Genre: Epic Fantasy
Rating: A
For: Group Read Along
From: Bought from Amazon
This is the first book in a series of ten books called The Stormlight Archive. In this book we meet Kaladin, who for most of the book is a slave for the army, forced to carry a huge heavy bridge on long marches to allow the army to cross, again and again, the chasms between high plateaus, where much of the fighting takes places.
We also meet Shallan, a young girl who has hopes to become a student to the well known scholar (and sister of the king) Jasnah. But in reality, her actual plans differed quite a bit from that.
Back at the war front, in the army, we get behind the scenes of the powerful people through the eyes of Dalinar, the uncle of the king, and his son Adolin. Dalinar is having some strange visions and hopes to figure out what they mean. He also has some ideas about the old ways, found in a book called The Way of Kings, which he hopes to instill in his sons.
A smaller, but very important character, is also introduced. His name is Szeth and he is a powerful unstoppable assassin who is very unhappy with his fate.
They all live in a world ravaged by frequent violent storms. A world where gems hold light and power only acquired from these storms. A world where soulcasting (the ability to change matter) is a fairly common practice. A world were there's many many interesting cultural practices too.
As you know if you've been following my weekly question posts with the read along I've totally enjoyed this book. It seemed daunting at first, it's a huge book. But in the end, the writing, the stories, the characters, all came together in such a way that the pages flew by, so much so that I was sad to see it end. I'm so glad to have jumped on board with this group read!
Bottom line: I loved it and can't wait for the next one!
Other Reviews:
The Literary Omnivore
Only The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy
Group Read Links
The Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review
I attempted to write a review of this today, too! I can't wait until there is more. :)
ReplyDeleteA 10 book series?!!! Oh dear.
ReplyDelete