I deeply love Wheel of Time. I've lost count of how many re-reads I've done.
HOWEVER,
Sanderson saved that fucking series. Both WoT and A Song of Ice and Fire just got lost on the way. Sanderson is at least 1/3rd globohomo like most mormons but fuck me the man can write both in terms of quality and quantity.
The original Mistborn trilogy is pretty good, though I'll say the first book is the strongest. I was fine with how it ends, but this is a subject that readers are divided on.
Sanderson is really good at creating interesting worlds and presenting magical systems that have something new to them. His books are mostly PG-13 and his religious beliefs will come through in all his writings.
The entire "Cosmere" is his term for his universe that spans multiple series and is wonderful. Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, and several stand-alones that also share fundamental magic/god/solar systems that to me is a uniquely mormon take on a fantasy universe and ways of thinking about the afterlife and death and such while still managing to take on more adult themes which is usually lacking in mormon culture and media. Stormlight and Mistborn specifically focus on those themes, and I feel especially the historical (in)accuracy theme is just everywhere in the story once you understand it. To me it could be described as a "archaeological" adventure where reality gets redefined over and over and as a IRL history buff and overall nerd it's like crack to me.
Malazan does look interesting after reading the wiki. The series spanning thousands of years across multiples continents also feels very "Sanderson" like to me. It also reminds me of L. E. Modesitt Jr. and the Saga of Recluse spanning like 20k years which I could also recommend, but Modesitt is very feminist in ways with several books being women POV who are fighting an oppressive male culture. I still love the series though as those women in his universe rather than becoming whiny commies become violent isolationists obsessed with both literal and magical order, and there's also some fascinating interplay between sci-fi and regular fantasy, trying to blur the lines, but I don't want to spoil.
I deeply love Wheel of Time. I've lost count of how many re-reads I've done.
HOWEVER,
Sanderson saved that fucking series. Both WoT and A Song of Ice and Fire just got lost on the way. Sanderson is at least 1/3rd globohomo like most mormons but fuck me the man can write both in terms of quality and quantity.
Never even heard of Malazan, I shall search.
The original Mistborn trilogy is pretty good, though I'll say the first book is the strongest. I was fine with how it ends, but this is a subject that readers are divided on.
Sanderson is really good at creating interesting worlds and presenting magical systems that have something new to them. His books are mostly PG-13 and his religious beliefs will come through in all his writings.
The entire "Cosmere" is his term for his universe that spans multiple series and is wonderful. Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, and several stand-alones that also share fundamental magic/god/solar systems that to me is a uniquely mormon take on a fantasy universe and ways of thinking about the afterlife and death and such while still managing to take on more adult themes which is usually lacking in mormon culture and media. Stormlight and Mistborn specifically focus on those themes, and I feel especially the historical (in)accuracy theme is just everywhere in the story once you understand it. To me it could be described as a "archaeological" adventure where reality gets redefined over and over and as a IRL history buff and overall nerd it's like crack to me.
Malazan does look interesting after reading the wiki. The series spanning thousands of years across multiples continents also feels very "Sanderson" like to me. It also reminds me of L. E. Modesitt Jr. and the Saga of Recluse spanning like 20k years which I could also recommend, but Modesitt is very feminist in ways with several books being women POV who are fighting an oppressive male culture. I still love the series though as those women in his universe rather than becoming whiny commies become violent isolationists obsessed with both literal and magical order, and there's also some fascinating interplay between sci-fi and regular fantasy, trying to blur the lines, but I don't want to spoil.