Kaladin al'Thor Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 I thought it would be fun to jot down the order of my favorite Sanderson books (Cosmere and non-Cosmere) with a little blurb of why I order them the way I do. I would love to hear your thoughts and how you would rank them as well! I will start at the bottom and work my way up. Ranking these is waaaay harder than I thought it was going to be. I love them all so much!!!! It is also crazy to think that in 10 years, Brandon has written so much! The 19 books I have read and love, plus those I have not had the opportunity to read. Alcatraz, Legion, Infinity Blade, Sixth of Dusk. Not to mention all his unpublished works that are available and short fiction on his site! Sorry it ended up being a little long.. I wouldn't be surprised if no one read it.. I mean who cares about some crazy guys thoughts, haha #19 – Towers of Midnight I loved the Wheel of Time! I did not start them until A Memory of light was out so I did not have the disappointment that some do after waiting years and years for Jordan to put out a book and have nothing happen (book 10). Since I was able to read every book from 1-14 with no breaks, I love them all! #18 – The Gathering Storm I did enjoy this one more that Towers because I feel like it got WoT out of a slump that RJ was in with nothing going on. I know he was heading back on track with 11 but Sanderson sped it up a ton and got things going! #17 – The Well of Ascension It was very interesting to see what happened with my favorite characters (at that point) after they had won the huge battle. It is not often you get to see how main characters change due to having a completely different set of responsibilities being placed on their shoulders. I did feel like this book had a little filler and is just a bridge between books 1 and 3 though. Still very enjoyable! #16 – Elantris I read Elantris after finishing the Mistborn Series and Way of Kings. Had I read Elantris first, I think I may have enjoyed it more. I do love the book, especially Hrathen! But I feel like Brandon improves as an author with every book. #15 – Warbreaker (spoilers) Not many books give me big surprise (even Brandon’s). The twist at the end of this book with bluefingers and with Vasher both caught me off guard. It was refreshing not to have been able to predict this until it happened! #14 – Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell This is the first novella I have ever read. It is fantastic! It came out at a time that I didn’t have much to satisfy my Sanderson fix other than listening to WoR over and over on Audiobook. It was such a fun read and I loved that I was able to finish it in a few hours! I really enjoyed what was going on in this world and cannot wait to learn more about it! I hope it is not the last we see of Silence or her girls! #13 – Steelheart This was a change of pace for me. After reading all of Brandon’s fantasy novels, this one had a completely different feel. It was an easy read compared to Way of Kings (which is not a tough read, but still). David’s metaphors!!! #12 – The Rithmatist This was the first YA book of Brandon’s that I read. I was a huge fan of the magic system and it was refreshing to get the protagonist who is just a regular guy. I enjoy looking at the maps of the US as they are in this alternate universe. #11 – Perfect State I got so much enjoyment out of this book! I read it during lunch at work and I actually took an hour of personal time to finish it! Then I got home and read it out loud to my wife. We both really loved it and hope Brandon does something more with this. That ending!!!! #10 – Shadows of Self I just finished this book a few days ago so it is a lot fresher in my mind than the others. As far as the book goes, I really enjoyed it. As far as my Cosmere obsession goes, I LOVED IT! I dunno, I just feel like we got so much more than I was expecting from this book! It was not as light and fun as Alloy of Law, but it is a very good read, I cannot wait until January. I called the ending very early on in the book though. Prediction seems to be a curse of mine. #9 – Mistborn: The Final Empire My first Sanderson book… I had no idea a magic system could be so complex and precise! I instantly fell in love with the characters, setting, magic, world, characters, magic, villains, characters, magic, story, characters, magic, characters… Kelsier was my new favorite character from anything, fiction or non-fiction. Book, TV show, movie. Didn’t matter because Kel blew them all away! #8 – A Memory of Light I loved loved loved this book! It would be higher on the list but it is just getting so hard to determine an order from here! I do have some complaints, Padan Fain?? What was that about!! I know even Brandon regrets how he handled that. Thought Brandon came up with some truly unique ways to use the magic system(of course he did, its Brandon, the master of magic systems). Also the way the girls acted at the end. And Edgwene! Ughh! So much awesome! #7 – Hero of Ages The way this closed the series was perfect! Perfect! This is what the standard for a series finisher should be. I literally laid in bed thinking about the ending for 4 hours after I finished it.. The way everything turned out just blew my mind! #6 – Alloy of Law I had no idea what to expect when I picked this up at the library. I didn’t even know it took place on Scadrial. Hearing from Sazed again made me squeal like a girl! I just love how entertaining and easy this book is. It is, imo, his funniest overall book he has published. Wayne makes me laugh so hard nonstop! It is so cool to see how alomancy and feruchemy have evolved and I cannot wait to see where they go in the future! Plus the creepy things that are going on with Hemulargy with SoS! #5 – Firefight Everything I loved about Steelheart was magnified in Firefight! I love the faster pace easy read! If someone does not make these into movies before I die, I will…die… Seriously, everything gets better! Everything is awesome! Oblivion! The ending! Prof!!!!! David’s metaphors! Megan!!! I cannot wait for Calamity (especially after reading the sample chapter)! #4 – Emperor’s Soul You may be surprised to see this so high on the list, especially considering where Elantris is. But this novella is just fantastic! I love the insight into how the Cosmere works. The spiritual and cognitive realms. It is such a simple quick story, but the characters are very interesting. It is very cool to see the manipulation of the cognitive realm through stamps (am I way off on that assumption?). Can stamps be made anywhere in the Cosmere? So many cool possibilities! #3 – White Sand Since Firefight came out, all I have had for my Sanderson fix is WoK and WoR rereads. Until finally I got my White Sand from team Sanderson! Luckily it came on a Saturday so I finished it in a day! I love the people and the world and the magic system! I won’t say much about it because I don’t know what is allowed, but it is amazing! And it is awesome to finally know who Khriss is!! But seriously, I am so excited for the graphic novel! I have never read one before but I need more of this story! In any format! Also, I heard there is a place where this is discussed. Can I please be invited? I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on it! (If anyone even reads this far I will be surprised) #2 – The Way of Kings OMG! Before I read this book, I had no idea how much I loved to read. I read plenty sure. But this book blew my freaking mind! It was so amazing! The world was so creative and original! I loved the characters! The flashbacks were such perfectly placed. Everything going on in this world was just so interesting! Kaladin soundly kicked Kelsier out of his spot as my favorite character of all time to the point where my first Son will be named Kaladin. The first half of this book is pretty slow, but it is so interesting! But at page 600 it just takes off! The last 200 pages are the best 200 pages of any book. Ever! The climax is just top notch! #1 – Words of Radiance WoK may have the best 200 pages ever, but this book overall edges it out of the top spot. After reading WoK, I never thought I would enjoy a book more. How wrong I was. WoR surpasses it in almost every way! It has so many little easter-eggs, I find a new one almost every time I reread! There is just so much happening in the Cosmere that we don’t know about and Stormlight gives us hints, its awesome! I swear I need to analyze every single word because nothing is just casually put in to these books. I am dying waiting for the third book! No other series will ever take hold of me the way Stormlight archive has. I have listened to WoK 23 times and WoR 49 times (just finished it this morning again actually)… I am obsessed… Don’t judge… Anyways, those are my thoughts. I have no idea why anyone would read all that, but I would be interested to hear what you all would rank the books. I love Brandon’s books so much! I cannot wait to see where the future takes us! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him Posted October 20, 2015 Report Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) If you liked Perfect state you should read his other SciFi...Defending Elysium (my fav of his novellas)FirstbornHeuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine There are other Cosmere short stories as well. Hope of Elantris, Sixth of Dusk... I'm probably missing some.Also his Alcatraz series, the Rithmatist... Legion and Legion:Skin DeepAll that said Perfect State has actually been my least favorite thing he's published to date... Edited October 21, 2015 by Green Hoodie Mistborn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaladin al'Thor Posted October 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2015 I have been meaning to read the other short fiction on his site. I will be getting Alcatraz when Tor releases them next year, I am looking forward to them! I am sorry to hear you don't like Perfect State, i thought it was such an interesting idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 (edited) Maybe I need to go back and re-read it, but I remember not thinking much of it the one time I've read it. But each to their own and with Sanderson the great thing is there are different genre's and stories and ideas and tropes to read. Some are going to miss for some readers while they hit for others... Overall, if I had to rank them all against each other (excluding Alcatraz) here is my rankings: Way of Kings Mistborn Warbreaker Words of Radience Alloy of Law Shadows of Self Elantris White Sand Legion Steelheart Rithmatist Hero of Ages Emperor's Soul Firefight Defending Elysium Firstborn H.A.R.R.E. Infinity Blade: Awakening Well of Ascension Infinity Blade: Redemption Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell Legion: Skin Deep Hope of Elantris Sixth of Dusk Aether of Night Perfect State N/A: Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light, Dreamer Overall I tended to rank full length originals higher than sequels or short stories/novellas, though that isn't always the case. "N/A" means I haven't read it yet. For Dreamer, I didn't way to pay $12 for an anthology that I was really only going to read one book out of, and for the WoT stuff... I never got in to WoT and then when I was interested, it was a long way in and Jordan was old. I was afraid he would pass away before finishing the series... and I was right. Unfortunately, now that means I'm slogging through it slowly while still reading other books so I'm only through book 4 and no where near Brandon's work on the series. Edited October 22, 2015 by Green Hoodie Mistborn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaladin al'Thor Posted October 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 I think I am the opposite, ranking the sequels higher than the original because it gives more me insight to where the story is going and to how it will conclude. Mistborn for example, I would say TFE is the best book of the trilogy as far as the book alone goes. The pacing was the best, The characters interested me more and made me feel lots of different emotions. But the conclusion to the 3 book arc was so well done imo, that adds to the greatness of the book. So yea.. I really need to get on to reading his short fiction that I havent read, I am surprised to see see so many of his works above Shadows for Silence, I thought that was such a fun read, especially with the insight into the cognitive and spiritual realm. I don't blame you for hesitating getting into WoT. The only reason I did was because after reading Mistborn and WoK, I decided I wanted to read all of his published novels... Luckily I was only working 20 hours a week and was not in school at the time(man I miss having so much downtime) and I was able to read the entire series in 2 1/2 months. Feel fortunate you didnt have to wait years between books because I can see why some people feel bitter about certain books because of that. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I really enjoy hearing other peoples perspective in regards to Brandon's work. Now I am even more anxious to read Alcatraz, Legion, and his other short fiction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 (edited) I hope you do get to reading the rest of his short fiction they are fun reads. Doing that list was actually hard for me, which is why it took almost a day to finish. You mention Shadows for Silence... it's not at all that I disliked that story, it was well written and gave some great insight into the workings of the Cosmere. But from an enjoyment standpoint I rank horror/horror-esque lower than other genres even though I cut my teeth reading on Stephen King, Christopher Pike, and Anne Rice. I still prefer things closer to sword and sorcery/epic fantasy end of the spectrum and sci-fi more than horror these days. Putting together this list, it was an A>B>C kind of thing, I like WoK more than X and X > Y story... and so Shadows for Silence ended up where it did. In my mind, it's much more gradual of a scale than the list indicates though. Since I have pretty much loved almost everything Brandon has written, it's could more probably be classed as 1.a, 1.b, 1.c, 2.a, 2.b, 2.c etc., than 1,2,3... Perfect State was even an enjoyable read, though overall I wasn't too sold on the idea personally, but that puts it at the bottom of my list. EDIT: can I also point out, with the Alcatraz series included, Brandon has published almost 3.5 novels/novellas/short stories PER YEAR since Elantris came out... Edited October 22, 2015 by Green Hoodie Mistborn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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