The Way of Kings Spoilers

[Owayn The Traveller]

The almighty isn't it?

[Anajon]

The flashbacks drove me crazy until about halfway through the book when I realized we were getting Kaladin's back story. I'd really like to Shallan's backstory. How did she get a Shardblade? My theory is that she killed her abusive father and took his. But you can never be sure...

 

Oh, and I think Jasnah is also very interesting. I'd love to see chapters from her POV later on.

 

finished two days ago - Shallan having a Shradplate is also one of the things I picked up that are not really said - she almost summons it. And she does say "I am a murderer I killed my father" at the end - so yes I agree that must be where she has it from.

[accelerate]

Gonna resurrect an old thread rather than start a new one. I took my time reading this book, maybe a chapter or two at lunch everyday. In short, I loved this book. Some quick notes:

 

* Kaladin was easily my favorite arc. Some of you have said it dragged on, and I can see that, especially if you include the flashbacks. In fact, the flashbacks were the only part of the book I didn't care for. But I found the "present-day" Kaladin endlessly fascinating. Just when I thought he couldn't be beaten down any further, some new crap happens to him. But it made the conclusion of his storyline in this book all the more awesome.

 

* I tend to be a very sloppy reader, so of course I missed the fact that Shallan had a Shardblade. I enjoyed her repartee with Kasbal, and would love to see her interact with Wit. I found her blink-and-draw ability one of the coolest magical abilities. If there were any magical ability I'd want from Stormlight Archive, it'd be this.

 

* During the last Dalinar flashback, he said he experienced this exact flashback before. Did we see that flashback? Or did that happen before the events of this book? I was trying to find the moment when the Dalinar first misinterpreted the Almighty telling him to trust Sadeas. Again, was this before his first viewpoint?

 

* Rock became my favorite secondary character, if only because of the way he keeps insulting everyone, albeit in a goodnatured manner. I was actively rooting for him to not get killed off.

 

* Questions with Shardblades: Can you form a Shardblade through a solid object? Yes, I know they can penetrate objects, but say you had your fist up against a wall... can you still form it? What if you have no hands? Would a way to form a blade faster to be exerting really hard, so your heartbeats come faster? Can a person wield two Shardblades? Are all Shardblades identical?

 

* The smackdown Dalinar laid on the king at the end made me giggle. God, he had it coming!

 

* Part of me wishes Sanderson would hurry up with AMoL just so he can write Stormlight 2. In fact, I'm looking forward towards the next Stormlight book MORE than the last book of Wheel of Time. If you had told me I would feel this way even a week ago, I would've bet my entire fortune (as paltry as it is, but that's beside the point) against that notion.

[Erunion]

@accelerate - The blink and draw is incredibly cool. Unfortunately, it's not that useful in a world of hand-held camera's... I'd probably take the whole gravitational distortion ability, or matter transformation. But that's just me.

 

Dalinar mentions that the last vision is also the first vision he had, he just couldn't remember it clearly, it being his first crazy vision and all.

 

Not sure about hand-less shardblading, but I'm 90% confident that it'll form through a solid object. Yes, exerting yourself does speed up the summoning process - this is commented on a few times. No, each shardblade is 100% unique, but I don't know if you can wield two at once.

 

 

On the sloppy reader thing, the first time I get a WOT or Sanderson book, I tend to read as fast as I possibly can, a process that involves me getting about 2-4 hours of sleep at night. As such, I finished the WOK's in two days (well, from like 1pm on the day I got it to about 3-4 pm two days later). As such, I missed a lot and subsequently re-read it the following week, slowly (at least, slower). That read-through is where you pick up all the fine details. I suggest doing a re-read when you can, just to get all the little things.

[Owayn The Traveller]

@accelerate - The blink and draw is incredibly cool. Unfortunately, it's not that useful in a world of hand-held camera's... I'd probably take the whole gravitational distortion ability, or matter transformation. But that's just me.

 

Dalinar mentions that the last vision is also the first vision he had, he just couldn't remember it clearly, it being his first crazy vision and all.

 

Not sure about hand-less shardblading, but I'm 90% confident that it'll form through a solid object. Yes, exerting yourself does speed up the summoning process - this is commented on a few times. No, each shardblade is 100% unique, but I don't know if you can wield two at once.

 

 

On the sloppy reader thing, the first time I get a WOT or Sanderson book, I tend to read as fast as I possibly can, a process that involves me getting about 2-4 hours of sleep at night. As such, I finished the WOK's in two days (well, from like 1pm on the day I got it to about 3-4 pm two days later). As such, I missed a lot and subsequently re-read it the following week, slowly (at least, slower). That read-through is where you pick up all the fine details. I suggest doing a re-read when you can, just to get all the little things.

Yep do that as well.

[drizzt_scimitar]

I think the reason that I like Sanderson's writing so much is that he seems to be able to create plot twists that are both believable (after you discover them, I mean) and yet also not obvious. This is a fine balance to achieve. I mean, no one likes incredibly obvious plot twists, but at the same time I've seen movies/books try so hard to make the plot twists unforeseeable that they end up making no sense, and this also is annoying.

 

As an example with Sanderson's work:

 

MISTBORN 2 SPOILERS!!!!

 

 

The whole thing with the Well of Ascension being a prison, although it makes sense, never occurred to me when reading the books. I also loved how the book keeps building up to the reveal in the pre-chapter text; I still get goosebumps when I read the one that says "For he must not be allowed to release that which is imprisoned there..." Great writing, and very awesome and unique the way the plot points are integrated into that pre-chapter text.

 

 

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed Way of Kings, although I did have a few issues with it. Mainly, it did seem to be a bit too long. A lot of the chapters with Kaladin seemed to similar and too repetitive. I think I get what Sanderson was doing, trying to emphasize Kaladin's plight, the hardness of life, the endless, pointless bridge-carrying and monotony of Kaladin's life, etc., by also making some of the chapters repetitive and monotonous, but I think that he may have overdone it a bit.

 

Also, at the end of the book, I couldn't help buy feel like not nearly as much happened that was truly important as I had expected. I kept wanting more, which I guess is a good thing, but I found myself most interested in the least talked-about events and the characters that were given the least screen time. Kaladin's story dragged a bit, I felt, and Dalinar's kind of did as well; Shallan's took awhile to get interesting, but just when it was starting to become REALLY interesting, it ended. I also really want to know more about the original knights, the world origins, and shards, etc.

 

Granted, this is the first book in a long series, so I can't complain too much; you can't reveal much backstory in the first book after all. That and all of these complaints are really very minor, I did really like the book. Although, I also don't buy the Voidbringers being the Parshmen; it seems too obvious and simple, and also I feel like something that big and important wouldn't have been dropped this early in the series if it were really the whole story.

[Jon Paul]

I liked The Way of Kings a lot and I can't wait for the next in the series. I've got to say I actually enjoyed all the characters. There was no wasted space. Kaladin Stormblessed just edges out for me (and the flashbacks didn't really bother me).

[Rufae]

Just finished Way of Kings.... and it was great! It was a good start to a new series that could rival Wheel of Time in depth and complexity.

 

General Random Thoughts:

 

- Shallan is probably my favorite character / storyline simply from the WTF moment I had when reading it. You cruise along thinking this is young girl trying to steal something story and then BAM, you're hit with psycho horror on the level with Stephen King. Sweet! I'm glad she hooked back up with Jasneh at the end.

 

- Kal's story was good. A bit trying a times due to his bipolarism. One moment he would be on top of the world, and the next in the pits of dispair. It got annoying after a while. Maybe it had to do with his stormlight abiliy toying with his emotions? It looks like we are heading for a showdown between Szeth and Kal. That shold be fun!

 

- Dalinar's story was good. I much perfer the Blackthorn version of him rather the Prophet version. The smack down he gave the boyking at the end almost rivaled Tyrion's smackdown on Joffery in Game of Thrones.

 

- Wit is a good and potentially fun character. I don't totally know if he is good or bad yet. I am thinking that he is one of the Heralds. Which one, I don't know. But this is based off his recognition of the coming Desolation, his being a Worldsinger (which fits in the character type of the Heralds), his knowledge of old and obscure stories, his dark hair and light eyes which match the old Heralds/Radient description and yet he is not a lord and does not follow the Vorism traditions of men writing/reading/playing music, and his recognition of Taln at the very end.

 

- Anyone else freaked out a bit by Taln's appearance at the end? Now he is dead, is he permantly dead or what? He blade did not disappear but in the "Prologue" Kelek says that if they died, the blades would disappear.

 

- I see a theme in Brandon's books about "What do you do when your God dies and leaves you alone to face Evil One?"

 

- Szeth, actually he might be one of my favorite storylines. The regretful assassin has always intrigued me.

[Elend]

Info on Wit:

 

 

Wit is actually confirmed to be Hoid and he appears in every Sanderson work within the cosmere. He and Kaladin have a long conversation one night, if you recall. I don't remember if they ever state outright that the guy Kal is chatting with that has the flute (or is it an ocarina of some sort?) is Wit, but he is.

 

I think during one of the interludes, the Purelake I think, they have people looking for Hoid/Wit. These people are from the world Elantris is set in. I think they may even be characters but don't quote me on that. It's been a long time since I read either.

 

 

If you don't want to read the spoiler, just keep in mind that most of Sanderson's work takes place in the same universe. Just different worlds. That's part of why you have the dead god theme going on so often, too, as that's a sort of meta-theme of the universe as a whole, IIRC.

[Rufae]

 

If you don't want to read the spoiler, just keep in mind that most of Sanderson's work takes place in the same universe. Just different worlds. That's part of why you have the dead god theme going on so often, too, as that's a sort of meta-theme of the universe as a whole, IIRC.

 

Dalinar seemed to cast doubt on the truthfulness of the visions near the end. Could this maybe mean that the Almighty isn't really dead?

[Elend]

I'm thinking the Almighty is dead but the power still remains. The visions that Dalinar has seem to echo the shape in the mist that Vin saw in Mistborn. A fragment of the conscious being, but all the power.

[Owayn The Traveller]

Info on Wit:

 

 

Wit is actually confirmed to be Hoid and he appears in every Sanderson work within the cosmere. He and Kaladin have a long conversation one night, if you recall. I don't remember if they ever state outright that the guy Kal is chatting with that has the flute (or is it an ocarina of some sort?) is Wit, but he is.

 

I think during one of the interludes, the Purelake I think, they have people looking for Hoid/Wit. These people are from the world Elantris is set in. I think they may even be characters but don't quote me on that. It's been a long time since I read either.

 

 

If you don't want to read the spoiler, just keep in mind that most of Sanderson's work takes place in the same universe. Just different worlds. That's part of why you have the dead god theme going on so often, too, as that's a sort of meta-theme of the universe as a whole, IIRC.

 

Didn't know that. Must actually finish Mistborn then.

[Ashaman Kovan]

Just started and finished about two days ago. Started out extremely slow and for some reason I can't really get into Shallan's povs but overall I quite enjoyed it.

 

So I wonder whose faster. Someone in plate running full speed or someone with as much stormlight as they can breathe in running at full speed. You can be wearing plate AND breathe in stormlight at the same time right?

Cause that's how the radiants in dalanars vision came flying down isn't it?

 

[Rufae]

If I had to guess, I would say the person breathing in the stormlight because they aren't weighed down by the plate.

 

I would think you can both breath in stormlight and wear plate. The shardplate is powered by seperate shards whereas you can breath in the stormlight into your body. It is two seperate sources of power.However, I wonder if someone who can breath stormlight wears shardplate, do they draw in the stormlight from the shards embedded within the plate? I would think he would drain his own shardplate.

[Ashaman Kovan]

Yeah, that's what I was wondering too. Unless they were carrying another source on them. A bunch of spheres or whatever. If there are multiple sources around can they pick and choose which one they breathe it out of.

[mikael]

Liked it alot. One good thing that WoT lost is the feeling of suspense, even though it worked out great for the three good guys, I was never certain what would happen. I hope that can continue, and I guess Dalinar will bite the dust in the next novel or the one after that (it is really inevitable, so I guess I hope that one of the three young good guys either dies or joins the dark side - half way through I was actually hoping that Shallan's failure would lead down the wrong path).

 

God is definitely dead, think Mistborn on a grander scale. Was kind of expected since so much of the novel was reminiscent of Mistborn, but BS still tells a very good story I think.

 

The supporting cast was great, pretty much liked every one of them.

 

Could not relate to the assasin in white, guess he will do the Ingtar, but I hope he goes Darth Vader instead, preferably without ever going back to the light.

 

Did not care for Kal's flash backs, they got through to me in the end though. I like how BS tells the story from the slave's and the king's perspectives.

 

Finally, I wonder how many sides there will be to the conflict in the next 2-3-4 books, what with the Alethi, the evil king and the/those secret order(s).

 

Looking forward to the sequel :D

[ThatGuy]

Just finished a reread. TWoK is definitely a step up from his earlier work. Kaladin's arc, while a little long (the flashback scenes especially dragged during the reread), is worth it for the epic payoff. I found Shallan's chapters a little boring but hopefully now that she's fully working with Jasnah things should pick up.

 

The paragraph that struck me the most was this: "You might be able to get him to choose a champion. He is bound by some rules. All of us are. A champion could work well for you, but it is not certain." (ch. 75)

 

I realise that Hoid has shown up in other worlds, but does that exclude him from being a Herald?

 

A few things I'm looking forward to:

 

-Kaladin training up the squad

-Kaladin confronting Amaram

-Kaladin-Szeth showdown.

-Dalinar-Jasnah reunion.

-Kaladin teaching Renarin how to fight?

-Shallan learning how to fight?

-Shallan-Wit meetup.

-Any Taln chapters.

[Rufae]

I imagine Taln will be one pissed off Herald.

 

But if the Heralds are sent by the Almighty to signal a new Devestation,and if the Almighty is dead, then who sent Taln?

 

[mikael]

He´s also one dead herald (if it's the guy from the last scene). Dropped sword remaining = dead.

 

I'm thinking that if mere mortals realize that the end is coming, the heralds probably do too.

[Rufae]

He´s also one dead herald (if it's the guy from the last scene). Dropped sword remaining = dead.

 

I'm thinking that if mere mortals realize that the end is coming, the heralds probably do too.

 

 

Actually, the Herald's Blades are a little different than regular Shard Blades. If you reread the first scene again where the Heralds leave their blades; it says that the Heralds Blades disappear when the Herald dies. That is why the Heralds knew Taln was killed, because his blade was missing.

[mikael]

He´s also one dead herald (if it's the guy from the last scene). Dropped sword remaining = dead.

 

I'm thinking that if mere mortals realize that the end is coming, the heralds probably do too.

 

 

Actually, the Herald's Blades are a little different than regular Shard Blades. If you reread the first scene again where the Heralds leave their blades; it says that the Heralds Blades disappear when the Herald dies. That is why the Heralds knew Taln was killed, because his blade was missing.

 

Oh ok, missed that distinction. On a related note, what about God's words that went something like "speak the words and retrieve your blades"? And semi related to that, do you all think that the entire guard will get Kal's abilities? What with the honor spren (sp?) and all?