SF/F - The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

Synopsis: An ancient evil draws close to consume the world in war. A prince attempts to unite his divided kingdom to resist it, a scholar seeks lost legends for clues to its nature, and a slave rises to become a savior.

Brief Book Review: Pure awesome. Nevermind the great fight scenes, the creepy-as-hell Outsiders intruding into the world, the rich but lost history of gods on earth, and the constant growing sense of doom. All that is great, but what really sets this book apart is its idealization of the human spirit. This is a book of Capital Letter Ideals. Honor. Loyalty. Duty. Empathy. These characters are archetypes of the things we most aspire to be. Unless you have a frigid heart of stone, this story will stir things in you. Strongly recommended.

Club Review: Unfortunately the size is a problem, over 1000 pages. It’s too long for an average book club and we had to read it over several sessions. But once you start it goes much faster than you’d expect, it’s very hard to stop reading when you get into it. While much of the talk will likely be praise, there are actually several things to argue about that make this more than a simple gushing event – choices the characters make that the readers may disagree over. It’s not as interesting a discussion as more ambivalent books may spark, but it’s such a good read that people likely won’t mind. Recommended.