Reading The Way of Kings: Stormblessed
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
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
Cenn, a new recruit in Amaram's army, is assigned last minute to a new squad as a spear man. The battle is a dispute beween Amaram and another Alethi Brightlord. Dallet, a rugged veteran, helps ease Cenn's worries and gives him advice. Cenn learns that he has been assigned to Kaladin's squad. Cenn discovers that Kaladin's crew has the fewest casualties out of all the squads fighting for Amaram. He also finds out that Kaladin paid another squad leader so Cenn would be assigned to his crew.
As the battle begins, everything descends into chaos. However, Kaladin's squad stays organized. Cenn eventually gets separated from the squad, and before he is cut down, Kaladin saves him. Kaladin spots a Brightlord in plate armor, and takes him down. Then, Cenn spots a real Shardbearer, who appears to charge in their direction.
My Thoughts
Is this finally the start of the story? We had a prologue and a prelude and about 4,505 years in between, and now we get into the story of Kaladin, who I believe is going to be our main focus in this book. From what I know through BookTube and other online forums, this man is a downer.
I am so excited. I love reading characters' internal thoughts about things, and if the author can do a good job of making me really immersed in the character’s head, that character is an automatic favorite.
I like the way the battle scene was written. You get a less represented idea of how battles used to work back in the day. You follow just one squad and the antics that they undertake while trying to stay alive but also make a name for themselves. Interesting ideas about lighteyes and darkeyes here. The racism that Brandon Sanderson wants to touch seems to be more of eye color than skin color, and from what I see, there are humans and other species of multiple different types of skin. Therefore, since humans have to find prejudice in some form or another, they have decided to focus on eyes in this world.
This is actually an idea I myself have had in the past. Not that I was trying to think of different ways in which humans can be racist towards each other… actually, that’s exactly what I was trying to think about.
I’ll explain.
In one of my social science classes in university, we had a discussion about racism and prejudice. While I was blanking out on the lecture, I did start trying to wonder how racism came around in the first place. Why do we choose skin color as a basis for discrimination and not hair or eye color? The answer I had to satisfy myself with was that skin is a larger indicator than hair, height, or eye color. It is easy to see and usually geographical. Prejudice based on eye color is too much work, and we all know racism is a lazy man’s pastime.
So it’s interesting that Brandon Sanderson has decided to do away with one type of prejudice for another. Let’s see what new takes on racism we get to see from these cultures. Judging by the map, there’s a ton of different cultures to get into.
Also, poor Cenn. On-the-job training is so not for you.
Onward.
Thank you for reading!