Why do YOU like Stormlight Archive?

[Southpaw]

For it being the first book in a destined ten, what has gripped you so far? What made you, when you read The Way of Kings, to go "wow, this is something." I mean, the fact you are on the forums means you must've at least liked the book if not loved. So what about the series so far has you hooked?

 

Btw, please keep this to a Stormlight Archive only topic. Please no answers of, "well, like his Mistborn series..." Or, "I love how his cosmos connect!" Just keep it strictly SA

Edited November 14, 2013 by Southpaw

[Natans he/him]

1- To me the book have very strong themes. Do what is right because is right. Help the others, Don't give up, keep fighting, that resonate with the things that I believe.

 

2- Very nice magic systems.

 

3-  Very compeling history arcs (Kaladin especially)

 

=) 

Edited November 15, 2013 by Natans

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Kaladin stormin' Stormblessed! And what he does for Bridge Four and his fighting. Plus Dalinar "Blackthorn" Kholin.

[Bloodfalcon he/him]

It is pretty gripping by the characters alone, but that is probably 10% of why I like it. 

The real meat of it is: If a writer as good as Brandon promises a ten book epic fantasy series, I know it will be done right. He has the organizational skills to really pull it together. Coupled with the staggering amount of mystery to be resolved in plot, science, and magic.... Stormlight Archive is a perfectly suspenseful RAFO that I know I can bank on for an entire decade. 

 

For the sake of following the prompt, I am leaving out the bit about my undying respect for certain other series that may be related...

 

PS - A designated community site that is as active as this also plays a role. I genuinely enjoy the story more when I get to discuss it with some really really creative people on 17thshard.

PPS - Southpaw, lets hear yours!

 

Edited November 15, 2013 by Bloodfalcon

[EmagSamurai]

I was hooked on this book pretty early. While I'm not fan of Szeth, his chapter at the beginning was enough to make sure I read the whole book. However, there were two scenes/events later in the book that really cemented it for me. The first happened in "An Honor" when Kaladin fell from the bridge. 

 

He came to a crouch, resting one hand on the stone, a jolt of coldness shooting through him. His remaining Stormlight came out in a single burst, flung from his body in a luminescent smoke ring that crashed against the ground before spreading out, vanishing.

 

 

When I read that I thought, he get's it! BS added that little detail because he knows it's the coolest part!

 

Then, of course, there is the tower battle. 

[ADIMORTIS he/him]

1. Immortal Characters- I love immortal characters. Their descriptions, depth of character, history makes them awesome. I l;ove the fact that Sanderson made them crazy in some sort or the other...

 

2. Plot - I love the plot of the book.It's beautiful . There are sometimes when the boo becomes ever so slightly whiny, but the way each story arc for the characters end is perfect. One of my favorite plots.I especially love the prelude of Wok.(Though purely on the basis of plot, I'll partial to Storm of Swords-Especially the seond half)

 

3 Future Scope- This is one of the series where I am really interested i theorizing. And I doubt any other series has so many theories for the upcoming books.

 

4 Magic System- The three lashing are my favourite magic system. They have overtaken the awesomeness of allomancy for me. Only Sanderson can write a magic system based on pressure and gravity .

 

5.The letter- The book has a bloody letter in it. How awesome is that...

 

6. Artwork and cover- No need to explain this. Everyone loves it...

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that absolutely fantastic worldbuilding going on in this series. Roshar is  by far one of the most distinct fantasy worlds I've ever heard about. The imagery is beautiful, the adjusted eco-system and how he's created these unique plant and wildlife characteristics that are logical and consistent. And not to mention the Spren. Those little suckers, just dominating the landscape, lighting up all the visual descriptions and giving us a great understanding of this world.

It just works, and it's very ambitious, and I can't wait to see more. Just think about how Rotspren and all those things work, how those have helped shape the cultures and understanding of the world, in this case allowing for advanced medical knowledge. You can just tell Brandon has put so much thought and time and planning into this series, these intricacies are just very grand in scope, and I appreciate the hell out of it.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Ok, looks like I need a serious post. So I love the Stotmlight Archive because of many reasons. The characters and their development, what they do for others, AMAZING world building, the intense magic system, length, art, cosmere implications, and discussing anything and everything about it here. I mean, what's not to love about it?

[Argent he/him]

Hooboy. I'll need to think about it. But a part of the reason IS because the world is more cosmere-aware. I won't attempt to answer properly on my phone though.

[Gloom he/him]

It was written by Brandon 'Stormin' Sanderson! Nuff said.

[Ete'ni]

To me, there nothing in the Way of Kings why I shouldn't like. Nice characters, some nice sarcasm, a nice plot, magic... and a lot of raw strength schemes. Right... nice.

[Moogle]

Oh gosh, where to begin...

 

• Interesting worldbuilding! Highstorms are excellent. I like storms and hurricanes and tornadoes and Roshar gets them every few days! It's neat. Everything is vaguely crustacean, which I also go for.
• Intrigue, mysteries! The last hundred pages were probably the best of any book I've ever read.
• Awesome characters (Taravangian, Jasnah, Kaladin) with excellent plots. They more than make up for the weaker characters.
• Magic that's very rule-based and can be exploited. It appeals to the engineer hiding inside me.
• The fact that it's part of a greater universe (the cosmere) really makes all of BS's work that much more interesting. If it wasn't for that, I don't know if I would have read too much past Elantris. (This would have been a mistake. Mistborn was awesome and I should have started with it.)
• Exciting funtime battles! I love how cinematic the books can be. It's odd, because I vaguely dislike all the special effects in most modern movies.
• It's epic fantasy and fills a void in my soul left there by how slow GRRM and Rothfuss write.

[Daishi5]

The characters are interesting.  

Brandon's plots have twists that feel like they are there because people make mistakes or didn't understand things, not just because the plot needed a twist.  

 

I also absolutely love the theme of gaining power through actions.  I get so annoyed with stories where someone who was born with super abilities also just happened to be a great person willing to go through great personal struggles to save everyone else.  Imagine if Superman had grown up to be like your average frat boy instead of the paragon of virtue that he is.  

[Bloodfalcon he/him]

The characters are interesting.  

Brandon's plots have twists that feel like they are there because people make mistakes or didn't understand things, not just because the plot needed a twist.  

 

I also absolutely love the theme of gaining power through actions.  I get so annoyed with stories where someone who was born with super abilities also just happened to be a great person willing to go through great personal struggles to save everyone else.  Imagine if Superman had grown up to be like your average frat boy instead of the paragon of virtue that he is.  

He would actually use his xray vision the same way the rest of us would. I bet he could shotgun a beer better than anyone in the whole chapter.

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

If Superman grew up in our generation/era, he'd totally be a fratboy perv.

But that aside, I have a question. How do you guys get your friends to start reading Way of Kings? How do you hype it to them? A problem I had was I told my friend to pick up WoK for his first Sanderson book, and he said it was just a bit too much to start on. I have another friend starting on Mistborn, so I'm hoping that will be an easier transition into Cosmere stuff.

[Ete'ni]

Gamma Fiend,

Well isn't it just a normal sized book nowadays?

[Argent he/him]

It's difficult, and often unproductive, to try to convert people to Sanderson / fantasy by using The Way of Kings if they are not serious epic fantasy readers already. I would try one of Brandon's smaller books (for complete newbies) or Mistborn (for more advanced readers).

 

Now, finally on topic:

• World / Setting. Medieval Europe as a liiitle overdone for a fantasy setting. This is a point in favor of any of Brandon's books, but The Stormlight Archive is the best example. It not only steers away from the Middle Ages fantasy, it takes place in a planet very unlike Earth. The highstorms and the landscape are the obvious ones, and the unique (and sensible) flora and fauna complement them very nicely. It is actually surprising non-shelled animals (e.g. horses) even exist on Roshar. The grass has to be my favorite here though - Brandon's attention to detail is unparalleled here.
  On a related note, much about Roshar is stunningly visual and dynamic. The planet, much more than Earth, is alive. Everything is in constant motion, the world itself lives - you can see it in the non-sedentary plants, you can see it in the colossal armored animals, you can see it in the highstorms, and you can definitely see it in the spren (which probably deserve a bullet point of their own too...).
• Cultures. Similarly to the setting, the cultures of Roshar bear very little resemblance to Earth's. The fact that pretty much everyone is at least part Asian is something I still struggle with - it's going to take a lot of fan art before I stop imagining Kaladin and Dalinar as anything other than Caucasian.
• Characters. The viewpoint characters are exquisite. Adolin might be the closest thing to a normal character we have; everyone else displays a unique touch. Kaladin has to deal with a very real depression (which, if the Internet is any indication, Brandon has done a spectacular job at describing properly). Jasnah is such a convincing atheist (and scholar) that it's hard to imagine she was not written by Richard Dawkins. Shallan is an amazing mix of shyness, demure, determination, hesitation, and... well, murder. Dalinar shows incredible character development and growth, doing an almost full 180. And the villains are equally compelling - Taravangian is shaping up to be the perfect antagonist (or is it anti-hero?), Sadeas is insanely despicable, yet not truly evil, and Szeth has such a heart-wrenching internal conflict I could weep for him if his situation wasn't so impossible to relate to. Hell, even Amaram is nowhere near one-sided - I don't fully share Kaladin's hatred for the man, I think he genuinely believed the Shards Kaladin won would help the army more. 
• "Odium has killed me." How is that not the most surprising thing in literature? We live in a world where it is largely accepted that divine intervention doesn't happen a whole lot. Whether it is because there is nothing supernatural about the world (as I believe), or because everything is a part of a divine plan set in motion (as some religious people believe), or because God intervenes through natural causes (as some other religious people believe), or because it's not His business to hold people's hands (as yet another group of religious people believe)... Roshar, and all of the cosmere, are full of magic, however - atheism is a little more difficult there. But the idea that you don't see God's (Shard's?) hand moving things because that God is dead? You just don't see in fantasy.
• Magic. Needless to say, the magic system is awesome. It still feels a little... rigid... compared to Brandon's other magic systems (Awakening, for example, looks like it gives the Investor much more freedom and room for creativity), but the series is young. I am a little concerned that we might end up with a system where each Investor can do only a limited number of things, without much variation (e.g. the Three Lashings), but Szeth's creativity dispels much of this concern. Plus, magic based on people's actions is a pretty fresh idea - and it's definitely several steps ahead of any generic-based system. 
• The book. I have to add this one - the hardcover of The Way of Kings is a work of art. The chapter headers are probably the smallest of the things that impress me about it. The in-world art, including the front- / end-sheet drawings give it a very nice feel. The fact that the books' names form a ketek, which might even have a significance in-world meaning is one of the nicest touches here.

And a ton of other small things. Shallan's witty comments. Jasnah's cold reason. The interludes as a means of exploring the world...

[Meg]

Fortunately I started my BS-career () with Elantris and Warbreaker (which I would suggest for BS-beginners) and not with Mistborn, otherwise I think I would have stopped reading TWoK during the Prologue, though the Prelude caught me.

 

I love TWoK for its characters (even those I don't prefer), Roshar, surely the spren and making me curious about Roshar's history as well as it's future.

[LightReader she/her]

I think the best thing about Stormlight is that it is a completely original epic fantasy story. There are so many "chosen-one from a small town gains magic powers and defeats the dark lord" stories out there. Even Wheel of Time, as great as it is, follows that basic fantasy trope.  I love Stormlight especially because it is not that.  There is no prophesied hero, only prophesied destruction.  So for once our heroes are going to be heroes simply because its the right thing to do, not because some prophesy told them to.  All the major POV characters so far have been well rounded and dynamic, they all learn and change over the course of the book, and yet they all have room for growth.  I am really looking forward to watching them use what they've already learned, as well as seeing their future growth.  I am really excited about the way Brandon is structuring the series so that each book has a complete story arc.   Also, I love that Roshar is a completely alien planet, and so beautifully described,  with completely alien plants and animals, and the way the magic is such a natural part of the world. Brandon's worldbuilding is phenomenal.  It really is a beautiful book.  

[Dros]

I really like how he handles the corrosion of knowledge over time. That's something you don't see in many fantasy novels. In a lot of series everyone has the same knowledge of history; their opinions on the actions of historical figures might be different, but they all seem to work from a set of accepted facts.  

[Morsk he/him]

I like the writing style most of all. There aren't "bad" or "filler" paragraphs or chapters I find myself wanting to skip, but reading "because I have to". Other writers have more beautiful or eloquent language, but I think Brandon's is the best match for a huge fantasy epic. It can be torture to become frustrated in the middle of page 500 or book 7, or whatever. In Stormlight I feel pretty safe that that won't be a problem.

I also like the more thoughtful characters, which so far is Szeth and Shallan.

[Arran]

1) The setting is very different from the fantasy version of medieval Europe, with other token real-world cultures sprinkled in, that we usually see. Roshar is its own setting, with its own geography, architecture, culture, weather, flora and fauna. Some fantasy authors can still make good use of the typical medieval setting, true, but since I've read a lot of fantasy novels, by now it most often feels that they're merely rearranging well-worn, all-too-familiar bricks to build a slightly different building from other fantasy authors'. Sanderson, by contrast, took the time to create entirely new bricks, and with them built a setting as different from the fantasy norm as Kaladin's highstorm-resistant childhood home is from the typical medieval farmhouse.

 

2) The main characters of the Stormlight Archive have already started encountering each other and interacting by the end of WoK, and it certainly looks like most, perhaps even all of them, will be gathered together not all that far into Words of Radiance. Contrast this with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, where there is IMO too little interaction between the main characters, and what little interaction there is is rarely positive/helpful/beneficent for the characters in question. Heck, by the end of book 5 of what is still planned to be a 7-book series, Daenerys Targaryen has yet to directly interact with a single one of the original POV characters from book 1.

 

3) What most impressed me about The Way of Kings was the plotting. Over the years I've come to the realization that for me, a work of fiction has to have at least one major "gradual buildup -> exciting climas -> satisfying resolution" plot sequence for me to be truly happy when I finish reading the last page. The Way of Kings delivered that in spades. Once I reached the beginning of Sadeas's betrayal of Dalinar and his army, I simply couldn't stop reading. I read for three straight yours to find out how it was going to be resolved. It was the first time in practically half a decade that a novel had so captivated me. ASOIAF, on the other hand, has IMO failed to deliver a single full buildup -> climax -> resolution sequence in the last two novels, which has greatly contributed to making me become apathetic about a series I once regarded as the pinnacle of modern fantasy.

 

4) And the icing on the cake of fantasy goodness that is Stormlight Archive is Sanderson's amazing writing speed. Yes, by the time Words of Radiance is published it will have been more than three years since Way of Kings' publication, but that's only because Sanderson was mainly occupied with finishing the Wheel of Time series during that period. After Words, I expect we'll see new Stormlight Archive novels at a considerably faster pace. That's something that, as someone who became quite exasperated by the long delays in other fantasy series **coughASOIAFcough**, I very much look forward to.

[bookspren]

Just to prove how awesome TWoK is, I had never heard of Sanderson until I read it. After I read the first few chapters, it was already in the top three books I have ever read. So here are a few of my favorites things:

1. The writing. It just pulls me in every time. Sanderson manages to communicate very visually without pages of tedious description. It's not every book that can make me spend three days neglecting real life because there's no dull place to take a break. Also, Tien's death. A book that makes me put it down and cry for fifteen minutes instantly wins me over, because I don't cry easily.

2. The characters. Kaladin is one of the most three dimensional characters I've read. He is truly good, which is refreshing in a genre that is moving towards morally grey characters. I like grey, but I also like some solid heroes I can count on. Dalinar standing firm when even his own son tells him he's going crazy made me cheer. Even Shallan, who I intitially didn't care for, developed and made me want to see more of her. 

3. The world. Spren, highstorms, lighteyes, safehands, crazy dietary rules. The originality blew my mind. 

4. The battle at the Tower. I had been reading so long I had a headache, but I just couldn't put it down. When Sadeas withdrew, I hit the book really hard and yelled "YOU JERK!". There are no words for how off-the-charts-awesome Kaladin saying the Second Ideal is.

I could go on and on. TWoK impressed me so much I instantly read Elantris, Warbreaker, and Mistborn. Sanderson is one of very few authors that I will buy anything that has their name on it.

Edited November 17, 2013 by bookspren

[Meg]

I like the writing style most of all. There aren't "bad" or "filler" paragraphs or chapters I find myself wanting to skip, but reading "because I have to". Other writers have more beautiful or eloquent language, but I think Brandon's is the best match for a huge fantasy epic. It can be torture to become frustrated in the middle of page 500 or book 7, or whatever. In Stormlight I feel pretty safe that that won't be a problem.

 

 

 

 

1. The writing. It just pulls me in every time. Sanderson manages to communicate very visually without pages of tedious description. It's not every book that can make me spend three days neglecting real life because there's no dull place to take a break.      

 

 

I forgot to mention this. I really like the writing style exactly because of what Morsk and Bookspren said.

[EC11 he/him]

There were a number of things which drew me to this book:

 

1) The artwork, I mean you just don't see such beautifully detailed art in books! It was wonderful to see the world just pop into my eyes like that, I have a good imagination so seeing things isn't a problem, but having those beautiful illustrations and drawings from Shallans note book and other sources was wonderful! It just gave me a real sense of scale in the world and showed me what things were like, even for a relatively unimportant creature like a skyeel to be shown was amazing! I can't wait to see what else they draw as the series moves on!

 

2) The writing, which is of course obvious. Sanderson has never failed in this regard and he has really only grown. 

 

3) The epic scale of the intrigue. This is something that is going from a scuffle between princes, to battles between nations, to the fate of the world and a grudge between gods! How cool is that? You are watching things build up from the most cosmic perspective (with a wonderful little aside for us readers in the know seeing a world which is really cosmere aware!) and coming to see the most apocalyptic battle of this series time

 

4) The worldbuilding, as others have mentioned this world building is simply amazing. Refreshing, unique, and set on such an amazingly detailed world that I feel I could step into it some times! The construction of cultures, peoples religions and ethnicity was fantastic! I was so impressed by the level of detail Sanderson managed to include, almost as beautiful as Robert Jordan!

 

As an aside to #4 I would often stop while reading the book and wonder how on earth HBO could ever do a series on this, imagine trying to find a real set like the Shattered Plains 

 

5) The magic and all the complicated and logical systems there in. Need I say more?