Kudos to Brandon Sanderson for writing a stellar fantasy novel without relying on the Tolkien fantasy tropes. This world is vast and varied. The races are unique, and the characters are complex. The first novel serves the dual-purpose of both building the world and moving the action along sufficiently. After I finished the book, I immediately bought the second one. I’m invested in the characters, and already coming up with my own theories about how some of the stories play out. Even for some of the more predictable plot lines, I still enjoyed the suspense and the drama involved in drawing out what seemed inevitable. But still, many things caught me by surprise and made for a great plot twist. It’s an excellent start to the series.
Publisher’s Summary
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the 10 consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where 10 armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.