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The Way of Kings cover art

The Way of Kings

By: Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by: Michael Kramer,Kate Reading
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Summary

According to mythology, mankind used to live in 'The Tranquiline Halls': heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms, but the Voidbringers followed. The Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, the Shardblades. Led by 10 angelic Heralds and 10 orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won (or so the legends say). 

Today the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world is at war with itself - and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne. 

On a world scoured down to the rock by terrifying hurricanes, a young spearman is forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn't understand and doesn't really want to fight.

©2010 Dragonsteel Entertainment LLC (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited

What listeners say about The Way of Kings

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Philip from Winchester

I won't spend time on a summarry as the publisher has that well covered. I have 105 Epic Fantasy titles in my audio library and I generally listen when out with the dogs or home alone, as it is a fairly anti-social activity. This is the first book I have listened to where I have found myself sneaking away to create 'listening space'. My interest didn't flag from beginning to end. The narration by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading is as expert as you would expect, the characters are engaging and both the world and the plot which Brandon has created are riveting. A real five star listen!

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186 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Patient Giant of the Fantasy Genre

Brandon Sanderson has achieved something marvelous here. From the very opening scenes it is crystal clear that you are reading an author who has developed a fantasy world of incredible depth and detail. In these early action scenes he demonstrates a refreshingly ingenious form of combat magic, depth of character and hints at the world beyond. As the book unfolds the sheer scale of his imagination is revealed as the history, geography, flora, fauna, religion and mythology of his creation is revealed. This is done gradually without huge long paragraphs of description to bog things down.

The characters too are thoroughly detailed and explored through conversation, flashbacks to previous times and even their dreams. There are no one-dimensional heroes or villains here, nothing in that sense is spoon fed as the characters have a constant struggle to find their right path. When reading this book time and again you will imagine you know where something is heading and be pulled up short. Sanderson is a very patient author and doesn’t take the easy plot route often.

Of course with a book of this length the narration is important, forty-six hours of monotone would make this hard going and the idea of splitting the narration is a very sound one. Michael Kramer is excellent, he rumbles through the book adding real gravitas and atmosphere to Sanderson’s often grim world and its inhabitants. Kate Reading is eloquent and very precise but clearly not everyone’s cup of tea. I’m afraid she’s not mine, her intonation is too often lacking the correct inflection making her sound like an automaton at times. She does read much less of the book than her counterpart but I still think the audio sample should have included some of her reading to help prospective purchasers make an informed decision.

All told this is a book that demands respect, it does take an investment from you to get through it but the rewards are incredibly rich. I was hooked in from the brilliant opening scenes which included some very innovative ideas. Sanderson is a genuine giant in the fantasy genre and those wanting depth, detail and new ideas coupled with a gripping story will definitely want to head this way. The last few hours of the story are as good as anything I have read.

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76 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding

One of the best reads (or listens) I have ever had! Easily a five star rating - indeed it's making me question my other 5 star awards, as this is far superior to those. It's label of "epic fantasy" is more than justified. It's a unique story, in a unique landscape. Not so fantastical as to be ridiculous, but really well thought through, and everything gels together to make a world that is almost tangible. The plot is anything but predictable, nor are the characters. Many happy hours walking listening to this - and many "sneak away to keep listening" moments too!

A really good listen (and the narrators are good - I think the dislike of Ms Reading must be a personal thing for some listeners - apart from pronouncing one of the characters names in a completely different way to the other narrator, I thought she was fine.). Highly recommended. I read with dismay that book 2 is only scheduled to be out in 2012 - gutted at the long wait!

And a final thought.... it's a 7 part download of between 5& 7 hours each - pence per hour of listening, you'd be hard pressed to find better value thant this!

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72 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Brill

Was enthralled by this book, I work on a farm and for the 2 weeks planting cabbages, it made an otherwise sole destroying job tolerably, if i didn't have this to listen to i think i might have lost my mined, every part of this book kept my asking questions and wanting to hear more.
just wish audible would bring part two out i really want to know what happens and being a slow stuttering reader id loose the story over such a large book.
but defiantly for anyone who is looking for a good fantasy this is well up there, along with the mistborn series, again another work of magic.

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70 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Narration unlistenable to these European ears.

I really tried to give this book a go, but over 4 separate sessions I'm parting ways at chapter 14. The diction and meter of the narrator seems so off and uninvolved that sometimes I had to check that I was listening to the right book. Maybe coming in directly after Rupert Degas' exemplary readings of Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind series set a high bar, but the direction of male and female narrators for this book is just appalling with inflections on the wrong words in nearly every sentence. I wonder to US listeners have the same reaction?

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57 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Slow Burning Magnificance

It would have been easy to dismiss this audio book after three or four hour due to the assault on my memory with the bewildering number of characters and an alien world introduced in a short amount of time, but persevere and it does not disappoint. The main characters grow depth as their history builds with recollections from the past enhancing this. The seemingly separate strand converge brilliantly leading to a satisfying finale. I appreciate the use of two narrators for the male and female roles, but if there is one slight criticism it is that they were not prepped on the pronunciation of the main characters names, this doing it differently in some cases.

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • M
  • 01-02-14

Excellent story, well worth a listen

Very engaging, well paced story that trots along keeping you listening for more. This being my second book of Sanderson's but my first fantasy read, I am now, without doubt hooked. Sanderson creates very inventive "magic" worlds with very engaging characters that allow you to explore that world. Micheal Kramer is great but Kate Reading is absolutely abysmal; at her worse she sounds like a really awful droning computer generated voice that has almost no expressive inflection, has terrible timing and no natural rhythm. She sounds incredibly robotic and truly annoying. I really do hope that she is not included in the next book in the series . That said it's still worth suffering through her chapters as Micheal Kramer reads the majority of the book and the story is definitely very worthwhile despite this. So, be warned but not put off spending a credit on this listen (plus it's very decent value for money)

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story, Troublesome Performance

A bit of internet research showed that the performance team is held in some regard. I, however, was unimpressed. Michael Kramer's delivery is a little dry and monotone, which takes a little getting used to. Kate Reading had an odd inflection at the end of sentences (particularly at the beginning of chapters) awhich was impossible to get used to!

There was also discrepancy in how both readers pronounced some names.

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

So far so good???

Oh what a shame, I was really enjoying Michael Kramer's narration and getting into the book nicely and then.....Kate Reading joins in. Her voice is like a female Steven Hawkins - it's awful! I loved Michael Kramer's narration of the Mistborn books and couldn't wait to listen to another book by Brandon Sanderson that was read by him. The book sample you can listen to before purchasing did not give you a taster of Reading's voice, but I figured that since Kramer is so good, she was bound to be too. I was sooo wrong.

I am, however, persevering with the story because, like all of Sanderson's books, it is so good and grips you from the first that you have to keep going. I am blisfully enjoying where Kramer narrates and wading through Reading's chapters. The book is too good for me to allow her to spoil it completely. I am, however, a little nervous of listening to the Wheel of Time series that I am starting to purchase, as Reading also contributes to that narration. The reviews note that she only does a few chapters so I may be able to suffer her voice if that's the case.

Still can't believe they used her? What's wrong with Kramer narrating the whole thing? Oh well, back to it...

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good story slightly ruined by Kate reading

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and Michael Kramers narration of it but every time it came round to Kate Readings parts it just completely sucked me out of the story, she ends the last word of every sentence with this weird downwards and then upwards inflection and once you notice it, it's all you can focus on. this would be a 5 star if the entire narration was Kramer but I'm bumping it down due to Reading.

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