I Am Witless she/her Posted December 8, 2017 Posted December 8, 2017 I wasn't capable of reading Mistborn at age thirteen, but I handled Oathbringer in four/five days (+ schoolwork and sleep) at seventeen. It really depends on the reading level of the person. My mom doesn't like Mistborn and SA (she says too dark????), but my younger brother shot through "Guards, Guards" by Terry Pratchett, which I feel is only a little below some Sanderson books in intensity (though TP has a TON of humor to blow off the pressure). I don't know what reading level depends on, but it certainly isn't age.
insert_anagram_here Posted December 8, 2017 Posted December 8, 2017 As someone stated earlier, it's not about the reader age but the reader level. If the minimum requirement of reader level isn't very high you can read that book either way. You might not necessarily pick up 100% of the meaning but that isn't necessarily about age but because you weren't interested in some bits as you are for others. Or you were not paying as much attention throughout all the scenes. I'd encourage you to go back and read one of the first good books you read and see how much difference your reader level experience will give you. Because books aren't always just about the story's ending, there is a lot more meaning if you read between the lines. It's about the journey, not the destination. I'm a lot older that a lot of young ones here, but I've only started reading fantasy books 6 years ago. Admittedly, I'm not a native English speaker and the Fantasy genre (which was what interests me) was never properly translated in my mother language. I did attempt to read LOTR around 10/11 years ago, but it was so hard for me to get my head around all the detailed landscapes. Eventually I tried again a few years later, but I was determined to find less heavy literature books, at least until I grew a better sense of vocabulary. Mistborn was one of those books. Stormlight Archive though, is way beyond that complexity in world building and metaphors and foreshadowing. It's challenging and so much more enjoyable to re-read, but at the same time it's not hard to read at all.
Blazenella he/him Posted December 8, 2017 Posted December 8, 2017 I am 13 years old, in 8th grade, I have a lexile reading score of 1612 (Over College Level), and am probably the only person at my school to have read anything by Brandon Sanderson. People like me are... Rare
ICanDream Posted December 8, 2017 Author Posted December 8, 2017 (edited) 59 minutes ago, Ookla the Variable said: I am 13 years old, in 8th grade, I have a lexile reading score of 1612 (Over College Level), and am probably the only person at my school to have read anything by Brandon Sanderson. People like me are... Rare Ha! Our circumstances are basically identical! I’m also thirteen, read over college level, and am probably the only person in my school to have read Brandon Sanderson. Plus I’m in year eight, which is the equivalent to eighth grade, I think. Btw I’m not boasting. I just wanted to point out that we are similar. Are you also looking to publish a book? Edited December 8, 2017 by ICanDream I suck at grammar. Still
Stormblessed Dolphin he/him Posted December 8, 2017 Posted December 8, 2017 This site has several future authors lol
Blazenella he/him Posted December 8, 2017 Posted December 8, 2017 11 minutes ago, ICanDream said: Ha! Our circumstances are basically identical! I’m also thirteen, read over college level, and am probably the only person in my school to have read Brandon Sanderson. Plus I’m in year eight, which is the equivalent to eighth grade, I think. Btw I’m not boasting. I just wanted to point out that we are similar. Are you also looking to publish a book? That's funny. And I have messed around with a few book concepts before, not sure if I'll ever do anything with them though. 10 minutes ago, Benjamin_Stormblessed said: This site has several future authors lol Lel
ICanDream Posted December 8, 2017 Author Posted December 8, 2017 I’d call myself an aspiring author, rather than a future author A man can dream...
Stormblessed Dolphin he/him Posted December 8, 2017 Posted December 8, 2017 6 minutes ago, ICanDream said: I’d call myself an aspiring author, rather than a future author A man can dream... Wise words
acatnamedkaren she/her Posted December 10, 2017 Posted December 10, 2017 I was 13 when I started sanderson books, 14 when I finished words of radiance (in one day!!! listen I had no wifi that day okay) English....really isn’t my first language at that time. Now I consider as such, but my English was so bad when I was 13 lol Reading Sanderson as an adolescent is definitely doable.
StormWrath he/him Posted December 11, 2017 Posted December 11, 2017 On 05/12/2017 at 7:08 PM, theuntaintedchild said: Yup. Dark Ages pre-2006, in the time before Sanderson. When the best thing I had ever read was Harry Potter. Dark days indeed. I would hardly call pre-2006 the dark ages of fantasy, we still had ASOIAF, Wheel of time, Farseer Trilogy et cetera On 30/11/2017 at 11:18 PM, Smokeform said: 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. I was also at age 15 when i had the ability to read and understand books like ASOIAF or SA. I can't imagine reading SA at 12, it would thesame for me as trying to read Chinese poetry written in Mandarin
Tattersail Posted December 11, 2017 Posted December 11, 2017 It ain't just prose complexity that can create barriers for young and/or inexperienced readers. I am a non-native speaker and my main roadblock was the sheer amount of things that were happening in Way of Kings, little details that would become more important later and that you might not immediately catch or consider important. Of course, then you start reading something like Malazan and Stormlight doesn't seem nearly as busy in comparison. So, it's not just age, but also simple reading experience. 1
Rage_Fortress he/him Posted December 11, 2017 Posted December 11, 2017 7 hours ago, StormWrath said: I would hardly call pre-2006 the dark ages of fantasy, we still had ASOIAF, Wheel of time, Farseer Trilogy et cetera They were my personal dark ages. I actually really hated the fantasy genre from about 2000 to about 2010. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter were the only good fantasy series' I had read up until I read Mistborn in 2006. I actively avoided the genre because I knew it was all the same. Ooh magic. Ooh dragons. Ooh world map. I thought the whole genre was pretty stupid. I read LOTR and HP because of the hype surrounding them. I read them and thought that they were exceptions to an otherwise terrible genre. Post Mistborn I grew up. I realized that the fantasy genre was simply a setting. The stories within that setting could be anything. Since Mistborn I have gone on to read the rest of the Cosmere novels and loved them. I read the first three Song of Ice and Fire books before I lost interest. Earlier this year I also read the first Wheel of Time book and I have no interest. I gave it a shot. I just couldn't care about the characters, except the ogier. It was too much like Lord of the Rings. Small village bumpkin forced on a journey. Check. Being pursued by monsters in black. Check. Cursed item makes a character grumpy. Check. Scary trot through dark evil dungeon. Check. I know this describes hundreds of fantasy novels. It's why I hated the genre so much when I was younger. I thought it was all the same. It was very taxing reading the same story over again with different characters. All of that out of the way...I have heard the series gets better and then sadly gets worse again before Sanderson takes over and saves it. I may eventually pick up the second one but I will have to be in the mood for putting up with what could possibly be another agonizingly dense book where nothing happens. Sorry for the rant I just really didn't enjoy myself while reading WoT. I actually haven't heard of Farseer. No judgements there.
1stBondsmith he/him Posted December 11, 2017 Posted December 11, 2017 Being older puts some real POWER into the stronger Sanderson scenes. I caught the tail end of the "Frodo Lives!" counterculture movement in the early 70s. I read a LOT of junky fantasy till I bored myself with the same plots, and lost hope for the genre. The age of the Sanderson reader is really limited to their attention span, vocabulary and curiosity. If those are high, interest in the Cosmere books will be high. But the fact that there is ALWAYS another secret, drives much of the loyalty the brand enjoys. Wheel of time was about endurance to see the end of the plot, but SA keeps feeding you new info, changing characters and larger plots. I would start these books between ages 12 to 16, depending on the three factors I mentioned above. I am very interested in these books, have read extensively my whole life, and really appreciate the time Sanderson has spent on research to make individual personalities believable and relatable to people with similar backgrounds (maybe minus the spren, investiture and ascension!) I am currently old enough to be a general, smart enough not to be one, and blessed enough to love life where I am. I would recommend reading the Archives again when you are over 50. There is a lot in there that experience will likely enhance.
TJtheWiz Posted December 12, 2017 Posted December 12, 2017 I agree with many people on here who have said that it doesn't depend on reader age but reader level. I really started getting into these books only last year, when a friend introduced me to Mistborn, but I was only 15 then and I was not only able to understand it, I LOVED it. I read LOTR when I was 10 (they're a little dense, but not bad), but after that I stuck to some "simpler" novels like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. Getting started on the Way of Kings earlier this year was amazing, and I'm really glad I found it. I'm glad to say that I'm an avid Sanderson fan; it's just incredible how many details and ideas go into his work, and he still manages to pull the story off really well.
Mutantspicy Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 On 12/5/2017 at 9:16 PM, AHobbit said: 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. I there with you. I'm 44 and just got turned on to Sanderson about a year and half ago. I had Stephen King and Tolkien back in the day. But Neil Gaiman is the one got me back into fantasy, but I'm so happy. He's vibrant writer putting out alot of material which is encouraging.
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