Have Brandon's books ruined other books for you?

[tromedlov87]

Saying "ruined" is an exaggeration, but have Sanderson's books made you like other stuff less?

 

What I mean by this is, as an example: I've grown so used to the "Brandon Avalanche" of plot twists, reveals, and cool payoffs of foreshadowing and such that usually happen in the climax of Brandon's books that now, often when I read something that doesn't have any of that, I feel a little disappointed. 

[+Invocation]

Yes. I barely read anything other than BSandy anymore because his books are better than 99% of the other stuff I have. Reading Sanderson is like eating a hearty soup, while everything else is just broth that's a step away from water. Weak in comparison.

[Lightblood]

In some ways yes, 

I still go back to other reading staples for me (ie. Brandon Mull (not five kingdoms), Enders game (bean's storyline is better), and every once in a while dig up some old favorites like keys to the kingdom (garth nix) or Eragon series) But nothing new I read is ever really worth my time anymore. I just reread old favorites or Branderson in between the next release of stormlight archive.

[+Invocation]

35 minutes ago, Lightblood said:

Brandon Mull (not five kingdoms)

What do you have against Five Kingdoms? It wasn't bad.

[Elrich]

I have credits on audible (I usually listen during my long commute to work) that are backing up because i have many times browsed other books and even listened to samples, but couldn't commit to any of them. I have tried other books recently - Dawn of Wonder (pretty good), the mentioned 5 kingdoms and the first in the wheel of time series (I feel where a lot of Brandon S.'s inspiration came from), but couldn't dive into it.

I feel Brandon's books are a lot of work to read, but are satisfying.

[Jaywalk]

15 minutes ago, Invocation said:

What do you have against Five Kingdoms? It wasn't bad.

I really enjoyed Five Kingdoms(for the most part).

[Wyndlerunner]

It's a little hard to go to other stuff after Brandon, but I still regularly read Robert Jordan (shameless WoT plug) and JRR Tolkien (Grampa Tolkien holds up)

[StrikerEZ]

Ever since I discovered Brandon, I’ve had a really hard time getting into anything new. I managed to get into WoT, but I was mostly motivated to read that so I could get to Brandon’s books. Granted, the series had some really good parts before that (I’m looking at you, Dumai’s Wells), but the only thing that kept me going through the slog was the promise of an epic ending from Brandon.

I have managed to read some other books lately. Besides for a few exceptions though, most of them haven’t been anywhere near as enjoyable as reading in general used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read and most books I read a really good. However, hardly anything hooks me into being super obsessed with it anymore. For context, when I read stuff like Percy Jackson or Young Elites, I got super hooked and obsessed. Now, I don’t think I’ve gotten really interested in anything that wasn’t by Brandon (again, besides WoT). 

I’ve just started reading N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, and I’m really loving her writing style. I feel so giddy while I’m reading it, kind of like how I felt when I read Brandon for the first time. I’m only a few chapters in so far though (I haven’t had much time to read lately, and when I have time I get distracted), so that could change by the end. I don’t think it will, though.

[Singer]

I can't tell if it was Brandon's books that did it or just that my tastes have changed, but I struggle to get into books that I am sure I should enjoy. I couldn't get into the Earthsea books and I think it was just the prose voice was a little lofty for me. I don't think I used to notice that but thanks to Sanderson and Rothfuss I notice and care about that a lot more now.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Singer

[SwordNimiForPresident]

I can't even break out of the Cosmere, let alone read books from a different author.

[+Doomstick]

Yes

[TheGirlWhoLookedUp]

I don’t know, I feel as if Brandon Sanderson has taught me a lot about what a good story is, and I can’t go back to simply reading most YA anymore. When I do come across another great book, I can actually pinpoint what’s so good about it rather than just blindly reading it and saying it’s good.

There are so many good books out there and Brandon Sanderson has made me appreciate them more.

I still can’t read most YA books of course, but who needs them. 

[+Keeper Exile]

This thread is full of people just like me. After I read Brandon Sanderson, almost every new book I read is full of cliches and coincidences. I don't know where it came from, but this "Sanderson-Induced Book Withdrawl" is causing me to re-read books for the third time and more.

Not that I don't like re-reading Sanderson books. Since the books are in the same universe, there is a lot of theorizing that can occur.

[Ghanderflaffle]

I used to be obsessed with the Harry Potter universe. I still really like it and go and see Fantastic Beasts (which I like more than the HP movies) but now I'm obsessing over Sanderson. I re-read Harry Potter every summer, but Sanderson I can re-read at any time. After only 2 months I was already rereading Stormlight Archive for the first time (I'm splitting my time between Edgedancer and Oathbringer because I have one on Kindle and one not). 

[Orlion Blight]

Nah. Sanderson is part of a recent trend in genre writing that emphasizes tighter writing and tighter storytelling (a trend which is mostly good, considering the bloat genre writing use to commonly have *shudder*). Essentially, it's far easier now to find books of Brandon's caliber than it ever has been. 

 

[Lightblood]

21 hours ago, Invocation said:

What do you have against Five Kingdoms? It wasn't bad.

I just felt like the entire series was just alot of random ideas that he couldn't make a full series for so he stuck it in five different kingdoms wear each was not really fully fleshed out. Then many of the characters were one dimensional besides Cole and personally really though Jace was a bad character. The ideas of magic were cool but it was all just executed very poorly in my opinion. Good magic, bad characters and setting (except the tech book, that is a solid book on its own and makes me wish he created an entire series based of that place), combined with only so-so storytelling that made me want to skip pages at a time. Just didn't do it for me. Though I thought it was cool to see a torivor not in beyonders. One of Brandon Mull's coolest creations from his Beyonders series, which is great for those looking for a good read.

[Jaywalk]

The only books I’ve read recently that I consider as good as Sanderson’s are Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

[Reckless Reader]

2 hours ago, Lightblood said:

I just felt like the entire series was just alot of random ideas that he couldn't make a full series for so he stuck it in five different kingdoms wear each was not really fully fleshed out. Then many of the characters were one dimensional besides Cole and personally really though Jace was a bad character. The ideas of magic were cool but it was all just executed very poorly in my opinion. Good magic, bad characters and setting (except the tech book, that is a solid book on its own and makes me wish he created an entire series based of that place), combined with only so-so storytelling that made me want to skip pages at a time. Just didn't do it for me. Though I thought it was cool to see a torivor not in beyonders. One of Brandon Mull's coolest creations from his Beyonders series, which is great for those looking for a good read.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mull's books when I was younger, but coming back, I was disappointed that while the settings were stunning, all the characters were basically photocopies with different color schemes.

[Rushu42]

I wouldn't say that my enjoyment of other books has been ruined by Sanderson, but it's certainly changed. I'm a big fantasy fan, but after reading the Cosmere, I have been disappointed by others in the same genre. Anything that doesn't have the same creative worldbuilding, intricate plot, and superb characterization that I've been accustomed to falls rather flat. I can still enjoy it, but it doesn't hook me like it used to. I've been reading WoT (in my quest to read everything Brandon Sanderson's ever written) and, while it's good, the characters just didn't impress me. (I'm looking at you, Mat and Nynaeve.) However, this has simply motivated me to find books of better quality, rather than the usual cliched fantasy. I've been looking more into classics and mysteries, and look forward to getting further into that once I've finished marathoning through the last 5 WoT books. So, really, I'd just say I've raised my standards. 

[ShardShaper]

Ruined? Um... what's the term for what Ruin did to scadrial? I opened Eragon a month ago, and fainted* at the lack of investiture.

 

 

 

*Actually I wept, but whatever. I'm over it. I can be manly through the tears.**

**

[+Doomstick]

Edited May 1, 2019 by I am a stick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ethan_sedai]

Yes, Sanderson books have Ruined almost all other books. Especially because with some other books, magic kind of has rules, but I’ve never seen anything like Investiture.

[Wander89]

Not necessarily ruined by I do find other stories far less interesting. I attempt to get into others but end up just wanting to read the Cosmere again.

[Calyx]

I would say no. Discovering Sanderson has encouraged me to read more fantasy, and even when I may not enjoy it as much as I do mistborn (for example), I still enjoy it. Some examples of books that I've read recently and enjoyed, despite having read nearly everything written by Sanderson: All Our Wrong Todays (Elan Mastai), Meddling Kids (Edgar Cantero), The Shadow of What Was Lost (James Islington), The Fifth Season (NK Jemisin), Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay), The Black Company (Glen Cook), Lucifer's Hammer (Niven & Pournelle).

Now of these recent books, I'd say only Tigana and maybe Lucifer's Hammer are as good as most of Sanderson's novels. It is also true that none of the books have caused me to voraciously consume everything else written by an author the way that Mistborn did when I first read it. Still though, I can enjoy reading a wide variety of books despite Sanderson being perhaps my favorite author (hard to displace Burroughs and C.S. Lewis from childhood, though). 

Edited May 1, 2019 by Calyx

[Elegy]

I don't read much fantasy anymore. It's grown off me and I'm uncertain whether it's because Sanderson books have set the bar too high or if it would have happened either way and his books just happen to be the ones that still resonate with me. I guess me being as invested in the Cosmere as I am, it just satisfies my fantasy needs on its own. It's got all I ever wanted from the genre and makes perfect use of the things that identify it.