Brandon Sanderson

Some of you may be familiar with the author Brandon Sanderson. He is famous for finishing The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, his The Mistborn Trilogy, or his The Way of Kings books. Regardless of if you have heard of him before, the point of this post is to make sure you understand the genius that is this man.

He is my favorite fantasy writer. I used to think of fantasy in this limited bubble full of mystical creatures in a medieval-esque setting. Lord of the Rings, The Name of the Wind, Harry Potter...etc. while I adore these books (and highly recommend them to all of you), they all felt very similar to me. Sanderson managed to redefine all of this for me.

The imagination displayed in these books and the details included are incredible. Creating new types of geography, vegetation, even setting one of these books in a steampunk setting after writing about what could be compared to the Victorian era. His books are varied and interesting.

I admit I have not read all of his books, but I plan on it.

I recommend starting out reading one of his lighter books such as the Mistborn Trilogy, Elantris, or Warbreaker if you are younger or just to get to know his writing.

If you want to jump into the most complex of his books early on, you can start out with The Way of Kings books. These are my personal favorites (although only two have been released so far.

Whatever you do, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Comments

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

OK, before anyone judges my harsh review of this much beloved book, I have to defend my two star review. My first complaint is the voice. I have grown up in a family of 8 children, I have many cousins with young children whom I am close to, I babysit, and I am generally very familiar with children. This book felt like it was going between the voice of a two and twenty year old. That took away from the story to me. I am also well travelled and have German family. The Holocaust has long fascinated me and I still have memories of visiting concentration camps at a young age and being physically ill over what I learned and saw. One of my favorite movies is La Vita é Bella (please watch it). This book did not line up with a lot of the history of WWII that I have read. Also, the extreme ignorance of the main character is unbelievable. The concept is good and I feel like putting children in the context of some of the world's greatest tragedies is a powerful tool, I just felt ...

"The Raven Boys"

I saw this book all over book social media and wondered if it was good as everyone was saying. It seemed like a stereotypical contemporary young adult fantasy novel. I kind of did not want to read it and waste my time on something I had read before in the myriad of other novels that fall under the same genre. Oh, I was very wrong. I fell in love with this book partially because it was like nothing that I had expected. It began slow and a bit sluggish at moments. There were facts and moments I didn't understand and it all seemed to be a bit surreal. I was uncomfortable with the erratic pacing of the book and wondered if I should just stop. If you feel this way, I encourage you to do what I did and not stop. IT is a lot less fantasy, and more character development and deep mental exploration. The magic naturally flows in and out of the world and every piece miraculously falls into place. The characters are real. They are gritty, they keep secrets from each other, and they a...

"Rebel Belle"

I am not the kind of person who will reads the books synopsis before starting it. In order my priorities in choosing books are: 1. Author Style 2. Friend Recommendation 3. Popularity 4. Teacher Recommendation 5. Author 6. Cover 7. The Synopsis (always my last resort) Given my dislike for spoilers, I downloaded Rebel Belle on my phone and finished listening to it in 2 days. I had no idea what to expect, but it certainly was words like "paladin" or "oracle" being calmly discussed in a classy southern drawl. I did not expect heels to become weapons or for me to be furious when an opportunity to break the enemy's neck is lost. I am not a violent person, and I do not like violent books. And while there was fighting, I was never disturbed by it. It is kind of like how the main character refuses to use the "F" word (which I much appreciated). There is an air of class thrown over the whole thing and you come out wondering if you want to move to the...

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