This is the first three 'main series' books out of a projected 10 - plus a fill-in novella to flesh out the back story of a key character, Lift - in what is, of course (given that description and the books' titles), an epic fantasy series, and the most promising mainstream fantasy series I've come across in a long time at that.
It's very page turny, but one of those that feels good to race through, while also rewarding a bit of attention to what's actually on the page. The craft of it is quite exceptional - it starts fast, with a few major characters amidst the action, and their connections to the main thrust of the story quickly apparent. The way it follows a small number of major characters - Kaladin, Shallan, Adolin, Dalinar - and brings them together keeps up the interest (with secondary characters also nicely fleshed out - Jasnah, Szeth, Taravangian, various of the bridgemen), combined with ample use of relatively short flashbacks that track through time to meet the present.
Sanderson is good at keeping the reader oriented without too much exposition every time a new character, place, event, idea etc is introduced, and he uses interludes to introduce other characters whose significance is often initially unclear - in their own right or caught up in larger machinations and events? - but which adds to the richness of the world and often presses into the main narrative over time without detracting from the overall momentum.
Also notable is the way that the obligatory introductory quotations at the beginning of each chapter are used to actually advance plot and build suspense, not just 'worldbuild' and provide historical colour, as are the illustrations, which sometimes provide important info and are interestingly diegetic (eg Shallan's drawings).
The characters are sturdy enough, especially by the standards of the genre, and rarely fall into cliche or shortcut characterisation (Shallan's wordplay is distractingly arch at times, but what Sanderson does with her character via Veil and Radiant pretty much makes up for it), and the narrative, while somewhat standard issue, holds the attention. Familiar motifs - knights, magic, spirits, monsters, talking swords, humans as invaders, ancient and powerful beings - are given a do-over that's impressively thought-through and integrated. It's not overly dark but it does have a sense of stakes, and manages some striking images, like the scenes with the men carrying the bridges into battle to lay them across the chasms, and the 'cognitive realm' of Shadesmar with its oceans of small dark beads.
I don't know how much this series really has up its sleeve, but it's plenty well enough done for me to continue reading.
