Amph Brandon Sanderson -- State of Sanderson 2015

Yeah they are the clowns of the gang no doubt about it.

For those interested I was on Sanderson's web site yesterday and he offers commentary on every chapter of Mistborn. It was pretty cool stuff. I recommend that you read it and see what was in his head at the time.

 

Ooo, sweet!! Do you know how long it is?

 

He writes about a page on every chapter. I've read them all, they're very interesting; wish more authors did something like this.

He's up to the start of Hero of Ages ATM.

 

Breeze and Sazed are my two favorites.

 

Has anyone here picked up Sanderson's latest, Warbreaker, which came out this last week. I just finished it myself a few days ago and quite enjoyed it- Sanderson uses his tendancy to twist not only traditional fantasy tropes but recurring features of his own works to keep readers guessing until the very end. Of particular note, I think, is that all three of his main works so far (Elantris, Mistborn, and Warbreaker) feature a character hyped as the evil overlord god-king archetype (Wyrn, Lord Ruler, and Susebron), but that each turns out to wildly different from the others.

Anyone else have thoughts on this book?

 

I haven't read it. Is it the first in a trilogy?

 

Nope, it's a standalone (though he leaves enough open ends that he could revisit the world later on- same as with Elantris). After this and WOT, though, Sanderson's going to be writing a ten-book series called Way of Kings. You can check out his website at www.brandonsanderson.com for more info!

 

That makes me a little more interested.

Ten-book series? Hmm Of course, it'll be a few years before we see anything - last I heard, Sanderson had finished the first Memory of Light book (though not the editing process) and he's working hard on it, so it'll probably be a couple years before he has much time to devote to anything new.

 

A ten book series huh? He is going Erikson on us!

 

Maybe he's been inspired by Jordan

I have to say, though, that it'll be nice to see ten nice long books. They seem to be getting smaller in page count and book number lately.

 

I loved this trilogy!

There is a lot of questions I was left with....

But the ending was good enough, that I don't think another book needs to be written....

although I wouldn't mind if he did!

 

Has anyone else looked at the commentary yet?

 

I'd actually like him to write one more Mistborn Novel, a prequel about Rashek and Alendi's stories.

I'm just Starting Elantris, just finished the first chapter, and I'm already hooked. But it was the same way with Mistborn.

Hmmm, a ten book series. This could be Legendary, too bad it takes so long to write ten books.

Evil.

 

I read through half of the commentary for Mistborn and loved it! There is a lot of detail I had forgotten, but I like Sanderson's explanations of how Vin grows as a character and his reasons for certain scenes.

 

I read through a few. I think they'd be better reading with the book, though, because I can't recall exactly what happens in each chapter (and my sister has my copy).

 

Some info on Way of Kings from Sanderson's website- thought people on here might be interested.

Can you give us some hints as to what The Way of Kings will be about?

I've told Tor that I want to release KINGS on a schedule of two books, followed by one book in another setting, then two more KINGS. The series of KINGS has been named The Stormlight Archive. (The Way of Kings is the name of the first volume.)

So I should be doing plenty of shorter series in between. We'll see how busy this all keeps me. I think I'd go crazy if I weren't allowed to do new worlds every now and again.

But, then, KINGS turned out very, very well. (The first book is complete as of yesterday.) What is it about? Well...I'm struggling to find words to explain it. I could easily give a one or two line pitch on my previous books, but the scope of what I'm trying with this novel is such that it defies my attempts to pin it down.

It happens in a world where hurricane-like storms crash over the land every few days. All of plant life and animal life has had to evolve to deal with this. Plants, for instance, have shells they can withdraw into before a storm. Even trees pull in their leaves and branches. There is no soil, just endless fields of rock.

According to the mythology of the world, mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. Well, a group of evil spirits known as the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms, but the Voidbringers chased them there, trying to push them off of Roshar and into Damnation.

The voidbringers came against man a hundred by a hundred times, trying to destroy them or push them away. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, men resisted the Voidbringers ten thousand times, finally winning and finding peace.

Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world, essentially, is at war with itself--and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne.

That's the backstory. Probably too much of it. (Sorry.) The book follows a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn't understand and doesn't really want to fight. It will deal with the truth of what happened deep in mankind's past. Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?

I've been working on this book for ten years now. Rather than making it easier to describe and explain, that has made it more daunting. I'm sure I'll get better at it as I revise and as people ask me more often.

 

Sounds interesting. Unusual, which is Sanderson's style.

 

It sounds interesting.....

But it sounds a lot like his Mistborn Trilogy. Most likely, his summary doesn't do the story justice. I would definitely give it a try.

 

Hell yes that sounds good!

 

I just finished Warbreaker. Thought it was pretty great. I can never predict what's going to happen in his books.

And Lightsong made me laugh out loud more than once. Very witty.

 

Those are definitely some of his strengths - mixing humor in without sacrificing gravity, and being unpredictable. To use an analogy, to me Sanderson's unpredictability is like a tapestry slowly being unfolded. There's nothing that's revealed that feels like it was unprecedented by what has come before, nothing jarring - but it's still an enormous surprise to see when it happens.

 

Alright, it took me much longer to read Elantris then I thought it would. It started out really good, but then it went a little stagnant for awhile. But it really picked up near the middle of the book, and only got better from there on. IMO it wasn't quite a good as Mistborn, but it is still a must read for anyone. I'm really hoping he gets around to writing a second book sometime.

Evil.

 

He is planning on writing a sequel to Elantris, though he doesn't know when he'd get around to it. It would take place about ten years later and focus on Sarene's cousins being sent to Fjorden as ambassadors, while Wyrn and the Derethi are up to something new involving the (apparent) imminent return of their god. You can find the info on www.brandonsanderson.com, though there's not much more than that.

He also plans on writing a sequel to Warbreaker called Nightblood, as well as another trilogy set in the world of Mistborn several centuries down the line, though not directly connected to the current Mistborn books.

You really should check out his site- he's really good about using it to communicate with fans.

 

Another Mistborn Trilogy? I'm liking that sound of that.

Evil.

 

I dunno - I like the way it ended. Seems like the perfect place to stop.

Though, he's got the big series planned, so these could all be a while.