Is there an audiobook of The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive?

Yes. The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.

How long is the The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive audiobook?

The The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive audiobook runs 45 hr 30 min.

Is The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive on Kindle Unlimited?

No. The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 8, 2026.

The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson book cover for the Book of the Day fantasy book review

Our score

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

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EDITION PUBLISHEDMay 2011

Genres

Fiction Fantasy

Themes

Epic high fantasy on a grand scaleWar, honor, and its costsRule-bound magic and StormlightWorldbuilding and the nature of power

The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive

Name: The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive
Price: 11.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings is the towering first volume of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, a thousand-page epic of broken soldiers, ancient magic, and a world scoured by apocalyptic storms. It asks a lot of patience up front and repays it with some of the most satisfying payoffs in modern fantasy.

The Review

Our take

Roshar is the kind of world that feels engineered down to its weather. Sanderson builds a land lashed by recurring highstorms so violent that its plants retract like sea anemones and its very ecology has adapted to survive them, and that single conceit ripples through everything, the architecture, the warfare, the religion. It's the work of a writer who thinks like a systems designer, and Roshar may be the most thoroughly imagined setting he's ever made. The famous 'hard' magic, glowing Stormlight that powers gravity-bending feats and weapons that can cut anything, is governed by rules clear enough that the payoffs land like earned victories rather than authorial rescue.

The story braids several lives that only slowly start to converge. Kaladin, a gifted soldier sold into slavery and assigned to suicidal bridge-running duty, anchors the book's emotional core, and his arc out of despair is the most affecting thing here. Dalinar, a highprince haunted by visions during the storms that may be prophecy or madness, carries its questions about honor in a corrupt war. Shallan, a sheltered young woman scheming her way toward a scholar's library with secrets of her own, brings wit and a slow-burning mystery. Around them looms a war of attrition on the shattered plains that has curdled into something between sport and stalemate.

What makes the book more than its machinery is how seriously it takes its people. This is fantasy preoccupied with depression, trauma, leadership, and the cost of trying to be honorable when nobody around you is, and Kaladin's struggle in particular gives the spectacle a weight that lingers. Sanderson's prose is clean and functional rather than lyrical, and he'd rather you feel the gut-punch of a turn than admire a sentence, but when the climaxes arrive, and they arrive with the precision of a watchmaker, the restraint pays off enormously.

It's also a book that rewards a reader's attention with secrets. Sanderson seeds the margins, the in-world epigraphs, the strange interludes, the myths everyone half-remembers, with clues that pay off in quiet detonations, and part of the pleasure is feeling the floor of the world shift as you realize how much was hiding in plain sight. The history of Roshar turns out to be a mystery in its own right, and the book is happy to let you sit with questions it has no intention of answering yet.

The honest caveat is the on-ramp. The first few hundred pages move deliberately, ladling out worldbuilding, vocabulary, and interludes from characters you won't meet again for books, and impatient readers can bounce off before the threads tighten. The sheer length and the series' famously vast scope are a real commitment, and a few interludes feel more like scaffolding for later volumes than payoffs in themselves. Stick past the slow third and the back half becomes nearly impossible to put down.

Why you should read

Great if you loved The Wheel of Time or Mistborn
Readers who want deep, rule-based magic systems
Fans of slow-build epics with explosive finales
Anyone ready to commit to a long saga

What to expect

A vast, meticulously built world of storms and magic
Several braided viewpoints that slowly converge
A deliberate start, then a soaring climax
Serious themes beneath the epic spectacle

For readers who want epic fantasy with the worldbuilding cranked to its limit and a finale built to detonate, this is a landmark, the foundation of a saga many fans consider the genre's current flagship. It demands patience and a free weekend, then rewards both completely.

Reviewed by Rowan · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive?: Yes. The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
Listen to The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive audiobook?: The The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive audiobook runs 45 hr 30 min.
Is The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive on Kindle Unlimited?: No. The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 8, 2026.
How much does The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $11.99, Paperback $11.69, Hardcover $26.46. Prices as of August 26, 2026 at 3:46 AM EDT and may change.

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Common questions

What is The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive about?: Roshar is the kind of world that feels engineered down to its weather. Sanderson builds a land lashed by recurring highstorms so violent that its plants retract like sea anemones and its very ecology has adapted to survive them, and that single conceit ripples through everything, the architecture…
Is The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive worth reading?: We scored The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive 4.6 out of 5. The Way of Kings is the towering first volume of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, a thousand-page epic of broken soldiers, ancient magic, and a world scoured by apocalyptic storms. It asks a lot of patience up front and repays it with some of the most satisfying payoffs…