A Question of Age?

[Toofpete]

Hello everyone! 

So for my first post I need an answer for a little dilemma I'm in of possible. I've been a Sanderson fan since he finished WOT and I will forever read anything he writes. Luckily my 10 year old daughter has taken to him as well. She's read all of Alcatraz, Skyward, and is just now finishing up Mistborn and is in love with it. 

My question is, is she too young at 10 to be reading The Stormlight Archives? I was worried about Mistborn a little but she's so far ahead in reading for her age and we've had some awesome, in-depth conversations about the story and characters, but I'm just concerned that SA might be a little too much. But she wants to read it badly when she finishes Mistborn.

 

Do you guys think she'd be fine with SA if she made it through Mistborn? 

[+Invocation]

That's...a layered question. A good midpoint would be for her to read Warbreaker first. If she thinks ahem "certain parts" are too brutal then SA might not be for her. If she's fine with it, SA should be just fine.

Plus, reading Warbreaker first has a special tie-in to SA anyway so it's probably a good idea to read it first anyway.

[I lost my flute]

Warbreaker does have a little sexuality that the other books do not contain.

[Young Bard he/him]

Ultimately, that's probably up to your daughter - if they're a little young for it, then worst comes to worst, they start it, get bored/confused by it, put the book down, and come back to it in a couple years. I don't see the harm if she wants to read it.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Young Bard

[Ethan_sedai he/him]

Well, there is a WoB...

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/4/#e359 (I can’t access Arcanum from my phone, but I am pretty sure this is the right one.)

Edit: I just realized that I responded with a WoB as if this was a Theory or something.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Ethan_Sedai

[Karger he/him]

Warbreaker has a bunch of sexuality that I personally do not think would be a good idea to give to a ten year old although obviously everyone is different.  SA is a bit slow and she might get bored but I see no reason for her not reading it if she has already enjoyed Mistborn.

[Rushu42 she/her]

I would say that there isn't really anything worse in Stormlight than in Mistborn, in terms of appropriateness or violence. I wouldn't really say the same for Warbreaker, so you might want to wait a bit on that one, but Stormlight should be fine. It's a lot longer and generally more complex, and it's possible she won't be able to follow it as well, but like Young Bard said, I don't think there's much harm in trying. 

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

In comparison to Mistborn, I think Stormlight might be a little tamer in certain aspects. I honestly think they're about the same level content-wise. If it's any consolation, my younger brother read Stormlight for the first time at 11. But it's up to you and her.

[HeyLookItz he/him]

@Toofpete, I first started reading stormlight when I was ten and I still loved it then as much as I do now. I don't think that it is too complex for a ten year old, and I'm sure your daughter will love it, especially since she enjoyed mistborn. Also, welcome to the shard!

[Kidpen he/him]

As someone who read both SA and Warbreaker at 10 (it might've been 11 or 12, my memory isn't great) I loved SA even though my dad very much thought it'd be too slow for me, so I'd go for it. Warbreaker made me uncomfortable, but that could just be me.

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

1 hour ago, Kidpen said:

As someone who read both SA and Warbreaker at 10 (it might've been 11 or 12, my memory isn't great) I loved SA even though my dad very much thought it'd be too slow for me, so I'd go for it. Warbreaker made me uncomfortable, but that could just be me.

To be honest, Warbreaker made me uncomfortable at age 17, so... 

probably not the best choice for a ten year old.

[AonEne he/him]

To be honest, I think WOA, especially certain Straff POVs, was worse than most of the SA. There were bad bits, and Warbreaker definitely flirts with the edge of stuff, but I would say she can handle that part. As for the violence, all of Brandon’s violence seems the same to me across different books. The cursing is at the same level. 

As for complexity that really does depend on the person, as people have already said. 

[Kidpen he/him]

3 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

To be honest, Warbreaker made me uncomfortable at age 17, so... 

probably not the best choice for a ten year old.

Of course, I didn't actually know what sex was at the time, so it didn't technically make me uncomfortable at the time I read it. It was only after when I learned what I had actually read and just kind of ignored muggle looking at magic style that I really became uncomfortable.

[go_go_gragdet]

I feel like Mistborn (especially era 1) is the goriest and most violent of his series. I don't remember there being a lot of "on screen" sexuality, but rape is mentioned and discussed a few times.

I'd say in Stormlight, the TWOK prologue (Szeth/"To Kill") is where it peaks (so far, of course) in terms of explicit violence, but it's on par with descriptions of say... Kelsier's actions (let alone the Lord Ruler's or the Steel Inquisitors'). Sexuality and sexual violence are discussed in SA once or twice, but even then, the references are rather implicit.

So, if the violence and sexuality in Mistborn weren't a problem, I'd say she's good to go with SA.

I do feel like SA is more complex than Mistborn (longer books, larger scale, bigger cast of characters, more subtle foreshadowing), but it would only be a problem if, say, your daughter didn't like to read, had struggled with Mistborn, etc. and you were trying to pick a more appropriate series. But it isn't the case, she loved Mistborn and wants to read SA, so you have the opposite of a problem, really. Rejoice, ha, ha, ha!

Welcome to the forums, btw.