The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

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.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

The Cosmere
The Stormlight Archive
● The Way of Kings
● Words of Radiance
● Edgedancer (novella)
● Oathbringer
● Dawnshard (novella)
● Rhythm of War

The Mistborn Saga
The Original Trilogy
● Mistborn
● The Well of Ascension
● The Hero of Ages

I’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.

Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, comes out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that will see the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and Secret Project Four (with its official title reveal coming October 2023). These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.

November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. The third era of Mistborn is slated to be written after the first arc of the Stormlight Archive wraps up.

In November 2020 we saw the release of Rhythm of War—the fourth massive book in the New York Times #1 bestselling Stormlight Archive series that began with The Way of Kings—and Dawnshard (book 3.5), a novella set in the same world that bridges the gaps between the main releases. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. The fifth volume, Wind and Truth, is set for release in fall 2024.

Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, and various novellas available on Amazon, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.

I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, come out in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.

Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the Legion series, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. There’s a lot of material to go around!

Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart,The Emperor’s Soul, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.

I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.

Praise for Brandon Sanderson and the Stormlight Archive

Over 15 million Stormlight Archive books sold!

“One of the genre’s most beloved authors.”―TIME

“Sanderson raises the genre stakes… A fan favorite.”―The New York Times

“[Sanderson] is not a brilliant writer of epic fantasy, he’s simply a brilliant writer. Period.”―Patrick Rothfuss, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“The genre’s most popular writer… easily one of the most successful and prolific fantasy writers of the century so far.”―Esquire

“Epic in every sense.”―The Guardian on The Way of Kings

“Sanderson is a master of many aspects of the fantasy genre: epic world-building, coherent systems of magic and unforgettable character development. All those are in peak form in his masterwork, The Way of Kings.”―Paste Magazine, “The 50 Best Fantasy Books of the 21st Century (So Far)”

“Absolutely revels in its fantasy world, one of actual gods, bizarre magic, knights with superpowers, spirits and sorcery, monsters, demons, and magic sword[s] called Shardblades. It embraces the fantastic, and does so with an astonishing amount of creativity . . . Words of Radiance is a must-read.”―io9on Words of Radiance

“Excellent . . . cranks up the level of intrigue to dizzying extremes…

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson is an expansive, character driven epic fantasy that introduces the storm lashed world of Roshar, a land defined by brutal magical storms, ancient wars, and half remembered legends. The story weaves together several main characters whose lives slowly converge against the backdrop of a conflict that is much larger than any of them realize. At the heart of the book is the idea that the past has been badly misunderstood, that heroes have been turned into myths or monsters, and that the true enemy is not the one people think they’ve been fighting for thousands of years. Sanderson builds this through intimate personal struggles: broken people trying to find meaning and honor in a world that has largely abandoned both.

One of the central figures is Kaladin, a former soldier who begins the book at his lowest point, sold into slavery and branded as a dangerous troublemaker. He once led a squad of soldiers with skill and compassion, only to see them betrayed and massacred due to the cruelty and corruption of the lighteyed nobility who rule Roshar. Stripped of hope, Kaladin is purchased by Highprince Dalinar Kholin’s army and assigned to the very bottom of the social and military ladder: the bridge crews on the Shattered Plains. These crews have one of the most lethal jobs imaginable—racing ahead of the army, carrying enormous wooden bridges on their shoulders under enemy fire so that lighteyed officers can cross deep chasms and fight for prized gemstone deposits called gemhearts. Bridge crews are treated as expendable, sent to die again and again. Kaladin arrives bitter, traumatized, and ready to give up, but slowly, something in him refuses to stop caring. He begins to fight not for glory, but simply to keep his fellow bridgemen alive.

As Kaladin struggles with despair, he starts noticing strange things: a tiny, talkative spren (a kind of elemental spirit) named Syl follows him, becoming more intelligent and self aware the more time she spends near him. He also finds that in moments of extreme stress, he can do impossible things—like instinctively judging the path of a falling object, or drawing on a mysterious strength that lets him survive where others would die. These hints lead him toward the rediscovery of the ancient powers once wielded by the Knights Radiant, legendary warriors who betrayed humanity and abandoned their magical Shardplate and Shardblades long ago, or so the accepted history says. Kaladin doesn’t understand what’s happening to him, and he is deeply wary of hope, but he starts using this budding strength and his leadership skills to transform his bridge crew from doomed cannon fodder into a group with discipline, purpose, and loyalty. His arc is a slow climb out of suicidal despair toward a fragile form of honor and responsibility, anchored in his determination to protect others.

Parallel to Kaladin’s story is that of Dalinar Kholin, a powerful highprince and warlord on the Shattered Plains. Dalinar is a veteran of countless battles, known for his ferocity and strength, yet now he finds himself troubled by vivid visions that strike him during highstorms—the magical tempests that periodically sweep across Roshar with terrifying force. In these visions, he sees scenes from ancient times, conversations and events that seem to be connected to the long forgotten Knights Radiant and the mysterious enemy known as the Voidbringers. The visions challenge everything he has been taught about history and honor, and they leave him shaken. At the same time, Dalinar becomes increasingly disgusted by the way the Alethi nobility conduct the war on the Shattered Plains: petty rivalries, endless duels, and shallow political games, all centered around the pursuit of Shardblades, Shardplate, and gemhearts rather than any true cause. While other highprinces treat the war as a competition and personal playground, Dalinar begins to question whether there is a deeper purpose and whether his people are dangerously blind. Many around him, including his own sons and allies, worry that he is going mad, but Dalinar is driven by a growing conviction that Alethkar must change or fall.

Another vital thread follows Shallan Davar, a young woman from a minor noble family whose finances and stability are collapsing. To save her house, Shallan seeks to become the ward of Jasnah Kholin, Dalinar’s brilliant and controversial niece, who is both a renowned scholar and a heretic who openly rejects the traditional religion. Shallan travels to the capital city of Kharbranth to petition Jasnah, intending secretly to steal Jasnah’s powerful Soulcaster—a magical device that allows its bearer to transform one substance into another, such as stone into smoke or food into stone. Her plan is morally dubious, but it is born from desperation and pressure to save her family. Jasnah tests her harshly and initially refuses her, but eventually accepts her as a ward after seeing her rare talent for “Soulcasting” through her art: Shallan can sketch with eerie precision, and her drawings sometimes reveal unexpected truths. As she studies with Jasnah, she is drawn into deep questions about truth, faith, history, and the nature of the legendary Voidbringers and Knights Radiant. What begins as a scheme evolves into a genuine intellectual journey, and Shallan’s own hidden secrets and trauma slowly surface.

The larger setting tying these character arcs together is the long running war on the Shattered Plains between the Alethi and the Parshendi, a people who unexpectedly assassinated the Alethi king, Gavilar, at the start of the book’s timeline. The Alethi believe they are avenging their king and fighting for honor, but their campaigns are largely driven by greed for gemhearts and prestige. The Parshendi, mysterious and culturally distinct, fight back fiercely yet with strange rules and patterns that don’t fully make sense. Throughout the book, clues emerge that suggest Gavilar’s death and this war are part of something far more ancient—a cycle of catastrophe involving the return of the Voidbringers and an event called the Desolation. Dalinar’s visions insist that the true enemy is not the Parshendi, but something worse, something the world has allowed itself to forget. Jasnah’s research leads her to similar disturbing conclusions. The myths that people treat as harmless stories begin to look like distorted memories of real, terrible events.

As the story unfolds, Kaladin’s situation grows more dangerous. His efforts to train and protect his bridge crew put him in direct conflict with sadistic officers who want the bridgemen to remain expendable. He develops plans to reduce casualties, using strategy instead of blind obedience, and manages small victories that keep his men alive. These acts of defiance come at a price—public beatings, punishment, and escalating hostility—but they also forge intense loyalty among the crew. Kaladin’s relationship with Syl deepens, and his strange powers become more pronounced, though he doesn’t fully understand them. His leadership and emerging abilities eventually pull him into the orbit of Dalinar’s forces and the broader conflict on the Shattered Plains, setting the stage for turning points that could reshape the war.

Meanwhile, Dalinar wrestles with whether to share his visions and how to interpret them. They tell him to “unite them,” a command he doesn’t know how to fulfill in a fractured kingdom full of proud, selfish highprinces. His attempts to impose codes of honor and discipline on his army make him look rigid and eccentric, and his insistence on doing what is right instead of what is politically advantageous isolates him. Still, he persists, driven by the growing belief that a greater disaster is coming and that Alethkar must be prepared. Shallan, on the other side of the continent, uncovers dangerous truths in Jasnah’s books and through her own strange experiences with magical transformation. She begins to realize that her plan to steal the Soulcaster is entangled with something far more momentous than family survival, and that the world itself may be standing at the edge of a new Desolation.