Nazianzen

Ooh I hadn't seen this. Thanks, @cloudjumper. Funny that he recommends Warbreaker as a romance. I feel like that better characterizes the first Mistborn trilogy even though I get how it makes sense for Warbreaker too.

I don't know why people don't place Nightblood higher on their lists but it was nice to see at least someone mention him. Also, Lift has gotten very little love! Are people annoyed by her? 1. Nightblood 2. Lift 3. Szeth 4. Vasher 5. Wayne 6. Kelsier 7. Sazed 6. Hoid/Wit

Thanks, @Spoolofwhool. I hadn't seen that whole WoB mentioning Spinoza and Jung.

Wow, thanks everybody for weighing in. This is all so helpful.

Why do we think guitar guy is Hoid? Because he plays musical instruments elsewhere? I'm asking in earnest because without knowing more this seems a bit tenuous.

(1) Welcome! I'm also relatively new to this and just barely ahead of you with finishing AU and WS. (2) Beware of the cookies. (3) I am surprised by the number of people who have never heard of Brandon Sanderson. I myself am fortunate to have some friends who got me hooked on his work but this forum has been an awesome complement to that circle. (4) Have an up vote. Ah, I just remembered something that may be of interest to you: if you sign up for Brandon's newsletter you'll get a download link for the unpublished manuscript form of White Sand. I'm about halfway through it and have loved it, especially getting to compare the great artwork in the graphic novel with the more elaborate prose description of what is going on.

(I hope this is the right section for this kind of conversation and if not I apologize. Did a quick search and didn't immediately see another thread talking about this though I'm sure several exist.) I have been pushing Sanderson on people lately with varying levels of success and so I was wondering where you have recommended people start to get them to buy into reading more. For example, I started with Way of Kings and so some people I have recommended they begin there. With my little sister, who hasn't really read any fantasy beyond The Chronicles of Narnia, I recommended she begin with Mistborn but she got bored fairly quickly and gave up—I was devastated! I had some nerdier friends who I told to read "Sanderson's Second Law" so they would see how strong of a grasp Brandon has on the genre and how much he has magic systems down to a science. Recently, I have been recommending Elantris or The Emperor's Soul because they're strong, short, and largely self-contained. How have you approached this? What have you found worked well and what didn't? (Yes, I know people are going to like what they like but I like to pretend that I am something of an Allomantic Soother...)

I down-voted initially and then repented of my turd-ness and undid the down-vote. However, I do disagree heartily with @Jsin82 about the place of "awesomeness" in SA. I actually agree that the word is disruptive of the typical SA tone but that is characteristic of all of Lift's POVs (not just the word) and I suspect that we will learn more about Lift's character that justifies her phraseology and person not fitting comfortably in the story like the rest of the characters.

Nightblood is actually the best character. It is a fact.

Hello, Cluny! (1) So, to clarify: your tally of reading individual Redwall books (including re-reads) is 76? Eulalia, that is a lot! I read most of them once. I don't re-read many things and I can't imagine how re-reading that many times would affect a person. George Steiner said that remembering (including re-reading) is literally a form of re-membering—like re-constituting your personhood. I guess if I could rescript myself with the words and themes of any series, Redwall wouldn't be a bad choice. I bet you're a cool dude. (2) Read Warbreaker. It's great, one of my top five favorite Cosmere books. There's a character in it (whom I referenced in the spoiler above—don't peek) that I think you would love and sympathize with.

So I know that realmatic theory has its inspiration in Plato's Phaedrus but I am really interested in the inspiration behind the interpenetration of the cognitive and the physical realms. For example: Does anyone know where Brandon might have gotten inspiration for the idea that perception affects the structures of reality? It seems so similar to something you'd read in Michel Foucault's work on the gaze and how perception is reality-producing. I looked up "Brandon Sanderson and postmodernism" but the only thing that came up was something Brandon posted about deconstructing the fantasy genre.

Hey everybody, I've been lurking around the forums for a while but just now decided to make an account and join in on the fun first-hand. I read my first Cosmere book last year (started with Way of Kings) and just last week finally finished everything Cosmere-related that Brandon has published. What a blast. I don't know how I'll avoid going crazy from waiting for Oathbringer to drop.