{"id":5357,"date":"2025-01-08T21:53:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T21:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/maybe-im-not-as-big-a-brandon-sanderson-fan-as-i-thought-dragons-and-whimsy\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T21:53:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T21:53:32","slug":"maybe-im-not-as-big-a-brandon-sanderson-fan-as-i-thought-dragons-and-whimsy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=5357","title":{"rendered":"Maybe I\u2019m Not As Big a Brandon Sanderson Fan As I Thought \u2013 Dragons and Whimsy"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Recently trying to read Elantris<\/a> I was sure I would love it. Yes, it\u2019s early Brandon Sanderson and a lot of people warn it\u2019s tough going, but I\u2019m a big girl and I love Sanderson! Right? The premise sounds super interesting too, so in I went and 70 pages later, I hadn\u2019t read for 3 days and was having a slight crisis. <\/p>\n

Do I actually not like Brandon Sanderson? <\/p>\n

That\u2019s silly, I thought. I loved Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, Rithmatist was a joy, and I had a great time with Mistborn 1-3, of course I like Brandon Sanderson. He\u2019s a master of worldbuilding, his magic systems are unique and the way he pulls out a book\u2019s climax always leaves me desperate for more. So naturally, he\u2019s been on my favourite authors list on Goodreads for years, for good reason. <\/p>\n

However, those things don\u2019t necessarily mean you love the work itself. They are just my opinions of his writing. And so I got to thinking: I have definitely *liked* Sanderson\u2019s work in the past, but in hindsight, what did I *really* think? Did I actually love it or was it something else?<\/p>\n

\n
\"Brandon<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

So we head back a decade to the time when I read the original Mistborn trilogy. I was reliably informed that this trilogy was amazing and everybody on Twitter I spoke to adored it, so of course I would too, that\u2019s how this works, right? Everybody loves a book in the genre you love so that makes it amazing? So I read The Final Empire and adored it, ordered Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages and read those as well, except they were slower going. I can honestly say that in hindsight, I really didn\u2019t like either book until they ramped up to their respective grand endings and I believe my ratings for both of them was based solely on the endings and not the journey. But the journey is so important.<\/p>\n

I used to force myself to read through books I wasn\u2019t enjoying because \u201cthey get better\u201d and sometimes the payoff was good, but as I get older I realise that it\u2019s not really worth it. If you\u2019re reading a book and not enjoying it, or at least getting something out of it, what is the point? It\u2019s possible to read through slow books or books you\u2019re not totally into to get to the next in a series or whatever, but if it\u2019s making you not enjoy reading then it\u2019s an issue. That\u2019s how I feel anyway, and I\u2019m coming at you from the other end of a big old reading slump so your mileage may vary but for years I read this way, pushing through prose that made me want to sleep because \u201cit got better\u201d or I\u2019d get a review out of it, at least, and then I\u2019d end up in a slump and ignore the feeling, continuing reading the same way. That\u2019s how you end up not reading for years.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a few years and I finally picked up The Way of Kings, book one in the Stormlight Archive. This whole series is full of 1,000+ page doorstoppers and that was not going to slide when I was aiming to get out a book review every 1 or 2 weeks, I\u2019m much too slow a reader. However, once I left book blogging I dove in. <\/p>\n

Now, the Stormlight Archive is interesting to look at because it\u2019s a whole lot of building. I loved it back when I read it. Worldbuilding fascinates me and I enjoyed following the unravelling lore of the world through books one and two. <\/p>\n

\n
\"Brandon<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Thinking about it several years on, however, I wonder if my reading tastes have changed? I still love rich worldbuilding and a solid climax, who doesn\u2019t? But I think in a post-reading slump world, things have shifted for me. I\u2019ve had mental health crises since then, I was unable to read much at all for years and the way my brain functions is not the same as it was. I think I need faster-paced books and stronger characters these days and you know what? That\u2019s cool. It makes me a little sad, I suppose. The joy of tucking into a thick tome is something special indeed, but there are plenty of books in the sea, and plenty of doorstoppers that may still fit what I need from a book, and to be clear I am still very much reading for pleasure, if I don\u2019t have a review out for a month then that\u2019s okay, it\u2019s not the only content I have to offer.<\/p>\n

I guess what I can conclude is that I\u2019m just not as big a Brandon Sanderson fan as I thought I was. It doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019ll never read his books again or Elantris is done for, I think I just need a little more time. I\u2019m basically starting my reading journey from scratch at this point and I need to be more conscious of my book choices for a while longer, make sure I don\u2019t slip back into the slump and the I\u2019m not slowed down too much by the brain fog. I just have to remind myself that my finding Elantris and Tigana<\/a> a struggle doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t like high fantasy anymore because come on\u2026 this is me we\u2019re talking about. Just because I\u2019m off exploring other authors and other genres doesn\u2019t make me any less of a fantasy head nor does it mean Brandon Sanderson is off-limits. <\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s quite enough from me. If any of this vibed with you then I encourage you to think a little deeper about your reading habits and choices and consider switching things up a bit! Websites like The StoryGraph<\/a> can help us explore more of what we\u2019re actually in the mood for (their recommendations are truly wonderful) and it\u2019s worth not letting ourselves stagnate if we want to really enjoy this hobby of ours.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently trying to read Elantris I was sure I would love it. Yes, it\u2019s early Brandon Sanderson and a lot of people warn it\u2019s tough going, but I\u2019m a big girl and I love Sanderson! Right? The premise sounds super interesting too, so in I went and 70 pages later, I hadn\u2019t read for 3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[1022,5213,4240,4457,5214,4821,4241],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-5357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-big","tag-brandon","tag-dragons","tag-fan","tag-sanderson","tag-thought","tag-whimsy"],"yoast_head":"\nMaybe I\u2019m Not As Big a Brandon Sanderson Fan As I Thought \u2013 Dragons and Whimsy - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=5357\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maybe I\u2019m Not As Big a Brandon Sanderson Fan As I Thought \u2013 Dragons and Whimsy - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently trying to read Elantris I was sure I would love it. 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