Brandon Sanderson Community discussion

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Introduce Yourself! > How I found Sanderson

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message 1: by Jonathan (new)

Jonathan Harbour (jsharbour) | 12 comments Hi there! I discovered Brandon Sanderson in 2017 and The Way of Kings was my first book. During lunch sometimes I visit B&N just to relax, not necessarily to shop, and always peruse SF&F shelves. I had recently read Rothfuss and grimaced as I came across him on the shelf. I think I actually cursed him out loud without realizing it. Then I saw The Way of Kings on the favorites shelf and picked it up. I was immediately awed by the artwork inside and read a few pages and was hooked. I'd never read fantasy like this before and was SOOOOOO turned off to epic fantasy after Rothfuss.

I like to support local businesses, but damn it, Amazon was $6.99 for the TPB, and B&N was full retail. I had Prime at the time (and haven't renewed it since that year) so bought it. Read it. Loved it. Send it to my son. Bought the HC edition. Bought the Kindle edition. Bought the Audible edition and listened to it clear thru on the job. (I drive 10 hrs/day). Then Words of Radiance. Fortunately, I finished them both just as Oathbringer was about to come out. So exciting.

Oathbringer was disappointing to me due to length and vast amount of OT distractions. And, the protagonists were superheroes so there wasn't much they couldn't handle anymore. I'll read it again soon leading up to Rhythm of War, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it more 2nd time.

Since then, I've read many of his others and still have more to go. Best author I've ever read. When I told my son Sanderson was better than Tolkien, better than Shakespeare, he balked. He's an English major. He still hasn't read his copy. I almost threatened him....


message 2: by Pål (new)

Pål (plbreienabrahamsen) | 30 comments Mr. Sanderson is very good indeed, and I can’t think of a novel he’s written that I wouldn’t wanna read again 😎But he is very different from Tolkien, and in another era also, so not easily compared. I’m thinking Tolkien holds his own!


message 3: by Boudica (new)

Boudica of the Free People | 1 comments The first time I heard of Sanderson was two years ago, from a Booktuber called Merphy Napier, and she made it look so amazing I thought I should give it a try, and after two years I'm finally here.
I have only read Mistborn Original Trilogy and I'm on my way to the second, but I don't know if I like it very much, so I think after the Allow of Law I'm going for Elantris or Warbreaker, and maybe continue Era 2 in the future.


message 4: by Kenneth (new)

Kenneth Geary (KagedBooks) (kagedbooks) | 118 comments After I read his contributions to The Wheel of Time, I picked up the first Mistborn and haven't looked back


message 5: by Peter (new)

Peter | 21 comments Boudica wrote: "The first time I heard of Sanderson was two years ago, from a Booktuber called Merphy Napier, and she made it look so amazing I thought I should give it a try, and after two years I'm finally here...."

Keep on reading Mistoborn. It is worth it. Then grab Urcanum Unbounded, read Secret History and let your jaw drop ;) After Elantris and Warbreaker the most important: Stormlight Archives. Book 4 to be released on 17 Novemeber.


message 6: by Peter (new)

Peter | 21 comments I started my journey about 4 years ago. I was talking on-line about books and one guy recommended The Way of Kings.
Now I have all hardback books in English (UK covers) and Polish (my first language). My first leatherbound book (TWoK) is to be delivered soon. ;)


message 7: by [deleted user] (last edited Sep 11, 2020 01:00PM) (new)

First time I read Sanderson was when I picked up a copy of Alcatraz at the library ages and ages ago... years later, when Words of Radiance had just come out, my friends introduced me to it. From there I read everything else- I've got mostly hardback copies of everything in the cosmere and am building up my non-cosmere collection!


message 8: by Strzelba (new)

Strzelba | 3 comments Six years ago I read the first Mistborn era and I loved it, so when I saw in bookstore first two Stormlight books I bought them as I knew Sanderson won’t disappoint me. And I loved those books even more than Mistborn, since then I’m buying every BS book in polish and lately I wanted to read Stormlight in english too, so I bought US hardcovers and read my favorite books again. Can’t wait for Rhythm of War!


message 9: by Caleb (new)

Caleb (caleb27) | 109 comments 6 or seven years ago now my sister showed me Elantris. That’s was good, but I didn’t get hooked until I started listening to Mistborn about a year later. Now I’ve read nearly of his books.


message 10: by Caleb (new)

Caleb (caleb27) | 109 comments DJ wrote: "Found him after my mom read Mistborn, though, and then she bought me the Rithmatist."

I am currently going through the first Skyward, and I have read the Rithmatist several times. Both were good but I don't think that any of Sanderson's books outside the cosmere can compete with those within it. Specifically Mistborn and the Stormlight Archive.


message 11: by Demetri (new)

Demetri Kouvalis | 1 comments I found about Sanderson about 3 years ago, and the first books I read from him was the Mistborn series which I really enjoyed! Since then I've only read Way of Kings, which I enjoyed quite a bit but didn't love (waaaaay to long). However I do plan on reading the rest of that series, and perhaps take a look at the Skyward series as well.
Oh and I found out about Sanderson by a booktuber called Daniel Greene.


message 12: by Glen (new)

Glen | 5 comments A guy at work bought me the TPB of The away of Kings. He and I would converse while working about all sorts of geek culture stuff. He came to work one day and just handed it to me. I ha w him a Jim Butcher HB in return as I was kind of caught by surprise. I’ve read TWOK and WOR now and I’m very happy he got me interested in Sanderson. Quality fantasy storyteller in a genre that has a lot of repetitive poorly written tripe.


message 13: by Teachmycat2read (new)

Teachmycat2read Podcast (teachmycat2readpod) | 4 comments Hi there! One of our podcast co-hosts recommended The Emperors Soul to us and we loved it! Planning to read more Sanderson in the future:D


message 14: by Craig (new)

Craig | 1 comments 3 years ago. It was The Way of Kings... I was blown away and had to get my hands on the rest of the Cosmere. I mean, the guy does status updates constantly and live stream Q & A's.

How are his non-cosmere books like Skyward?


message 15: by Pål (new)

Pål (plbreienabrahamsen) | 30 comments Skyward and Starsight is typically YA but great books, even for a 40 ish male ;) Reckoner series is ok, but not great, also mostly YA.


message 16: by Caleb (new)

Caleb (caleb27) | 109 comments Lily wrote: "Hi! I discovered Brandon Sanderson a long time ago when my dad read aloud Alcatraz vs The Evil Libraries to me. And about two years ago I read Mistborn and then I went on a spree of Elantris, Warbr..."

That's great. I also suggest that you read Arcanum Unbounded. It has a bunch of great short stories that are all part of the cosmere.


message 17: by Sabrina (new)

Sabrina Rosen | 1 comments I have an Air BnB and one of my guests ended up staying with me for years. I was just starting to read fiction again after a long hiatus and he suggested Sanderson.

I started with WoK because I love a long story to listen to when I drive. Totally hooked after that!


message 18: by Joseph (new)

Joseph (jsaltal) I found his books from watching book reviews on YouTube. I may start soon.


message 19: by Ece (new)

Ece (ecetorun) | 16 comments There’s an annual book fair that lasts couple days. I went there looking around for at least 4-5 hours just walking around trying to find new books couldnt find any. So when it was time to leave i just grabbed a book that looked interesting. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. I just sat in my shelve for more than a year and when i ran out of books in my tbr list. I read it in a day in school paying no mind to the lessons and i regret not reading it earlier. Well it’s safe to say 5 years later I have a new favourite author and an addiction…


message 20: by Raney (new)

Raney (malujoker) | 3 comments I decided to start reading again as a new years resolution back in 2012. I ended up reading Game of Thrones and wanted to more like that and did some research and came across Way of Kings. I read that and then proceeded to read all of Wheel of Time, and then all of his other books. I have been an avid reader, and fan of his ever since.


message 21: by Katierigmarole (new)

Katierigmarole | 12 comments Well, it’s not very glamorous, but I was introduced by my parents. I can’t remember if I started with the Skyward or Reckoners series. It was one of the two. At the time we traveled every week for my dad’s work, so we listened to a lot of audio books in the car, so that was when my parents had us start the Reckoners or Skyward series.


message 22: by [deleted user] (new)

I saw so many of his books on people’s profiles on goodreads that I just had to read them. So I started The Final Empire and here I am!


message 23: by Sharad (new)

Sharad Kaplingad (thalathirinjavan) Found him as an audiobook recommendation by Wren from Corridor, where he recommended to listen to Warbreaker. Now, except for Alcatraz (which I tried but was not for me) and a few novellas, I think I have read all his published works.


message 24: by Matt (last edited Sep 15, 2023 09:01AM) (new)

Matt Pfarr | 4 comments I found Sanderson just doing some research on modern fantasy as I was getting back into reading. At the time I started with The First Law and then Wheel of Time. I also listened to the Writing Excuses podcast he was on. Once I discovered Sanderson finished Wheel of Time I decided to put Mistborn on my next read (it was already on my to read shelf). Now I am trying to read them all but he, of course, writes faster than any human can read so that is hard.


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