TGRF Reviews - The Way of Kings (Part 2)

I've recently finished part 2 of The Way of Kings, and since I've decided it will be easier to review the individual sections as I read them, I'll continue with part 2.

Title: The Way of Kings
Author: Brandon Sanderson
As usual, I'll reserve my rating for when I've completed the whole story. The below review is spoiler-free.

Part 2 stars Adolin, Dalinar, and Kaladin. Honestly my overwhelming impression from this section was the extreme need for a family tree. Dalinar and Adolin are introduced alongside 'the king' (I didn't pick up his name for a few pages), another highprince by the name of Sadeas, who we quickly learn is a rival of sorts for Adolin/Dalinar, and Renarin who is Dalinar's son. Adolin is Dalinar's other son. Elohkar, the king, is the son of Gavilar, the previous king, who was Dalinar's brother. Jasnah, who Shallan met in the previous part, is I think the daughter of Gavilar, brother to Elohkar, and niece of Dalinar. Then there's Gavilar's wife (who I assume was queen but now isn't - there are mentions to 'the queen' but I don't know who that is... is Elohkar married?), who now seems interested in Dalinar (confusing the relationship further). As usual, half of these characters are introduced all at once, with zero backstory, and the reader is left to pick things up through dialogue and thoughts. Several times throughout the section, I definitely could have benefitted from a family tree, or even just a list of characters explaining who they all were.

Shallan is not in part 2. I wasn't a fan of this, because she was probably way more sympathetic than Kaladin by the end of part 1. Kaladin is there, and in a sea of confusing family/royal politics, I found myself geuinely relieved that he was.

Unlike with part 1, I at least know where everyone is this time around, since they are all mostly in the same place. That does help the feeling of connectivity some, but I can't help but wonder what all of this has to do with anything. I expect Kaladin to be the main character, because he was introduced first, but honestly if I had to say who the story is ABOUT at this point, it would be Dalinar's extended family. Kaladin just has no part in it, no connection or relation to anyone else.

Much like part 1, the individual stories are perfectly engaging, but also as with part 1, I still feel like I could easily put the book aside for a more gripping story if I wanted. There just isn't a ton of inherent tension.

I don't think this has anything to do with the actual conflicts involved - those all seem fine upon further examination. Really, I think it's just a case of stretching the main character quota too thin.

I'm not saying you can't have multiple main characters. But when you get into the range of four or more, you better have solid reader investment sunk into each one of them, and Sanderson just doesn't. I'd say I'm interested in Kaladin the most, simply because we started with him and his conflicts are much simpler to relate to. But really, none of the characters are overly invest-able. They're there, they're main characters, they have problems they're dealing with, and... that's about it, honestly.

Again, I don't think this really is a problem with the characters themselves. I think it's a style issue. By constantly jumping back and forth, Sanderson is effectively ensuring I can't get too invested in any one character. I know it's kind of his signature thing, but to be honest, it just isn't working.

If I had to fix one thing, it would be that. I would separate the Kaladin and Shallan stories in part 1, and tell them one after the other. They never intersect, so there's no timing conflicts. Same goes for part 2. Kaladin never intersects with Dalinar or Adolin, so I would tell those stories separately, one after the other. It would just be a lot cleaner, and we would have time to actually sink some investment into each character.

Between each part, it looks like Sanderson is including a three-chapter mini-part, which he styles 'interludes'. These interludes are the brilliant idea of introducing three completely new characters doing some random thing. One is the guy who killed the king back in the second prologue, but the other two are completely new, and as a result I can't even remember their names. And having finished part two, I can see Sanderson is going to do it again.

Brandon, I'm sorry, but these endless pov shifts are absolutely killing your story.

As far as the story itself goes, I don't know. It's there, but it's just taking an obscenely large amount of time to do anything, and even then (save for Kaladin and Shallan) no one really is accomplishing much. It's all minor conflicts and problems. I feel like we're orbitting some huge conflict/mystery which will involve all these characters eventually, and Sanderson is dropping minute hints, but the set up is just taking WAY too long. There's very little sense of direction with the novel as a whole so far. I almost feel like I'm only part way through a novel-length introduction (which might very well be the case - not that there's anything wrong with an introductory novel, but the reader should never feel like that's what he's reading while reading).

I will keep reading. The book isn't actively pushing me away, but it is doing very little to glue me to my seat either. So far a fairly luke-warm experience.

Until then, keep writing.

~TGRF.