The Way of Kings Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art

The Way of Kings

The Stormlight Archive, Book 1

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From number one New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

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. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, 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 over-powering 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.

The result of more than 10 years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.

Strength before weakness.

Journey before destination.

And return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson:

The Cosmere

The Stormlight Archive:

  • The Way of Kings
  • Words of Radiance
  • Edgedancer (Novella)
  • Oathbringer

The Mistborn trilogy:

  • Mistborn: The Final Empire
  • The Well of Ascension
  • The Hero of Ages

Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series:

  • Alloy of Law
  • Shadows of Self
  • Bands of Mourning

Collection:

  • Arcanum Unbounded

Other Cosmere novels:

  • Elantris
  • Warbreaker

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series:

  • Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
  • The Scrivener's Bones
  • The Knights of Crystallia
  • The Shattered Lens
  • The Dark Talent

The Rithmatist series:

  • The Rithmatist

Other books by Brandon Sanderson:

  • The Reckoners
  • Steelheart
  • Firefight
  • Calamity
©2010 Dragonsteel Entertaiment, LLC (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

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Featured Article: The Best Brandon Sanderson Audiobooks


Brandon Sanderson is one of the best-known and most popular fantasy authors working today. If you're entering his wonderfully magical worlds for the first time, it can be daunting. Never fear! This guide will walk you through the best Brandon Sanderson audiobooks, from his most well-known series to his lesser-known (but equally excellent) standalone novels. So buckle up and get ready for days (yes, literally, days!) of amazing listening.

Editor's Pick: Best of the Decade

Here’s to another 10 years at the top
"My journey as a Brandon Sanderson fan began more than a decade ago. My brother and I discovered one of his very first published books, Mistborn, at a gas station rest stop in high school and both of us have been hooked ever since. But Brandon Sanderson, who started out as our little secret, has grown to be one of the biggest and most respected names in fantasy today. It’s been such a joy and delight to be his fan as he’s only gotten better and better at creating compelling, creative, and human stories over the years. Is it weird to say that I feel proud? There is no doubt in my mind that his epic series, the Stormlight Archive, deserves a spot as the best of the decade."—Melissa B., Audible Editor

Immersive World-building • Complex Characters • Interwoven Storylines • Emotional Impact • Epic Scope

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I bought this book a few years ago, along with a flurry of others, in preparation for a lengthy trip overseas. Somehow THIS book got lost in the Chaos and sat in my Library, Forgotten, for YEARS. Then I experienced one of those "Can't Find A New Book That Looks Good Right Now" Slump, and was browsing back in my library as far as 2004 hoping to find a book that maybe I had "Put Off For Later" or something... and stumbled upon this one again. I THOUGHT I had already listened to it, but I couldn't remember the plot, and even the Publisher's description wasn't ringing any bells for me... "OK, Time To Listen To THAT One Again, At Least Until I Recognize It..."

...by about the 2nd hour of this book, I realized this was one of those "I Put It Off For Later, Or Something" books I had been looking for... By the 20th HOUR of this book, I COULD NOT BELIEVE that this Jewel had been sitting, LOST, in my library all that time!!!! By the 30th hour, I was watching the clock in a 'lack of sleep haze', dreading every minute that went by, knowing the book was getting ever-closer to ENDING! By the 40th Hour, I was throwing a dart into a picture of Einstein on my Dartboard every 15 minutes, because I was SURE it had to be one of HIS stupid theories about time/space that was responsible for time seeming to move FASTER as the end the book got closer, Especially after I checked the 'net and found out the next book wasn't available, and there wasn't even any info about a possible second book's release date!! (There HAS to be a "Time/Space/Book-Ending Correlation Law of the Universe" we just haven't discovered yet!)

Surprisingly, I wasn't so badly upset when the book DID end after 45 HOURS, because I realized I was going to HAVE to listen to this book again to refresh my memory about the series when a release date for a second book got close, Not to mention that I was SURE I was missing important chunks of the book due to stupid interruptions ("I have to eat... AGAIN?!?!?"), and sleep deprivation!

FANTASTIC Book!!!! Doubly so, since I usually don't like "This kind of book", being more of a "Hard Corp Sci-Fi Aliens/Hi-Tech/Strange-Planets/Warfare" fan... Which this book kinda IS, While NOT being...

And NOW I'm Procrastinating as hard as possible, doing things like writing this review for Book 1, because I only have 6 Hours and 19 Minutes left in the SECOND book (which is over FORTY EIGHT HOURS long, and even better than the first book!)... Need to print out another picture of Einstein!!!!

For YEARS I Missed THIS ONE???

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I was expecting a good book, I tottaly underestimated this book. If indeed this is a "Epic" series it will be better than WOT. Amazing....

Ummm WOW

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If you like complex, drawn out stories, this is for you. Sanderson does an OK job with the moral disengagement and re-engagement of the major characters, but secondary characters like Saddeus are not as well developed. The over-archng plot is difficult to grasp, but the subplots are clear enough and easy to follow. If you have a spare 45 hours and lots of driving or flight time like I do, this helps pass the tedium. However, it was not a story that compelled me to drop everything and listen to completion. Good, not great is my review.

Complex and drawn out

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Sanderson is a fantastic writer - I have loved everything he has done previously and this included! However, I think the battle/war scenes go on too long without explaining all the cool equipment/powers - I was lost sometimes and re-wound frequently. Other than that, this is an awesome beginning to an epic I look forward too!

Just a bit too long during the battles...

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Michael Kramer was good. Kate Reading sounded like a GPS narrator. It bothered me that they pronounced Sadius' name differently; someone should have endured they were on the same page there.

Good vs Awful

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