The Stormlight Archive

The Stormlight Archive is an ongoing epic fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson. Set on the planet Roshar, the series forms a core part of the cosmere sequence, and centers around Odium's efforts to escape the ties that bind him to the Rosharan system. The series is estimated to require ten books to complete.
For a summary of the events thus far, see the individual summary pages for each book.
== Structure ==
The novels of The Stormlight Archive follow a consistent internal structure. Each is split into five parts, and Brandon plots each novel as if it were an entire trilogy. The names of each part, when put together, form a ketek. Between each part is a set of interludes, set in different points of view, which show events in other locations on Roshar. Each novel has one character who gets multiple interludes, whose interludes effectively form a novella. The books also feature several pieces of in-world art on the endpages and between some chapters, and epigraphs from in-world documents at the start of each non-flashback chapter. Each of the first five books begins with a prologue that shows a different character's perspective of the night of the assassination of Gavilar and ends with an epilogue from Hoid's point of view. Each book also includes an Ars Arcanum.
Each novel will focus on one specific order of the Knights Radiant and feature flashbacks from a character tied to that order. Brandon has made clear that a character can have flashback point of views, even if they are already dead, so the characters scheduled to have flashbacks in an upcoming book might still die before their book. The series will be split into two arcs of five books each, with a time gap of about ten years between the two arcs. The second arc will be written after Mistborn Era 3. Brandon has said he also hopes to write novellas in between at least all the remaining arc one novels, though is unsure if he has enough time. These novellas would fill in some details and show parts of the story that wouldn't have otherwise been seen.
Subject to the assumption that characters stay associated with their current order and assigning the Order of Dustbringers to Shalash's book by process of elimination, the following table summarizes these relationships and the order of books:
Arc 1 	Arc 1 	Arc 1 	Arc 1 	Arc 1 	Arc 1 	Arc 1 	Arc 1
YearPublished	Book Title 	In-worldYear(s)	RadiantOrder	FlashbackViewpoint 	PrologueViewpoint	Main InterludeViewpoint	Word Count
2010 	The Way of Kings[in-world text] 	1173 	Windrunners 	Kaladin(1164-1172) 	Szeth 	Szeth 	384,365
2014 	Words of Radiance[in-world text]	1173-1174 	Lightweavers	Shallan Davar(1167-1172) 	Jasnah Kholin 	Eshonai 	398,238
2017 	Oathbringer[in-world text] 	1174 	Bondsmiths 	Dalinar Kholin(1140-1168) 	Eshonai 	Venli 	454,440
2020 	Rhythm of War[in-world text] 	1175 	Willshapers 	Venli and Eshonai(1166-1173)	Navani Kholin 	Taravangian 	455,891
2024 	Wind and Truth[in-world text] 	1175 	Skybreakers 	Szeth(1149-1166) 	Gavilar Kholin 	Odium 	487,746
Arc 2 	Arc 2 	Arc 2 	Arc 2
Year Published	Book Title	Radiant Order	Flashback Viewpoint
Unknown 	Unknown 	Edgedancers 	Lift
Unknown 	Unknown 	Truthwatchers	Renarin Kholin
Unknown 	Unknown 	Dustbringers 	Shalash
Unknown 	Unknown 	Stonewards 	Talenel
Unknown 	Unknown 	Elsecallers 	Jasnah Kholin
Novellas - From the Stormlight Archive	Novellas - From the Stormlight Archive	Novellas - From the Stormlight Archive	Novellas - From the Stormlight Archive	Novellas - From the Stormlight Archive	Novellas - From the Stormlight Archive
Year Published 	Title 	SeriesChronology 	Focus Character 	Word Count 	
2016 	Edgedancer 	2.5(1173) 	Lift 	40,660 	
2020 	Dawnshard 	3.5(1174) 	Rysn 	56,282 	
2026 (Tentative) 	Horneater 	4.5 	Lunamor 	 	
Lost Tales (short stories)	Lost Tales (short stories) 	Lost Tales (short stories)	Lost Tales (short stories)	Lost Tales (short stories)	Lost Tales (short stories)
Year Published 	Title 	SeriesChronology 	Focus Character 	Word Count 	
2025 	Elsecaller 	 	Jasnah Kholin 	 	
2025 	King Lopen the First of Alethkar	 	Lopen 	 	
Brandon has also talked about wanting to go back and do a novella set between The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance; he initially thought this novella might focus on Lopen, but, after including Lopen in Dawnshard, said it would likely be someone else, possibly Teft.
===Back Cover Text===
Each book has a back cover text that is written in-universe from the perspective of one of the Sleepless.
=== Keteks ===
The titles of the five parts of each book form a ketek which is revealed with context in the endnote of every book. The abbreviations of the first five books also form a palindrome of five parts, being similar in structure to a ketek: (t)WoK - WoR - O - RoW - KoW(t).
== Cover Galleries ==
== Publication ==
== Awards ==
* Way of Kings #7 NY Times best-seller
* Winner of the 2010 Whitney Awards Best Novel of the Year Award and Best Speculative Fiction Award
* Winner of the 2010 David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel (Way of Kings)
* The Way of Kings hit the Times list in mass market, debuts at #25 on the chart
* Named one of the Best of 2010 by Fantasy Faction
* Named one of the Best of 2010 by Ranting Dragon
* Named one of the Best of 2010 by SFF World
* Named one of the Best of 2010 by Goodreads
* Words of Radiance #1 NY Times best-seller
* Winner of the 2014 Whitney Finalists Speculative Catagory
* Winner of the 2015 David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel (Words of Radiance)
== Statistics ==
The Stormlight Archive currently consists of five full novels and two novellas.
Word Count 	1,789,876	
Page Count 	4,820 	Tor hardbacks
Chapter Count 	476 	Including prelude, 4 prologues, 49 interludes, and 4 epilogues.
PoV Characters	54 	
PoV Count 	851 	
== Trivia ==
* When Brandon initially wrote The Way of Kings Prime, he called the series Dawnshards. By the time he pitched it to Tor two years later, he had changed the series name to Oathshards.
== Notes ==
 
category: series
category: meta