This has solidified itself as my second favorite fantasy series. ASOIAF will likely always be first (though this book gave it a run for its money), but Kingkiller has been knocked back to third. I cant believe it took just one book of the Stormlight Archive to do that. The climax of Way of Kings had me absolutely pulled in, and the epilogue was just mindblowing revelation after mindblowing revelation. The entire last fifth of the book was some of the best reading I've ever done. This is the first book of a series projected to be 10 novels long before its conclusion, and he answered questions I didn't expect to see any kind of hint towards until book 5.
Everyone seems to consider Words of Radiance to be even better than the first, with some claiming the first is all fluff that sets up for the main attraction. If this is fluff, I cant wait to see what Sanderson has in store for the next book. If you guys haven't read it, definitely do so. This is quintessential fantasy at its very best.
(please log in to view the image)
(please log in to view the image)
(please log in to view the image)
__________________
PWNT
Last edited by Arachnid1 on Jan 13th, 2016 at 08:15 PM
Gender: Male Location: On a rock, floating through space..
Excellent news. I just finished the Mistborn books and loved them. Then I made the mistake of reading his first novel and just couldn't get into it. But since we seem to have the same taste in fantasy I'll just skip Elantris and move on to The Stormlight Archive. Have you read Steelheart yet? Seems quite interesting as well.
Gender: Male Location: On a rock, floating through space..
Finally! Got sidetracked along the way, with Sanderson's Bands of Mourning that came out in January and then Calamity in Feb, not to mention Brown's Morning Star (though let's not talk about that).
All I can say is: Wow! Like you said, definitely one of my favourite fantasy reads ever. It took me a while to get into it, because compared to his other worlds (Mistborn and Reckoners) The Stormlight Archive is infinitely more complex and layered, with a huge cast. But damn! It is so totally worth it, because once it starts picking up speed it is virtually impossible to put it down and stop reading.
Thank goodness I have the Words of Radiance lined up already, so I can jump straight in without having to wait.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! It really was quite the ride. I have yet to read Words of Radiance though. I've been putting it off and reading a bunch of other books in my backlog before it since we don't have a date for the third yet.
I haven't read the Reckoners series yet. I just started Blood Song, so I'll give the series a go right after this book. You should consider reading Blood Song too. Many I've talked to consider it absolute gold.
Gender: Male Location: On a rock, floating through space..
I read the Raven's Shadow trilogy last year. Loved the first book and thought the second was even better! Awesome characters and epic fights. But the third book spends more than half the time describing this long, interminable journey that just made me want to skip forward.
Exactly like Red Rising, if it wasn't for the third book I would have given this trilogy five stars out of five, instead I'm giving the first two books five stars each and the third only gets three stars, making it an average of four stars. Still good, but it could have (and should have) been great.
Yeah, most people have told me to read the first book and skip the second and third. Apparently the main character becomes a side character after the first and it kind of ruins everything. If you say read the second though, I'll give it a look.
Gender: Male Location: On a rock, floating through space..
I admit I understand why people are so conflicted about the second book. The emphasis moves away from just one main character and some good people are forced to do some bad things. But I loved it. I like characters who are not perfect, who are flawed and conflicted and multi-dimensional and have a tendency to to take out their rage on their enemies.
__________________
Thanks for the sig Scot-and for the help with my avatar
When someone annoys you, it takes 42 muscles to frown but only 4 to reach out and bchslap them upside down on their head