How many words are in The Way of Kings?
by Brandon Sanderson · 2010 · Fantasy
387,000
Word count
27 hr 6 min
Reading time
1,548
Est. pages
2010
Published
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson is approximately 387,000 wordslong. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that's about 27 hr 6 min of reading spread across several sittings. First published in 2010, it sits in the Fantasy category.
Typical fantasy novels run 70,000–150,000 words, with a sweet spot around 90,000–120,000. At 387,000 words, The Way of Kings runs longer than the typical range, in epic territory.
Source: Reedsy word count database; Tor Books edition (author-cited length) · referenceVerified 2026-06-19
Fantasy novels of similar length
| Title | Author | Word count |
|---|---|---|
| A Game of Thrones | George R.R. Martin | 298,000 |
| The Name of the Wind | Patrick Rothfuss | 259,221 |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | J.K. Rowling | 257,045 |
| The Fellowship of the Ring | J.R.R. Tolkien | 187,790 |
| Eragon | Christopher Paolini | 157,220 |
| The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | 95,356 |