Grim

Multiple times, The Hobbit, Silmarillion, Tree and Leaf.... Tolkien will always be the godfather of fantasy literature for me.

Reckoners is on my list but after reading Skyward (I literally finished it two hours ago) I think I need to read something a little more.... grown up next. Nothing against YA, just looking for variety. As far as Sanderson's other works, well that's easy (although potentially verbose, sorry) Elantris - I absolutely loved the concept (Elantrian society) and while I didn't love every character in the story I thought Hrathen is one of the best characters in any of BS's work. Side note: My current D&D character (neutral war cleric) is based on him, although I did name him Lestibournes (I just liked the name). Mistborn - I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, initially I was a bit put off by Vin's angst-y personality but it eventually grew on me (or at least her character development did). There were things in the series I found cheesy or unnecessary (i.e. I felt like Brandon kept trying to make the term "Crew" cool or more significant and it just kinda fell flat) but for the most part it was excellent. The magic system and how it almost felt truly physics based was really quite impressive. I loved the whole idea of the evil "Lord Ruler" actually being the cork in the bottle (sorta) that was keeping the big bad at bay. I also felt the writing progressively got better from novel to novel. Warbreaker - I actually struggled through Warbreaker a bit, it may have just been fatigue for Brandon's style after having powered through Elantris and the Mistborn trilogy in about a month (maybe less) and wasn't particularly engaged by the whole "breath" economy/magic system. It did grow on me and by the end I was fully invested (no put intended). Nightblood is, of course, great and Vasher was quite interesting as well, I look forward to reading more about their continuing adventures (*wink*). The Stormlight Archive - WOW Its been a long time since a fantasy series blew me away like Stormlight did. I really can't say enough good things about it. The worldbuilding is probably the first thing that comes to mind.... Roshar in all of its windswept glory is one of the strongest settings for any fantasy novel. Maybe not on the level of middle-earth but somewhere close to Donaldson's "The Land" (which I hold in high regard). Jaina, while missing for a lot of the story, struck me as a particularly interesting character and I love every Dalinar chapter. I can't wait to see where it goes..... if only it wasn't going to be such a long wait........ (/sigh). I really felt like the writing quality really increased in this series. The Wax and Wayne trilogy was fun, I enjoyed it although not as much as the original Mistborn series. The best part of it for me is the increasingly interesting world of Scadrial and the development of the southern people. One of my favorite parts of the original trilogy was the concept that the Lord Ruler had moved the world around trying to vanquish the Deepness and then subsequently had to deal with the consequences of that action. The Ice Death that Aliik describes makes it sounds like Sazed may have done something similar (do we know whether he was aware of the southern people's when he remade the world/created the Elendel basin?). The series had a pulp fiction feel to it which, while enjoyable, made it good but not great in my opinion but I'm really enjoying the further development of Scadrial and look forward to its larger role in the Cosmere saga. Edit: Almost forgot the book I just finished. Skyward - It took a bit to grow on me but the setting is really interesting and Brandon managed to build a fair amount of suspense into it without making all of the major plot twists obvious (some of them were so telegraphed its hard to imagine anyone didn't see them coming). I liked Spin better than a lot of Brandon's other female protagonists (Shallan, I'm looking in your direction) and her weirdness actually made her more believable (or maybe I just have a really messed up notion of women...... also possible). Either way, I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series. I'm not going to get into the short stories and novellas except to mention I particularly enjoyed Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell and I thought it was probably Sanderson's strongest prose to date. __ I have been putting off reading In the Name of the Wind for a while for no particular reason, I've heard its fantastic. I just started the Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu but I will probably read that next. (If I can resist reading the sequels to Three Body Problem). __ I've read the Finoavar Tapestry a few times actually, GGK is one of my favorite authors and I've read all his work. I was actually lucky enough to have him come do a guest lecture for one of my English Lit classes in university - been a huge fan ever since. Although if you really press me I will probably admit that I liked A Sarantine Mosaic better than the Tapestry (as much as I love that series). I will check out The Sunrunners, it sounds like we have similar taste.

I picked up Elantris at the end of July on a whim...... I just finished reading Skyward and read the rest of the Cosmere (novels, novellas and short stories) works in between. So I thought I'd come check out the Sanderson community maybe ask for some recommendations of other authors the community enjoys. Also, does anyone know where I can find the earlier episodes of writing excuses? iTunes doesn't seem to want me to get them.