Brandon Sanderson Hate Him or Read Him

[Guest]

My family is among those who believe that there are two kinds of people in this world: Those who LOVE Brandon Sanderson and those who haven't read his work yet.  Yes, fans, all over the country Fantasy fans are foaming at the mouth and making mad dashes to the bookstores or have already made pre-orders from Amazon.  Our book has arrived today.

OATHBRINGER has arrived.  How do I know?  Did I make such an order on Amazon?  No.  I thought it was after Thanksgiving.  Did I find it in the mailbox?  No.

You see, normally when I get home from work, my family rushes to the door to give me hugs and say they missed me.  Today... my daughter was snacking on something in the dining room.  She casually got up to give me a hug.  Otherwise the house was silent.  As I made my way around the house, there was the rest of my family on the couch all reading a book together.  There was the dust jacket cast aside only to be used as a bookmark when they could peel their eyes off the pages of the very epitome of Carborendum Family Addiction.

So, now I realize that my family loves Brandon Sanderson more than they love me... (sigh).  That's ok.  I love him too. I hate him.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Guest

[anatess2]

Brandon who?

So... you need my address for when you send me his book for a Christmas present? 

 

[The Folk Prophet]

I have the book on tape (Oathbringer) that I had pre-ordered via audible...but am finishing up the current book I'm listening to before I dig it on my daily commutes.

[Sunday21]

Can you recommend a book to start with? I tried a few and could not get into them. One was really weird: a princess who kept slipping into alternative realities while trying to fight off a coup in her father’s kingdom. Too much!

[JohnsonJones]

15 hours ago, Carborendum said:

My family is among those who believe that there are two kinds of people in this world: Those who LOVE Brandon Sanderson and those who haven't read his work yet.  Yes, fans, all over the country Fantasy fans are foaming at the mouth and making mad dashes to the bookstores or have already made pre-orders from Amazon.  Our book has arrived today.

OATHBRINGER has arrived.  How do I know?  Did I make such an order on Amazon?  No.  I thought it was after Thanksgiving.  Did I find it in the mailbox?  No.

You see, normally when I get home from work, my family rushes to the door to give me hugs and say they missed me.  Today... my daughter was snacking on something in the dining room.  She casually got up to give me a hug.  Otherwise the house was silent.  As I made my way around the house, there was the rest of my family on the couch all reading a book together.  There was the dust jacket cast aside only to be used as a bookmark when they could peel their eyes off the pages of the very epitome of Carborendum Family Addiction.

So, now I realize that my family loves Brandon Sanderson more than they love me... (sigh).  That's ok.  I love him too. I hate him.

So on your suggestion I picked up a book from DI.  It is some sort of abridged version of the Stormlight archive or something and Mistborn.  So, I'll give him a chance.  Fantasy is not really my thing I think...and it does not seem like Louis Lamour or Zane Grey...but I will give it a shot.

[zil]

41 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Can you recommend a book to start with? I tried a few and could not get into them. One was really weird: a princess who kept slipping into alternative realities while trying to fight off a coup in her father’s kingdom. Too much!

If you don't like extremely creative magic systems, Brandon Sanderson is not for you.  Stand-alone books (not part of a series) is the place to start:

* Warbreaker (fun, IMO)

* Elantris (the first one I read - good stuff)

* The Emperor's Soul (same world as Elantris, but stand-alone; novella)

I have read these and enjoyed them and would recommend them as places to start.  Read the blurb and pick the one that sounds most interesting.

https://brandonsanderson.com/

...lists out his books by series, though it doesn't remove all confusion - I can only assume he's not OCD.

16 minutes ago, JohnsonJones said:

So on your suggestion I picked up a book from DI.  It is some sort of abridged version of the Stormlight archive or something and Mistborn.  So, I'll give him a chance.  Fantasy is not really my thing I think...and it does not seem like Louis Lamour or Zane Grey...but I will give it a shot.

How is it that someone buys a book without knowing exactly what it is and where it fits in a series?  (NOTE: Fantasy books are almost always part of a series, and starting in the middle just doesn't work - and the stories don't generally end, they go on for a dozen 600+ page books.  At least, that's my experience.)

[JohnsonJones]

7 minutes ago, zil said:

How is it that someone buys a book without knowing exactly what it is and where it fits in a series?  (NOTE: Fantasy books are almost always part of a series, and starting in the middle just doesn't work - and the stories don't generally end, they go on for a dozen 600+ page books.  At least, that's my experience.)

Well, I wasn't going to spend a ton of money in this, but seeing the book at DI for 75 cents...I can afford that on seeing if it's as good as Carb says it is.  I'll start reading it today sometime if I have extra time.  I think it's actually at the start.  It's kind of funny as the book says free on the cover, but was 75 cents at DI.  I think it's some sort of promotional thing (or was) to get people to actually read Sanderson, it says it has the first five chapters of Mistborn on one side and the Start of the Stormlight Archive on the other opposite cover.

[zil]

2 minutes ago, JohnsonJones said:

I think it's some sort of promotional thing (or was) to get people to actually read Sanderson, it says it has the first five chapters of Mistborn on one side and the Start of the Stormlight Archive on the other opposite cover.

Ah.  Get you hooked on two series instead of one.   At least one of the Mistborn story-lines is complete, so I'd go with that one.  Stormlight is new and not complete, so if you get hooked, you'll constantly be waiting for the next book to come out.  I'm waiting for him to finish before I buy the first.

[The Folk Prophet]

1 hour ago, zil said:

I'm waiting for him to finish before I buy the first.

He plans 10 books -- taking 3 to 4 years each. 3rd book just released...so.... (mathing....) ...at least 21 years left.

[zil]

28 minutes ago, The Folk Prophet said:

He plans 10 books -- taking 3 to 4 years each. 3rd book just released...so.... (mathing....) ...at least 21 years left.

Which is my point.  In 21 years, if I'm still alive, I'll have ~10 weeks of good reading to do.

If I'm not alive, I won't die ticked off that I didn't get to finish the series.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, The Folk Prophet said:

He plans 10 books -- taking 3 to 4 years each. 3rd book just released...so.... (mathing....) ...at least 21 years left.

It doesn't take much to realize that he intends this series to be his opus.  He's in it for the long haul.  It's his retirement plan.

[The Folk Prophet]

51 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

It doesn't take much to realize that he intends this series to be his opus.  He's in it for the long haul.  It's his retirement plan.

I believe you mean magnum opus.

But, yes. Agreed.

[Fether]

19 hours ago, Carborendum said:

My family is among those who believe that there are two kinds of people in this world: Those who LOVE Brandon Sanderson and those who haven't read his work yet.  Yes, fans, all over the country Fantasy fans are foaming at the mouth and making mad dashes to the bookstores or have already made pre-orders from Amazon.  Our book has arrived today.

OATHBRINGER has arrived.  How do I know?  Did I make such an order on Amazon?  No.  I thought it was after Thanksgiving.  Did I find it in the mailbox?  No.

You see, normally when I get home from work, my family rushes to the door to give me hugs and say they missed me.  Today... my daughter was snacking on something in the dining room.  She casually got up to give me a hug.  Otherwise the house was silent.  As I made my way around the house, there was the rest of my family on the couch all reading a book together.  There was the dust jacket cast aside only to be used as a bookmark when they could peel their eyes off the pages of the very epitome of Carborendum Family Addiction.

So, now I realize that my family loves Brandon Sanderson more than they love me... (sigh).  That's ok.  I love him too. I hate him.

Funny story:

I worked at a hotel once and a man came to the front desk and had a question about his room. “The room is under the name ‘Brandon Anderson’ it might have an ‘s’ in front of Anderson” I was really confused by his comment but sure enough there it was “Brandon Sanderson”. I answered his question and he left.

I sat for for a few seconds trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar... then it hit... that was Brandon Sanderson The author xD

ive never read his books. Around the time so lost interest in fiction my friends were going nuts about him. I tried reading mistborn but never lost interest pretty fast. 

[mirkwood]

I've started Mistborn a couple of times, but not gotten very far without stopping.  It has never gotten my attention.  One of these days I'll make myself read the whole book and see what I think.

[The Folk Prophet]

I've only read the final books in the Wheel of Time series, which got me interested enough to dig into Sanderson. I started with the Stormlight Archives and so far that's all I've read (well..listened to). But I was quite impressed at how good they were, particularly the 2nd one. The first one took a while to get into and get to know who the characters you were even meant to care about, etc.

[Sunday21]

11 hours ago, zil said:

If you don't like extremely creative magic systems, Brandon Sanderson is not for you.  Stand-alone books (not part of a series) is the place to start:

* Warbreaker (fun, IMO)

* Elantris (the first one I read - good stuff)

* The Emperor's Soul (same world as Elantris, but stand-alone; novella)

I have read these and enjoyed them and would recommend them as places to start.  Read the blurb and pick the one that sounds most interesting.

https://brandonsanderson.com/

...lists out his books by series, though it doesn't remove all confusion - I can only assume he's not OCD.

How is it that someone buys a book without knowing exactly what it is and where it fits in a series?  (NOTE: Fantasy books are almost always part of a series, and starting in the middle just doesn't work - and the stories don't generally end, they go on for a dozen 600+ page books.  At least, that's my experience.)

Thanks so much!

[Midwest LDS]

He's a really good author. I've kind of bounced around. My wife bought me Elantris for my birthday or Christmas years ago, and I enjoyed it. Then I read Warbreaker (excellent book) sometime afterwards. Now, I'm working my way through the Stormlight Archive and the Mistborn series. I love how every world he creates is so different from fantasy norms, and he is really good at surprising you. I'm most of the way through Wheel of Time (I'm on book 10) so I'm excited to see how he finished everything up there too. Definitely one of my favorite authors.

[JohnsonJones]

I haven't gotten much reading yet, but should this weekend now that I'm not at work or having to work.

I did think of something relavant to the conversation though.  Mormons seem far more into Fantasy and Sci-Fi than just about any other group of people I've ever run into.  Why is that?

Of course, I'm a throwback.  Back in my day, Westerns were the BIG thing.  Like, extremely big!!! It wasn't just movies, we read books as well.  I think there may be individuals from my generation that still read Westerns (I have a friend who is a little older than I at 88 who has a goal of collecting everything Louis Lamour ever wrote.  He sometimes has two or three copies of some of the more widely published ones.

I'm taking a break from reading the Short Stories of Louis Lamour (which I had been reading in my free time before this) to try this Sanderson fellow out.  Not really enjoying it thus far as it's not exactly the type of stuff I read most likely, but I've only gotten a few pages in, and that's hardly enough to make any judgements about how much I will or will not like the rest of the book.

But, I do find it odd how much Mormons these days seem to love Fantasy and Science Fiction.  It's definitely changed since when I was younger though (I remember them being basically the dime a book type thing, then later I remember the Star Wars fad and all the Science Fiction and Fantasy movies that came out, but this Sanderson fellow seems to have quite a bit of a different type of feel than that type of stuff).  It seems more grandiose these days.  I'd say sort of like Lord of the Rings, but that really is written far differently then this book thus far.  I did enjoy the Tolkien stuff I read back in the 70s (I think that was when it was, or maybe the early 80s).

[Backroads]

We went on a road trip yesterday and Husband was listening to this on Audible and mocked me for having read precisely 4 of his novels in my lifetime.

[Bad Karma]

Meh, I'm more of a David Eddings fan. Belgariad and Mallorean series being my favorites.  Yes, Bad Karma can read. Ug Ug Ug! 

Edited November 20, 2017 by Bad Karma

[zil]

7 hours ago, Bad Karma said:

Meh, I'm more of a David Eddings fan. Belgariad and Mallorean series being my favorites.  Yes, Bad Karma can read. Ug Ug Ug! 

I like them both, for different reasons because their styles are so very different.  David Eddings has a gift for merging the old style of story-telling with the new style of story-showing, so that you get some of both.  Sanderson is very definitely all new-style story-showing.

IMO, anyone who hasn't read the Belgariad and the Malloreon is deprived.  Ditto for anyone who hasn't read Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series - at least as old style as Eddings, perhaps more, and filled with little slivers of amazing wisdom - I could never hope to be that wise.

[JohnsonJones]

So, I've read the Brandon Sanderson book now.  This guy is a Mormon?  Why is he held in such high regard?

His writing is a lot dirtier than just about any book I normally read, and much more than the typical authors I read from (then, I mostly have read Westerns by authors who wrote them decades ago, rather than any fantasy, maybe this is what fantasy is these days?).  I was pretty disgusted with some of the things that were written.  I was also embarrassed that I was reading this stuff.

I think that's the most I will say on that though.  Each person reads what they want, and each of us have a different opinion on what is a good book or what is not.  It may be that this is just so different than what I'm used to that it is not my style of book.  It may be that all fantasy books (though I know Lord of the Rings wasn't, but that was written many decades ago, so things could have changed) are similar to some of those styles of romance books that women read which are definitely not the type of books I would feel comfortable reading either.

I gave it a shot though.  It is definitely not an author I think I will continue to read.  It's not the type of book I think I enjoy.  I can see many here enjoy his books though, and I suppose that is good for the author.  It's just not a style that I prefer. 

He does seem like a very good writer, his style is engrossing, and he creates a unique world.  However, it covers some subjects that I try to avoid reading or watching (I'm one of those that typically does not watch anything more than a PG movie, if that gives you a slant on my take on the subject, though I think I am pretty well versed on what various movies have been about and converse about them in our modern culture).  These things don't seem to bring about the spirit for me, and as he writes about them, I think it is not something wholesome for ME, and for ME it drives away the spirit.  I don't know why, (if he is a Mormon) he chooses to write such things in his books, as I would think that someone as talented as he is could write without utilizing some things in some subjects.

However, we are each different.  I can definitely see he is a talented writer, he just attends to some subjects occasionally in his writing that I try to avoid in my entertainment media.

Edited November 28, 2017 by JohnsonJones

[Guest]

3 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

So, I've read the Brandon Sanderson book now.  This guy is a Mormon?  Why is he held in such high regard?

His writing is a lot dirtier than just about any book I normally read, and much more than the typical authors I read from (then, I mostly have read Westerns by authors who wrote them decades ago, rather than any fantasy, maybe this is what fantasy is these days?).  I was pretty disgusted with some of the things that were written.  I was also embarrassed that I was reading this stuff.

I think that's the most I will say on that though.  Each person reads what they want, and each of us have a different opinion on what is a good book or what is not.  It may be that this is just so different than what I'm used to that it is not my style of book.  It may be that all fantasy books (though I know Lord of the Rings wasn't, but that was written many decades ago, so things could have changed) are similar to some of those styles of romance books that women read which are definitely not the type of books I would feel comfortable reading either.

I gave it a shot though.  It is definitely not an author I think I will continue to read.  It's not the type of book I think I enjoy.  I can see many here enjoy his books though, and I suppose that is good for the author.  It's just not a style that I prefer. 

He does seem like a very good writer, his style is engrossing, and he creates a unique world.  However, it covers some subjects that I try to avoid reading or watching (I'm one of those that typically does not watch anything more than a PG movie, if that gives you a slant on my take on the subject, though I think I am pretty well versed on what various movies have been about and converse about them in our modern culture).  These things don't seem to bring about the spirit for me, and as he writes about them, I think it is not something wholesome for ME, and for ME it drives away the spirit.  I don't know why, (if he is a Mormon) he chooses to write such things in his books, as I would think that someone as talented as he is could write without utilizing some things in some subjects.

However, we are each different.  I can definitely see he is a talented writer, he just attends to some subjects occasionally in his writing that I try to avoid in my entertainment media.

There's no accounting for taste.  So if you don't like it, that's your opinion.  But I am curious what scenes you found to be "dirty".  I haven't read much of his work myself (just three series).  So, maybe I haven't read the books you're talking about.

What did you find so disgusting and embarrassing?

[zil]

4 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

I was pretty disgusted with some of the things that were written.

I'm as curious as @Carborendum as to what you find "dirty".  Or at least, are we talking about sex, violence, language, or....?  Your reference to romance novels makes me think sex, but I don't remember anything inappropriate in Mistborn (see next).

On 11/16/2017 at 7:14 AM, JohnsonJones said:

...first five chapters of Mistborn on one side and the Start of the Stormlight Archive...

This is what we're talking about?  And was it Mistborn (I've read all of this, and will go back and read the first five chapters of the first book if it is this) or Stormlight (I've not read any) or both?

[Midwest LDS]

I'm sorry you didn't like his book, but of course everyone has a right to their opinion. However I'm as confused as @zil and @Carborendumabout what aspect of his writing you find dirty or innapropriate? I've read a lot of his books, and he doesn't have explicit love scens in any of the ones I've read. This isn't an accusation by the way, I'm genuinly curious what you found disturbing?