The Best Books I Read in 2015 Part 2: Brandon Sanderson

/

I read 21 books in 2015. After looking back, it's very fantasy heavy. Here's the genre breakdown:

  • 11 fantasy, with 7 of those fitting in the epic category
  • 5 science fiction
  • 1 supernatural
  • 1 western
  • 1 steampunk
  • 1 nonfiction
  • 1 classic literature

I usually read more than 1 nonfiction book in a year, but not in 2015.

Though I read many very good books and only disliked two, four broke through as truly excellent and make my list of my all-time favorites. Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance is discussed here.

Read about my thoughts on the excellent Creativity, Inc.  
Read Part 1 of this series about Patrick Rothfuss

Brandon Sanderson has become my favorite author. Like many other fantasy fans, I discovered him after he was selected to finish Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. After reading his first book in that series (The Gathering Storm), I moved on to Sanderson's debut novel Elantris and I was hooked. 

Last year I only read two Sanderson novels, which is a slow year for me. Though his Mistborn novel Shadows of Self was a thrilling ride, his epic fantasy Words of Radiance (the second book of the Stormlight Archive) made my all-time list.

Like other epic fantasy, this one is truly epic in scope. With many POV characters, locations and time periods (thanks to some flashbacks), this is the kind of epic fantasy that scares many non-epic readers, and the kind which pulls me in and won't let go. 

Sanderson is a master at several things. Seeing that he was first published only 11 years ago, maybe his greatest skill is his own epicness, his prolific ability to turn out massive amounts of terrific prose. 

His style really fits me as a reader. He creates wonderfully rich characters whom you feel like you know after spending time with them. His magic systems are original. He weaves intricate plots with great twists, but not just twists for twists' sake. And, though there is violence and death, he does not get mired in the grotesque or the vulgar. 

Words of Radiance is, quite possibly, his best work thus far. Though he did an excellent job breathing fresh life into The Wheel of Time, it wasn't his world or vision, it was Robert Jordan's tale. And though Vin from the Mistborn series is one of my favorite characters of all time, I think Sanderson was still growing into the writer he's become, a true speculative fiction master. 

Similar to what I wrote of The Name of the Wind, the Stormlight books are my beacon as a writer. I want to create a series as gripping as these books are, as vast and wonderful as these books are, a world where readers like me get lost. And if I can get even 30% of the way there, I'll feel pretty damn good about myself.