[edanm]

I'm pretty much required by law to tell you that his other books are also fantastic, and that if you like Mistborn, you should (after completing the trilogy) try The Stormlight Archive.

Kidding aside, Sanderson is by far my favorite author, and his fantasy books are honestly some of the greatest books I've ever read. And I read a lot. I highly recommend finishing the Mistborn trilogy, and then reading some more :)

[feoren]

I loved Mistborn, and I heard great things about The Stormlight Archives, but to be honest, I found that they have very different pacing. My biggest gripe with most fantasy books is that you can suddenly realize that you've been reading for 100 pages, and nothing has happened. The Stormlight Archives has that problem in spades. I got about 1/4 into the 2nd book before I suddenly realized absolutely nothing at all had happened since about halfway through the 1st book. It just dragged on way too much for me. Mistborn 1 didn't drag at all; 2 and 3 did a bit but not egregiously.

I've made the argument before that A Song of Ice and Fire doesn't have a particularly high rate of character death. It's just that things actually happen in those books. I think that's why they're so loved: not because they're the best writing, or the best world, or the best characters, but because things happen, every single chapter. Character deaths are high per page, but not high per actual story event that happens. In the Stormlight Archives, it felt like after 1.25 books, each major character had had about 2 major plot events. Way too slow pacing for my taste.

[edanm]

I can totally get that. I didn't think it was too slow, but Stormlight is definitely slower paced than Mistborn. That's why most people (including the author) recommend Mistborn over The Stormlight Archive as a first read.

[_gabe_]

I actually started with the Stormlight Archives :D

He is a great author. I originally read The Wheel of Time, and the last few books in that series were cowritten by Sanderson. They were so great that I ended up buying the first book of the Stormlight series. Now I’m eagerly waiting for the next book to come out in December, but I’m enjoying Mistborn in the meantime.