All things Brandon Sanderson

slippery

slippery

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I think part of it is that all the Stormlight stuff is supposed to be a very big aspect of bringing the Cosmere together. So we are getting pieces of that as part of the story. I feel like all the shifting between realms, seeing characters from other books, it's all going to be a big aspect later.
 
zzeris

zzeris

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Gask said:
As everyone else has said Elantris wasn't very good but he does improve quite a bit in his other series. Where I differ from most other people is that I tend to like his first 1-2 books in a series but then lose interest as they continue on. At the start his worlds have decent rule sets and his characters have to make due with their lot, which I find interesting to read about. But he always undermines this with power creep and the addition of some characters that I find insufferable.

I enjoyed Way of Kings quite a bit when it came out and I've read it several times but I felt that the momentum that was built up in the first book was squandered and I despised that Dragonball like fight in the sky between Kaladin and Szeth in book 2. I'm a heretic I know but hopefully that gives you some variety of perspective. Bottom line is if you like decently written fantasy superhero epics then give him another try.
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The Stormlight series definitely started stronger but what about the Wax and Wayne series? I think it's stayed fairly strong and is probably his best series. It's incredibly hard to find great writers in every genre and most of them start to expose their flaws the more they write (and Sanderson is prolific).

Since you've thrown out some heresy I'll match. Jim Butcher is the other prolific writer in this field and Aeronaut's Windlass was absolutely terrible. His best series feels tired and has probably gone further than he intended...and shows. He got better with time and I still like his work but his first 7-8 years were his pinnacle.
 
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Ritley

Ritley

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zzeris said:
Since you've thrown out some heresy I'll match. Jim Butcher is the other prolific writer in this field and Aeronaut's Windlass was absolutely terrible. His best series feels tired and has probably gone further than he intended...and shows. He got better with time and I still like his work but his first 7-8 years were his pinnacle.
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The first few Dresden books were actually pretty awful if you go back and read them. Yeah, Aeronauts windlass was pretty awful. But the codex alera series he wrote was actually pretty good.
 
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Arative

Arative

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Brodhi said:
As someone who read Elantris, and thought it was juvenile writing, would you suggest to keep on chugging and try out another? I want to like these, I'm hoping maybe Elantris just sucked and the rest are better?
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His writing gets better, if you read his books in the order of publication. If you read his later books then go back, it's going to be a bad time.
 
Ritley

Ritley

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From the sample chapters, not particularly looking forward to more kaladin being a whiny bitch for another book. He has slowly become one my least favorite characters.
 
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Aazrael

Aazrael

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Was browsing Audible today for the next book to listen to and saw Arcanum Unbounded available. that worth checking out? Short stories from different series if I understood correct.

Might buy the Mistborn books with my credits and listen to them again since it was a feew years ago I did that.
 
Szeth

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It has a stormlight short story that is very very good. A few other good ones as well.
 
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Kovaks

Kovaks

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Aazrael said:
Was browsing Audible today for the next book to listen to and saw Arcanum Unbounded available. that worth checking out? Short stories from different series if I understood correct.

Might buy the Mistborn books with my credits and listen to them again since it was a feew years ago I did that.
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I mention it pretty often on this thread but for his books, ski l audible and get the graphic audio, so much better.

www.graphicaudio.net

Brandon Sanderson - A-E - Authors - Our Productions

GraphicAudio 'A Movie In Your Mind' - Full Cast Dramatized Audiobook Entertainment
www.graphicaudio.net www.graphicaudio.net
 
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Randin

Randin

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You could reasonably do either/or; you won't be losing out by going with one order or the other. That said, I would recommend reading Warbreaker before Stormlight, as it does have some narrative relevance; Warbreaker's only a single book though.
 
wormie

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Regime said:
Hey guys thanks to some of the folks they pointed me to Mistborn and Sanderson.

I just bought:
Original Trilogy (Era One)
  1. The Final Empire
  2. The Well of Ascension
  3. The Hero of Ages

Should I also get era two before going to his Stormlight series?



I’m going in completely blind. I haven’t read fantasy since dance of Dragons.
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I loved the era 1 trilogy so I went straight into era 2 books and loved that as well but am currently blueballed since 4th book isn't out. I would read era 1 and then decide on era 2.
 
Ritley

Ritley

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I’d go straight from era 1 to era 2 personally. They are different enough that I don’t think you’ll get tired of them.
 
Brahma

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Regime said:
Hey guys thanks to some of the folks they pointed me to Mistborn and Sanderson.

I just bought:
Original Trilogy (Era One)
  1. The Final Empire
  2. The Well of Ascension
  3. The Hero of Ages

Should I also get era two before going to his Stormlight series?



I’m going in completely blind. I haven’t read fantasy since dance of Dragons.
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Doesn't matter really. Mistborn series are good reads, but not needed for Stormlight.
 
Ritley

Ritley

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Don’t forget about Mistborn secret history. I think you can read it after the first era mistborn books, but there might have been some minor spoilers in there for some era 2 stuff that I don’t remember
 
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Kovaks

Kovaks

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Ritley said:
Don’t forget about Mistborn secret history. I think you can read it after the first era mistborn books, but there might have been some minor spoilers in there for some era 2 stuff that I don’t remember
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I would say wait till after era 2 to read secret history.
 
slippery

slippery

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I feel like Secret History tells you a thing that we haven't actually seen in play in Era 2 but is kind of hinted at, but it's been quite a while
 
Randin

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Ritley said:
Don’t forget about Mistborn secret history. I think you can read it after the first era mistborn books, but there might have been some minor spoilers in there for some era 2 stuff that I don’t remember
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If someone's committed to reading all the Cosmere stuff, then my recommendation would be: read all the novels, but for Stormlight stop after book two, pick up Arcanum Unbounded (the short story anthology, which includes Secret History) and read that, then continue with Stormlight. All the short stories start with a note about where they should be read in relation with the main books, but doing it this way lets you avoid worrying about that, and lets you just read Arcanum Unbounded all the way through. (I say to read it after book two of Stormlight because Edgedancer, the Stormlight short story, takes place between books two and three. And without reading it, a change in a particular character between those two books will seem to really come out of nowhere.)
 
Malkav

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slippery said:
I feel like Secret History tells you a thing that we haven't actually seen in play in Era 2 but is kind of hinted at, but it's been quite a while
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You need to read Secret History AFTER the Bands of Mourning from what I remember.
 
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