The age of those who read Stormlight

[ICanDream]

Ok, so I have found it mentioned multiple times on this forum that Stormlight is a book that is too complicated for children to read. Where does this notion come from? I was eleven when I read Way of Kings and I understood it completely. Granted, I was a high-level reader, but surely it is nothing too hard for a thirteen year old. 

What are your thoughts.

[Ammanas]

I guess it depends on the person. I personally feel that a person new to fantasy or a low level reader needs to work there way up to series like these. A person new to fantasy may not know things like: 

1. If its important it will be brought up again.

2. Sometimes you will not understand everything about the world at first. It will be explained eventually.

I think people are afraid they might get frustrated early with a series like this and give up on Stormlight or possibly the entire genre.

If there was a thirteen year old that has read a few "intro" fantasy series like LOTR and seems to be pretty sharp than I say go ahead and give it a shot.

[Heretic he/him]

6 hours ago, Ammanas said:

If there was a thirteen year old that has read a few "intro" fantasy series like LOTR and seems to be pretty sharp than I say go ahead and give it a shot.

I would say that if someone can understand LOTR, they are more than ready for Stormlight. Honestly, I would say that Stormlight is way easier to read than LOTR because those books are DENSE. I would say that if someone around thirteen had read something along the lines of the Hobbit and probably Eragon, which was my first introduction to high fantasy. 

[dantlee]

Well, I don't think the prose in SA is particularly difficult for an adolescent or kid to read, but I've found that a lot of the younger readers of SA have a hard time understanding some of the character development or emotional impact of certain events, largely due to a lack of life experience. For example, I had a rather frustrating back and forth with a younger reader earlier this year who despised the heralds because of their betrayal of Honor and the oathpact, and he just could not comprehend what sustained torture can do to a person's mental and emotional state, despite repeated attempts at explanation from myself and other 17th sharders. 

[Stark he/him]

I think that no matter what age group you pick, some people will have trouble with a book like this, and others will revel in the world and find plenty of fuel for their imaginations.  There will always be a bell curve.  It may have different shapes, and have some frame shifting, but there will always be some people who will not get it, some who will be indifferent or uninterested, some who will enjoy, and some that will become a ravening obsessed fanbase that lurk on forums spawning conspiracy theories about the books, the events, the systems and characters.  And everything else we obsess over in here.

My parents bought me Eye of the World when I was eleven, and I loved it (It took me til mid High-school to discover that the series went beyond The Dragon Reborn), and I quickly became one of the people who hunted any news of the next release.  I still remember my science teacher seeing me reading The Fires of Heaven between classes and laughing at my naivete at thinking I would read the whole series in a few years - He had been reading with his wife since the 80s (Knife of Dreams didn't even have an announced title yet, and Crossroads of Twilight was still relatively new)

But at the same time, other classmates were obsessing over Harry Potter, which I didn't get into until my second try, others were into Stephen King who I did not get, and others still were into Forensic mysteries.

I do not believe in age locking books.  I do believe in level-capping them.  If, one day, I have a 10-13 year old who loves fantasy and has already cut their teeth on some intermediate level authors or series, and has enjoyed Mistborn, or a similar level book I will definitely recommend trying Way of Kings.  If they are still only interested in Novella level fantasy, or Hardy Boys level reading, I'll recommend waiting.  If they've discovered Redwall, well, they are on the path.

For a series like this, I think reading level matters more than age.  Age will help with some context and understanding shades of grey in morality questions - like @dantlee's example of the Oathpact, but I don't see it as a barrier, but a learning and discussion opportunity.

I would be surprised to find someone under the age of ten who has the reading and comprehension level to follow a series like this without major questions, but I would not deny them the chance to read if I did.  There is nothing overly graphic, either in the categories of violence or sexual themes, but we do get close to the line some times with the violence, substance abuse and treatment of fallen enemies in an us vs them mentality.

I hope I one day have an eleven year old who wants to read Stormlight with me.  Maybe by then, there will be five or six of them to go through.

[Smokeform]

I’m fifteen. I read the LOTR’s when I was in seventh grade and read Words of Radience at age 12. I love the storm light archive because it has the depth of plot and complex charactors that are completely lacking in the Ya books my age group are supposed to read. My age does give me a different perspective but it doesn’t affect my ability to read Oathbringer. 

Edited November 30, 2017 by Smokeform

[Stormblessed Dolphin he/him]

I got started on Brandon when I was 14, reading Alcatraz. And then I went searching for anything else by this guy. I found the at of kings when I was 15. It can take a little bit to get into, because you're suddenly thrown into a brand new world. But once I figured out what was happening better, I really got into it, and then enthusiastically got going on WoR. so I think that it just depends on your level of reading. like I've always been a big reader. I read Harry potter for example when I was 9 and 10 and understood it just fine. I think I could have used a little more fantasy intro before reading this but I've definitely grown to love the SA.

[CarolaDavar she/her]

Tbh, I read Mistborn at age 11, and most of his other books between then an now. Me being an already avid fantasy reader, as well as someone who likes to know more about people aND the way events effect them more than basically anyone my age found basically all of his books rather easy and fun to read. Of course, it wasn't something easy to get any of my friends into because they're different than me, but maybe one day. ..

Anyways. I think that basically all the points made above are correct. Some can handle somethign like Stormlight at age 11, where as others have to wait until they are way older, and it's kinda different depending on the person

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

I'm coming to realize I'm an old man. I read Mistborn at around 26ish. And was didn't pick up Stormlight until about 28ish. Just read Oathbringer at 30. I did however read LOTR in 6-8th grade. So I think I would have been ready if the books had been available back then in the dark ages.

[Stormblessed Dolphin he/him]

52 minutes ago, theuntaintedchild said:

back then in the dark ages.

hahaha Dark ages.

 

Yes.

[Mulk he/him]

1 hour ago, theuntaintedchild said:

I'm coming to realize I'm an old man. I read Mistborn at around 26ish. And was didn't pick up Stormlight until about 28ish. Just read Oathbringer at 30. I did however read LOTR in 6-8th grade. So I think I would have been ready if the books had been available back then in the dark ages.

Good grief...you're so young it's ridiculous  

If you're old enough to handle LOTR, you're old enough for Stormlight.  12-14 ought to be plenty sufficient and certain readers younger. I'd probably have been fine at somewhere between 8 and 10, which is around the first time I really absorbed LOTR.

[SilverTiger she/her]

I read Stormlight first, in high school. I probably would have read it earlier if I'd known about, though. But then, I can read adult-level books faster than most adults and still comprehend them (I tap F-Zinc, ), so I'd be an anomaly here.

[Vogelsang he/him]

I was 13 when I discovered and read the Way of Kings.

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

3 hours ago, Benjamin_Stormblessed said:

hahaha Dark ages.

 

Yes.

Yup. Dark Ages pre-2006, in the time before Sanderson. When the best thing I had ever read was Harry Potter. Dark days indeed.

[Sol Invictus he/him]

Wow. I’m an old man, next to you pups. I’m 39. Started reading Cosmere stuff only a few years ago!

[Stormblessed Dolphin he/him]

@theuntaintedchild Harry Potter was pretty good. But in comparison to SA it just has no depth lol

[IllNsickly he/him]

I was current with Stephen King at 9, Dean Koontz by 10 and Eddings just a few months later. Orson Scott Card and some other random authors tring to find something bigger. Got my hands on the ‘Twins’ books and didn’t really get into them. 

‘The Eye of the World’ I got for my 12th  birthday, I think, I was an Epic Fantasy addict from that moment forward.

I see no reason to age limit books based on a perceived level of difficulty.

[AHobbit]

7 hours ago, Sol Invictus said:

Wow. I’m an old man, next to you pups. I’m 39. Started reading Cosmere stuff only a few years ago!

You are not the only one.  I am 45 and feel like an ancient relic compared to these young ones. I started reading Tolkien in the early 1980's but only found Sanderson last year.

[LordMoose he/him]

I am 24 years old. 

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

18 hours ago, Benjamin_Stormblessed said:

@theuntaintedchild Harry Potter was pretty good. But in comparison to SA it just has no depth lol

Agreed. I thought back then that Harry Potter was the pinnacle of great world building and story telling. It's still great. Actually the Fantastic Beasts movie really made me appreciate the world building all over again. Stormlight is infinitely better of a story.

[Stormblessed Dolphin he/him]

@theuntaintedchild Agreed. And I think what makes Stormlight better, is that it is entirely from scratch. Harry Potter piggy-backs on the real world, which is fine, and J.K. Rowling made it all fit together really well. But reading Stormlight, you go into it with no idea what the world of roshar is like, so it just makes it more engaging.

[Vissy]

Stormlight piggy-backs on the real world as well. Every fantasy setting piggy-backs on the real world in some way. 

As far as adolescents reading SA goes, why not? It deals with a lot of heavy themes and issues, like slavery and (only tangentially so far) torture, plus drugs, but then again there's no sex, and Brandon keeps his coverage of heavy themes as non-visceral as he can. In my opinion, the SA could be way heavier than it is and probably improve in my eyes, considering all of the dark themes he covers in the books. I think it would only gain in character.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Vissy

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

41 minutes ago, Benjamin_Stormblessed said:

@theuntaintedchild Agreed. And I think what makes Stormlight better, is that it is entirely from scratch. Harry Potter piggy-backs on the real world, which is fine, and J.K. Rowling made it all fit together really well. But reading Stormlight, you go into it with no idea what the world of roshar is like, so it just makes it more engaging.

I hadn't considered that but you're definitely right. Roshar feels so alien. While Harry Potter just feels foreign. That's not really a bad thing either. It's great for a fantasy series geared towards youngsters to be rooted in the real world. It builds on what they already know. That's not saying that Stormlight should be held off until later years. I know plenty of kids with Imaginations that would give Sanderson a run for his money.

[ScavellTane]

My concern is that I might not live long enough to see the end of SA since its gonna take like another 20+ years.

[Guest Edonidd]

I'm 38 now and read WoK when that first came out.  But I read LoTR at age 7-8 ish I think.  3rd grade whatever that was.  Took me almost the whole 9 month school year to read those 3 books back then.  Got started on WoT back in 1990, but at least I waited until book 2 was out (only in hardcover) so there are some people who had a longer wait for those books to publish than me.  By 11 months or so.  Devoured all the readable, and most of the non readable fantasy since then too.

 

SA may be slightly more "adult" than Harry Potter, but it's still very straight forward and easy to read.  It's certainly not The Prince of Nothing level stuff with Bakkar's heavy prose, dense concepts, and philosophical meanderings.  My own 12 year old daughter asked to read daddy's favorite books and I told her she can read Stormlight Archive and Kingkiller Chronicles if she wanted but I didn't think she was ready for A Song of Ice and Fire, and it would be years yet before I gave her The Malazan Books of the Fallen.