The Way of Kings

[Anonymous No.23457504]

I was told that this was Brandon Sanderson's best book, but boy does it take its sweet fucking time getting to the actual plot. The whole thing felt like if Tolkien decided to have Frodo dick around in the Shire for the entirety of Fellowship of the Ring with some cutaways to Aragorn dicking around in Bree, Legolas dicking around in Mirkwood and Gimli dicking around in the Lonely Mountain before ending the book with Gandalf revealing the true nature of Bilbo's ring to Frodo as a twist. I'm into the second book now and it still doesn't feel like the actual plot has started yet. Going with the Tolkien analogy, it's like if he waited a good chunk into The Two Towers to actually form the Fellowship and start the quest of the ring.

It might not be so bad if Sanderson hadn't made it abundantly clear that the Shattered Plains is just a pointless forever war that the Alethi's sociopath nobles are using to enrich themselves. I cannot be made to care about this war while both knowing and being reminded constantly that it is a senseless bloodletting. And so far, every time the it seems like the plot is actually going to get started, it trips itself up. Is Kaladin going to lead the slaves on a daring escape? lmoa nope. He saved Dalinar and got promoted to personal bodyguard so that means more pointless war. Is Dalinar going to actually start uniting the nobles? lmoa nope they're all backstabbing, bloodthirsty sociopaths except for him so never ever. Is anything Shallan's doing going to finally start the plot? I wouldn't bet on it.

I just keep reading, getting strung along hoping that the plot will start. It's like those old flash "dating" porn games that made you do hours and hours of bullshit to fuck a girl. Only here, instead of getting to stick your dick in a vagina, it's getting to see the actual fucking plot start. Just have Satan start the fucking apocalypse already goddamn.

[Anonymous No.23457613]

>>23457504
This series was my intro to Sanderson because I was purposefully looking for a trash-fantasy-pulp-easy-read. I loved it at first, takes forever to get into it but will lead to some hype moments. Eventually however the hype moments in the series weren't worth the wait. Dropped Sanderson and picked up Wolfe for my easy-read needs, happy with the decision.

[Anonymous No.23457642]

>>23457613
How far did you get?

[Anonymous No.23457650]

>read book with a trillion pages
>waow, why is it so slow

[Anonymous No.23457671]

>>23457642
For Tolkien analogy? Rivendell.

[Anonymous No.23457716]

>>23457642
I'm realizing my post was misleading and "dropped" is a bit of a misnomer... I finished what is out of the series. I should point out I didn't read it, I listened to the audiobook while cooking, cleaning and driving, etc so it was very low lift but I was gassed out towards the end - too much lead up with the hype moments not feeling as hyped. It was dumb fun though, honestly I may listen when the next one comes out depending if I'm still in the mood for pulpy trash and not into anything else at the time. I tried reading (not listening to) Mistborn and stopped, if I'm actually reading I need some more substance. Read the first two Latro books by Wolfe (Loved them. Ancient Greece with an interesting approach: its the diary of a soldier who loses his memory every day who encounters a bunch of ancient gods) and have now taken a left turn to Anna Karenina.

[Anonymous No.23458926]

>>23457504
When i realized I was like a million words in and 90% of them took place on a bland featureless cracked rock field or a ruined rock city with few features I gave up on it.
A village in wheel of time had more character than the entire setting of this trash.

[Anonymous No.23459442]

>>23457504
You're not wrong, but his target audience considers that a feature, not a bug. It's slow on purpose. For what it's worth I thought book two was way better than book one and by the end of it I was more interested in continuing than I had anticipated.

[Anonymous No.23459584]

Yeah, it's exhausting. I read all of David Eddings's flagship story (Belgariad + Mallorean), and continually think back to those as a positive example. Eddings told a massive story with a massive cast, but he let characters wait in the wings until it was time for them to join the squad. There was no teleporting to other continents so the author could establish players who won't join the main cast for another million words. It got to the point I almost threw my phone across the room every time Sanderson introduced a new random dipshit.

[Anonymous No.23459623]

>>23457504
All those plots get resolved by the end of book 2 iirc but then more filler starts. I read the first three books but barely remember the third, 1 and 2 were nice though.

[Anonymous No.23459823]

>>23457504
I love the series (on book 4 right now) but I can agree that Way of Kings is a slow burn the ending knocked it out of the park though.

[Anonymous No.23459828]

>>23457504
I worked at a bookstore when this came out and got a galley copy. Shelved that bitch after 50 pages.

[Anonymous No.23460703]

>>23457613
How does it compare to Mistborn? I went into that book with such low expectations that I was pleasantly surprised by how tight it was as a story. You don't need to use your brain much but that's exactly what I was looking for at the time. Is TWOK less juvenile?

[Anonymous No.23461670]

>picks up a big book

>angry the book dicks around

Bro, realize what you are getting into, lol

[Anonymous No.23462054]

>>23457650
>>23461670
>meh big book must be slower than snail shit
that's retarded, plenty of epics are page turners