Hardcover, 1152 pages
Russian language
Published July 9, 2020 by Азбука.
Масштабная сага погружает читателя в удивительный мир, не уступающий мирам Дж. Р. Р. Толкина, Р. Джордана и Р. Сальваторе. Уникальная флора и фауна, тщательно продуманное политическое устройство и богатая духовная культура — здесь нет ничего случайного.
Рошар — мир во власти великих бурь, сметающих всё живое на своём пути. Но есть и то, что страшнее любой великой бури, — это истинное опустошение. Одно лишь его ожидание меняет судьбы целых народов. Сумеют ли люди сплотиться перед лицом страшной угрозы? Найдётся ли тот, для кого древняя клятва — жизнь прежде смерти, сила прежде слабости, путь прежде цели — станет чем-то большим, нежели просто слова?
exceptionally gripping storyline with many mysteries. A masterpiece without doubt!
The Way of Kings was in general a pretty decent read once I got into it, and by the end (a rather extreme cliffhanger) I was sufficiently invested that I quite wanted to know what happens next, and would certainly have read the next book in the series if I'd had it available.
That said, it suffers in several points, most notably that it positively oozes with Straight White Male Author Disease. The book is glaringly, painfully cisheteronormative, to the point where it's seriously uncomfortable to read in parts: the sort of thing you'd expect from a 50s sci-fi novel you read mainly out of academic/historical interest, not from a contemporary fantasy which hopes to be taken seriously.
I'd read the rest of the series if I had it available; I might even seek it out, as long as I didn't have to pay for it. But I'd be seriously …
The Way of Kings was in general a pretty decent read once I got into it, and by the end (a rather extreme cliffhanger) I was sufficiently invested that I quite wanted to know what happens next, and would certainly have read the next book in the series if I'd had it available.
That said, it suffers in several points, most notably that it positively oozes with Straight White Male Author Disease. The book is glaringly, painfully cisheteronormative, to the point where it's seriously uncomfortable to read in parts: the sort of thing you'd expect from a 50s sci-fi novel you read mainly out of academic/historical interest, not from a contemporary fantasy which hopes to be taken seriously.
I'd read the rest of the series if I had it available; I might even seek it out, as long as I didn't have to pay for it. But I'd be seriously reluctant to recommend it to others, except in dearth of other reading material.
This was a thick pocket book. Over 1250 pages of fantasy and adventure with a fair bit of violence, deception, magic and conflict. This book, or was it series of books has been compared to those by Tolkien although I would not go that far.
I found the story a bit confusing as it consists of many different threads, that only at the end of the book starts to come together.
I would recommend the book to anyone who is not intimidated by its thickness and weight, and likes good fantasy world building.
The Way of Kings is a worldbuilding masterpiece. Its characters are rich and internally complex, their stories are fascinating, and their motivations compelling (even when you disagree with them). The single exception to this is the Shallan arc.
This is not because Shallan is a bad character, but because she's a decent character surrounded by great ones, and because it takes too long for her arc to connect to the main story.
I highly, highly recommend reading this book, and most of this author's other works.
