How did everyone find out about Brandon Sanderson and at what point did you realize how amazing he is?

[FlowerGirl]

The first time I heard about Brandon was when I showed my cousin the plot line for an early book I was writing and he said it was similar to Mistborn. (Just to clarify, the book I was writing was nowhere near as impressive, the events were just similar to the first book of Mistborn, but way less cool.)

I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but a while later I read Skyward and was obsessed. I looked to see if Brandon had any more books and realized he was the author of Mistborn. I read the series and was even more obsessed. At this point of have read most of his books and watched his Youtube courses on writing.

[Ookla the worldhopper]

My first sanderson book was also skyward! a while after that my mom started my on the way of kings and I have not yet found an alternative to endlessly binging sanderson.

[Cinnamon]

My English teacher recommended Mistborn(two weeks ago) to me and reading it is probably one of the best decisions I ever made! Brandon’s writing is seriously incredible and I have read no other author that compares. I am currently reading Warbreaker and planning to work my way through the entire cosmere! I am officially obsessed 

Update: I finished Warbreaker and I am about just over halfway in The Way of Kings! I don’t know if anyone cares but yeah…

Edited September 23, 2022 by Cassia

[WandererNearby]

I picked up the second mistborn book because it was near Jim Butcher's stuff in my library and the cover looked cool. I hated and was very confused for the first 80 pages before I realized it was the second book. I started again with Elantris because it was his first book and definitely didn't have any other books I needed to read first. I loved it. 

[AquaRegia]

My son got Mistborn as a gift back when it first came out.  He's got pretty good taste, so when he suggested I might like it, I gave it a try.  "Holy crap," I thought, "this guy is head and shoulders above any other recent fantasy author."  I think we read Warbreaker next.  Here we are 15 years later and nothing has happened to change my mind... in fact, I just keep getting MORE impressed.  I really enjoyed Butcher's Dresden Files novels, but did I make an account on a Butcher fan site?  No, I did not.  'Nuff said.

[ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ]

My Grandma had it and We were visiting. She gave The Way of Kings to me. It sat unread for a very long while before I picked it up.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

Oooh... Introduced was about when my mom had White Sand and I grabbed it for a read because I thought I wanted to write comics at the time (despite having not read any comic, still haven't really besides White sand, Dark one and Amulet, but those hardly count). I actually fell in love with him as an author when I read Alcatraz after that. Then, a few years later, I read Elantris and Mistborn. Then it started all coming together. And then my mom showed me the memes on here and I was like"Eyyy, if I have an account I can look at the memes more and add some more! And ask for Aether of Night! Another Sanderson book! Huzzah!"

[Aeoryi]

I was obtaining pirated copies of books... 7 or 6 years ago, and two of the books were Steelheart and TFE. I did take out the entire series from the library after that, and that got me to go check out warbreaker and elantris. So yeah. And then, since I really liked reckoners, a friend of mine told me to go check out reckoners rpg, which was fun to read, which i joined 3 years later. (died a year ago).

also I no longer pirate books. and it wasn't really pirating, just getting unpaid ebook copies from a website.

[Morningtide]

I got Skyward for Christmas one year and Mistborn the next. The rest is history! I fell in love with his books

[Ravenclawjedi42]

My friend was reading Mistborn, and then my other friend started reading it, so I thought I should read it so that I could understand what they kept talking about and if it was really that good. I later found out about the Cosmere and have read almost all of it, while those two friends only have read era one.

[Scars of Hathsin]

18 hours ago, Aeoliae said:

I was obtaining pirated copies of books... 7 or 6 years ago, and two of the books were Steelheart and TFE. I did take out the entire series from the library after that, and that got me to go check out warbreaker and elantris. So yeah. And then, since I really liked reckoners, a friend of mine told me to go check out reckoners rpg, which was fun to read, which i joined 3 years later. (died a year ago).

also I no longer pirate books. and it wasn't really pirating, just getting unpaid ebook copies from a website.

I did the same thing, but no longer, I proudly own a hardcopy of all cosmere works, and some others

[Lego Mistborn]

Used to live in Lincoln NE, where our man grew up. Someone grabbed Steelheart for me from the library. I believe I went back and grabbed book two, but not three. Fast forward a few years, I've moved away, and during the move we visited my grandparents and someone at church recommended I read Sanderson, I looked him up, realized I'd read his books before, got into the Cosmere, loved the interconnected universe that is amazing and here I am.

[The Sovereign]

I found out about him when it was announced he'd be finishing The Wheel of Time. When I saw the announcement I picked up a copy of Mistborn and knocked it out in a day then devoured everything else he had written at the time.

[Experience]

My dad recommended that I read his books. I read way of kings in a few days and then the rest in a month or two. 

[Lego Mistborn]

I'm envious of everyone who had a family member get them into Brandon. So far I've had to get my brother and hopefully cousins in myself, though my Uncle did find Brandon on his own.

[The Sibling]

My neighbor is a huge Sanderfan and he suggested TWOK to my dad. He thought it was okay, but then i read it and loved it, and now I've read everything cosmere and a bit of cytoverse, as well as rithmatist and Steelheart.

[Edema Rue]

My uncle suggested Mistborn to me in 4th grade. I read the first book, thoroughly enjoyed it, read the rest, enjoyed them slightly less, and forgot about him. And then in 7th grade I read Stormlight, realized how absolutely incredible Sando is and since then I've been steadily getting worse.

[Ghanderflaffle]

My brother started reading Alcatraz (when four books were out) when he was in 5th grade and enjoyed it, so I picked it up as a fourth grader and really enjoyed it. I just read that series until sometime in middle school, which is when I read Reckoners. I forgot about Sanderson for a little while again, then picked up Mistborn my freshman year of high school. After reading Mistborn I fell into the beautiful rabbit hole that is the cosmere and ended up here. Mistborn was the book that finally replaced the Harry Potter series as my favorite book series, which hadn't happened in about five years. Since then Stormlight has taken over, but it's been a great time so far.

[The Stormfather]

@The Sibling pressured me relentlessly to read Elantris, and then TWok.

[The Sibling]

Just now, The stormfather said:

@The Sibling pressured me relentlessly to read Elantris, and then TWok.

Heh heh heh. And I'll continue to pressure you until you've read Sixth of the Dusk.

[The Stormfather]

I'm BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little real life dispute there.

[trav]

After the 6th book of A Song of Ice and Fire.

I got bored of the wait for the next one and looked elsewhere for good books. Tried Rothfuss and hated it. Guys a complete hack. Tried several others and never really like them.

Tried Stormight Archives and did not really like it. Bridge 4 Bridge 4 Bridge 4, give me a break. Tedious read.

I was intrigued by the magic system though and kept reading other related work before I dared read another part of the SA. Elantris and Warbreaker. Both good books. Not flawless, but good.

Brandon is amazing for other reason than GRRM is. GRRM is a genius in writing characters that feel and act realistically. Brandon is a master at creating a vast world. A complete universe. Brandon, unfortunately is not very good at writing dialogues.

Currently reading Warbreaker for the 10th time of so just for the scene where Vasher saves the abducted child. This is what Brandon is also good at. Writing scenes that stand out and stick with you.

[talkme]

I agree with you that Sanderson's dialogue is not always perfect. Sometimes they can seem a little contrived or artificial. But overall I think it does a good job of creating believable conversations between the characters. I think you should keep reading Sanderson's books. I really liked it "The Inheritance War".

[Saxsoon]

I honestly don't remember but I think an old college buddy was telling me he was reading it during a gaming session (it being Mistborn). Ironically I am the one who became hooked and he fell off. I fell off Sanderson several years ago not fully recognizing the Cosmere was a thing after reading Oathbringer (I struggled with Stormlight on my first read). But I became a full on fan again during the year of Sanderson kickstarter and rediscovered my love of it. Read everything last year and actually did a reread of Stormlight again and on RoW right now.

[The Honorable One]

I remember a long time ago, my dad started listening to the Alcatraz audiobook on a roadtrip. I didn't actually read it for a few years, but that was my first intro to Brandon Sanderson.