Comparing the blurbs on The Way of Kings
Let’s dive into each of the blurbs, assess how well they set up the reader for The Way of Kings, then compare the two versions to see what’s different.

Today at work a coworker returned a copy of the paperback version of The Way of Kings I had let them borrow a few months back. In between meetings I was thumbing through the pages and found myself reading the blurb on the back cover, something I’ve actually never done since the majority of my reads and rereads of the Cosmere are in audio book form.
I was stunned by how prophetic the blurb was - not just for the contents of The Way of Kings, but from the Stormlight Archive as a whole.
Once I got home I quickly got my video equipment set up with the idea of recording a video in which I read the blurbs on the back of each of the books in the Stormlight Archive, and chat about how it compares to the actual contents of the book. For the video, I grabbed the hard cover editions of each of the five Stormlight books, because they look great on camera, and because that’s the only complete set I have. For now.
I was surprised to find that the blurb on the back of the paperback version of The Way of Kings is different from the one of the hard cover edition.
It makes sense. There’s more space on the hardcover edition after all, but there are some really interesting differences between the two versions that I wanted to explore in depth. Since it's been awhile since I’ve done a non-Cosmere RPG article, I figured this would be the best place to do it.
Let’s dive into each of the blurbs, assess how well they set up the reader for The Way of Kings, then compare the two versions to see what’s different.
The Way of Kings - Paperback

“I long for the days before the Last Desolation, Before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. When there was still magic Roshar and honor in the hearts of men.
In the end, not war but victory proved the greater test. Did our foes see that the harder they fought, the fiercer our resistance? Fire and hammer forge a sword; time and neglect rust it away. So we won the world, yet lost it.
Now there are four whom we watch: the surgeon, forced to forsake healing and fight in the most brutal war of our time; the assassin, who weeps as he kills; the liar, who wears her scholar’s mantle over a thief’s heart; and the prince, whose eyes open to the ancient past as his thirst for battle wanes.
One of them may redeem us. One of them will destroy us.
Speak again the hallowed oaths:
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before destination.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.”
Whew, a lot to unpack here.
First off, a fun fact I dug up from the Arcanum: the Stormlight Archive synopsis is written from the perspective of the Sleepless. The tone in both versions have the air of a journal about them, but it’s hard to pin down exactly who from context clues alone. My first instinct was Hoid, since it seems like something Brandon would do, but there references to “us” and “we” don’t seem to fit, and other context clues indicate that the author considers themself from or at least of Roshar. I did some digging and found this entry in the Arcanum which references a reddit post where Brandon mentions the Sleepless as the author of these notes. Neat.
I long for the days before the Last Desolation, Before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. When there was still magic Roshar and honor in the hearts of men.
I think these lines set the stage for The Way of Kings perfectly.
A long time ago there was magic and honor, then the Last Desolation happened, the Heralds abandoned us, the Knights betrayed us, and now we’re here. It really sets up the vibe that this world we’re about to enter isn’t the best version of itself, but that there are old powers yet to be rediscovered.
In the end, not war but victory proved the greater test. Did our foes see that the harder they fought, the fiercer our resistance? Fire and hammer forge a sword; time and neglect rust it away. So we won the world, yet lost it.
Again, deeper context, but hints at the overarching story that we’re on our way to uncover. You don’t quite learn the full context of “So we won the world, yet lost it.” with clarity until the end of Wind and Truth. These lines are a broad stroke across all five books in the Stormlight Archive - the harder things get, the harder we’ll fight back.
Now there are four whom we watch: the surgeon, forced to forsake healing and fight in the most brutal war of our time; the assassin, who weeps as he kills; the liar, who wears her scholar’s mantle over a thief’s heart; and the prince, whose eyes open to the ancient past as his thirst for battle wanes.
One of them may redeem us. One of them will destroy us.
A good recap of the main characters we’ll be following throughout the story, but wrapped up in mystique. From a new reader's perspective, it’s pretty easy to assume that Szeth, or “the assassin”, is the one meant to destroy us, and it’s anyone’s guess who might be the one to redeem us. We’ll go big on the old “journey before destination” on that one, because this one won’t end like you think it will.
As someone deeply invested in the Cosmere, I ask who is the “us” they are referring to? If the “us” is broadly the residents of Roshar, or just the Sleepless. I think for the new reader, it means one thing, but the more you come to know the plots unfolding on Roshar, it will come to mean something different all together.
I also got a good laugh at calling Dalinar a prince. I know they are referring to him being a Highprince, but the small difference in language makes all the difference.
Speak again the hallowed oaths:
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before destination.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.
This last one made me chuckle a little. I had never heard the oaths named as "the hallowed oaths” and even ran a search through the kindle version to find anytime the word “hallowed” was used. It’s in there, and in reference to appropriately religious things, but at least in the Way of Kings, this is the only reference where the oaths are named as such.
Now let's check out the hard cover edition and note the differences.
The Way of Kings - Hardcover

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.
The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.
Or was that victory an illusion all along? Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted? Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer only make for a better grade of sword. But ignore the steel long enough, and it will eventually rust away.
There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the lair, a young woman who wears a scholar’s mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.
The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.
One of them may redeem us.
And one of them will destroy us.
Some differences, both big and small here.
I long for the days before the Last Desolation.
The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
Small difference in spacing and wording, but that’s mostly a canvas size difference. The new language of “age” does add some weight behind what we might consider history here; the Heralds didn’t leave yesterday, they’ve been gone for awhile.
The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.
Way more specific language pointing towards the true history of Roshar. The world wasn’t yours, then it became yours. That is a huge distinction, but not uncommon in the doctrine of the time. The Vorin folks on Roshar at least knew that they weren’t always from Roshar, but came here… they maybe just didn’t ask questions like, “who was here before us?”
Or was that victory an illusion all along? Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted? Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer only make for a better grade of sword. But ignore the steel long enough, and it will eventually rust away.
I’m curious about this bit. I get what we’re trying to imply; that the time before desolations, without Radiants or Heralds to guide them, somehow might have been intentional on the part of Odium’s forces. The opposite feels true. The humans on Roshar only grew in training and technology after the Last Desolation, and it was this edge that held them together.
Again, is this a meta narrative? On a new, you might see this as referring to the people of Roshar, but reading this after, and knowing that it’s the Sleepless might be telling a different story altogether.
There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the lair, a young woman who wears a scholar’s mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.
The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.
One of them may redeem us.
And one of them will destroy us.
Making great use of that extra space on the hardcover. And Dalinar is a Highprince again, not a prince. The reference to surgebinding and shardwielding seems only to be marketing phrases to add to the depth of the lore contained within the books.
No reference to the hallowed oaths in this edition.
About that video
And that about wraps it up. I never got around to fully filming that video, since I immediately got sidetracked with this blurb delta. I will record that, in its entirety, very soon and incorporate the context of the Sleepless for a bit of extra depth.
In the meantime, I will do some extra research to discover if there are other Words of Brandon that reference the Sleepless as the authors of these blurbs, and plan to give an update in that video! If you aren’t already subscribed to my YouTube channel, head on over and sign up!