How Way of Kings Should Have Begun

[Benedictify]

[I also posted this on reddit. I'm curious to see what you all think as well.]
 

How Way of Kings Should Have Begun

The novel should have started with Szeth, who "...wore white on the day he was to kill a king." 

The scene of Aharietiam is confusing, especially to a reader being introduced to the Cosmere with this book, who doesn't understand what happens after death there. It confused me terribly on first reading it and it was my first Sanderson book. It's a steep learning curve to a very complex world.

Aharietiam could have been told in epigraphs, perhaps at the starts of the interlude sections. Or it could have been left very ambiguous, another unfolding mystery, so we only gradually learn the truth behind the legends in the present. Another option is through fragments discovered by Shallan and Jasnah. 

Szeth's scene is an action scene, a very exciting one. It sets up the bizarre nature of Radiant powers, it tells all kinds of clues about the world through incidental details, and it gives us a compelling character sketch, the assassin who kills with tears and regret while descending into madness. 

What jobs does Kalak's scene do? 

It establishes the time elapsed, 4,500 years. It establishes the immortality of the Heralds, that there are ten of them. It introduces the Honorblades; though Szeth does that as well. It gives a glimpse of the Desolation wars, that there have been many of them, and the Heralds prepare mankind. And that they are tired and tortured and broken, and they leave Taln behind, alone, to become The Bearer of Agonies. 

Heralds, Honorblades, repeating Desolations, the Heralds' torture and giving up, Taln stopping the cycle. Actually, you have five parts right there, and you have five parts in the book... I would put one at the end of each part. Then to finish the book, right after seeing the Heralds reluctantly giving him up to be tortured alone at the end of part five, we have Wit's monologue and Taln showing up at Kholinar. That's a bit of whiplash, but the good kind, and a good cliffhanger.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

We have to remember that Kalak's scene isn't the prelude to the Way of Kings. Rather, it's the prelude to The Stormlight Archive as a whole. It's not exactly meant to be understood the first time around. Ahartiam could've been told in epigraphs, but we wouldn't have gotten the exact feeling of cowardice that we needed to get from the Heralds at the beginning to show us that they weren't gods. And, plus, it foreshadows things for later books in a better way than the epigraphs could've.

[ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ Male]

I also think that what you said, the desolations Being one of the purposes of that chapter, is very important. Because it is a prelude to the series, a setting like the desolations is a historical prelude to the series as well. Many things in the book were not come form Gavular (Although a ton is), but nearly everything is linked to the desolations.

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Benedictify said:

[I also posted this on reddit. I'm curious to see what you all think as well.]
 

How Way of Kings Should Have Begun

The novel should have started with Szeth, who "...wore white on the day he was to kill a king." 

The scene of Aharietiam is confusing, especially to a reader being introduced to the Cosmere with this book, who doesn't understand what happens after death there. It confused me terribly on first reading it and it was my first Sanderson book. It's a steep learning curve to a very complex world.

Aharietiam could have been told in epigraphs, perhaps at the starts of the interlude sections. Or it could have been left very ambiguous, another unfolding mystery, so we only gradually learn the truth behind the legends in the present. Another option is through fragments discovered by Shallan and Jasnah. 

Szeth's scene is an action scene, a very exciting one. It sets up the bizarre nature of Radiant powers, it tells all kinds of clues about the world through incidental details, and it gives us a compelling character sketch, the assassin who kills with tears and regret while descending into madness. 

What jobs does Kalak's scene do? 

It establishes the time elapsed, 4,500 years. It establishes the immortality of the Heralds, that there are ten of them. It introduces the Honorblades; though Szeth does that as well. It gives a glimpse of the Desolation wars, that there have been many of them, and the Heralds prepare mankind. And that they are tired and tortured and broken, and they leave Taln behind, alone, to become The Bearer of Agonies. 

Heralds, Honorblades, repeating Desolations, the Heralds' torture and giving up, Taln stopping the cycle. Actually, you have five parts right there, and you have five parts in the book... I would put one at the end of each part. Then to finish the book, right after seeing the Heralds reluctantly giving him up to be tortured alone at the end of part five, we have Wit's monologue and Taln showing up at Kholinar. That's a bit of whiplash, but the good kind, and a good cliffhanger.

The prelude is meant to confuse. You are meant to be left clueless about the events presented there, asking questions about what happened there. It's the prelude to the Stormlight Archive as the whole, not just to the Way of Kings. And by reading the book you can quickly pick up that the truth about Aharietiam was really forgotten and distorted. That people are unaware of the danger that's coming. That's the reason the prelude is there, to set up a stage for the whole series, to tell us that a new Desolation might come, that there is the enemy, and that the Heralds aren't gods or divine, but just immortal, tortured, broken men who abandoned their post and lied to humanity. The prelude is a fantastic piece of the storytelling, giving you some introduction to Heralds and important foreshadowing, but leaving you mostly clueless about everything, setting up a mystery that is slowly unraveled throughout the entire series. This could not have been told in epigraphs (as they are in-world texts, so it would be weird if humanity had a prove that Heralds lied and Aharietiam is a sham, but did nothing with it) or even in interludes, as those are too late and they are a part of specific book.

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, Benedictify said:

What jobs does Kalak's scene do? 

4 hours ago, alder24 said:

the truth about Aharietiam was really forgotten and distorted.

This is the real "work" that Kalak's prelude does. It allows for the very first mention of the Heralds and Desolation to throw a red flag for the reader yelling "this does not match what I already know."

If there was any "mistake" in the beginning of WoK, it was leading off Ch 1 with Cenn's viewpoint. The result being that the first five "chapters" (PtoSA, P, CH 1,2,3) are all different viewpoints, leaving the reader confused as to which "story" matters and will be followed. Especially if they missed the Part One splash page that names the viewpoint characters for the section. In fact, when I recommend the book to friends, I make it a point to show them the splach page and the chapter headings and how they indicate viewpoint, so it makes the book easier to follow.

That said, even Cenn's viewpoint is important, since it sets up Kaladin's chapters to make you wonder how so much changed in eight months, as well as giving a frame of reference for that change.

 

[Fezzik]

5 hours ago, Benedictify said:

The scene of Aharietiam is confusing, especially to a reader being introduced to the Cosmere with this book, who doesn't understand what happens after death there. It confused me terribly on first reading it and it was my first Sanderson book. It's a steep learning curve to a very complex world.

I agree with all of this. It was my first cosmere book, and it felt like being tossed in the deep end. What I disagree with is that you think this is bad. I enjoy the sense of epic scope and wonder that comes with the steep learning curve. By now, the tease of ancient history is a trope unto itself, from Galadriel's voice over in the Peter Jackson LOTR, to the prologue to the Wheel of Time. The variety of prologues-(aharetiam, szeth, and that kid who dies in chapter one) serve to collectively make promises about what the series will show you.

A useful comparison is GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire. Its prologue shows an expedition north of a magic wall, and the viewpoint character gets killed by an ice zombie. The series as a whole wants you to have the knowlege that an otherworldly army is massing, unstoppable and uncaring of borders because that distance--that all the main PoVs are fighting over meaningless things instead of putting aside their differences--is an important feeling to contextualise the story with.

The prelude to the Stormlight Archive serves the same purpose--to provide the necessary emotional and philosophical context to read the series with. Questions about Honor and cowardice hang over the series as a whole, and that emotional plotline is paid off with Kaladin's choces to walk away from the honor chasm and later, to help the army of the only lighteyes people say is honorable. That isn't payoff unless there is the Prelude to set it up; some people don't read the epigraphs until later, and more than a few fans skip the interludes until after finishing the "main plot".

[Benedictify]

I didn't say I thought it was bad as-is 

It's fun to think about what a scene does for the flow of a story, and how it would be in different order.

I was wondering what it would be like if you have that same prologue, slice it into pieces and put it elsewhere in the book.

[alder24]

6 minutes ago, Benedictify said:

I didn't say I thought it was bad as-is 

It's fun to think about what a scene does for the flow of a story, and how it would be in different order.

I was wondering what it would be like if you have that same prologue, slice it into pieces and put it elsewhere in the book.

The Prelude (not prologue) is 4 pages long. That's not much for slicing. It wouldn't work at all if you put it in a different place in the book, because it's too short and it's not a part of WoK, but it's a part of SA. That's why it has to be before WoK, because it contains crucial information for you to know before you start reading WoK.

[Frustration he/him]

15 hours ago, Benedictify said:

[I also posted this on reddit. I'm curious to see what you all think as well.]
 

How Way of Kings Should Have Begun

The novel should have started with Szeth, who "...wore white on the day he was to kill a king." 

The scene of Aharietiam is confusing, especially to a reader being introduced to the Cosmere with this book, who doesn't understand what happens after death there. It confused me terribly on first reading it and it was my first Sanderson book. It's a steep learning curve to a very complex world.

Aharietiam could have been told in epigraphs, perhaps at the starts of the interlude sections. Or it could have been left very ambiguous, another unfolding mystery, so we only gradually learn the truth behind the legends in the present. Another option is through fragments discovered by Shallan and Jasnah. 

Szeth's scene is an action scene, a very exciting one. It sets up the bizarre nature of Radiant powers, it tells all kinds of clues about the world through incidental details, and it gives us a compelling character sketch, the assassin who kills with tears and regret while descending into madness. 

What jobs does Kalak's scene do? 

It establishes the time elapsed, 4,500 years. It establishes the immortality of the Heralds, that there are ten of them. It introduces the Honorblades; though Szeth does that as well. It gives a glimpse of the Desolation wars, that there have been many of them, and the Heralds prepare mankind. And that they are tired and tortured and broken, and they leave Taln behind, alone, to become The Bearer of Agonies. 

Heralds, Honorblades, repeating Desolations, the Heralds' torture and giving up, Taln stopping the cycle. Actually, you have five parts right there, and you have five parts in the book... I would put one at the end of each part. Then to finish the book, right after seeing the Heralds reluctantly giving him up to be tortured alone at the end of part five, we have Wit's monologue and Taln showing up at Kholinar. That's a bit of whiplash, but the good kind, and a good cliffhanger.

Hard disagree.

Way of Kings was the first Sanderson book I finished and that opening was part of the reason I wanted to read it.

Kalak's constant worry about dying again, and the strange inhuman monsters, it was so good, I loved it.

 

The Prelude is perfect just the way it is. It does lead to a steep learning curve, but I see that as a positive.

[drunkenbotanist]

11 hours ago, Treamayne said:

This is the real "work" that Kalak's prelude does. It allows for the very first mention of the Heralds and Desolation to throw a red flag for the reader yelling "this does not match what I already know."

If there was any "mistake" in the beginning of WoK, it was leading off Ch 1 with Cenn's viewpoint. The result being that the first five "chapters" (PtoSA, P, CH 1,2,3) are all different viewpoints, leaving the reader confused as to which "story" matters and will be followed. Especially if they missed the Part One splash page that names the viewpoint characters for the section. In fact, when I recommend the book to friends, I make it a point to show them the splach page and the chapter headings and how they indicate viewpoint, so it makes the book easier to follow.

That said, even Cenn's viewpoint is important, since it sets up Kaladin's chapters to make you wonder how so much changed in eight months, as well as giving a frame of reference for that change.

 

I agree that there's a reason why most books don't have the 5 first chapters being difficult time periods, locations, and people, and I'm glad it's not common. But I do think it was necessary for the story Brandon wants to tell. I suspect that his team probably had this same argument with him

[Fezzik]

Here is Brandon's annotation for the prelude:

Brandon Sanderson
Prelude
In classic Sanderson fashion, the beginning of this book was the part to see the biggest edits. I usually start a novel, write from beginning to end, then go back and play heavily with my beginning to better match the tone of the book.
Here, one of my big decisions was to choose between two prologues I had written out. One was with the Heralds, and set the stage for a much larger story—I liked the epic feel it gave, and the melancholy tone it set. The other was Szeth's attack on Kholinar. This was a great action sequence that set up some of the plots for the novel in a very good way, but had a steep learning curve.
I was very tempted to use both, which was what I eventually did. This wasn't an easy decision, however, as this book was already going to start with a very steep learning curve. Prelude→prologue→Cenn→Kaladin→Shallan would mean five thick chapters at the start of the book without any repeating settings or viewpoint characters.
This can sink a novel quickly. As it stands, this is the most difficult thing about The Way of Kingsas a novel. Many readers will feel at sea for a great deal of Part One because of the challenging worldbuilding, the narrative structure, and the fact that Kaladin's life just plain sucks.
It seems that my instincts were right. People who don't like the book often are losing interest in the middle of Part One. When I decided to use the prelude and the prologue together, I figured I was all in on the plan of a thick epic fantasy with a challenging learning curve. That decision doesn't seem to have destroyed my writing career yet.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/255/#e7117

[First of the Dun he/him]

I was lucky enough to get to hear Brandon read the Prelude at a signing for WoK.

There’s no way Szeth’s (or really any other character’s) viewpoint could have hypnotized me the way this piece did. It told me at once that I was in for an EPIC ride, and that I would 1) have plenty to read and look forward to for the rest of my life, and 2) would absolutely read it all.

I get that it’s a bit thick for newbies, but having already made it through Mistborn (and not to mention having spent years —decades— reading Wheel of Time), the Prelude got me invested  in a way an action scene never could have.