**edited 12/04/13 
 Sanderson's novels are characterised by extraordinary worlds and an unabashed desire to ask hard questions about religion and morality. Sanderson's greatest gift is his worldbuilding: he usually creates worlds which are unique and exciting, well-founded and thorough. His other books truly break the mold of the typical fantasy plot and escape the Lord of the Rings-clone quest plot and usually contain so many plot twists that they are difficult to summarize. 
 The Way of Kings is a more traditional epic fantasy, and for me, that was a bit of a disappointment. I felt the book does not function as a standalone novel; rather, it appears to be a plot-light introduction to his new 10-book epic series: it introduces the characters, begins (in the last ~40 pages) to introduce the conflict, and resolves...well, not much at all. I think this book is perfect for epic fantasy aficionados: it contains an incredibly creative and complex world, numerous battle scenes, and a great deal of "self-discovery." As someone who tends to prefer tightly plotted mysteries, however, I found the battle scenes repetitive, the "self-discovery" all too often devolving into moping and inner thoughts, and the plot's coherence overwhelmed by the author's self-conscious construction of an epic struggle for world survival. 
 The story takes place in a bleak world of harsh storms and treacherous terrain, and is told through the viewpoints of three characters: Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar. Five years before the story starts, the Alethkar king is assassinated by the mysterious and savage Parshendi people on the very night a treaty is signed between their peoples. The high princes of the Alethkar people promptly agree to a vengeance pact against the Parshendi. But rather than, say, attacking the Parshendi, their war campaign proceeds in a manner that feels suspiciously like a quest-style video game: they camp out on the Shattered Plains and wait for sightings of "chasm fiends", then compete with one another to reach and do battle with the beasts and capture the magic "gemhearts" from their bodies. Since the Parshendi appear to have the same goal in mind, this inevitably leads to a battle, with the winner defeating the chasm fiend (which seems suspiciously similar to a "boss" in a video game) and taking home the treasure. Sometimes, defeating enemies can lead to the characters gaining improved weaponry and armour (+10 hitpoints!) Just to make sure the video game atmosphere is complete, the Alethkar king actually keeps track of their points in terms of a chart of rankings--but even when they "level up", the enemies they fight remain unchanged. 
 ...And that's all I'm going to post here. 
 The rest of my (rather verbose and quote-filled) review is posted over here at Booklikes. 
 Why? Because I disapprove of GoodReads' new policy of censorship.