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5 Reasons You Should Read Brandon Sanderson

You may have seen several students with enameled character pins on their blazers or backpacks. They may be from Brandon Sanderson's Dragonsteel website. Today, I'd like to convince you to read everything written by my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson. Here are 5 reasons.

(Formatting is a little off. I don't know why)

The print that I have was given to me by my friend Jesse Sky.

You won't soon run out of things to read.

While some authors make their fans wait years (decades?) for new books, Brandon cannot stop writing. During Covid, he secretly wrote 5 novels! Below is a sampling of some of his works.

Cosmere - his main series of interconnected novels.

They take place on different planets, but many characters cross over.


  • Stormlight Archive - 5 novels, 2 novellas
  • Mistborn - 7 novels, 3 novellas
  • Elantris - 1 novel, 2 novellas
  • 8 other assorted novels/novellas

Here's my suggested reading order (to avoid spoilers). If you pick up a random book, you will be confused.

 

Cytoverse: Scifi/Fantasy with sentient computers

  • 4 novels
  • 3 short stories
  • 1 prequel
Lots of cool space battles.


Reckoners - What if some people had special abilities, but there were only supervillains, no superheroes?
  • 4.5 novels
Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series. So long that he passed away before completing it. Brandon was brought in to finish it (that's how I first became aware of him).
  • Final 3 of 15 books
And many others novels and short stories
  • I recommend The Frugal Wizards Handbook for Surviving Medieval England.

Saxon warlords with guns.

 

 

He doesn't just write for nerds. He is a nerd

 

The characters are real people

A major theme of his books is that we are always growing and changing. You won't find any one dimensional characters. One of the main heroes says "The most important step a man can take is the next one". That's from a hero who used to be the most ruthless general on a planet (he burned an entire city in anger). Another hero from that same series is addicted to drugs. The difference between the heroes and villains is that the heroes are trying to do better.

One really cool thing about the Cosmere novels: just about all of the characters that have powers have some sort of mental illness/trauma. It has something to do with their psyche needing to have a crack in it in order for Investiture to enter.

Although they deal with real world issues, you won't find gratuitous sex in his books. I feel safe recommending them to friends and students.

Beautiful Art

I can't do art, so I'm really impressed by those who can. Brandon works with some amazing artists.

From: Tress of the Emerald Sea
From: Words of Radiance
From: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
From: White Sand (graphic novel)
From: The Sunlit Man





His books mean something.

I've read a lot of science fiction and fantasy. I really enjoy stories. However, a lot of books are just action. Really cool action, but no deeper layer. That's not what you find with Brandon Sanderson. There are important lessons that the characters learn (and the reader learns as well). He is well known for including twists that make you look at things in an entirely different way. What is good? What is evil? What is art?


 


I have more highlights in the first book of the Stormlight Archive than I do in the whole Wheel of Time series. Come see my sticky note quote wall in my office sometime: about half of the quotes are from various novels Brandon has written.

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