Tuesday, 23 July 2024 09:33 pm
Book Review: The Way of Kings
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deckardcanineI finished the first volume of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive nearly a week ago. My main reason for putting off the review: about 1,000 pages. It's the longest single book I've read since The Wise Man's Fear. And unlike that one, it has multiple focal characters, most of whom haven't met by the end. Indeed, there are so many premises that I can hardly summarize it.
At least I can explain the series title: The pseudo-medieval continent of Roshar is prone to "highstorms," which are deadly but useful for infusing some things with glowing power. In the kingdom of Alethkar, it is believed that light eye colors are a sign of natural blessing, so a noble is regularly called a "lighteyes." A darkeyes occasionally ascends by claiming a rare elite weapon (Shardblade) or piece of armor (Shardplate), but wars have been fought over those.
Apart from humans, you won't find any familiar animals on Roshar. There is one other known sapient race, the Parshendi, who started out peaceable but have reportedly accepted blame for the Alethi king's assassination. Humans who are not curious to know the Parshendi's motive or even the first thing about their culture have launched a great war against them, now six years in.
The world also has a whole lot of confirmed and unconfirmed spirits, called spren. Some, such as rainspren, appear under certain physical conditions; others, such as anticipationspren, emerge from emotions. For the most part, they have so little bearing on the story that I wonder why Sanderson bothered to include them, but one becomes increasingly humanoid and helpful, albeit visible and audible to very few. I like her; I just wish she were more fully justified as yet.
I know that writers frequently advise against extensive exposition, but this book really could have used more. It gets off to a confusing start, and the prelude is only slightly more appreciable after finishing the volume. Even the appendix doesn't answer nearly enough of my questions, and the info it gives bears little relevance as yet. Rather than taking hundreds more pages to piece things together, I saw fit to look online for supplements.
The most prominent character, despite a pretty late debut, is Kaladin, a surgeon's apprentice turned military slave. Despite fine combat performance (about which he feels conflicted), he has been disgraced, and his new job is to help 20+ men carry a bridge for soldiers to reach the enemy. "Bridgemen" are not given any armor; they serve partly to draw arrows away from fighters. Kal's team has had an especially high rate of death and replacement. Small wonder he has a hate-on for lighteyes. He thinks himself jinxed for failing to save people, as often recounted in flashbacks, but others see him as charmed for surviving what few would. Indeed, he's beginning to recognize his own strange powers, which might let the team escape. At times when Kal can't very well be the center of third-person limited narration, bitter but increasingly faithful elder bridgeman Teft suffices.
I rather wish Sanderson spent less time on bridgeman travails. Slave labor in general slows down the story and threatens monotony. (I know, I know: That's the least of slavery's problems.)
Next is Dalinar, possibly the only Alethi "highprince" with honorable behavior. An uncle to new king Elhokar, he is falling out of public favor for several reasons: a growing distaste for war, trust in his potentially hallucinatory messages and visions of the distant past, and adherence to the guidance of an old book with the same title as this volume. With Elhokar's paranoia, Dalinar is becoming a prime suspect for treachery. At the same time, he does not welcome the positive attention of his late brother's widow, whom he had a crush on before her marriage.
Dalinar's eldest son, Adolin, also gets to be focal at times, largely to give us an outside perspective on the man. He seems to get a new girlfriend each week -- one of the few halfway comedic aspects of the novel.
My favorite chapters, which sadly could come far apart, put the spotlight on a woman for a change: Shallan, who desperately seeks the tutelage of Princess Jasnah. Her secret goal is to swipe a precious amulet called a Soulcaster in order to pay off a family debt, but she gets conflicted upon realizing how much she enjoys the lessons, however strict. Shallan has a knack for photographic memories that she can commit to charcoal on paper, but sometimes the images include figures she doesn't remember seeing....
Most of the other focal characters appear for only one chapter; if I were the editor, I'd cut them altogether, among other parts. A handful of chapters go to Szeth, a magical assassin who hates to kill his appointed targets but apparently has no choice. Why couldn't we have more of his awesome handiwork?
The last few chapters do make some striking revelations to hook us. Unfortunately, I consider them too little, too late. And perhaps too uncomfortable from a religious perspective.
I can hardly believe that Sanderson wrote this later than the start of Mistborn. It's nowhere near as neat and taut. Whatever has the fans going gaga, I could find the clunker only sporadically satisfying. I intend to continue only one of the two series.
Now I've begun Naomi Novik's Empire of Ivory, the fourth Temeraire book. Time for a known quantity.
At least I can explain the series title: The pseudo-medieval continent of Roshar is prone to "highstorms," which are deadly but useful for infusing some things with glowing power. In the kingdom of Alethkar, it is believed that light eye colors are a sign of natural blessing, so a noble is regularly called a "lighteyes." A darkeyes occasionally ascends by claiming a rare elite weapon (Shardblade) or piece of armor (Shardplate), but wars have been fought over those.
Apart from humans, you won't find any familiar animals on Roshar. There is one other known sapient race, the Parshendi, who started out peaceable but have reportedly accepted blame for the Alethi king's assassination. Humans who are not curious to know the Parshendi's motive or even the first thing about their culture have launched a great war against them, now six years in.
The world also has a whole lot of confirmed and unconfirmed spirits, called spren. Some, such as rainspren, appear under certain physical conditions; others, such as anticipationspren, emerge from emotions. For the most part, they have so little bearing on the story that I wonder why Sanderson bothered to include them, but one becomes increasingly humanoid and helpful, albeit visible and audible to very few. I like her; I just wish she were more fully justified as yet.
I know that writers frequently advise against extensive exposition, but this book really could have used more. It gets off to a confusing start, and the prelude is only slightly more appreciable after finishing the volume. Even the appendix doesn't answer nearly enough of my questions, and the info it gives bears little relevance as yet. Rather than taking hundreds more pages to piece things together, I saw fit to look online for supplements.
The most prominent character, despite a pretty late debut, is Kaladin, a surgeon's apprentice turned military slave. Despite fine combat performance (about which he feels conflicted), he has been disgraced, and his new job is to help 20+ men carry a bridge for soldiers to reach the enemy. "Bridgemen" are not given any armor; they serve partly to draw arrows away from fighters. Kal's team has had an especially high rate of death and replacement. Small wonder he has a hate-on for lighteyes. He thinks himself jinxed for failing to save people, as often recounted in flashbacks, but others see him as charmed for surviving what few would. Indeed, he's beginning to recognize his own strange powers, which might let the team escape. At times when Kal can't very well be the center of third-person limited narration, bitter but increasingly faithful elder bridgeman Teft suffices.
I rather wish Sanderson spent less time on bridgeman travails. Slave labor in general slows down the story and threatens monotony. (I know, I know: That's the least of slavery's problems.)
Next is Dalinar, possibly the only Alethi "highprince" with honorable behavior. An uncle to new king Elhokar, he is falling out of public favor for several reasons: a growing distaste for war, trust in his potentially hallucinatory messages and visions of the distant past, and adherence to the guidance of an old book with the same title as this volume. With Elhokar's paranoia, Dalinar is becoming a prime suspect for treachery. At the same time, he does not welcome the positive attention of his late brother's widow, whom he had a crush on before her marriage.
Dalinar's eldest son, Adolin, also gets to be focal at times, largely to give us an outside perspective on the man. He seems to get a new girlfriend each week -- one of the few halfway comedic aspects of the novel.
My favorite chapters, which sadly could come far apart, put the spotlight on a woman for a change: Shallan, who desperately seeks the tutelage of Princess Jasnah. Her secret goal is to swipe a precious amulet called a Soulcaster in order to pay off a family debt, but she gets conflicted upon realizing how much she enjoys the lessons, however strict. Shallan has a knack for photographic memories that she can commit to charcoal on paper, but sometimes the images include figures she doesn't remember seeing....
Most of the other focal characters appear for only one chapter; if I were the editor, I'd cut them altogether, among other parts. A handful of chapters go to Szeth, a magical assassin who hates to kill his appointed targets but apparently has no choice. Why couldn't we have more of his awesome handiwork?
The last few chapters do make some striking revelations to hook us. Unfortunately, I consider them too little, too late. And perhaps too uncomfortable from a religious perspective.
I can hardly believe that Sanderson wrote this later than the start of Mistborn. It's nowhere near as neat and taut. Whatever has the fans going gaga, I could find the clunker only sporadically satisfying. I intend to continue only one of the two series.
Now I've begun Naomi Novik's Empire of Ivory, the fourth Temeraire book. Time for a known quantity.