asked for · the way of kings course

1the journey

Welcome! The Way of Kings is a huge fantasy novel, so we'll walk through this as a course of five sections — starting with the world it's set in.

2planet Roshar

The story unfolds on Roshar, a planet battered by huge magical hurricanes called highstorms that reshape everything alive there.

3stormwardened life

Because of the storms, plants and creatures evolved tough shells and quick-shrinking vines — this is a world of crustaceans, not rabbits.

4the war

Humans share this land with the Alethi and other kingdoms, locked in a brutal war on the Shattered Plains against strange enemies called the Parshendi.

5ancient mystery

Beneath the war lies an older mystery — ruins of the Knights Radiant, warriors who vanished long ago, and whose return the whole book is building toward.

6story arc

Let's trace the whole shape of the story — three main threads that weave together across the book's five huge Parts.

7Kaladin's climb

Kaladin's thread climbs from despair to purpose, saving Bridge Four and awakening as a Knight Radiant when he chooses to protect even his enemies.

8Dalinar's visions

Dalinar, a battle-scarred highprince, receives strange visions of an ancient war and slowly realizes Roshar's real enemy is returning.

9Shallan's secret

Shallan seeks out a reclusive scholar to steal a powerful device, but her own hidden past and a spren of her own begin surfacing too.

10threads converge

All three threads collide at the Shattered Plains in a final battle where Kaladin flies, Dalinar leads, and an ancient evil stirs awake.