I finally pulled the trigger and started reading Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. For those who don’t know, the series is scheduled to be 10-books long, with each book 1,000 pages or more. Normally I’d be nervous about starting a series that isn’t yet finished (I learned my lesson with The Wheel of Time), but apparently the series has two narrative arcs with a big resolution in the middle. So here we go!

This is everything you look for in epic fantasy. The word is complex and richly realized. Even better, the continent of Roshar is unlike any fantasy setting I’ve read before. The storms that batter the continent have given rise to different cultures. The East, where most of The Way of Kings is set, is rocky. It’s land is scourged by highstorms that pummel the land. By the time you get to the western reaches of Roshar, the storms lose some of their fury, leaving land where fruit and vegetables can grow.

Thematically, the book centres on the theme of honor and living by one’s principles, regardless of the consequences. In that way, it could almost be compared to the chivalry of King Arthur’s world, although with a much different idea of what honor means.

It’s unfair to compare The Stormlight Archive to The Malazan Book of the Fallen, but my brain can’t help it. Sanderson’s world is much easier to enter than Erickson’s. Erickson never helps the reader put the pieces together while Sanderson summarizes nicely at important moments. Reading the two series side-by-side makes Stormlight feel more user-friendly and slightly less real, by comparison.

That said, Sanderson’s work is compelling in the way it connects so many of his novels—not unlike how The Dark Tower connects Stephen King’s novels. I’m completely hooked and have Words of Radiance waiting to go next!

Sanderson, Brandon. The Way of Kings. TOR, 2010. The Stormlight Archive 1