The Stormlight Archive Review
(Part 1)
Regular
readers of this blog will no doubt remember the reviews I completed on Brandon
Sanderson’s Mistborn Series, a thoroughly absorbing adventure stretching over
300 years detailing the exploits of Allomancers on the world of Scadrial.
Allomancers are people with the ability to ingest certain metals, from which they gain enhanced speed, strength, and other powers. Those powers
exist, thanks to the existence of two opposing gods, Preservation and Ruin, who
strive to counter each other in a never-ending struggle for dominance.
That series also reveals Preservation and Ruin are, in fact, only 2 of 16 opposing
creational forces or intents – Shards – which came into existence with the
shattering of Adonalsium, the original Supreme Being. Those shards are bound in
pairs, and though they bear an aspect of Adonalsium’s original nature, each
pair stands divorced from their opposite number while vying for control within
the greater Cosmere.
Basically,
each fantasy series Sanderson has created is not only an adventure within itself,
but, it also forms part of a much greater whole, each facet of which is
waiting to be explored.
Consequently, I thought I’d dip my toe into the Stormlight Archive, and the
opposing Shards contesting for domination of the world of Roshar: Odium and
Honor.
So
far, I’ve only delved into the first three of ten proposed books: The Way of Kings; Words of Radiance, and the novella – Edgedancer). As you know, I always do my best NOT to reveal
anything important, as each respective author has gone to a great deal of
effort to create a story that will keep us enthralled. And where Brandon
Sanderson is involved, that creation is truly majestic in scope. So, what I’m
going to do is present the blurb from each book and a basic summary of what I
thought.
If you want a more detailed exposé of the books themselves, stay tuned for my
next item for Amazing Stories, where I’ll delve into each story in much more
detail.
Here we go.
The Way of Kings
**************
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 ten 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 ten 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 over ten 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.
Words of Radiance
****************
Expected by his enemies to die the miserable
death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal
bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he
must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the
distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to
master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.
The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering
rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every
bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince
Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role
in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin's master has much deeper
motives.
Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a
parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she
bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary
Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The
secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there
proves more difficult than she could have imagined.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains,
the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi
attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader,
Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural
forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans
alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.
Edgedancer
**********
Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop
her from growing older--a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still
for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an
executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the
free-spirited Lift, who can't help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the
relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The
downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this
awesome responsibility.
**********
The only word of caution I would
add, is that you should read the postscript to Edgedancer first – before you
actually get into the story. Doing so will allow you to understand Sanderson’s
thinking in giving the two main characters of that novella their own special ‘prequel’
as it were. They’re going to be major players at a later stage in a monumental
story arc, and will be notable enough that you need to understand their origins.
(And I saw how this worked, firsthand, when I started delving into the third
main novel, Oathbringer, as I could
relate to their sudden appearance instantly and understood how they would
influence the developing story).
So,
there you go.
Basically, the opening three books of the Stormlight Archive are epic in every
sense of the word. Ambitious, too, with a world full of bizarre plants and
animals that have adapted to endure the freakish weather that makes Roshar such
a compelling place to try and conjure in your mind. Swords and sorcery. Spirits
and demons. A thoroughly believable magic system. Forgotten histories that hold
the key to surviving the future. Smokescreens and red-herrings to keep you
guessing. It has them all, and serves as an excellent example of what high
fantasy is all about.
And
don’t forget – stay tuned to the blog’s sidebar for when my in-depth review of
these books goes live.
