The Way of Kings Prime review

The Way of Kings Prime by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is essentially the first draft of the way of kings and it shows. This is the longest I've taken to read a Cosmere/ Cosmere adjacent book, 61 days. The Way of Kings took me 32 days and that was the longest a stormlight book has taken me to read. With most other books averaging just above 2 weeks. Ill admit there were some life events that got in the way of this one, but there were many times I found myself focusing on other media when I had time to read this.

First things first. The only reason to read this book is if you are already fully caught up with the Cosmere and have a general interest in looking behind the scenes at something that is not cannon. So while yes, this was the least enjoyable book, it is by no means required reading and shouldn't even be considered when deciding to jump into the Cosmere.

Now from the perspective of this being an early draft of what would become the Stormlight Archive books. It's really fascinating and fun to see all my favorite characters live a different life. everyone in this book was really close in personality to who they would eventually become, even if their names aren't right yet.

I like to think of this as a what if scenario. What if these characters and this world had a slightly different history. How would everyone react or what would be different about them. The best example I can put to words is this SPOILER for TWOK and TWOKP: What if Kaladin was never betrayed by lighteyes like he was in way of kings. In this case he would still earn a Shardblade and this time he would take it up as well as the responsibility of becoming a noble man. He might also meet Adolin earlier and they would become friends sooner.

Its all a fun look at what could have been. This book and Dragonsteel Prime would eventually become something greater than the sum of their parts, and I'm just glad I got to experience them.

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