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The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1) by Brandon Sanderson

The epic fantasy I've been looking for.

I've said this before in other reviews, but many books considered to be "epic fantasy" tend to be lacking the "epic" part. They get bogged down in details and world building, spending so much time telling the backstories of the characters and locations, or taking an entire page to describe a single room, that next thing you know, you're about 20 or 30 percent in to the book and nothing has happened. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with world building, but you gotta pace yourself, spread it out. Don't just have the first quarter of your book be a giant info dump of exposition.

I'm a fan of books that keep things moving, and this is why I love The Way of Kings. I was not prepared for the amount of action in this book, but loved it all the more for it. On top of the multiple set pieces throughout the whole book, the last 20%, or so, is seemingly nonstop action culminating in a finale with multiple revelations that make me want to jump right into book 2. Truly epic in every sense of the word.

And its world building is brilliantly woven into the narrative. You're not just getting a bunch of information dumped on you all at once, explaining how things are, you're discovering it for yourself throughout the story through context. You're not just told how the magic works, you learn how it works by the way it's used. Same with the characters, you're not just told what type of person they are, their actions and their dialogue show you what kind of person they are.

A note for those who are not yet familiar with The Stormlight Archive series: The books in this series are massive and will definitely require some dedication on your part to get through, but you will be rewarded with a truly epic fantasy.