing that is different from your everyday earth. Even Stormlight Archive is written so that it can be read without havin read the others first.
To everyone wavering about finishing: You got this and please don't wreck your brain about the quotes at the beginning of each chapter! You will, eventually. And it WILL be worth it.
Took me 3 years to finish this, and now I am in love. Thanks for the review it is EXACTLY how I felt :D though I actually liked Shallan way more than Kal
The first Brandon Sanderson book I ever read was the way of Kings
just finished the main story and am going to read the final 50 pages of epilogue today, this is my first Sanderson book too and it took me about 4 months to finish
Love your style man, made me laugh more than once
Idk it was pretty easy to understand. People need quick dopamine fixes
I read WoT as it published and when Sanderson finished it was the only of his work I’ve read. The past couple months I read all the MISTBORN books. I am about a 3rd into WoK and loving it! Lots of info to keep in head, but so good.
I have picked up this series thanks to you. I am now reading Edgedancer in preparation to reading the 3rd book of the Stormlight Archives, Oathbringer. The last 100 pages of The Way of Kings are FANTASTIC. I couldn't help but fuckning scream while reading. Seriously. No other book ever gave me this feeling. I could totally see this as being the next epic fantasy TV show but I am not sure a TV show could to it justice. How would all the sprens be represented ? They would have to tone down much of the fantasy elements, the same way they did the GOT TV show. I think the medium that could do this series justice would be an anime. But I doubt it would ever happen but who knows ?
Has Apple TV made an epic Fantasy series yet ? They are such on a roll that I wish they get to do the show !!!
i heard of him when the wheel of time books came out that he authored after jordon passed. i found his writing style to have the soul that robert jordon lacked so i looked for his name at the bookstore and saw the way of kings. a huge book and that was right up my alley so i bought and read it.
the book was so good, in particular ;the ending, that after i finished the last page i went right back to the beginning of that 1200 page monstrosity and read it again. his world building is unrivaled. none of his books takes place in medieval england like EVERY OTHER damned phantasy series. but his greatest quality is "the reveal." the staggering plot twists and the way he hides the answer to the main question of the series right on the first page. phenomenal author.
I finished books 1-4 of SA last summer, it just sucked me in so quick, and now I have to wait in agony for book 5. It kind of makes me wish I'd slowed down when reading them, but now I'm passing the time by rereading WOK and it is so much fun on a reread because I actually understand so much more and I'm catching all the little details I missed. If you are considering reading or partway through the series, know that it is totally worth it and I don't think any book series has made me laugh or cry so hard as the Stormlight Archives.
I went into this book knowing even less about Brandon Sanderson than you. I had never heard about him before, and I randomly chose his book from a bargain bin at a local bookstore. I proceeded to read the entire book and... yeah, it good. It real good.