frogpirate's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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aliceruthless's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

With every reread I find new information. It’s a thick and heavy read but feels relevant for the times. 

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random19379's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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adri_enne's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. Just wow. I was enjoying the character development and stories throughout the book, but those last 200 pages were AMAZING! I swear, I couldn’t put the book down. The pacing picked up so quickly that I’m still sitting here wondering what the hell just happened! The war scenes were incredible, the world-building was out of this world, and the reveals were mind-blowing—I mean, I’m perplexed. 

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nightmarelized's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's difficult to articulate words for a review on this because of how much I want to say. 
I loved it, and will continue following the series from now on.

When it says "High Fantasy," it means it. If you are not a full on fantasy nerd yet, you might struggle with this book. It constantly switches in POVs, timelines, flashbacks, with 5 main POVs and 18 total. Insanely large scale worldbuilding with several detailed cultures, languages, and life styles. Thousands of years of histories, multiple magic and political systems. It's a lot to handle at once, but never once I felt like the book is info-dumping. The page count is totally justified. 

It starts slow, REALLY slow. I can see many people unable to get through it due to the sheer amount characters and information it tries to present. You either love it or hate it.
It is the first book in a massive 10 book series, and it sure does settle the ground for your entry to this whole new world. The "payoff" really only starts at the last 100 pages, the ending is a rapid fire of resolutions that felt so satisfying, yet still leaving for more to be desired on the next book. I read the book across a month, but read the last part in one day. That says something.

Favorite highlights: Leadership. Justice. Trust. Overcoming mental health and grief. Exploring real world problems in a fictional world. And, of course:
"Journey Before Destination."

If you are planning to step into this series, be ready for your brain to be rewired. Now everything you see will be a Stormlight reference!



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alix_tz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Extremely well written and creative. Hard to put down even though the pace is slow at times. A lot of very intriguing elements that are still not completely resolved by the end of the first book, so this is not a stand alone volume in the series. 

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caitlinemccann's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Listened to this on audiobook during our work commutes, so it was a long slow read with that restriction. But it was fun to have something to look forward to and get sucked into during LA traffic. 

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readwithria's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don’t know if there is a way to describe The Way of Kings, but if I were to try it would definitely include the words epic, astounding, and intense. 

This book is all of those things and more. It is both a great story in its own right and also an amazing opening chapter to a giant series. It introduces us to a fantastic world full of complex characters, and I can’t wait to see where the series is going.

I don’t know how to describe this book, but I can say with confidence that I loved it. 4.5 stars

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rosieholmes99's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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profwinghorn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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