The story shifts to the viewpoint of Highprince Dalinar Kholin, the brother of the murdered king. Gavilar's son, Elhokar, then goes to war with the Parshendi. When Szeth was sent to kill the Alethi King Gavilar, the Parshendi, a race similar to the docile parshman slaves of other nations, claimed responsibility for the assassination. He also possesses access to powers that are no longer available to normal humans (“Surgebinding”), once possessed by the Knights Radiant and thought lost, making him incredibly difficult to defeat in battle. As the story progresses, he continuously changes hands, doing his best to hide the fact that he possesses an Honorblade, a mythical blade used by the Heralds that can cut through any material. Szeth, a Shin man cast out by his people and condemned to obey his constantly changing masters, is sent to assassinate the king of one of the world's most powerful nations, Alethkar. The story rotates between the points of view of Kaladin, Shallan Davar, Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Dalinar Kholin, Adolin Kholin, and several other minor characters, who lead seemingly unconnected lives. On August 26, 2010, chapters 12 and 13 were released. Tor wrote that they did not release chapters 7, 8, and 10 because they wanted to focus on the storyline of Kaladin, one of the main characters. On August 5, 2010, chapters 9 and 11 were released. On July 8, 2010, the next three chapters (4–6) were released in audio format. On June 10, 2010, the prologue and the first three chapters of the book were released, along with an introduction by Sanderson, as a preview on the Tor website. The original, non-canon version, entitled The Way of Kings Prime, is available on the official website of the author.

Its publication was delayed when Sanderson instead decided to focus on his Mistborn trilogy. Sanderson started working on pieces of The Way of Kings in the late 1990s and finished the first draft in 2003. The unabridged audiobook is read by narrator team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. In 2011, it won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best novel. A leatherbound edition was released in 2021.

It was followed by Words of Radiance in 2014, Oathbringer in 2017 and Rhythm of War in 2020. The Way of Kings consists of one prelude, one prologue, 75 chapters, an epilogue and 9 interludes. The novel was published on August 31, 2010, by Tor Books. 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 Way of Kings by Louise Searl