The Way of Kings is an epic fantasy novel by the wonderful Brandon Sanderson. It was first published in 2011 and because of the length of the whole story, the publisher and author decided to chop the story into two parts. This first part begins the story by introducing us to the land of Roshar, where human live under the mercy of highstorms, a deadly seasonal natural storm that devastate everything in its path. The main plot was triggered by the assassination of Alethi king by a mysterious assassin wearing a white robe. The Parshendi who claimed the act as their doing, was thrown into war of vengeance by the enraged Alethi kingdom. Years have passed since that bloody night and the war was going nowhere as both sides seem to lose their initial goals and set their sights somewhere else. In this book, we follow three different main characters on their different journeys: Kaladin, a surgeon son who's gifted with the natural ability as a warrior; Shallan, a young noble woman searching a way to save her family from bankruptcy; and Dalinar, the late Alethi king's brother who saw visions during highstorm from seemingly long lost times.

First of all, I'm not ready to judge whether this story is good or not as the first part is not a standalone story. The story ends like an episode of a TV series. Nothing was concluded or revealed, only teases of what to come next. However, from what I've read so far, it's expectedly very promising. The characters are sympathetic and interesting with their own desires and weaknesses. Shallan was the most charming, Kaladin was the most inspiring, and I expect Dalinar to get his time to shine in the second part of the story as well. The worldbuilding is also what you would expect from the author's work. They're very magical but not without their limits. Most of the rules are still hidden by the author by this point, but I think it's safe to assume that it will be revealed grandly at the right time as always.

I reserve my judgment about the bad stuff in this book until I've seen how the story concluded. But given the author's track records and the praises that this book had, I think it's not too optimistic to hope for one epic ending for this story.