My first time

[Medium]

November. 2017.

I'm carpooling with a friend, and he's raving about a book called 'Oathbringer' that came out a few days ago. The name intrigued me, so I asked after it. He began to speak of an author named Brandon Sanderson, who wrote High Fantasy like it was nothing.

I asked if he had a book I could borrow to read.

He supplied me with a battered copy of The Way Of Kings. I started reading it as soon as I got home. I was in middle school at an IB school, so I didn't have much homework.

Because of this boy, I have read Stormlight 4 times, both Mistborn Era's twice, the full Arcanum Unbound, Elantris, Warbreaker, and the Skyward series (sans novellas)

Thank you, friend.

5 years.

Of Sanderson. Let's freaking go boys.

[Rina Fry]

On 9/16/2010 at 10:34 PM, Swifftalon said:

I love hearing personal stories and hearing people's opinions and comments on them, so I wold like for all of you to leave an account on how you first heard about Brandon Sanderson and what kept you with him as his career has taken off.

I was looking for a new book to read in high school after finishing Harry Potter, and a friend let me borrow his copy of mistborn. I devoured it, and finished the trilogy within a few months. I didn't get into Stormlight until a decade later, and I struggled to really dive into the paper copies, just because of not having the time to sit and read. But recently I discovered the audio versions and I am HOOKED. Almost done with RoW, and I might go back and listen to the first two so I can get all the juicy details that I probably missed when reading the hard copies.

[Hopefinder]

My brother turned me on to mistborn when I was going through a really tough time and I really needed a good long series to get lost in. 

I fell in love with his story telling and I've been hooked ever since. I took my brother to Dragonsteel as a thank you for all his help with my kids and for being so supportive, and that's when I started my book collection....

I'm working my way through WOT this year. Next year I plan on finishing most of the rest of his works. Super looking forward to the secret project boxes! That was the best surprise ever....I was so afraid that he was sick or was going through a tough patch.

[JaySurge]

I started reading Mistborn in 2017 and got all the way through era 1 and Alloy of Law, then school ended and I never picked the series back up. Fastforward to 2020 when I got the Stormlight Archive for my birthday, finished those 3 in 3 weeks. Would've been faster if I wasn't doing full-time school and work at the same time. This is the point when I became Cosmere aware and began reading through all of the books in the cosmere. I still need to read Sixth of the Dusk, Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, and White Sand. During this time I also discovered he had written the last three books in wheel of time and so I read that as well.

*not that great at writing so hope you can follow this*

[Lilien Kholin]

I only started this year in April. My friend gifted me this huge wonderful book called Rhythm of War. Turned out it was not the first novel, so I bought WoK. I then got really sick in April and had nothing to do but lie around. It was the perfect time for starting a new novel series and since I had heard of Dalinar before, I was very excited to meet him (which takes some time, you know). The book was so good, I read it in like two days and, while still sick, sent my mother to the book store to get the next book. I've read the first four books while I was ill and took a little more time for book 5 (first part of Oathbringer) when I was going to school again. When I found out about the Cosmere, I literally spilled my tea. I already bought Mistborn to read as soon as possible and I definitely plan to read all of Mr Sanderson's works!

[Luckspren]

A couple of years ago, I was in a thrift store, and, as usual, instead of shopping for clothes, shoes, and other 'necessary' things, I went for the bookshelf. There was this book called Steelheart, and the prologue was really good, so I bought it, then read the rest of the series ASAP.

At least 6 months later, I happened across Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians at the library (why the Librarians would allow it on the shelves, I don't know), and read that as well. The second time I read it, I made the connection that the authors were the same Brandon Sanderson. I looked up the names of his other books, then forgot about it again.

A while later, I was at the library and saw The Way of Kings... huge Sanderfan and Cosmere nerd ever since. I've read the Stormlight Archive 5 times for sure, maybe more, and I can never find a copy of Way of Kings. I buy one, read the series, lend it to someone, buy it, read the series, lend it to someone. But hey, surely they'll give them back eventually, and you can never have too many copies!

Edited July 7, 2022 by Luckspren

[SymphonianBookworm]

At my bookclub, a friend (I guess I still haven't met them in person; it's an online bookclub) saw that I was a Harsh Book Critic, that I Loved Fantasy Above All Else, and recommended the Stormlight Archive. I made my brother get it for me for Christmas, and.... now here I am. What was my life without Branderson?

[Shining Silhouette]

My dad was a Sanderfan from early on, ever since one of his siblings attended his writing class. When I was about 10, he recommended Alcatraz to me and I read the whole series in just four days. My dad was so impressed he got me the Mistborn books for christmas, and about two weeks later, a dozen or so library trips, and many unslept nights. I'd read the Cosmere and become completely obsessed.

[Emery the Steelrunner]

I was in middle school, and I had finished the LoTR series and was looking for something to read, and my Dad gave me his Mistborn books. I’ve now been reading Sanderson’s books for the past five years.

[cometaryorbit]

In 2013 my uncle had a copy of the first Mistborn book at a family get together. I borrowed it, read it in one day (about 12 hours of reading with only breaks for meals) and was immediately hooked. Over the next 6 or 8 months I found Elantris, Warbreaker, and WOK and read WOR right around when it came out.

[Friendly Cremling]

I’m pretty sure my first on was Steelheart. It was a couple years ago. I was in 3rd or 4th grade probably. I liked it and finished the series, but I didn’t search for Sanderson in bookstores. I started WoT in 5th grade, but I barely finished EotW. The only one I specifically remember him recommending was TWoK also in 5th grade probably. I read it, and it was simply too amazing. And I now have an extreme obsession with/addiction to Sanderson books.

[Poi]

I was running out of books to read so I asked my friends for recommendations and one of them recommended a series called The Stormlight archive. I was intrigued as I saw them read it in class and it  looked great so I tried it and ever since i've read all of the Cosmere books and some of Brandon's non-Cosmere books, including Skyward, Alcatraz Vs The Evil Librarians, The Reckoners and The Rithmatist.

 

 

[TheSpearThatWouldNotBreak]

Technically, the first Sanderson book I read was The Gathering Storm (from The Wheel of Time), which I absolutely loved, but the first book I read that was completely Sanderson was The Final Empire, and from there, I was hooked.

[+Let's Destroy Some Evil]

I had known he finished Wheel of Time, but it had been years since book 9/10 and I didn't want to reread everything to finish.  Found myself in prison for nearly 3 years back about 7 years ago now.  Had the time and space so reread and then finished it.  Honestly thought the last 3 books were better than most of RJs (sorry for the blasphemy).  After finishing up WoT I grabbed all the books in order essentially: Elantris, Warbreaker, Mistborn Era 1, TWoK, WoR, Mistborn Era 2, Arcanum Unbounded, Rithmatist, White Sand, Oathbringer.....  all of those were read within 2 years, on top of WoT and many other fantasy/Sci Fi series'.

In essence, Brandon Sanderson got me through easily the most difficult period of my life, and in such a way that it almost made it enjoyable.  He and this community will always hold a very special place in my heart, thanks to you all!

Edited September 14, 2022 by Let's Destroy Some Evil

[GroundPetrel]

It wasn't long before WOR came out.  Has to have been...2012?  2013?  I know it was a year or two before I went to college (September '14). 

I read Elantris on a Kindle and I thought it was amazing.  Going back, it's definitely the weakest Cosmere book IMO (Hrathen and the magic are the only real draws for me now), but the avalanche at the end hit me like a truck, and the prose and the mystery kept me going. 

I read Mistborn next.  LOVED book 1, got frustrated in book 2 because Straff crossed several lines too many for me and Zane was annoying, don't actually remember much of book 3 unprompted except for the ending, which I thought was pretty cool. 

Picked up Warbreaker next and fell in love with Nightblood.  Had a good chuckle at the reveal of what the God-King's actually like.  Then I felt sorry for him.  Actually kinda liked Siri more than Vivenna because Siri was just running around righteously angry and browbeating people into fixing things while Vivenna's getting tossed around from bad thing to bad thing like a rubber ball or something. 

Read the Way of Kings next and that hit me so hard.  Changed my life, IMO.  The climax has to be the single most emotionally impactful thing I've ever read.  Brandon Sanderson literally could've left the entire Cosmere right there and I would've been fine with it.  While there's stuff from his subsequent books I've loved dearly, I'm not sure anyone, even him, could possibly top TWOK.  You can't top perfection. 

I keep going back to Way of Kings and rereading.  I have literally missed multiple deadlines because of this.  So.  Yeah, you can't top perfection. 

Read Words of Radiance as soon as it came out on a Kindle.  I don't think I've even updated the Kindle since I finished it, so I'm pretty sure it has the original version of the storm fight lol.  This one nearly killed me because I walked across a green light at Lincoln Center in NYC with not a single brain cell anywhere but focused on the Kindle. 

I started reading the Wax and Wayne books in college, but I became super busy and didn't really get into them as much.  Love the concept, though. 

Oathbringer hit right as I was undergoing a massive mental and emotional breakdown.  I got it for Christmas and stalled out because Kaladin was depressed and I just couldn't get into the magic sailboat journey because it hit me too hard while I was down.  Finished it a couple years later and decided that Adolin is my new favorite character because the guy's awesome. 

Devoured Rhythm of War when it came out.  Loved the Adolin bits, chuckled at the Thaidakar reveal, kinda got confused by the magic stuff, I still like Navani tho, got frustrated at Dalinar for being a terrible dad, thought Kaladin's plot was kinda him beating his head against a wall emotionally and while I feel that deeply, it still wasn't as fun as it should've been given the whole Die Hard angle.  The climax hit like a truck though. 

Somewhere in there I read Steelheart, thought it was super cool, read the sequels, liked the reveal of the concept, thought the ending was a little pat in spite of that.  Idly sketched out some goofy superpower concepts that I then reused when I got so mad at "The Boys" on Amazon that I decided to write my own superhero story.  Writing a petite Asian woman who's terrified she'll lose her identity to her superpower of being the protagonist of a Bond movie is pretty interesting.  So overall, positive fallout from that experience even though I think Steelheart was the strongest of the trilogy by far and don't really have much of an inclination to reread Reckoners. 

Started Skyward, realized I'm having more and more trouble with YA that substitutes kid-friendly neologisms for cuss words.  Bit of a shame, really, the concept is neat and I like M-Bot.  I think Sanderson's still generally weaker in YA than in adult fantasy, Rick Riordan IMO has him beat on dealing with tough topics in YA. 

Somewhere in there I got my hands on Edgedancer (11/10, Lift is awesome) and Dawnshard (The Lopen was the best part).  Started reading Wheel of Time to see what the fuss is about, haven't gotten to the ones he wrote yet. 

Dumped hundreds on a bunch of books sight unseen during the Kickstarter.  Zero regrets. 

Grabbed Dark One and White Sand vol. 1 from the bookstore.  White Sand was pretty neat, though I'm generally sour on male protags not named Kaladin, Adolin, Dalinar, or The Lopen these days*.  Dark One had some cool concepts but it left me wanting more--more depth, more detail, just generally more.  It's a neat take on isekai stuff, though.  I wanted to see the mom's story more than the protagonist's.  I fully expect the eventual novel to give me what I want there. 

Now I'm kind of in a loop of reading aggressively queer Stormlight Archive fanfiction to feed my addiction while I wait for book 5. 

 

That's my journey.  A lot of emotions, personal growth, all kinds of stuff both because of and coincidental to but emotionally attached to all these books.  I fully expect to still be buying books from this guy when I've made it another 26 years on this rock, assuming we still have a planet left by 2048.  I don't have a single regret. 

 

Well, it would've been nice to pay enough attention to buy a Way of Kings leatherbound edition, but that's only a minor screwup on my part. 

 

*And a couple from other authors/franchises, but only like, 3 total. 

[KaladinWorldsinger]

10 hours ago, FranktheTalkingAxe said:

I don't get it. I love all of Brandon Sanderson's works but how do so many people get started on Mistborn?? I can't be the only one who got gifted TWOK from a friend, right?

I mean... Stormlight is huuuuuuge

[Cash67]

17 hours ago, FranktheTalkingAxe said:

I don't get it. I love all of Brandon Sanderson's works but how do so many people get started on Mistborn?? I can't be the only one who got gifted TWOK from a friend, right?

I am the one who got started on TWOK, but for most people, they see Mistborn and think “oh, I can read this” and they look at TWOK and say “yeah… that doesn’t look like it’s for me”

 

But being told about Stormlight has given me nearly 3 years of Cosmere enjoyment

[KaladinWorldsinger]

3 hours ago, FranktheTalkingAxe said:

hUUUGely awesome... I'm 13 and have read it all, you old men can read it too

Oh I am done with the cosmere, SA is just a big commitment and also it's unfinished, so it would be a hard sell. My first was mistborn era 1, then Warbreaker. I'm 20

Edited February 14, 2023 by KaladinWorldsinger

[Frustration]

@FranktheTalkingAxe please do not double post(posting twice in a row without someone else posting in between) it's against shard policy.

[Frustration]

12 minutes ago, FranktheTalkingAxe said:

oh i had no idea sorry

Don't worry, we've all done it.

[dylanbalfour]

And I used to be obsessed with Infinity Blade

[Argenti]

Back when Argenti was a wee lad, He read the first two Alcatraz books, but didn't like them and thus put them down, never to read them again. Then, many years later he picked up Mistborn and ripped through them in the course of week; unable to be sated, he read all of the Cosmere that year, save white sands.

[Scars of Hathsin]

About a two or three years ago, I got Mistborn as a birthday gift, a few weeks later after finishing, I stumbled across Stormlight in the school library, que me reading the whole series, finding out about the comsere and preceding to buy all the books for re-reading, to find things I missed before. I have read everything but White Sand.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Scars of Hathsin

[EyeKon]

As far as I can remember the only reason I stumbled upon Brandon was because he finished off the Wheel of Time. This is likely not an uncommon story.  Thank you Harriet!

At the time, after Memory of Light was released, I believe he had  Elantris, Mistborn Era1, and Warbreaker published (as far as cosmere items).

I enjoyed Mistborn Era1 SO much.  The foreshadowing, preparation, and questions. Hook line and sinker.  I still think Mistborn Era1 is the best place to suggest people get started; Elantris reads better if you trust Brandon and its down the road.  And as much as as I love Stormlight, the way of kings really is not something you hand off without a little warning; this is setting up a 10book series, not just an intro for one book.

 

[Pineap-spider]

My introduction to Sanderson was through Alcatraz Vs The Evil Librarians. My sister gave it to me for Christmas, finished the available books  in a couple weeks, and then I kept going and finished all of his other books in the next year or 2.