Spoiler-free book guide
The Way of Kings
Book 1 of 5 in The Stormlight Archive · by Brandon Sanderson
How it opens
Cenn, a fifteen-year-old recruit with three months of training, stands at the front of Brightlord Amaram's army in the squad of Kaladin Stormblessed. In the battle Kaladin saves Cenn from an enemy spear and leads his men against a mounted lighteyed officer, and then a Shardbearer gallops toward the wounded. Eight months later Kaladin is a slave with a shash brand on his forehead, riding in a caged wagon through the Unclaimed Hills for the slaver Tvlakv. A windspren that has been following him speaks his name and asks why he has stopped fighting, and the mercenary Bluth kills a sick slave whom Kaladin says could live.
Who you meet early
- KaladinKaladin is a young Alethi soldier reduced to slavery, a repeat runaway whose brand, the shash glyph, marks him as dangerous.
- CennA fifteen year old spearman in Brightlord Amaram's army in The Way of Kings.
- DalletSecond in Kaladin's squad in Amaram's army in The Way of Kings.
- TvlakvTvlakv is a portly, white-bearded Thaylen slavemaster with a faint limp who runs a caravan of caged wagons carrying slaves, Kaladin among them.
- BluthBluth was a mercenary working for Tvlakv when Kaladin was enslaved.
Where it sits
The Way of Kings is the first of 5 books in The Stormlight Archive. Start here.
Next · Book 2
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