Tesh

Okay so I missed my Sanderversary. 

On April 19, 2017, I bought my first Brandon Sanderson book. (I found the receipt a while back which is the only reason I know the date.) I started reading it that day.

And now I get to flex that my first Sanderson book was The Way of Kings and that I read it when I was twelve.  

So... Yeah, it's crazy. These books have been such a huge part of my life for the last six years. I've grown up so much since then. (And I still have a lot more growing up to do, trust me.) The Cosmere has completely reshaped my understanding of stories and of fantasy in particular, and Brandon honestly is just a great person. The books are no longer my entire personality as they were when I was in middle school, but they have made up a lot of who I am now. And even if at some point I move on from them (unlikely), that mark will always remain.

And honestly, I'm just so grateful for Brandon. I love how much he has grown as an author, especially when it comes to representation and diversity in his books, and how he's been handling that of late. As a queer, autistic, AFAB individual, it means the world to me that my favorite author is an open supporter of these comminities I'm a part of, and is not only standing up for us (specifically in relation to the LGBTQIA+ community), but also is seeking to accurately depict us and others in his works of fiction. 

Representation. Means. Everything. 

And the more I've come to understand bias and how representation can affect that, the more I've come to appreciate Brandon. Because no one really does it like he does, especially with how open he is with his fans about it. I especially appreciate how he's acknowledged his past shortcomings, such as his lack of female characters in Mistborn, and that he has been open about them, as well as the fact that his desire to improve in these regards is clear in his newer works.

He's not perfect. I disagree with the way he approaches a lot of things, especially his work with his charity and the way he handled the Kickstarter. But when it comes down to it, he's honestly just a good human being. And I'll never forget how kind he was when little seventh grade me came to a signing and asked "do you care how many books you sign?" and he said no and then proceeded to sign all fifteen books that I brought. I look up to him in a lot of ways. 

And... Honestly, most importantly, these books led me to finding a community when I had none. When I was in middle school, I wanted nothing more than to have friends that I could talk to about the Cosmere. But, understandably, most kids in that age range don't really want to be friends with the one weird kid who just wants to talk about the giant epic fantasy bricks and who constantly pesters everyone to read them. But I came here. (Yes, I was too young. But no one caught me so hah. /lh) I found a community. I started a role play that continued for I think three years, I was the second member of TUBA, and eventually I got on discord and through the community that came together through the Shard, I met a bunch of people who are now some of my closest friends in the world. (I'll give some of them a shoutout next month in my Shardiversary post.)

I seriously just can't express how large a role these books have played in my life. (Though my list of how many times I've read each book in my about me may provide an idea.) 

But.... Yeah. Just... I'll always be a Sanderfan, in one way or another.

Oh also I read over half of Elantris today. This was only my third time reading it and I enjoyed it so much more than I remembered. Raoden is such a good bean. Also now that I've started fencing, the fencing scenes were so fun. I think I currently like it more than I like Warbreaker, which is kind of unexpected. My second to last time reading Warbreaker I read it in under 24 hours, but last time it just kinda fell flat. But I loved Elantris so much this time. I think the difference between those two for me this time around was my perception of the characters. The characters in Warbreaker (sorry for reusing the same phrase) just fell flat for me. But Elantris felt far more driven by the individual characters. The characters felt less like plot devices, I guess.

Anyways.

Elantris was fun.

I have the tenth anniversary edition too so I got the fun little scene with Hoid doing Hoid things at the end.

...

It got far too late far too fast. Stupid sentimentality.  

Who decided I'm qualifed to go to college ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

If you are currently in a time zone where now is a good time to go to bed, please go to bed. Thank youuuuuuuu. 

Oh and also, y'all should watch The Owl House.