#2 in Fantasy
The Way of Kings
- 1,008
- Pages
- about 18 h
- Reading time
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
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Our view
A thousand-page opening to a sprawling epic series, and it behaves like one: the first half builds its world and its soldiers patiently, and the second half pays that patience back at speed. Readers who return to it find hints of later volumes planted everywhere. Those who want a plot that moves from the opening chapter may find it slow; those ready to commit to a long series will feel at home.
Worth knowing Sanderson wrote a first version in 2002, set it aside and later rewrote it from scratch; it came out in 2010, after he had taken over finishing The Wheel of Time. The Stormlight Archive is planned as ten books in two arcs, and the first arc closed with Wind and Truth in 2024. At over a thousand pages, with maps and drawings from in-world sketchbooks, it starts slowly and saves its biggest payoff for the final part.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Way of Kings is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the first book in The Stormlight Archive series. The novel was published on August 31, 2010, by Tor Books. The Way of Kings consists of one prelude, one prologue, 75 chapters, an epilogue, and nine interludes. It was followed by Words of Radiance in 2014, Oathbringer in 2017, Rhythm of War in 2020 and Wind and Truth in 2024. A leatherbound edition was released in 2021.
Reading order · The Stormlight Archive
Full order & progress →- The Way of KingsThis book
9.29.2 / 10 - Words of Radiance
9.49.4 / 10 - Oathbringer
9.19.1 / 10 - Rhythm of War
9.09.0 / 10 - Wind and Truth
8.68.6 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 9.3 across 3,927 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 96% of the weight and the score stays at 9.2 — the Fantasy average of 8.0 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.0 | 166 | 4% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 127 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 9.3 | 3.6K | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Way of Kings?
It has 1,008 pages — longer than 94% of the ranked books in Fantasy.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Fantasy — with scores between 9.0 and 9.4, closest to this book.
