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[NecrosaroIII]

I've never read a single Brandon Sanderson book. I tried to read the Final Empire at Barnes and Noble but got kinda of bored after like 10 pages. But I stumbled upon his youtube channel on youtube due to the algorhythm.

Honestly, he seems like such a down to earth dude. Unashamedly nerdy AF, but chill. One thing that is cool is that he uploaded an entire semester worth of classes he taught on creative writing. That could have been something he uploaded to Master Class or something, and here he is offering it for free. The best stuff on his channel .



Then he does random shit, like MtG draft.



or getting wrecked in the Elden Ring DLC




Honestly, I've been thinking about giving his writing another try. I don't think Mistborn is for me though. Anything else worthwhile?

 

[HRK69]

Nice. I need some long videos while playing Football Manager

Hopefully he's cool like you said OP.

 

[near]

I’m unfamiliar with he’s work, but I’ve had he’s Mistborn series recommended to me an awful lot, to the point I just ended up buying The Final Empire. I haven’t started reading it yet, but now I’m oddly motivated to start it.

 

[JBat]

I'm a fan. Op stick with final empire. The series is really good. I've listen to a couple of his lectures and always come away with something worth while.

 

[AJUMP23]

Never read his stuff know he is successful.

 

[TwiztidElf]

Massive respect for the guy.
I really enjoy the Stormlight Archive.
The way he completed Wheel of Time so well put him in S tier authors for me.
And the way he's conducted himself around the Wheel of Time amazon series has been excellent.
Some GREAT interviews with him out there on YouTube.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

I'm a fan. Op stick with final empire. The series is really good. I've listen to a couple of his lectures and always come away with something worth while.

Yeah the lectures a solid. Im at a point where i try to tune out too much advice ajd try to just get it done on my own and npt overthink all the details.

 

[Doomtrain]

Most of his work is great, but if you want something brisk and self-contained, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is a good one to try.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I like his stuff a fair bit. The Stormlight Archive is especially good.

He cranks stuff out at such a rate. He should teach a few other authors…

 

[IDKFA]

I don't think Mistborn is for me though. Anything else worthwhile?

No.

He might be nice guy, but his writing is dog shit. The man needs a strict editor.

 

[BHeld]

Brandon Sanderson is fantastic. I'm on my third read-through of The Stormlight Archive in preparation of book 5 coming out later this year. All of his Cosmere series books (Stormlight, Mistborn, etc.) are connected and there are dozens of easter eggs in each book. Definitely not the best writing in the world but it's incredibly entertaining and the universe building is top-notch. His books have a very videogame-ish feel to them, with unique magic systems to each world and a I almost get the sense of characters leveling up more than just growing. That could just be the gamer in me though. I started with Stormlight which I like better than Mistborn, but I don't think there is a wrong place to start.

 

[balls of snow]

Mistborn trilogy are great. Got me back into fantasy.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Is Stormlight archive better than Mistborn? Do I need to read Mistborn to understand Stormlugjt?

 

[Doomtrain]

Is Stormlight archive better than Mistborn? Do I need to read Mistborn to understand Stormlugjt?

I prefer Stormlight, but they're both good and I'd say it's a matter of preference. Stormlight is also a lot longer and denser, and it took me longer to get invested. And no, you don't need to read Mistborn to understand Stormlight, or vice versa.

 

[quidmonkey]

Reading lists exist for Sanderson's stuff. You can find a recommended list here, or Sanderson himself provides a list.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Is Stormlight archive better than Mistborn? Do I need to read Mistborn to understand Stormlugjt?

They are unrelated. Just start with “The way of kings” and you are good to go. It’s my favourite book in the series. I kind of don’t like how the managed Kaladin in the later novels.

I found the fourth book’s ending a touch confusing as well but the series it self is great

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I love his Cosmere stuff

It's the only current fantasy series I follow

Kaladin and Shallan are my two most favorite Cosmere characters

Trogdor1123

 

[Trogdor1123]

I love his Cosmere stuff

It's the only current fantasy series I follow

Kaladin and Shallan are my two most favorite Cosmere characters

Trogdor1123

Kaladin is great. I didn’t like how dark he was later. Didn’t match to me.

Dalinar over Shallan also. And his wife over shallan also.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Kaladin is great. I didn’t like how dark he was later. Didn’t match to me.

Dalinar over Shallan also. And his wife over shallan also.

Yeah I can understand why people can find Shallan annoying

As for Kaladin, that how depression works in general. I know I had suffer from it myself

 

[kikkis]

Strengths Sanderson are worldbuilding and structure in terms of twists etc. Sometimes worldbuilding feels bit complicated. Downsides are characters and dialog. This is based on reading the both mistborn eras.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Yeah I can understand why people can find Shallan annoying

As for Kaladin, that how depression works in general. I know I had suffer from it myself

I found she got better as the series moved on actually. I listened to the audio books so it might have been her voice over. That being said, Navani is pretty awesome s maybe not?

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I found she got better as the series moved on actually. I listened to the audio books so it might have been her voice over. That being said, Navani is pretty awesome s maybe not?

Yeah Navani and Jasnah are two of my favorite Cosmere characters too

 

[jason10mm]

Sanderson is very chaste, his Mormon upbringing at work. He also has a very rigid system at play in his books, which is nice that he has internal consistency, but he is TOO transparent with it, you get things like "he ingested 0.45 grams of iron so he could only burn through 4 cm of stone, but it was 5 cm thick so he failed" where I think having the mechanisms a bit more behind the curtain would have been better.

Still, he is an amazing workhorse and his worldbuilding, even when it doesn't quite work, is very impressive. Assuming you have the time to devote to his longer works and get through them in a reasonable amount of time, they are rewarding.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

I'll get back to that book eventually. I do admire how much his work ethic.

 

[Joyful]

I enjoy his works for the most part. Ive read pretty much everything within his connected universe (the cosmere).
id usually recommend stormlight over mistborn etc for the most part. But I also think perhaps the original order is better because you get to see his writing improve and some early characters show up again in unexpected places.
I think Brandon enjoys fantasy and scifi equally and im guessing eventually all of the cosmere books will be technologically advanced with like spaceflight but also magic will still be around which should be interesting. (Sixth of the Dusk is the most advanced timeline wise and kinda gave me Hyperion vibes idk)

And yeah its refereshing for a writer to actually not take decades inbetween books. Bro is just a writing machine.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Sanderson put up an episode of his podcast about the console wars.

 

[Wildebeest]

I don't like very successful authors on principle. The odds are so against them that they must be awful people who have sold their soul to some imaginable evil.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I don't like very successful authors on principle. The odds are so against them that they must be awful people who have sold their soul to some imaginable evil.

Total reasonable way to approach things…

 

[jason10mm]

I don't like very successful authors on principle. The odds are so against them that they must be awful people who have sold their soul to some imaginable evil.

I don't think finding success warps them, its the CONTINUED and PROLONGED success that does. So many become wrapped in their own bubble, chasing trends rather than just doing their own thing. Stephen King, GRRM, they starting smelling their own farts and think their audience cares what they think beyond the next book. Rowling is kind of the antithesis of this, but then again she hasn't sold much beyond the Potter books. But kudos to her for not churning out a bazillion ghost written books.

 

[kikkis]

Do you think Sanderson has enough years to finish Stormlight archives? He's almost 50, and it took 15+ years for the first 5 books.

 

[kruis]

Oh, yeah. Sanderson is a writing machine. The only reason it took so long for the first five books is because he wrote tons of books in between these massive Stormlight books.

 

[Trogdor1123]

The last (in this series) stormlight book is coming in December. Hope it wraps it up good. I wasn’t a huge fan the end of book4 so I hope it is better.

 

[Hudo]

Maybe Sanderson can finish Game of Thrones for Fat Fuck Martin

 

[kruis]

Maybe Sanderson can finish Game of Thrones for Fat Fuck Martin

Sanderson wouldn't want to, he only read one book and thought it too brutal and miserable.

 

[Hudo]

Sanderson wouldn't want to, he only read one book and thought it too brutal and miserable.

I can sort of understand him.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Oh, yeah. Sanderson is a writing machine. The only reason it took so long for the first five books is because he wrote tons of books in between these massive Stormlight books.

Didn't he write like 5 books in secret during 2020?

 

[Trogdor1123]

Didn't he write like 5 books in secret during 2020?

Wouldn’t doubt it. He is an utter machine. I thought I read his wife is key to the process to as his primary editor? If so, they must be the most productive couple ever.

 

[Lunarorbit]

Maybe Sanderson can finish Game of Thrones for Fat Fuck Martin

People have asked him ever since he finished Jordans eye of the world series if he would finish got. Grrm got wind and got super emotional about sanderson finishing his books; basically got very defensive and then angry that fans would suggest winds of winter wouldn't be out soon.

Sanderson also said no.

Didn't he write like 5 books in secret during 2020?

Yeah apparently he wrote a 4 book series in secret that came out last year in his cosmere universe. He said he'd want his mistborn series to be turned into a video game series

https://en.as.com/meristation/news/...pted-into-a-video-game-similar-to-infamous-n/

 

[NecrosaroIII]

People have asked him ever since he finished Jordans eye of the world series if he would finish got. Grrm got wind and got super emotional about sanderson finishing his books; basically got very defensive and then angry that fans would suggest winds of winter wouldn't be out soon.

Sanderson also said no.

Yeah apparently he wrote a 4 book series in secret that came out last year in his cosmere universe. He said he'd want his mistborn series to be turned into a video game series

https://en.as.com/meristation/news/...pted-into-a-video-game-similar-to-infamous-n/

I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been any adaptations tbh. But with the success of the Cosmere TTRPG kickstarter, I'm sure they're going to come for it.

 

[Come On Tars]

I don't like very successful authors on principle. The odds are so against them that they must be awful people who have sold their soul to some imaginable evil.

in a free trade system people are successful because they provide enough value to a large group of willing buyers. A win win situation where I want a good book and he makes one better than I could ever and I give him an IOU (money) for saving me a lifetime of work learning to write a fantasy novel with a logical magic system.

Envy of success is brain rot be careful man.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I’ve been reading book 5 in the way of kings series and I’ve been pretty disappointed so far. The Shalon storyline is pretty crappy so far but kind of always was.

 

[Rocinante618]

This guy is the definition of Netflix'd pop fantasy - churns like hundreds of books a year but most read like fan fiction and without any soul. Pop fantasy! Similar to Swift, huge rabid fanbase too lmao

You don't need to read so many books especially long ass series with each book over hundreds of pages long.

I read a few of his Stormlight series and a couple in his Mistborn series and boy, oh boy, I needed to cleanse myself. Thankfully reading Melville, Steinbeck & Hemingway did the trick.

 

[kikkis]

This guy is the definition of Netflix'd pop fantasy - churns like hundreds of books a year but most read like fan fiction and without any soul. Pop fantasy! Similar to Swift, huge rabid fanbase too lmao

You don't need to read so many books especially long ass series with each book over hundreds of pages long.

I read a few of his Stormlight series and a couple in his Mistborn series and boy, oh boy, I needed to cleanse myself. Thankfully reading Melville, Steinbeck & Hemingway did the trick.

I think he's better than Netflix of fantasy

 

[Bert Big Balls]

I’ve been reading book 5 in the way of kings series and I’ve been pretty disappointed so far. The Shalon storyline is pretty crappy so far but kind of always was.

I absolutely loved the first two books but felt like things started falling apart in the third, then I was totally disappointed with book 4. Not bothered with 5 yet. Just seems like a totally different series from what it was in the first two books.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I absolutely loved the first two books but felt like things started falling apart in the third, then I was totally disappointed with book 4. Not bothered with 5 yet. Just seems like a totally different series from what it was in the first two books.

I’d agree with that, the first 2 were awesome, but I found 4 to actually be pretty good, other then the end which i still don’t understand.

5 has some good parts, don’t get me wrong. The Dalenar stuff is good as before, Kaladin is good too, but the Shallan stuff… it sucks. It was never really good but it’s especially bad in this one. Navani is still good but Yasnah isn’t as good s before. Wit is pretty good still too. The cosmere needs some clarity too as it’s to vague right now and not in a good way.

 

[Ballthyrm]

I’d agree with that, the first 2 were awesome, but I found 4 to actually be pretty good, other then the end which i still don’t understand.

5 has some good parts, don’t get me wrong. The Dalenar stuff is good as before, Kaladin is good too, but the Shallan stuff… it sucks. It was never really good but it’s especially bad in this one. Navani is still good but Yasnah isn’t as good s before. Wit is pretty good still too. The cosmere needs some clarity too as it’s to vague right now and not in a good way.

He really got more extreme both in his strength and his weaknesses. The pacing is atrocious but the character building is really good for some characters (Szeth, Kaladin, Adolin, Sigzil) and really bad for others (Shallan,Yasnah, Renarin)
He need better editor because there is way too many time where he repeat himself (maybe he got that bad habit from Wheel of time)

The Dalinar stuff is good to get some needed exposition but it feel really heavy handed even if the payoff is great.
I wished he could have spread the lore around a bit more. We haven't got new characters with other orders and their PoV which could have been interesting (at least more than Shallan)
You can see him placing his chess pieces for the next arc with Szeth, Sigzil, Lift, Hoid.

 

[dispensergoinup]

I started pretty strong with Sanderson but it fell apart for me in Oathbreaker.

Elantris was quick and solid fun, went on to enjoy Mistborn trilogy but didn't read the next eras.

Stormlight Archives started strong when it was focused on Kaladin, Dalinar, Jasnah and most of the bros in Bridge 4 but it lost me on Shallan and the whole universe of other Cosmere characters that he's introduced. I'm still not fully clear on any of the lore and magic systems really but enjoyed most of it.

Needed a palate cleanser and started on The Black Company series which I enjoy.

On that note, anyone have recommendations for more gritty grounded fantasy books? Send 'em my way!

 

[Bert Big Balls]

I’d agree with that, the first 2 were awesome, but I found 4 to actually be pretty good, other then the end which i still don’t understand.

5 has some good parts, don’t get me wrong. The Dalenar stuff is good as before, Kaladin is good too, but the Shallan stuff… it sucks. It was never really good but it’s especially bad in this one. Navani is still good but Yasnah isn’t as good s before. Wit is pretty good still too. The cosmere needs some clarity too as it’s to vague right now and not in a good way.

Honestly I'm still annoyed at what Sanderson did to Shallan. I was one of the rare few that actually liked her from the start, I thought her story with Jasnah and the Soulcaster was great. But then Sanderson took her down the weirdest route ever and gave her some kind of split personality disorder and now I can't stand her.

Books 3 I started noticing everything going in a weird direction, it was like Sanderson had lost control of the story. I believe it was at the time of writing this book where Brandon had started his beta reading program, which I'm convinced has had a negative effect on the series. Everything just seemed to feel... more juvenile I guess. Like I can't believe this is the same series where for the first two books you had dudes in sick armour swinging magical swords at each other, then it just devolved into some weird mental illness fuck fest.

I dunno, I'll read book 5 at some point, but I'm not holding out much hope unfortunately.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The FInal Empire was a great series - quick with incredible magic system (one of my favorite ones). Stormlight Archive is just a giant slog.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Honestly I'm still annoyed at what Sanderson did to Shallan. I was one of the rare few that actually liked her from the start, I thought her story with Jasnah and the Soulcaster was great. But then Sanderson took her down the weirdest route ever and gave her some kind of split personality disorder and now I can't stand her.

Books 3 I started noticing everything going in a weird direction, it was like Sanderson had lost control of the story. I believe it was at the time of writing this book where Brandon had started his beta reading program, which I'm convinced has had a negative effect on the series. Everything just seemed to feel... more juvenile I guess. Like I can't believe this is the same series where for the first two books you had dudes in sick armour swinging magical swords at each other, then it just devolved into some weird mental illness fuck fest.

I dunno, I'll read book 5 at some point, but I'm not holding out much hope unfortunately.

Totally agree. I totally forgot about the whole spellcaster storyline that just sort of ended. The explanation was fine , I guess, but it could have been a neat path to go down. The cosmere stuff is completely unclear to me. This whole travelling to other planets (how is that happening?!) thing doesn’t make much sense to me. The management of the gods is odd too but that seems to be in the cards for later in book 5. I’m only about 15 chapters in so lots of chances to get these cleared up.

I was also expecting “more” from the heralds but that seems to have also gone down the mental issues path, but it actually makes sense for them.

Also, he better explain the honor blades the first chapter of the first book talked about them and framed them as being key to the storyline and they simply haven’t been at all.