Anybody read Brandon Sanderson?

[NewJeffCT]

He's the guy selected to finish the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time epic.

Other than that, I had not really heard/read any of his books.

However, at one of the last remaining Borders' the other day, I found an audiobook for the first book in the Way of Kings series. It was a huge set - 38 CDs for the 1,000 page novel. Normal price was $75. At 90% off, it was $7.50.

Since I do a good amount of driving each day, audiobooks are a nice way to pass the time.

Anybody read his works? Is he any good?

The only thing that bothers me is that when reading further, it was the first book out of a planned 10 novels in the epic... after waiting so long for George R.R. Martin to complete his books, I'm not sure I want to invest time & energy in another series that could take 20 or more years to finish.

Thanks

 

[RangerWickett]

I read Mistborn and was intrigued by it. It was less 'save the world' fantasy and more 'let's rob the king' fantasy.

 

[Asmo]

The only thing that bothers me is that when reading further, it was the first book out of a planned 10 novels in the epic... after waiting so long for George R.R. Martin to complete his books, I'm not sure I want to invest time & energy in another series that could take 20 or more years to finish. Thanks

What very few knows is that Brandon Anderson is actually a machine that writes books, so no fear of a GRR Martin!

Asmo

 

[Mort]

I've read his Mistborn Series and his stand alone novel Elantris - thought both were excellent.

Looking around a bit, I see that he has a full stand alone novel available online (at his own site, no fear of somebody pirating it without his knowledge!) with not only the novel, but early versions and even annotations on every chapter showing, his thoughts and thought process in the novel's writing. If you want to get to know his writing and style have a look here.

 

[GSHamster]

Sanderson is very good. I loved his Elantris and Mistborn series, and he's actually made me excited about reading Wheel of Time again. In particular, the first Wheel of Time book he wrote was superb.

That being said, I tried to get into Way of Kings, but I couldn't. It was just too much, too fast, and I guess I wasn't in the mindset to work through it. I basically couldn't get past the first 2 chapters. One of these days I'll take another crack at it.

I would suggest starting with Elantris. It's his first work, so structurally/technically it's his weakest. But it's still quite good, it's self-contained, and it clearly demonstrates his facility for world-building.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I've only read Elantris myself, but found it so good that I gave the first volume of Mistborn to a friend of mine as birthday present. Well, I had to lend him Elantris a few weeks after.

Elantris presents us with a original world and premise. It's not perfect, but a good read. Sanderson seems to have a hand for creating convincing persons with believable motivation - a bit like Martin in GoT.

If you can stand listening to an audio book - which I couldn't do - I'd say go for it!

 

[MarkB]

I've read the Mistborn series. They can get quite bleak, but overall they're very good, with strong characters, and the worldbuilding is excellent.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I echo what the others have said. I have also read the Mistborn series and really enjoyed them. He's definitely a machine when it comes to writing, he's currently finishing up the WOT series now on the very last book (#13) and about 1/2 through it, in between that he put out the Way of Kings and has another new book coming out in a few weeks of his own The Alloy of Law. I find him to be a good author and I've read a lot of fantasy, he ranks up there with the best of them.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I've only read Elantris myself, but found it so good that I gave the first volume of Mistborn to a friend of mine as birthday present. Well, I had to lend him Elantris a few weeks after.

Elantris presents us with a original world and premise. It's not perfect, but a good read. Sanderson seems to have a hand for creating convincing persons with believable motivation - a bit like Martin in GoT.

If you can stand listening to an audio book - which I couldn't do - I'd say go for it!

I'd XP you as well, but I need to spread more around first.

Thanks for the response.

And, audiobooks are a mixed bag - World War Z was read by a full cast of professional actors and was generally very good (Alan Alda, Carl Reiner, Mark Hamill, John Turturro, etc).

The Harry Potter series was all read by the same one person (Jim Dale) and that was terrific as well.

When re-going through the first 3 books of A Song of Ice & Fire, I got the audiobooks for them and Roy Dotrice is also excellent. (holds the Guiness record for voicing the most speaking characters for A Game of Thrones with 225, I think.)

However, I've listened to a few that were mediocre (Dune had several people doing the voices, but I didn't like the way it was done, for example). And, the replacement for Dotrice on A Feast for Crows was a far cry from Roy Dotrice - he has a nice voice, but not nearly as good at expressing the characters. (Dotrice is back on A Dance with Dragons, which I'll listen to when I finish the book...)

 

[JoeGKushner]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Mistborn-Final-Empire-Book-ebook/dp/B002GYI9C4]Amazon.com: Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, Book 1) eBook: Brandon Sanderson: Kindle Store[/ame]

2.99 for the first book in the Mistborn series.

I've read the Mistborn series and thought it well done. The ending honestly surprised me and I'm usually one of those smart asses whose like, "X is going to happen at Y" and am usually, not always mind you, right.

But it wasn't a 'trick' either. It was just good writing in my opinion.