The Way of Kings Question

[Christine]

Alright, I have been reading The Way of Kings. Very slowly, I might add. Not for lack of want, but because far too often I fly through books and miss important details. I am still finding tons of new things I never noticed every time I do a Wheel of Time reread, and please keep in mind I have been reading them for over 12 years now. I have done upwards of 20 read throughs of the series (of course not that many on the newer books, but you get my point.

 

That being said, I have only finished Part 1 and the start of that first Interlude, so my question may be answered later on, but it is driving me crazy now.

 

When numerous places are mentioned I love to be able to flip to the maps and place them, so I can figure out where in all everything is from. Some of the names don't exactly match those on the maps, however, but I can place a good guess. That being said, why is there two maps?

 

On the inside cover of the book is the beautiful color map, with ten different kingdoms mentioned. The title of it is Roshar, Silver Kingdoms Epoch. Then, you flip a few pages in, and you get to the even larger black and white map. This one is a gift to King Galivar from his Cartographer. This map has a number of kingdoms mentioned, and a couple of names match up, but for the most part, it seems to be completely different. Then, you flip to the back cover, and there is a color map with the title Shadesmar This land mass does not match at all with the first two maps and seems to fit no where in with the others.

 

 

Now, my question is this... WTF is up with these maps? Some places that are mentioned aren't even on any of the maps. I am so freakin confused. Can someone please explain, or did I hit my head too hard, or what?

[Christine]

ALSO! If you are going to bring up any spoilers, please include a spoiler tag.

[ThorkinBarrimore]

Well, first I'm excited to hear you're reading it. I read it over the summer and thought

it was excellent. Are you reading the hardback or the paperback cuz the maps look

different depending on which one you have. Shadesmar is like the Underworld. You will

get to that in the last part of the book.

 

Most of the boundaries of countries on Roshar changed over the years with the horrible

cycle of weather and erusion. Shadesmar is like a completely new world with continents

of it's own but you can only get there a certain way, which will be told a little

better at the end of the book. Plus, this is only the first book so many things are

left unknown.

[Agitel]

The colorful inside-cover map is a political map from Roshar's past, from around the time of the prologue you've read to a little after. The black and white map shown a few pages later is a 'current' political map of Roshar during the time period the book takes place in. You'll get more on this as the story progresses.

 

The map of Shadesmar on the back cover will make a little more sense later in the story as well, so I won't even explain it as it would spoil things

 

I actually really appreciate what Sanderson did with this story. I like how he doesn't give you all the exposition from the get-go or the first time something's mentioned, it's revealed over the course of the story. That and the completely alien ecosystem can make it a little confusing at first, or at least leaving you feeling really unfamiliar with everything, but as you get deeper into the story it all starts coming together (though it's only the first book so it doesn't all come completely together just yet, but you'll get comfortable with the world). I'm am actually in the middle of my first reread, and it's nice to find tons of little details I missed the first time though that make more sense now that I have a better sense of what's going on and of the setting.

[Christine]

I have the hardback. I got it when I first got to Japan, but I was in the process of doing my GRRM reread at the time, and then I accidently left it in Japan when I came back to the states. By the time I went BACK to Japan, I had started my latest audio-reread of WoT, so it has been sitting on the bookshelf.

 

I read the first three sections and was just like... wtf is going on. I stopped what I was doing there, grabbed a notebook, flipped back to the beginning, and started taking notes. So far, it has been helping a TON. Almost makes me want to do a WoT reread with a notebook again. I did this with Mistborn and I loved it. It was so much easier to flip back to later and say Ohhhhh!

 

 

Thanks for answering my questions. I feel semi stupid now.

[Agitel]

There's no reason to feel stupid. They don't clarify the difference between the maps early on, they just drop things as the story goes on. I don't think much is mentioned on it at all in part one (or at least, if certain names and terms are dropped they're not given much exposition just yet).

[Christine]

Yeah, I like to place things out, and I keep getting all these names and phrases, like types of people, and I see them no where on either map. Then I see some things match up... its like WTF. With Robert Jordan I can just pull out my Big Book and look at the pretty maps, but with this... it's throwing me off!

[ThorkinBarrimore]

They're supposed to come out with an updated Big White Book finally on the Wheel of Time

after the last book. I can't wait.

 

Oh, this book drops a LOT of info without really giving you a sense of why. No need

to feel stupid. The sniplets under the chapter headings seem weird until later on.

You are going to like it and my niece LOVES the hardback version because of all the

cool pictures.

[Agitel]

I just wanted to correct myself. The color political map of Roshar doesn't necessarily go back as far as I thought it did, but it's still a historical, non-current map.