The Way of Kings
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sandersonby Brandon Sanderson
Shares rank 19 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
Readers praise its beautiful world-building and a quote that has stayed with one reader. One critic found the characters changed too dramatically by book five.
Readers praise its beautiful world-building and a quote that has stayed with one reader. One critic found the characters changed too dramatically by book five.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Beautiful world-building
“Beautiful world-building as always.”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer Yudkowsky | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| The Way of Kingsby Brandon SandersonThis page | 4 | 1 | 80% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the characters changed too dramatically for me and it just got annoying in book 5”
“Beautiful world-building as always.”
“a quote from the fantasy novel The Way of Kings that always appealed to me”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.