Brandon Sanderson

Though he's been publishing for a few years now, I've just recently become aware of his books. Even when my husband mentioned his name as the author to finish the Wheel of Time books, I hadn't a clue and only hoped he'd do the series justice. Now I'm excited. He recently decided to try an experiment where he released an unpublished work to the public for free on his web-site. And because he didn't want to offer anything he didn't think was worthy of publishing, he did it with the book he was working on for future publication (he even got permission from his publisher). As he wrote the book he posted various drafts and edits so that his fans could also see how a story is created and brought to life. Because of this I now have two books I absolutely must have when they are released next year. The first was a given (Memory of Light, Wheel of Time book 12), but the second I've just finished reading and absolutely loved (Warbreaker).

It's really neat to see Mr Sanderson's character progression. In Elantris you knew the main characters, loved them, and wanted to know what would happen to them. There were some surprises along the way, but nothing earth shattering. In the Mistborn series you knew most things about the main characters (there were some surprises) and you loved seeing them grow and change. He then added some vast surprises about some of the "secondary" characters that gave them a far greater role than you would have expected. In Warbreaker you get to know a little about the main characters, but in many ways the secrets they kept were as much of a motivation for reading the book as the story itself. I'm still torn about the ending as I would like to know more about what happens "after" but I am happy with how things wrapped up. I'm really curious about how he will take the next step with Memory of Light as Robert Jordan treated his characters differently. With the Wheel of Time series you get to know the characters and love them, only to find out that they have vast secrets that they themselves don't even know. The entire series is a journey of "self-discovery" for each character (though it can get a bit drawn out at times).

I also love that he created unique systems of magic and energy. I most fantasy you have magic based on elements (Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and Life), runes, or will. Mr. Sanderson has created four different types of magic. Elantris bases it's magic on symbols, but adds an element of mathematics and complexity that reaches beyond ordinary rune systems. The Mistborn Trilogy bases it's magic on metals. Different metals serve different functions and there are actually three different magic systems that use them. In Warbreaker the magic exists through the life-force known as Breath, but manifests itself through color and sound. Then there's Mr. Sanderson's Alcatraz series which is geared more towards young readers. The magic here is actually based on lenses (as in eye-glasses). I thoroughly enjoyed the first of these books because it was a hilarious cross between Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events.

One more thing that I love about this author is that he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and if you look for it, you can see evidence of his faith in his books. I'm not saying that he spouts doctrine or anything of that nature, but some of his characters go through a trial of faith and come to answers in much the same way as many who truely seek out the truth do. Unfortunately the best example I can think of would actually give away WAY too much in the Mistborn series, but I would invite you to keep it in mind when you read.

This is most definately an author to check out if you haven't already.