I am now fully immersed in the Cosmere. I have finished all the Mistborn entries to date and completed several of the short stories. Finally, after reading the prerequisites, I delved into The Stormlight Archive. The Way of Kings officially marks the longest single novel I have ever read. While Cryptonomicon previously held that title, everything changed when I picked up this truly epic piece of prose. Clocking in at 1,258 pages, this book was an endeavour well worth the effort.

Many consider this series to be Brandon Sanderson’s magnum opus, even though it is only a single piece in his cosmic chess game. I say without a doubt that this is a worthy appellation. Sanderson brings a unique blend of cultures and ecology that I have rarely seen outside of the experimental works of Metal Hurlant or the furthest reaches of Philip K. Dick’s imagination. He brings a fantasy setting to life in a way that feels like an anthropological study of a living, breathing reality. He presents a continent thrust to the surface of an endless ocean populated by organisms that appear to be seafaring creatures forced to adapt to life on land. The world is plagued by an enormous storm that encircles the planet, called a ‘Highstorm.’ These storms provide the world with its most important resource, Stormlight. This stormlight powers machines and infuses itself into gems and spheres that serve as power sources, illumination, and currency.

Where magic swords and armor collide with honor and chivalry, there are sparks of hope. Even in the darkest moments, the characters are put through a crucible of growth that develops the reader as much as the heroes. A particular character in this novel put this chain of thought into clear words: “People see in stories what they’re looking for.” Hoid

I have struggled with my mental health for a long time. I have been diagnosed with Clinical Depression, and there are significant bouts where I succumb to an overwhelming melancholia. I see a profound reflection of this struggle in Kaladin. I resonated with his despair and his brush with self-termination at the Honor Chasm, but I also found hope in his determination to keep running. I found joy in his upward spiral as he began to refine himself despite his surroundings. This book provided exactly what I was looking for. It gave me a guidepost and a path to help me navigate those darkest of times.

The Stormlight Archive has a robust cast of characters, many of whom deserve mention, but I must refine the scope of this particular article for brevity’s sake. (Oh, Irony) We follow three primary storylines across the numinous pages, with a few interludes to add dimension to the world and its goings-on.

In the distant past, there was a group known as the Radiants, saviors of the world at large, fighting off the Desolation. That is, until one day, they disappeared. They left behind their weapons and faded away into history, leaving the many Knights Radiant with their magic swords and armor. Time would not be kind to their legacy, warping their once-heralded status as saviours into stories of them as traitors to humanity…

Kaladin is our primary focal point in this story, a man who began an idyllic childhood as a would-be surgical wunderkind. As time passed, he awoke to the harsher realities he had once dismissed, seeing a much less caring world, which led to the first of many tragedies that would befall him.

Years of torturous training and fighting led him further and further from his once clinical path of medicine. Following a further terrible day, Kaladin soon spends the better part of a year enslaved. When he thinks he’s found himself another opportunity to fight, he falls yet further into a horrific situation that threatens to bury him firmly.

At its most dire, he becomes acquainted with someone new, and he begins a journey that will see him and the world forever changed.

Shallan is the youngest sibling in a wealthy family in the Kingdom of Jah Keved. She is seeking the wardship of one Jasnah Kholin, a gifted scholar and noted heretic. She hopes to gain valuable insights that will enrich her and her family… The insight in question is the location of her valuable fabrial, a soulcaster.

Shallan is actually trying to acquire a soulcaster to replace the one her late father used. The patriarch’s death has put the future of her family in jeopardy. Her father once used his soulcaster to create valuable materials out of useless objects, and after his death, the device no longer functions.

After gaining Jasnah’s trust and earning the opportunity to become her ward, Shallan desperately attempts to secure the replacement and return in one piece. She learns that every bit of knowledge comes at a price, and that the world is less black-and-white… There are subtle grey areas that defy binaries.

Dalinar Kholin is losing his mind… Sorry, Dalinar Kholin THINKS he is losing his mind. Following the loss of his brother, Gavilar, the King of the Alethkar, Dalinar has been fighting alongside the many highprinces of the Alethi in a pact of vengeance against a race known as the Parshendi.

I say “fighting alongside,” but I really mean they’re fighting in parallel. The Alethi are prideful, dishonorable, and greedy, each fighting to win ‘gemhearts’ from chrysali that are found in only one place, The Shattered Plains. They see it as a contest, trying to collect more of these prizes than their opponents, while using their hatred of the Parshendi as a cover.

The anger is not misplaced, as Gavilar was killed during a feast meant to serve as the start of an alliance between the Alethi and the Parshendi. The Parshendi claimed responsibility, and the war had begun. Five years later, however, Dalinar is questioning everything. He’s started seeing visions whenever a Highstorm arrives.

What he sees is profoundly confusing, and what everyone else sees is a raving madman speaking nonsense. In time, he begins to put together a puzzle that could serve to change the fates of the entire planet. His only guides are an ancient text dictated by an ancient king, and an ever-present command to “Unite them…”

This book is an absolute MUST-read for any Sanderson fans. The connections to the rest of the Cosmere, as well as the new additions to the myriad forms of Investiture, present something for fans of all entries into the grand stage.

For fans of Fantasy in general, this is a great piece that can be enjoyed as an entry point to the Cosmere as a whole. The setting is properly introduced without resorting to the wider Cosmere as background, and the characters themselves are only just beginning to understand the nature of their magic system.

Its daunting size may be a point of caution for some, but its division into distinct parts, as well as its inclusion of interludes, serve to keep the reader from succumbing to fatigue.

A Spren out of Spren from me!