The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archives #1, 2, & 3) by Brandon Sanderson

Amy  

fantasy

Centering on three main characters (Kaladin, Dalinar, and Shallan) this epic fantasy revolves around people and creatures who share a hazy past of mystical heroes and villains. The three central characters begin to realize that the old stories might actually be true. The Way of Kings is about good vs. evil, battling kingdoms, and tensions among diverse belief and racial systems. But in the midst of the chaos and unrest, these three people begin to understand new things that make them believe life as they know it is changing.

I almost gave up on this one before the story could really begin because it started with a long, boring fight scene that lasted for the first hour of the audiobook. I hate reading about/listening to battle scenes. I did not appreciate that Brandon Sanderson chose to open a novel that way. Thankfully, after this opening, we were introduced to some interesting characters and situations.  But, of course, with a book mostly taking place on battlefields, there were still too many battles to slog through in this novel for my taste.

The Way of Kings has a huge cast of interesting characters.  All the creatures and supercharged abilities which Sanderson invented were wonderfully creative.  I thought he did a great job of world-building--describing completely alien vistas, creatures, and objects, not to mention cultures and customs.  Aside from all the battles, I thought he crafted the story well.  The mysteries were told in an engaging order, in alternating protagonist settings, compelling me to keep reading to find out about some of the characters’ pasts and all of their futures. I look forward to reading the next book in the series to see how these characters fare.

The male audiobook narrator, Michael Kramer, also narrated the Mistborn series by Sanderson. As with that series, he’s a pretty good voice actor but has an annoying monotone “narrator” voice. This novel also had a female narrator, Kate Reading.  She, too, had an annoying monotone “narrator” voice, sadly.  Her voice acting was alright but I didn’t like the tone she used for Jasnah’s voice. Also, she committed the unforgivable crime of not pronouncing one of the secondary characters’ names the same way that Michael Kramer did. Since he was the lead narrator, this was a production failure on her part.  Together, I give them a B as an ensemble.

Amy   

fantasy

Wow! Sometimes I can’t understand what Sanderson’s hints (at chapter beginnings and during interludes) are supposed to tell me in Words of Radiance.  But he’s created such lovable, engaging characters that I can’t stop reading. I have to find out what happens to them, even if I feel a little lost at times. These are huge novels with tons of characters and an epic storyline. And he does them very, very well.  I am alternatingly charmed, alarmed, angry, and delighted by them.  I am invested in their future even though their reality is so fantastical that I’m unable to explain it to others.  At its core, this is a tale of good vs. evil. But I just love it when Sanderson is at his best. This is one of those times. Can’t wait for the next one to make it through the library queue!

This one had the same narrators as The Way of Kings and I enjoyed them much more in this one.  Thankfully, Kate Reading fixed her pronunciation of Sadeas' name!  And her repertoire was more impressive in this novel than the first one.  I'll give them A- this time.

Amy  

fantasy

Another humongous novel in the Stormlight Archives epic fantasy, Oathbringer delivers lots of action, character growth, nefarious plotting, backstabbing, heroism, friendship, and rivalry. As has been apparent in this series from the beginning, sometimes things are not as they initially seem. I appreciate the way Sanderson makes the reader think about how things are interpreted. His fantasy serves to make the reader think about situations based in our own reality.

Admittedly, sometimes in these novels, I get lost and don’t understand the explanations for crazy things happening.  However, as I understand the general gist of things, I don’t let it disturb me too much.  Obviously, there is a lot of wiggle room between good and evil in these characters.  I think that’s the point. Every good person has some bad sides and every bad person has some good sides. But the fantasy world these characters inhabit is pretty far-fetched which makes it hard to follow at times. It’s not that Sanderson doesn’t build worlds well. It’s just that he doesn’t hand deliver clear explanations all the time. When dealing with belief systems and scenery that are completely “out there” I wish he’d provide a little more clarification. On the other hand, sometimes, he dives into what appears to be a lot of detail for no apparent forward motion of the story. Then I zone out (especially when listening to an audiobook) and probably miss a few things of importance. I felt like this novel, more than any other I’ve read by him so far, seemed to gain and lose momentum quite a bit.  It felt like it had a lot of stops and starts in terms of holding my interest. But then the ending was more engrossing than any of the previous novels. I couldn’t put it down.

The narrators have both really grown on me after listening to them for hours and hours. I read some of this novel on Kindle and listened to some of the audiobook.  Michael Kramer, particularly, really showed off his voice repertoire in this one and I was blown away by the variety of voices.  Kate Reading also has improved very much since the first novel.  Aside from some annoying “narrator voice” sections, I thought they did a great job.  I’m moving them up to a solid A. Unbelievably, I forgot to look up their websites for my review of the first two novels in this series and just realized that they are married!  They share a website. They’ve won me over.