Trans sadeas is a hilarious concept for being a guy who did the Super Fucking Transgressive Thing of jumping gender ship in fucking Vorin society (strictly fucking gendered) and then living mostly stealth for 35 years and going Dalinar you’re not a real man because you like killing people slightly less than you used to. With zero self awareness

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

I'm not sure I can quite put into words how stunning this book was. The Way of Kings follows an array of characters in aftermath of the murder of the king of Alethkar. The new king sought revenge and a whole host of other problems arise from that.

Let me start with some spoiler free thoughts. The three main perspectives in this book are Kaladin, Shallan and Dalinar sprinkled with Interludes of other characters and occasional minor chapters from other characters. The story is woven together from 3 separate locations from the three main characters all playing very different roles. Kaladin is a slave trapped in a bridge crew, Dalinar a highprince of great importance and Shallan a studious girl with shadowy motives.

I loved all three of them with all my heart. Kaladin has a magnificent arc throughout the book and it starts at such a dark place. Sanderson is quite like any author in his handling of multiple stories and he does it so perfectly. Shallan is unique because she is so far removed from the others, she is so intelligent and creative but her ulterior motives are dangerous. Dalinar I hesitate to say is my favourite. He is so wise and level-headed and just generally a great leader. He has his heart in the right place and I love him for it soooooo much.

Plot wise for a non-spoilery thing, we have a lot of plot threads ongoing that all are largely hinting at something much greater. There is so much history and world and powers that you have to kind of wrap your head around and I'm still not sure on some bits but that's mostly because they weren't heavily featured. Sanderson is an excellent worldbuilder because it never feels like exposition, it always feels relevant and keeps the story moving forward. All the storylines come to great climaxes and have a soft denouement that sets up the Words of Radiance excellently. I don't want to say any details because I knew nothing going in and I think it was so much better that way.

Spoilers ahead Now let's start with the beginning, because I think it bears some thinking about. I'll admit I was confused at the beginning because you get a couple of chapters from characters that promptly disappear. Then we finally meet Kaladin the slave. And he is so broken, we get glimpses of his glory in the beginning but now we truly get the starting point. He is damaged and enslaved for reasons we find out through handy dandy flashbacks sprinkled throughout. Unlike some books were I wasn't fond of the flashbacks I think these were excellent because they had a whole separate storyline that just wove so well with the present to reveal exactly what happened to Kaladin. Once he becomes a bridgman we get going. The bridgemen are treated like absolute shit. And Kaladin is put with the worst of them. Bridge four. Oh Bridge Four my precious gang of broken people. Bridgemen are the lowest of Sadeas's army forced to carry the bridges across the Shattered Plains so the army can march into battle across the chasms. They are expected to die. All of them are disposable. And that fucking grates Kaladin and he finally gets his ass in gear. Initially everyone really thinks he's a weirdo, because like why is he trying to help the bridgemen. Even his fellows in B4 are against him. But through his prodigious skill as an ex-soldier and surgeon he slowly begins convincing them. His surgeony stuff is very helpful because they are all so often getting injured. It made him such an interesting character as a soldier and a surgeon, a healer and a fighter. And that kinda plays at the end with his discomfort with killing. He begins slowly helping them with injuries and beginning to gather extra food. And then he begins training them, like actually training them. They become so efficient and I fucking loved it. I adored them all getting whipped into shape. Moash, Rock and Teft are like my fave bridgemen, they all brought something different to the table. Rock was so randomly funny and Teft such a good second in command to Kaladin. And as we get further into the book they begin to plot to escape the bridge crews and Kaladin starts training them after his highstorm encounter. Which by the way one of the most horrific chapters I've ever read. Like that is some endurance and he gets destroyed. But he has Syl. Which brings me onto the surgebinding discovery. He starts absorbing stormlight. Which in itself is really weird. But damn I loved it. Surgebinding I'm still a little confused on but Kaladin's discovery of using it was so cool. And it was by accident for so long but Teft sussed it out. Clever ole Teft. Bit by bit he learns to use it for the climactic fight. Oh my god I can't even the battle of the Tower was stunning from both perspectives. Kaladin and his spear though, a force to be reckoned with. In short I loved Kaladin, I loved his journey and his bouts of lows and how they were contrasted by the highs of his building friendships. Sure the tragedy in his past was awful but he learnt from it.

Shallan is the least seen perspective character but she is rather different because she isn't an action packed storyline. She is all about intelligence. She's on a mission to get a Soulcaster off Jasnah, Elhokar's sister. I'll admit I was a little disapproving of this mission at first but damn this whole storyline had me intrigued. Firstly because Jasnah is a badass. Not in a kickass kinda way but also in that way because that horrific murder of the thugs scene. Turning a man to crystal and smoke like damn. But mostly because she is one of the most intelligent characters I've ever read about. She asks all the questions to get Shallan to think not blindly learn. As she decides to take Shallan as a ward despite her educational gaps she teaches some necessary lessons. Sure Shallan isn't that interested in history she's more interested in scheming and flirting with Kabsal. Side I really liked Kabsal but disappointed in his reveal as a would-be assassin. That whole thing of the poisoned bread was traumatic. Like oh my god my fucking heart. Shallan recovers from her accidental soulcast, which people assume was a suicide attempt, only to almost die because she doesn't want jam on her bread. Like what. Also those fucking creepy spirits with glyphs as heads in her drawings genuinely had me scared. I think Sanderson really did an incredible job of making them creepy but not cheesy. Menacing but not threatening. At the end though Shallan has learnt a lot and comes to Jasnah after being caught for stealing her soulcaster with the revelation that the soulcasting isn't coming from the fabrial. It's coming from within Jasnah and more interestingly Shallan did the same. It poses an interesting point because it is akin to the Knights Radiant like Kaladin's surgebinding is like them. Hmm link I see? But best plot twist in fucking history. So we keep hearing about the voidbringers and the return of the voidbringers and they are evil and they are the parshmen. The servant figures that do just about everything menial and they are the voidbringers. Jasnah the genius has worked it out and she has some theories of their cousins the Parshendi, the group behind the murder of King Gavilar. Now they are on their way to study the Parshendi on the Shattered Plains. Short story Shallan provides an excellent resource to give large amounts of backstory and conversation about things that relate to other characters and the overarching plot. She is witty and creative but vulnerable and naive from her sheltered childhood. I thoroughly enjoyed her learning process and can't wait to read Words of Radiance as her focus book.

Last main character plot I wanna talk about is Dalinar. Oh Dalinar, the brother of Gavilar and Uncle to King Elhokar. Highprince, acclaimed warlord and pending lunatic. In the highstorms he experiences visions of the past which we only find out later but they are visions of the past. He seems wars of the Knights Radiants and the Day of Recreance when they all give up. And it all seems to slowly point towards where they must head. A united Alethkar. That is Dalinar's goal. A bit of context for the Shattered Plains wars, they are fighting over gemhearts, they treat it as a game against the Parshendi as opposed to revenge for killing Gavilar. It's about wealth. Dalinar does not care though. He grows tired of the war and I'm like me too Dalinar, me too. It doesn't help Sadeas is there. Because he is a massive twat. Seemingly a nice guy but turns out not. Everyone is against an alliance though all the highprinces are like no. And I was like listen to Dalinar he's so clever and wise and ughhhhhhhh. Then Sadeas is like yes. And then it fucking ends up with him betraying him in one of the greatest battles ever. BofT. Sadeas retreats and it's like nooooooo all is lost but Kal and his bridge crew comes back to save the day. It's a intense fight and an incredibly battle sequence from all characters. Dalinar is not only about battle though he has complex relationships especially with his son Adolin. Adolin is someone I'm not sure of. He's so hot-headed and against the visions being true him and Dalinar butt heads a lot. Only when Dalinar announces his intent to step down Adolin is quick to change his tune. In reality I think he's a scared boy he doesn't know quite what he wants, like his constant changing of courtships. They are quite the foil to one another but I loved their dynamic. Dalinar is best. End of. I loved his storyline soooooo much. I didn't know what to do with myself. A united Alethkar before the Everstorm. An ominous prophecy with a deadline my kind of thing.

Szeth is the main secondary character that is of importance as the assassin of Gavilar. He is incredibly powerful but bound to the Oath stone thing which I still don't quite get. But most intriguing is actually the ending with king of Kharbranth whose name I can't spell. He's actually behind the slaughter of lots of important people after he acquires the oath stone. I want to see more Szeth and I hope we do.

Overall an excellent book written perfectly. It balances action, magic, politics, religion and personal storylines with an expert hand as I'd expert from Brandon Sanderson. This also introduces some big concepts for the Cosmere so I need to keep going. Hoid actually had a substantial appearance in this which I liked, it actually gave more growth to him as a character which I thought was merited. This is honestly a masterpiece and I can't wait to continue.

whenever one of my posts where the tone of the post is such that, if you did not know me as a person and do not know that my life ambition if transported to roshar pre the get his ass event of 1174 is to crush sadeas with an anvil wil e coyote style killing him instantly, would make you think that i “stan” him or “call him babygirl” or w/e, then im like oh god oh fuck someone out there is going to think im a weirdo and a freak