I'm reading The Stormlight Archive for the first time

[Amira]

Writing my thoughts here in case anyone finds it interesting. Please don't tell me any spoilers.

Okay, so in the prelude, Kalak survives the battle for the first time, and starts plotting not to return to the horrible place, when he finds out all the others decided to break their pact or something. It was super interesting, although I was trying to understand if the pact they broke meant they all decided not to return to that bad place, same thing he was considering, or if this was something else entirely. I wonder if we find this out in this book. Anyway, my theory is that the one they left behind will become the main villain, because, I mean, all his partners abandoned him to be tortured over and over, right? I'd become the main villain if it were me.

Next up is the prologue, where we see Kalak and his friends are now known as gods, and had their names slightly altered (loved this touch!). I mean, they repeatedly came back from the dead, so it makes a lot of sense that people would regard them as gods. Meanwhile Szeth goes and kills a king, and I really want to find out what the king's dying message to his brother means! I also want to find out why it was important that Szeth be noticed while killing the king, this was one of the most interesting parts about the prologue. I think it would have been cool if we heard what happened to his white clothes in the end - did they get smeared with blood (from when he crashed onto the balcony), get full of dust and dirt? I also want to know why he hates his life. My theory is that the king's shardblade will become very important, maybe cause some political mayhem/war.

Okay, onto chapter 1.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Amira

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

... okay. I like your thoughts so far! I hope you enjoy it! I loved reading it for the first time. I hope you love it as much as the rest of us!

[HippoPhileus]

Wow. I didn't do much theorizing when I first read it. I just read it as fast as I could take in the words.

19 hours ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

... okay. I like your thoughts so far! I hope you enjoy it! I loved reading it for the first time. I hope you love it as much as the rest of us!

Same here! I hope you enjoy it, Amira! 

[Lego Mistborn]

I am excited to see this, I think your reactions will be fun to watch. Perhaps as funny as my girlfriend's reaction to the end of Mistborn when 

Spoiler

Kelsier died

 

[Amira]

5 hours ago, HippoPhileus said:

Wow. I didn't do much theorizing when I first read it. I just read it as fast as I could take in the words.

I'm putting in a bit of extra effort to come up with theories because I thought it would be fun to put them here on the forum

 

Chapter 1 reaction

Okay, hello Cenn, nice to meet you. I like that we'll be following a rookie, slowly watching him gain experience, eventually becoming a badass maybe. Also, wow, that was the most vivid battle description I've ever read! Other fantasy authors should take note. Somehow I thought shardblades were way rarer, but already we're encountering another bearer! My guess is that a bit later on, Kaladin will be forced to separate from his squad, and Cenn will suddenly have to deal with much harsher conditions before he's ready for them. Like maybe Kaladin gets promoted to the Shattered Plains but his squad can't come with. As for what the shardbearer is doing there, I have no guesses, unless he came for either Kaladin or Cenn, but both seem unlikely. Even though Kaladin does have mysterious powers. His powers seemed a bit different from Lashings, so I'm guessing it's something else.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Amira

[Bort]

Hey Amira, welcome to the Shard!

It's great that you're enjoying Way of Kings. You're in for a real treat

 

[Amira]

Thank you everyone!

 

Okay, chapter 2.

A fourth POV? Are you kidding me? And another time skip?? Does this book ever return to the same character? XD

It sounds like Cenn is dead, bummer, I kinda liked him. Maybe it'll turn out he's alive, we didn't actually hear the details. I wonder what happened to Kaladin's powers. Maybe he needs something in order to use them, kinda like mistborn have to drink metals? Unless he actually doesn't have any powers and Cenn was indeed imagining it, but I'm guessing he does have powers. As for theories, guess I'll go with Cenn being alive, mostly because I really want it to be true, haha.

I'm curious to see Kaladin and the others being sold, though with the way plans tend to get interrupted in this book, the whole camp might get attacked before that happens, or maybe a storm gets them into more trouble (assuming we're not about to do another wild time skip. This book does become linear at some point, right?) I wonder, can spren die? How does one kill them? Hope we find out.

[PurpurPhönix]

Stormlight certainly does ask a lot of its readers pretty quickly but the journey is worth it

[Returned]

I still remember the first time I started reading Way of Kings on the bus... I'm almost jealous of you! The first Stormlight book is really something special, I'm excited for you.

[HippoPhileus]

It just gets better...

Fair warning, it goes back and forth between flashbacks and present timeline. Each SA book contains flashbacks of a different character's backstory, so you can expect that to continue.

[Amira]

Wow, I really hope I like this book as much as you all do.

 

Chapter 3.

ANOTHER character?? Look, I read Game of Thrones, but there nearly all the POV characters were clustered together at the beginning and there was a clear plotline. Anyway, the name Jasnah Kholin looks familiar, but I can't remember where it was mentioned last... Assuming at some point we return to our various protagonists, in this case, specifically, to Shallan, I'm curious to meet Jasnah and see how a religious author writes a character who doesn't like religion. Brandon seems pretty respectful toward others, so I trust him to do a decent job. Also curious to see how becoming Jasnah's ward is going to help Shallan's family.

 

4 minutes ago, HippoPhileus said:

It just gets better...

Fair warning, it goes back and forth between flashbacks and present timeline. Each SA book contains flashbacks of a different character's backstory, so you can expect that to continue.

Wait, have we seen these flashbacks yet? Or is this just going to add more confusion?

[HippoPhileus]

If you haven't yet you will (I haven't read way of kings in a while). Anytime is X Years Ago or something like that its a flashback. Technically I believe the first Kaladin scene with Cenn is a flashback.

[Amira]

So far I've only seen "X years later"

[Lego Mistborn]

The flashbacks are all Kaladin POV fyi, and so you should be able to pick them out as not in the present.

[Amira]

If the next chapter jumps to another new character, I won't be surprised anymore.

[Bnaya]

Oh! Lol if you think about that, its definitely seem like cenn is the protagonist of the story on first read. Brandon's choice to introduce Kaladin through the eyes of another is very curious. As the book go on, it's become clear what's going on.

It's just so fun to read your comments @Amira! You're great. And go ahead, the book is definitely worth it. I read this book 4 times I think and it's a great exprience every time

[Bort]

So @Amira, about the flashbacks...

The opening scenes all have "X Years Later..." because the Stormlight Archives starts with a few historical scenes, before bringing us up to the current date.

Later flashbacks will all start with "X Years Ago..."

Enjoy the ride!

 

[Amira]

17 hours ago, Bnaya said:

It's just so fun to read your comments @Amira! You're great. And go ahead, the book is definitely worth it. I read this book 4 times I think and it's a great exprience every time

Aw, thank you!

 

Chapter 4

Back to Kaladin, yay! So really now it seems like Cenn's chapter was just a third prologue disguised as chapter 1, and we're going to alternate between Kaladin and Shallan, perhaps adding another character (or two or three, who knows) soon? So it turns out the slaves are taken to the Shattered Plains. My theory is that Kaladin's battle expertise will be in demand and maybe he'll get to a point where he's a slave only on paper. At first I thought they were going to be sold to the other side, that would have been entertaining, but no, it's still the same guys. I'm trying to figure out how that windspren will tie into the plot, but coming up empty. One thing I like about Kaladin's arc so far is how he has a different background than the other slaves, causing him to behave differently, and have a different attitude. I always enjoy characters like that. Almost like your background is your super power. Speaking of powers, what happened to those supposed powers of Kaladin's that Cenn noticed??

[Bort]

9 hours ago, Amira said:

Speaking of powers, what happened to those supposed powers of Kaladin's that Cenn noticed??

Sorry, can't resist this one, but as Brandon himself would say... RAFO!!!*

*RAFO = Read And Find Out

 

[Highstorm24]

On 3/28/2022 at 6:08 PM, Amira said:

Speaking of powers, what happened to those supposed powers of Kaladin's that Cenn noticed??

Oh hon.

You're gonna have so much fun reading these books. 

Just remember that it's okay if certain scenes don't make sense or don't seem like they fit as you read them.

As the book progresses most fall into place and you'll find yourself flipping back to re-read them as more context is revealed. I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth and shouting "Oh! Oh I get it now! That's so cool!" to myself in my empty apartment. There's so much nuance it's freaking insane.

 

Enjoy the journey!

[Nathrangking]

@Amira SA is a deep and awesome rabbit hole. You're in for the ride of your life. Another secret there always is.

[Amira]

On 3/29/2022 at 7:06 AM, Bort said:

Sorry, can't resist this one, but as Brandon himself would say... RAFO!!!

If I'm getting rafoed (yes, that's totally a word), I must be asking the right questions.

23 hours ago, Highstorm24 said:

As the book progresses most fall into place and you'll find yourself flipping back to re-read them as more context is revealed. I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth and shouting "Oh! Oh I get it now! That's so cool!" to myself in my empty apartment. There's so much nuance it's freaking insane.

Crap, I'm reading it on kindle. Harder to flip back.

 

CHAPTER 5

So far I like Kaladin more than Shallan. Jasnah seems like such a jerk, and Shallan's plan is to (1) convince her to take her on after Jasnah has said no, (2) stay close to her, and (3) steal from her. There is SO MUCH that can go wrong with this plan. Wondering if Shallan blinking in order to remember things is some kind of magical ability or just an unusual habit. I hope we find out soon why Shallan stealing the soulcaster will help her family. And does she expect to be able to steal it without Jasnah realizing it was her?

I wonder which are rarer: shardblades or soulcasters.

So yeah. Terrified for the next Shallan chapter, but also curious what she's gonna come up with to try and convince Jasnah.

[Maddie The Survivor]

22 minutes ago, Amira said:

 

CHAPTER 5

So far I like Kaladin more than Shallan. Jasnah seems like such a jerk, and Shallan's plan is to (1) convince her to take her on after Jasnah has said no, (2) stay close to her, and (3) steal from her. There is SO MUCH that can go wrong with this plan. Wondering if Shallan blinking in order to remember things is some kind of magical ability or just an unusual habit. I hope we find out soon why Shallan stealing the soulcaster will help her family. And does she expect to be able to steal it without Jasnah realizing it was her?

I wonder which are rarer: shardblades or soulcasters.

So yeah. Terrified for the next Shallan chapter, but also curious what she's gonna come up with to try and convince Jasnah.

Honestly, I’m enjoying seeing your reaction chapter by chapter. I would caution against looking into the Stormlight  Archive section too much, because of spoilers. 

Boy, are you in for a treat *evil laugh*

I will not say more lest I spoil.

Spoiler

I wouldn’t actually spoil anything lol. 

 

[Wandering Shade]

I think there's technically more soulcasters than shardblades, but people don't bring much attention to that fact.

[Amira]

Hope I don't lose you all as I read the book at a snail pace. I was gonna read a chapter yesterday, but instead ended up writing all day. I wrote 5k words in one day, pretty sure that's my record.

Anyway, chapter 6

Kaladin becomes a bridgeman. I'm really waiting to see what happens with that spren, now we know her name, Syl. I'm curious to see what happens next with the bridgemen, although this book seems to jump between different situations every chapter instead of some kind of plot developing within a certain situation. I can only assume this is because things are still ramping up? Still waiting to find out why the Parshendi killed that king in the first place. Not sure how Kaladin got so lucky in this chapter. Everyone around him, in his row, got killed by the arrows, and he didn't even get a wound. Maybe Syl was diverting the arrows?