Image via Gollancz Add Collider on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover By Dawson Nyffenegger Published Oct 27, 2026, 12:14 AM EDT Sign in to your Collider account Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Listen Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap "Worldbuilding" is a word that gets thrown around a lot in the world of fantasy writing, mainly because it's one of the most important aspects of any story. It's more crucial in high fantasy stories, i.e., works that take place in worlds that are separate from our own and completely fictional. What worldbuilding effectively refers to is the process by which an author creates the history, lore, culture, and atmosphere of their world , and reflects it through their writing. Good worldbuilding is achieved not by dumping a bunch of info on the reader, but by allowing it to come out naturally as the story unfolds.
Many of the finest fantasy novels have excelled in this department, but a somewhat recent entry stands as one of the greatest examples of worldbuilding done right. The book comes from Brandon Sanderson 's Cosmere universe , a shared literary universe that consists of over 30 novels, novellas, short stories, graphic novels, and picture books. One of the most prominent and successful entries in this vast universe is The Stormlight Archive , which is currently five books deep into a ten-volume epic. The saga began with 2010's The Way of Kings , which quickly earned critical acclaim, particularly for its intricate, complex, and compelling worldbuilding , a masterclass in how to create an entire world from the ground up.
The cover of the book 'The Way of Kings' by Brandon Sanderson. Image via Tor Books As previously stated, The Way of Kings is set on the planet Roshar , a world that is constantly plagued by highstorms that are stronger than hurricanes, which blow across the planet's only supercontinent from East to West. As a result of these violent weather patterns, plant life is practically non-existent. All animals are crustaceans, so they have shells to hide in when a highstorm blows through. Yet, the highstorms also have a strange attribute: they fill gemstones with an iridescent substance known as Stormlight as they pass.
The Way of Kings opens up with a man in white robes, Szeth, assassinating the king of the mighty realm of Alethkar during a high-profile event. The Alethi discover that the assassin was hired by the Parshendi , a race of crustacean humanoids. The Alethi are a war-like people: when they're not fighting other countries, they're fighting amongst themselves, so the murder, of course, provokes a retaliatory war. The Alethi surround the Parshendi in their domain , a flat, barren expanse of plateaus and chasms known as the Shattered Plains. Five years later, the war has devolved into a grinding stalemate , with neither side making much progress.
On the Shattered Plains, the ten Alethi highprinces are playing a dangerous political game against each other whilst assaulting the Parshendi. One of the highprinces, Dalinar Kholin , brother to the murdered king Gavilar, begins receiving visions from the Stormfather , a spiritual entity that resides in the highstorms, and tries to decipher their meaning while commanding his armies. Meanwhile, a soldier-turned-slave named Kaladin arrives on the Shattered Plains and is assigned to run bridg…