The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

[HLS]

I am 50% in and I am confused on the plot. Anyone that read it can help me out? Who is Kaladin fighting and why is the war being fought to begin with? And why does everything have to do with bridges? There has to be more to war than that I understand one of the the enemys is the Parshendi? But who are they exactly? I like the book but there is a lot going on

[Sirtel]

Maybe read the wiki: Cosmere and Roshar

[HLS]

If you cannot be helpful, then don’t answer.

[HLS]

Can someone please delete this thread? This whole Forum is a joke

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HLS

Can someone please delete this thread? This whole Forum is a joke

The entire forum is a joke because of one post that's very easy to ignore?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by HLS

If you cannot be helpful, then don’t answer.

So you don't want to do any research yourself, you want others to spoon-fed your answers to you?

BTW, reading that wiki was exactly what I did when I had those questions. And I got my answers.

[jackm8]

You came father than I did. I tried reading one Sanderson book, and I gave up on it after a few chapters. Superhero fantasy in a multiverse setting is not something I ever fancied, so I don't know why I even gave him a chance.

[John F]

Since HLS has exited, I have a question...

I read the Mistborn series and enjoyed it. I was planning on reading more Sanderson. Can his other series be read as standalone series? I don't need/want to understand every nuance/reference to series interdependence.

Thanks. And I think this is a great site.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by John F

Since HLS has exited, I have a question...

I read the Mistborn series and enjoyed it. I was planning on reading more Sanderson. Can his other series be read as standalone series? I don't need/want to understand every nuance/reference to series interdependence.

Thanks. And I think this is a great site.

The Stormlight Archive can be read separately, but as this thread indicates, it can be confusing in the beginning (Sanderson doesn't bother to infodump you to death with every aspect of his worldbuilding right at the start of the book). It's much longer and more complex than the Mistborn series. If you're impatient and want to understand everything that's going on at once, not wait for RAFO (as I was), then there's the wiki.

[Gandulf]

Originally Posted by jackm8

You came father than I did. I tried reading one Sanderson book, and I gave up on it after a few chapters. Superhero fantasy in a multiverse setting is not something I ever fancied, so I don't know why I even gave him a chance.

What one did you try? I tried Steelheart and did like it but the other are good.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by HLS

If you cannot be helpful, then don’t answer.

The whole context and story doesn't come into full until the third book, IIRC. Kaladin himself isn't really fighting anyone in particular, he is a slave, and he tries to escape his miserable existence.

As to his life before slavery, and how it came about, is answered in The Way of Kings.

Spoiler:

His familiy is of lower class but since his father was a healer, he is of higher status than the common people. When there was a change in rulership of the region they live in, the power dynamic shifts, everyone thinks Kaladin's father killed the former ruler to get rich, and the ruler pressures Kaladin's weaker brother into the military. Kaladin also joins the military to protect his brother. This fails utterly, the brother is killed. During his tenure in the military, Kaladin kills a sword bearer, which means he becomes one himself, but he doesn't want the sword. His leader then betray Kaladin, he is forced into slavery, so that no one will know about his claim as a sword bearer and Kaladin is marked as a deserter.

With this mark, he is now an outcast of the lowliest class.

There is of course a lot more to the story. It is quite complex and like I said, most open threads don't come together until book 3.


EDIT
To be clear, I think Sirtel provided the correct answer, my answer isn't really that helpful in the overall context and HSL didn't have to be an ass about it.

[Hollow Man]

Sorry for resurrecting a dead thread, but I'm 20% into the book, and it being my first delve into Sanderson, I find the question interesting. It hints at why his fans find him complex, but many critics feel exactly opposite.

In the book, Sanderson goes to great lengths to explain the details of his world. If he doesn't instantly explain a "thing," rest assured that in another few chapters he will. At first I didn't notice or mind, but it's gotten a little tiring, since he's constantly doing this the way a parent explains things to a child. And for me, his ratio of this world detail vs. who are the chars, and why do they do what they do, skews too much toward the former.

It doesn't bother me that the high level "what's happening" isn't explicit yet. If one has read books like Slaughterhouse-Five and Catch-22, you get very good at worrying less about the existence of an explicit plot goal for the chars, and instead concentrate on the subtext. Way of Kings isn't literature the way those books are, but in this way it pretends to be, and hints at why some find it "complex."

We'll see what I conclude when I finish it.

[rantanplan]

I agree, I found that aspect of many Sanderson books a bit frustrating that you often don't know what's going on.

[JSWolf]

If you have an old version of The Way of the Kings, download a new version as the graphics have changed from being smallish gif to larger resolution jpg.

If you plan to buy this eBook, buy it as ePub as you get the full size graphics. I don't know what Amazon will do with the graphics for this. Also, the other books in the series should be bought as ePub for the graphics. Amazon is known to play games with graphics and you don't always get the full resolution graphics.

[rantanplan]

Amazon usually updates books that you have bought and since Amazon is Sanderson's bigger reseller, I'd imagine his team makes sure that Amazon always has the latest revision. If you take a look at the US covers for his books, the Mistborn books were updated with the most recent covers.