The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

I read this book several years ago and loved it. Loved it so much that I bought a copy of it and the second in the series, even though each are around 1000 pages and there are at least eight more books promised in the series. I feel like I would be happy re-reading this book any number of times over the next few decades each time he comes out with a book in the series. And I have recommended this book to any number of people--anyone who is remotely friendly to reading fantasy would be way interested in this book (although there are always those people who won't even try).

And I just re-read it, since I am just reading books that make me happy this year, and I loved it even more again. Maybe even more than the first time because I knew what was coming up and I couldn't wait to get to it. And even more because I understood the world and the story from the very beginning, instead of having to figure things out as I went. I still think that Sanderson is one of the best world-builders I have ever read, and his character development is amazing. How does he do it? He is one of the most prolific writers ever, and he still does such a good job. I just love all of the main characters in this book--Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar--and they are all so distinctive, in their own ways. The whole storyline of Kaladin and the bridgemen is one of the best stories on its own that I've ever read, but there's so much more to the book. I keep thinking that I wish there could be a movie made of this, but there's no way that could ever happen because it's too massive. Re-reading this has made me even more excited to read the second and third ones now, because it was even better this second time around. This is definitely a solid five-star read.