A sweeping fantasy story set in an original and richly detailed world.Kaladin used to be a soldier. Now he's a slave, and after 10 escape attempts, he's decided he's resigned to his fate. But he can't get away from a strangely intelligent windsprena creature that should be an ephemeral, mindless spritewho's been following him for months and is starting to ask tough questions about why he's given up fighting for what's right. Shallan has left her sheltered home life to pursue a desperate plan to rescue her family from financial ruin. First, she must persuade the brilliant scholar-princess Jasnah to take her on as a student. From there her task only becomes more difficult. The fates of Kaladin and Shallan and thousands of others hinge on the progress of the war for the Shattered Plains, a war that the great warrior Dalinar Kholin is beginning to doubt is right, thanks to the mysterious visions that visit him whenever a highstorm comes. This tale takes place in an unusual and intricately imagined world populated by enormous crustaceans and multiple colorful civilizations and scoured by the immensely powerful highstorms. The attention to worldbuilding makes this a fantasy fan's dream, but Sanderson (The Well of Ascension, 2017, etc.) doesn't neglect his characters, giving each of them a fully realized emotional life and high personal stakes to fight for.The vast scope of this book and the main characters' compelling journeys make it an epic worthy of the nameand a real treat for fantasy fans. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This massive tome is the first of a 10-part epic fantasy series from relative newcomer Sanderson (Mistborn), best known for his efforts to complete the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. In a storm-swept world where history has dwindled into myth, self-serving aristocrats squabble over mystical weapons that render their bearers immune to mundane attacks. The ambitious scholar Shallan learns unexpected truths about the present, the virtuous aristocrat Dalinar reclaims the lost past, and the bitter and broken slave Kaladin gains unwanted power. Race-related plot themes may raise some eyebrows, and there's no hope for anything resembling a conclusion in this introductory volume, but Sanderson's fondness for misleading the reader and his talent for feeding out revelations and action scenes at just the right pace will keep epic fantasy fans intrigued and hoping for redemptive future installments. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

This colossal volume opens a fantasy saga clearly influenced by the Wheel of Time, which the author is in fact finishing. It's a classic story of intrigue, magic, and war, with a large cast of characters and multiple settings lovingly detailed in a way only possible in volumes of this size. Two characters stand out. One is Shallin, a young woman seeking to enter the household of a royal princess so that she can steal a magical talisman and restore the tattered fortunes of her family. The other is Kaladin, a gifted young soldier enslaved for desertion, who fights his way back to freedom in battles on the Shattered Plain. There's wit (Shallin's amiably unscrupulous sailor protect Yod is a gem), magic (the weather is almost a character in its own right), and erudition (if the fighting on the Shattered Plain doesn't owe something to WWI, this reviewer would be surprised). Readers will plunge into it, even as they send up cries for a glossary and cast of characters.--Green, Roland Copyright 2010 Booklist

Centuries have passed since the Radiant Knights protected the world of Roshar from the evil of the Desolation. Their heroic deeds have long been overshadowed by stories of their betrayal, which in turn have faded into myth. The nation of Alethkar has been mired in a war to avenge the assassination of its king. The system of power used by the Radiant Knights is largely misunderstood and untapped, and yet an ancient evil stirs. Sanderson, the author of Elantris and the "Mistborn Trilogy," once again creates an interesting world with a novel system of magic, but the best part of this series launch is the compelling, complex story of Dalinar, Kaladin, and Shallan as they struggle through emotional, physical, and moral challenges. Verdict Sanderson is a master of hooking the reader in the first few pages, and once again he doesn't disappoint. Fans and lovers of epoch fantasy will find the ending satisfying, yet will eagerly await the next volume. [Sanderson was the novelist chosen to complete A Memory of Light, the final volume of Robert Jordon's "The Wheel of Time" series.-Ed.]-William Baer, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.