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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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Publisher's 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
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Kate Reading impossible to listen to

Kate Reading has an inflection at the end of every sentence that drives me insane. I'm terribly sorry to be so blunt about it but I'm really disappointed I can't listen to one of my favourite authors due to this quirk of hers. Perhaps it's more difficult due to the fact that I'm Australian and an inflection at the end of every sentence generally denotes a certain personality here that grinds my gears when listened to.

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39 people found this helpful

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

Long - 45 hours and the first of 10 books!

Epic certainly sums up this work. After almost reaching the end of this 45 hour book, I did some quick searching on the net and found Brandon Sanderson is planning this is a 10 book series! If you're after a fast-paced story, this probably isn't for you. If you loved the Wheel of Time series you'll probably love it. (Personally, I gave up after about 7 books....).

The character development in this story is excellent as you'd expect and I certainly enjoyed the book. However, given its length and lack of excitement in many places I'm not sure I'll be back for book Two onward.

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36 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Monotone Duet

This audiobook has two readers, so just when you start to get used to the first guys flat american accent with his strange inflections and sentencing structure that make you squirm; they change the reader, the lady reader might as well be microsoft text to speech generator.

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29 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Love this narrating duo!

slow beginning, lots of world building but the payoff is huge, great 1st book and it really launched the next book, which is an absolute must read/listen too! the Sanderson/Kramer/Reading combo is dynamite.

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22 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Unable to listen due to narrator

I can't really rate the story itself as I had to return the book. The narrator has a constant rising inflection which prevented me from enjoying the content.

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20 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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IF U liked 'the name of the wind'

amazing fantasy story that covers a few people's journeys through an interesting new world! loved it!

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17 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Ben
  • 02-01-2018

no need for two narrators

the female narrator sucked. sounded like a robot. struggled to get through her chapters. but loved the story

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16 people found this helpful

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

Looking forward to starting the next book

When I first started listening to this I didn't realise it was the beginning of a 10 part series. It felt slow and there is a lot of history in the book so it jumps back and forth through time.I started to tire of leaning about of the people, locations and strange landscapes and artefacts of this world. I just wanted to get into the story. But once I realised how many more books where to come I felt like it was quite justified. The story is set in a world with weird creatures and landscapes and it does need a bit more time to set the scene then many other fantasies I've read.

In the beginning I also found some of the characters frustrating and a boring because they seems a bit 2D or simple. I really wasn't sure how much I was going to enjoy this book but then suddenly everything picked up! Things happened, characters developed and now I am hooked. There where a few nights I stayed up way to late because I just had to know what happened next.

Compared to other audio books I've listened to I found the narrators rather flat and this was very disappointing. I was also a bit confused at one point because they pronounced one of the characters names differently and it took me a moment to realise.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible voice acting

I have never heard anything worse. Heard such good things about this book but the way it is read is so frustrating, like it's a shopping list being read out loud. God..

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9 people found this helpful

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

LOVED IT!!!

I loved this sooooo much, characters are well developed, are all different enough to add to an exciting read and despite it's very long read/listen, it's worth every second. Brandon Sanderson has quickly become one of my faves.

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8 people found this helpful

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