The Stormlight Archive is a high fantasy novel series written by American author Brandon Sanderson, planned to consist of ten novels. As of 2024, the series comprises five published novels and two novellas, set within his broader Cosmere universe. The first novel, The Way of Kings, was published on August 31, 2010. The second novel, Words of Radiance, was published in 2014 and debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller List.[2] This was followed by Oathbringer in 2017 and Rhythm of War in 2020. The fifth novel, Wind and Truth, was released December 6, 2024. Sanderson has indicated that he will start drafting the latter half of the series after he finishes writing the upcoming Era Three Mistborn trilogy and the two Elantris sequels.
About The Stormlight Archive Series
1. The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the first book in The Stormlight Archive series. The novel was published on August 31, 2010, by Tor Books. The Way of Kings consists of one prelude, one prologue, 75 chapters, an epilogue, and nine interludes. It was followed by Words of Radiance in 2014, Oathbringer in 2017, Rhythm of War in 2020 and Wind and Truth in 2024. A leatherbound edition was released in 2021.
The story rotates between the points of view of Kaladin, Shallan Davar, Dalinar Kholin, Adolin Kholin, Szeth-son-son-Vallano, and several other minor characters, who lead seemingly unconnected lives. In 2011, it won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best novel. The unabridged audiobook is read by narrator team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.
The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.
Speak again the ancient oaths:
- Life before death.
- Strength before weakness.
- Journey before Destination.
and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.
Read More: [Reviews & Quotes] The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
2. Words of Radiance: Book Two of the Stormlight Archive
Words of Radiance is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the second book in The Stormlight Archive series. The novel was published on March 4, 2014, by Tor Books. Words of Radiance consists of one prologue, 89 chapters, an epilogue and 14 interludes. It is preceded by The Way of Kings (2010) and followed by Oathbringer (2017).
In 2015, it won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best novel. The unabridged audiobook is read by narrator team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance, Book Two of the Stormlight Archive, continues the immersive fantasy epic that The Way of Kings began.
Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status “darkeyes.” Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.
The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin’s master has much deeper motives.
Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.
Read More: [Reviews & Quotes] Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
3. Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive
Oathbringer is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the third book in The Stormlight Archive series. It was published by Tor Books on November 14, 2017. Oathbringer consists of one prologue, 122 chapters, 14 interludes and an epilogue. It is preceded by Words of Radiance and followed by Rhythm of War.
As with its Stormlight Archive predecessors, the unabridged audiobook is read by narrator team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
The #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Words of Radiance, from epic fantasy author Brandon Sanderson at the top of his game.
In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe with numbers as great as their thirst for vengeance.
Dalinar Kholin’s Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.
Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar’s blood-soaked past and stand together―and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past―even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.
Read More: [Reviews & Quotes] Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
4. Rhythm of War: Book Four of the Stormlight Archive
Rhythm of War is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the fourth book in The Stormlight Archive series. It was published by Tor Books on November 17, 2020. Rhythm of War consists of one prologue, 117 chapters, 12 interludes and an epilogue. It is preceded by Oathbringer.
As with Kaladin in The Way of Kings, Shallan in Words of Radiance, and Dalinar in Oathbringer, Rhythm of War has a sequence of flashback chapters, this time for characters Eshonai and Venli.
The book features illustrations of four Heralds, as well as illustrations of all the True Spren who form Nahel Bonds save for the Bondsmith spren. As with its Stormlight Archive predecessors, the unabridged audiobook is read by narration team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
A sequel, Wind and Truth, was released on December 6th, 2024.
The Stormlight Archive saga continues in Rhythm of War, the eagerly awaited sequel to Brandon Sanderson’s #1 New York Times bestselling Oathbringer, from an epic fantasy writer at the top of his game.
After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.
Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.
At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.
Read More: [Reviews & Quotes] Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
5. Wind and Truth: Book Five of the Stormlight Archive
Wind and Truth is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson and the fifth book in The Stormlight Archive series. It was published on December 6, 2024, and is the ending to the first half of the series. Sanderson has said that the latter half of the series will be written after he finishes writing the upcoming Era Three Mistborn trilogy and the two Elantris sequels and projects a completion date near the end of 2031.
As with Kaladin in The Way of Kings, Shallan in Words of Radiance, Dalinar in Oathbringer and the characters Eshonai and Venli in Rhythm of War, Wind and Truth contains a sequence of flashback chapters, this time from the perspective of Szeth, the Assassin in White.
The unabridged audiobook is read by narration team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive―the iconic epic fantasy masterpiece that has sold more than 10 million copies, from acclaimed bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.
Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare―and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.
Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide―Adolin in Azimir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah at Thaylen City. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.
At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.
Read More: [Reviews & Quotes] Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson
About the Author (Brandon Sanderson)
Brandon Sanderson (Brandon Winn Sanderson, born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive, are set. Outside of the Cosmere, he has written several young adult and juvenile series including The Reckoners, the Skyward series, and the Alcatraz series. He is also known for finishing Robert Jordan’s high fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Sanderson has created two graphic novels, including White Sand and Dark One.
A New York Times best-selling author, Sanderson created Sanderson’s Laws of Magic and popularized the idea of “hard magic” and “soft magic” systems. In 2008, Sanderson started a podcast with author Dan Wells and cartoonist Howard Tayler called Writing Excuses, involving topics about creating genre writing and webcomics. In 2016, the American media company DMG Entertainment licensed the movie rights to Sanderson’s entire Cosmere universe, but the rights have since reverted back to Sanderson. Sanderson’s March 2022 Kickstarter campaign became the most successful in history, finishing with 185,341 backers pledging $41,754,153.
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