The Life Of Lazlo

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Introduction and summary

I have been deep in my fantasy reading bag and I’ve constantly heard the name Brandon Sanderson throw about within the genre. Like everywhere. On my recommended reading, from my friends, and on book tok just to name some places. I have been wondering is he really that good? Moving away from the typical tropes of young adult fantasy, I wanted to move into something more…substantial. So here we are as I chose the first Brandon Sanderson book that came across my eyes. Once it arrived, with a page count of over 1,000, I had to wonder a second question…was this story really that deep to justify the size of the book?

The Way of Kings introduces us to these mysterious knights of legend, the Knights Radiant, abandoning their oaths leaving the continent without their protectors. We are then thrust into the present where the backdrop of the story is set in a war-torn high fantasy setting where the main kingdom of Alethkar has had their king assassinated the night of a peace treaty as their kingdom is now thrust into a war for revenge. We are greeted with three separate protagonists known as Kaladin, Adolin, and Shallan, each with their own motivations and goals. The story moves forward with the reader discovering more about this foreign fantasy world as mysterious threats and unknown forces move with and (often) against our protagonists. 

What I did not like

This time I am going to start with what I did not like with this book. I’ll be honest there wasn’t much that I didn’t like. It did take me a while to get into this book unfortunately and it really slowed down my reading pace. I was overwhelmed with the amount of world-building and exposition that just doesn’t get explained. Sanderson writes in a way where the reader is just expected to fill the gaps more often than not. Sure, there were some explanations for certain aspects of world-building, but for the most part, it was made clear that the world our protagonists live in is a deeply alien and unfamiliar terrain. So words were thrown around and over time you simply just had to gain context for previously used words. I mean this mainly comes from the fact that this is my first foray into high fantasy settings like this one where the world is nothing at all like Earth.

Other than this, there wasn’t much I disliked I’ll be honest. There are very few faults I have on this book. Even this above critique stems from the fact that I didn’t know what I was getting to and I underestimated the depths of high fantasy. 

What I liked

Okay, let’s get into what I liked about this book which was pretty much everything. It did take me a while to get fully sucked into the book and the world itself. It was like navigating a forest without a map. However, I was reading one chapter of Kaladin’s and it dawned on me…I am rooting for this character. I wanted him to win, his setbacks upset me and his wins excited me. From there, it was only a matter of time before I became invested in each protagonist’s storyline and I just couldn’t put down the book. Each storyline had something different to offer. From the betrayed soldier finding his will to live again, to the veteran looking to unite a broken kingdom, to the sheltered double agent realising the world is so much bigger than they ever could have anticipated. Each protagonist painted a clearer picture of the world itself. 

Sanderson’s prose is certainly immersive due to the depth of description used so when you don’t know what is fully going on, it is most certainly for a purpose. The world Sanderson builds is a truly vibrant one; from the creatures that inhabit it which are sometimes entirely abstract to anything in our world to the socio-economic politics that rule this fantasy world. Sanderson truly hits the head of the nail when creating fantasy utilising every sense available. We learn so much about why trading works the way it does, the social hierarchy and customs of each region, the religions, and even down to the clothing. We are given so many details that when pulled together at the end of the book, we can stand back and realise that Sanderson has created a beautiful interwoven tapestry. It is overwhelming up close, but it helps provide so much context in the world our protagonists move around in and further helps us understand why the plot moves in the way it does. Finishing the book made me realise how key these seemingly innocuous details make way for a larger picture. 

Circling back to the parts that Sanderson does not want us to understand, we as readers come to realise that there is an overarching mystery to be solved. Why did the Knights Radiant abandon humanity? What has happened in this lost history? What mysterious threat is coming that our protagonists must face? Questions that sit in the back of our minds throughout the book. Segments of answers are drip-fed to us across the book as our protagonists seek to gain understanding as well. As they learn, we learn. It was at times frustrating when we knew just how close or how right our protagonists were but obstacles stand firm in their paths. 

I also thoroughly enjoyed that the book was written in the third-person as the world was not limited to the eyes of our protagonists alone, and we even got introduced to multiple storylines outside of what was immediately happening to our main cast allowing for the world-building to be almost limitless in possibilities. Sanderson was not limited to the current timeline or even the current kingdom but was free to explore anything that he deemed relevant to mention at that point. 

Now my dear reader…

…my first step into high fantasy has me wanting to take a million more. Being thrust into such an unknown world gave Sanderson endless opportunities to build and craft a story however he felt it should go. He was not constrained by our history or our concepts of religion and customs, but instead made a world of magic and mystery. I was fully immersed in the story, characters, and mystery. So much so that before I even finished the first book, I bought book two, which I have already started before I could get this review in. 

Lazlo ranking: 8.5/10

What I did like

• Sanderson’s prose and the depth of detail when describing the world the book is set in.
• Our protagonists and their storylines.
• The overarching mystery slowly being revealed to us as unknown threats, histories, and allies are introduced.
• The third-person perspective allowing for more immersive world-building.

What I did not like

• Trivial thing to dislike, but the book was not immediately gripping due to how alienating the depth of detail all at once was.