You searched for book_author:"Brandon Sanderson"
I want to like Brandon Sanderson’s books more than I do, because I feel like he is trying to do interesting things with high fantasy. He is working hard to create fascinating fictional worlds with well-designed systems of magic, to emulate the high fantasy of our forbears but clean out some of the cobwebs that have gathered in the corners of the genre. I can grok that. And I do enjoy his writing; I really…
Last year I read Mistborn, my first and only experience with Brandon Sanderson, until now. I was happy to have a reason to read more of his work sooner rather than later. Sanderson is an author whose approach to fantasy is a happy blend of the traditional tropes of epic, adventure-based fantasy with the more modern need to question certain conventions. This is certainly the case in the Hugo-nominated The Emperor’s Soul. Sanderson…
Congratulations, Hero. You have defeated the Big Bad and freed the empire from its thousand-year reign of terror. Everyone is now free! Well, kind of. You still have to feed and clothe them. And the nobility won’t suddenly want to mix with the peasants. Oh, and the more remote regions have started calving off into kingdoms of their own faster than you can say “melting ice caps” (and I can say it pretty fast).
What,…
My first fantasy novel was The Lord of the Rings, but it was an isolated incident. The book that motivated me to continue reading fantasy was The Belgariad (more of a series, really), by David Eddings. These books vary in terms of quality, but both adhere to what one might call the standard fantasy plot involving an unassuming, young protagonist prophesied to overthrow the Dark Lord. It might be what hooked me (and a…