Sanderson books?

[Bob]

Hi

Out of the books you have read, of Brandon Sanderson, rank in order of best to worst.

Thanks.

[Khyrindor he/him]

Is it OK if I rank them in great to even better?

 

A few years ago, when I was in Grade 6, my dad got me to read Elantris. This was Brandon's first Published novel, so also arguably less well written as his more recent ones, though still fantastic. I loved the story and the characters and I figured it was the best book I'd ever read.

 

When my dad pulled out Mistborn, I told him there was no way it would be as good as Elantris. In my opinion, it was ten times better, so I immediately gobbled up the second and third books. Book three was the best of these, by the way. Even if its a bit...depressing?

 

Then I followed up with Warbreaker. Well written, good story, but I didn't like it as much as Mistborn. I might put it around Elantris level. To me, the magic isn't as amazing, and it doesn't quite have the same hook and interesting world that Mistborn does.

 

Soon after, The Alloy of Law came out, which was a good, epic, but predictable book. But more well written than the others, since it is newer.

 

Now, you might know that Brandon finished Robert Jordan's series The Wheel of Time. I admit that I haven't read these yet, but you can see his growth as a writer before and after. So (I'm pretty sure, anyway) he wrote Way of Kings after this. These books are my favourite. I didn't think they would come close to Mistborn, but I was wrong again. When you read it, take a while to appreciate his use of similes and metaphors. They make his vibrant world pop into life. I loved that book so much, and do even more through each readthrough. His characters are so much more real and more relatable than in his others. The plot is so much more epic, and the ending is fantastic, making you question what you just read, being amazed at certain characters...I'm not going to spoil anything.

 

Now imagine all of that...times 10. Or even more. When you finish Way of Kings, give yourself some time to predict a few plot points, or character points of what you think might happen in Words of Radiance. Almost none of them will come true, I guarantee it. Despite being over 1000 pages long, Words of Radiance felt like a fast read for me (Mind you I read it in about 20 hours stretched over a few days), but that's because so much happens. when you read it, balance the plot with the character in your head, and keep in mind things that you learned in Warbreaker, because that will make it even better.

 

These are most of his Cosmere novels. Excluding Emperor's Soul, and a few other novelettes and short stories. all of which are excellent. There are also a few Non-Cosmere works, all of which are Epic, and thrilling. Which is the best? In my opinion, it was Words of Radiance. But this is something you'll have to decide for yourself. 

[Bunnyburn he/him]

Oh boy, this is a toughie. I lesrned of Brandon through TWOT, although I was only halfway through the series when I learned of him. I figured, since Brandon will be finishing my favorite series, I might as well read somr of his stuff and see if I should even bother finishing TWOT (I was not optimistic) I read Mistborn, and The Wheel of Time was pushed to the wayside. I was so taken with Brandons work that I read the rest of the Mistborn trilogy in a week. I immediately began looking for more. I next read Steelheart, which I purchased from Wal-Mart. Again, I was impressed. Next was Warbreaker, which I read from his site. Warbreakr is when I realized that I had found my new favorite author. I was hooked. I borrowed The Way of Kings and Alloy of Law from my library, and about this time I started becoming Cosmere aware. Way of Kings blew my mind. I was so lucky to have read it just a few months prior to WoR's release, so I suffered no real wait to continue. I ordered, WoR, The Rithmatist, Elantris, and The Emperors Soul from Amazon, and the rest is history. I would really like to read Legion, the sample chapters have me very interested, and it is Brandon, so I didnt need a sample to tell me I wanted it.

Pre- Words of Radiance I would have said that The Mistborn trilogy was my favorite of his works, followed by Elantris, Warbreaker, and then The Stormlight Archive. But WoR redefined what a fantasy novel could be to me. In my opinion, The Stormlight Archive has transcended your normal fantasy series. If I may make a bold statement, I consider Words of Radiance the greatest piece of fiction ever written.

100 years from now, The Stormlight Archive will hold the place occupied by The Lord of The Rings today.

[kaellok he/him]

The problem with answering the question you have asked is that you haven't defined "best" (or "worst", either).  Many people say that something is "good," even with obvious and glaring flaws, simply because they liked it.  Others define it based on the actual quality of the work and free of flaws it is, or how well it does some specific things.  My list of rankings for "most enjoyable" is similar, but different than, "best written."  I'll give my top few of each.

 

Most Enjoyable:

# 1: Words of Radiance (despite Kaladin annoying me, I absolutely love Shallan, and Adolin, in this book). 

# 2: Way of Kings (just an amazing book, with lots of depth.  I tend to re-read books no more than once per year because I have very good recall of what I have read, and it usually takes around that long for me to be able to enjoy the process of reading the story again.  I read WoK 6 times before WoR came out.

# 3: Mistborn: The Final Empire.  (aka, Mistborn #1).  The first read-through hit all the right notes at all the right times.  I cannot remember now if I read this before or after he had published the first of the WoT books he authored; I read both in the same week that the WoT novel came out.  I consider this book to be my introduction to Sanderson, and it is awesome.  There is some undefinable aspect to it that the others in the series are lacking, which may just be that moment of realizing, "This.  Author.  Is.  AWESOME."  That sticks with me.

# 4: Warbreaker.  Every time I read Warbreaker, I'm surprised by how much I like it.  The first few chapters are bad, but it's like a snowball rolling downhill in an avalanche of amazing.

 

Best Written:

# 1: Words of Radiance.  WoR is, without a doubt, the best written novel of his I've read.  The severe annoyance I felt at Kaladin wasn't because of a poorly written character, but of a character reacting realistically to problems he'd faced, and actually working on coming to terms with them.  I love Shallan even more.  I actually like Adolin now.  The subtlety with Renarin is just beautiful. 

# 2: Way of Kings.  Very well written, just great.  The aspects that are tropey or verging on cliché are done for very specific purpose that works very, very well.  Compelling and engaging character-driven world-building at its finest.  It's magnificent.

# 3: The Alloy of Law.  The quality of writing in AoL is tight and cohesive, implying much without getting bogged down in unimportant details.  It can serve as a jumping in point for new readers, while offering up lots of tidbits and Easter eggs for veterans.  Everything serves a purpose, and all the points work together to form a very nice, cohesive whole.

# 4: Mistborn: Hero of Ages.  ie, Book 3.  It's so good.  I can't even talk about the things I like most in it because of huge, giant spoilers.  Suffice to say that a lot of loose threads from Book 1 and Book 2 are tied up very neatly, in a twisty way that in some cases I didn't see coming and in others I did.  HoA's great writing is directly attributable to work done in Book 1 and Book 2, but we see it all pay off in Book 3 and so that is where I give the credit.