Brandon Sanderson

Kate Reading

Michael Kramer

Book One of the Stormlight Archive

The Way of Kings

Alina

If there was one thing he still let himself long for, it was the chance to hold a spear. To fight again, to try and find his way back to the man he had been. A man who had cared.

So be it. Cutting down trees, building bridges, fighting in the army. None of it mattered. He would just keep living. They’d taken his freedom, his family, his friends, and—most dear of all—his dreams. They could do nothing more to him.

No, this place wasn’t natural. The land had been broken. And now it broke the people who came to it.

No. He’d had no easy fall, like those drops. He’d earned his scars. He’d bounced off walls, bashed his face and hands. He’d killed innocent men by accident. He’d walked beside those with hearts like blackened coals, adoring them. He’d scrambled and climbed and fallen and stumbled.

And now here he was. At the end of it all. Understanding so much more, but somehow feeling no wiser.

She felt guilty for being unable to record his death. And she felt stupid for that guilt.

Watching them stand resolute and capable in stances they had only been just been taught, Kaladin realized something. These men—cast off by the army, forced to work themselves near to death, then fed extra food by Kaladin’s careful planning—were the most fit, training-ready recruits he’d ever been given.

By seeking to beat them down, Sadeas had prepared them to excel.

We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.

anya

An excerpt from the letter Shallan leaves Jasnah at the Palanaeum.

Sara

Which would you rather have? A ward who is able to repeat the correct answers because an overpriced tutor drilled them into her, or a ward who had to struggle and fight for everything she has learned? 

I assure you that one of those two will prize your teachings far more than the other.

A blank page was nothing but potential, pointless until it was used.

The Way of Kings quotes

Join the club