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I hadn't heard of Brandon Sanderson until I went to a book store in Provo, Utah. He is a very much a big deal there and had two complete bookshelves dedicated t
by m348e912 5y ago
I hadn't heard of Brandon Sanderson until I went to a book store in Provo, Utah. He is a very much a big deal there and had two complete bookshelves dedicated to his work. He went to BYU so there is a local connection, but it caught me by surprise because I wasn't aware of his popularity.
- stormcode 5y agoYou should check out the Stormlight Archive. It's really good.
- eslaught 5y agoThe magic system in Stormlight is astonishingly good. About halfway through the most recent book, Rhythm of War, I said to someone: when did Stormlight turn into sci-fi? Because the magic is so logical, and so deep, and so specific, that it feels more like science than magic at times. On the other hand I've been put off by the pacing of the last three books. It feels like the basic structure is that there's a build up to a huge conflict at the end of the book, and the vast majority of the pages are spent waiting for it to arrive. In my opinion, the second book, Words of Radiance, was the best so far in terms of balancing character, plot and action.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago> About halfway through the most recent book, Rhythm of War, I said to someone: when did Stormlight turn into sci-fi? Because the magic is so logical, and so deep, and so specific, that it feels more like science than magic at times. On the other hand, the Stormlight magic system involves "grain" and "blood" being fundamental elemental substances.
- spiralx 5y ago> On the other hand, the Stormlight magic system involves "grain" and "blood" being fundamental elemental substances. I've been enjoying a story that manages to have 22 elements - including Healing, Blood, Sound, Force, Destruction, Illusion and Fae - integral to its system of magic in a way that feels consistent while being varied and interesting, despite how odd some of those seem at first. Grain does seem a pretty strange element I agree, but so did Wood when I started reading stories using the Chinese five element scheme until I became accustomed to it.
- thrower123 5y agoIt gets tiresome that every character is a quivering Freudian ball of repressed trauma and mental illness, but it is otherwise a fun world.
- FPGAhacker 5y agoSeconded. I struggled with the way of kings having just finished a memory of light. Couldn’t get brain to accept the shift in gears. But I came years later and found the series quite good and very enjoyable.
- thaumasiotes 5y agoHe's a big deal outside of Utah too.
- exhilaration 5y agoWhat book should I start with if I'd like to get begin reading his stuff?
- VikingCoder 5y agoA friend suggested I buy the entire Mistborn series as one ebook. That worked for me.
- wlesieutre 5y agohttps://www.brandonsanderson.com/where-do-i-start/ https://www.brandonsanderson.com/where-do-i-start/
- rhipitr 5y agoWay of Kings
- truxten 5y agoEither start with Mistborn #1: The Final Empire or The Stormlight Archive #1: The Way of Kings. They are his main series, and generally regarded as his best stuff. Would probably recommend Mistborn as it's been finished, and the mainline story is only 3 books.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago> They are his main series, and generally regarded as his best stuff. I think Elantris is his best. It's just that there's less of it (one book) than there is of the big series.
- Aeolun 5y agoElantris is great, but the end of the books is basically a gaping gap. Not entirely, but a bit like the story was cut off in the middle.
- edgyquant 5y agoHe’s the Stephen King of Tolkien-rip off fantasy. He churns them out, sure, but I don’t consider the quality all that high.
- lolinder 5y ago> Tolkien-rip off fantasy You're free to dislike the books, but this is an extremely unfair characterization. Sanderson's books bear very little resemblance to Tolkien's beyond the genre and the elaborate nature of the worldbuilding.
- edgyquant 5y agoIt’s not unfair. The genre he writes is a genre of Tolkien ripoffs of which he is the most prolific.
- lolinder 5y agoIf you're including Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time, then I guess Sanderson broadly falls into that same category. I'd hardly label any of them "rip-offs", though, especially given that there are books out there blatantly ripping off Tolkien right down to elves, dwarves and halflings.
- space_fountain 5y agoThere are Tolkien rip offs, but Tolkien didn’t invent fantasy, and unlike a lot of fantasy authors Sanderson doesn’t include elements like dwarfs, or elves or really anything that Tolkien came up with as far as I can tell. Are you maybe confusing him with someone else?
- bradly 5y agoI’ve only read the Mistborn series, but I didn’t find it all similar to Tolkien–not in style or themes.
- justinpombrio 5y agoBy "Tolkien ripoff", do you mean anything beyond "fantasy novel"?
- jimbob45 5y agohttps://youtu.be/-6HOdHEeosc https://youtu.be/-6HOdHEeosc He teaches at BYU as well (still).
- bitexploder 5y agoHe had an open creative writing course I took once. It really helped see how he is so prolific. He has a very good creative writing system, but does not force his novel writing style in his students. The way he explained things changed how I view all fiction in a pretty profound way in terms of how stories are created.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 5y agoLarry Correia has a post about why there are so many Mormon sci-fi writers. Interesting read, regardless your opinion on the religion https://monsterhunternation.com/2021/05/17/why-are-there-so-many-mormon-writers/ https://monsterhunternation.com/2021/05/17/why-are-there-so-...