Reading The Way of Kings: Nearer The Flame
The Stormlight Archive Read-Through
Hello and welcome to my chapter by chapter re read of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. This book begins with a prelude so I have decided to kick things off from here.
Below you will find a brief description of what happens in the chapter, followed by my own thoughts.
I’m sitting here in my cozy university sweatshirt as the first gusts of winter descend around us. I’m grateful for my beard that is protecting my skin from the cold. There is nothing to protect my fingers however, they’ve become rigid and typing on the computer is now a task and not a rhythm.
P.S. For chapter summaries, I am going to be using the Fandom website as well as Coppermind as resources. I will be providing links. Please visit the website if you want more information and resources.
Please use this link to navigate my blog posts about this series.
Chapter Summary
Jasnah scolds Shallan, telling her (Shallan) that she (Jasnah) had already made her decision. Shallan is embarrassed that she disturbed Jasnah again and leaves. However, after only a few moments, Jasnah calls her back and apologizes to her.
Shallan asks Jasnah to read the letter she had written for her earlier. Jasnah is impressed that she is self-taught, and agrees to accept Shallan as her ward once she has adequately learned philosophy and history. Shallan is pleased by this, but knows that it won't be enough to save House Davar.
In a last ditch attempt to convince Jasnah to take her as her ward, Shallan buys several books on history and philosophy and begins to study them, planning to impress Jasnah with her rapid learning before Jasnah leaves Kharbranth. Before long, she is interrupted by Jasnah, who had paid the servants to tell her if Shallan returned to the palace.
Jasnah asks to see Shallan's satchel. When she comes across Shallan's sketches, she asks why she made them, to which Shallan replies that she wanted to. It is ultimately the fact that Shallan pursues scholarship in her free time (in the form of her sketches and notes), along with her persistance, that convince Jasnah to accept her as her ward.
Shallan reflects that she has completed the first phase of her plan, but now needs to discover how to accomplish the rest of it without being caught.
My Thoughts
I am personally attacked by the conversation between the bookseller and Shallan. While some of the musings about reading a wide variety of books are similar to Tyrion’s conversations about reading to Jon in A Game of Thrones, I do think it reflects on the readers as well. We do tend to pick our favourite genres and stick to them for years on end. I find myself returning to the fantasy genre despite my desire to explore other works because there is a sense of familiarity and comfort when you read something you understand the workings of. I would be a poor philosophy student because while I do find it interesting, I would be too wrapped up in trying to memorize and understand everything without realizing and appreciating the ambiguity of the subject.
So in that way I do think this chapter pushed me to go outside my comfort zone a little bit and try other genres. Although, I could also make the argument that I have started doing that by reading this series in the first place. I have made a mention of my distaste towards magic systems.
The book shopping scene reminded me a little bit of Kvothe in The Name of the Wind but without the depressing poverty.
And I will say that I do like Shallan’s character the more I read about her. She’s in a tough situation and I think the metaphor of Jasnah’s offer being like a sphere without light was an apt one. It’s the kind of offer you would want to get without receiving an outright rejection, but not if you are in Shallan’s place and have ulterior motives.
So far, I really like the dialogue in this book, which is something I was worried about before I started because that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t like Mistborn. Maybe Sanderson - like most authors - gets better the more he writes.
I wonder if my prose and ability to write down my thoughts in this blog series gets better the deeper I go into The Stormlight Archive. Time will tell.
Onwards.