I loved all of the Cosmere books, and Brandon Sanderson has now become my favorite author that I’ve read so far. I have also read the Skyward series and thoroughly enjoyed it. I primarily like to read fantasy and sci-fi; however, I tend to lean more toward the fantasy side. One of my favorite aspects of the Cosmere is the complex, almost science-like magic systems that follow a mostly consistent set of rules. I tend to prefer books that do not focus on romance, though I’m completely fine with it in light amounts. The main exception to this for me was Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, which only competes with Tress of the Emerald Sea to be my favorite standalone book of all time, despite its much heavier focus on romance compared to the rest of the Cosmere.
On the sci-fi side of things, I tend to enjoy books that go very in depth on the science of how things in the story actually work rather than just having completely unexplained blasters, hyperdrives, and time machines. I have no issue with sci-fi books that contain more fantasy-like elements such as psionics or magic, as long as it makes sense and is explained.
In the end, one of the most important things I look for in books—something I don’t often find—is that they make me actually think about things on a deeper level and place me in moral dilemmas or force me to reflect on myself. When I see characters in a book struggle with the same flaws and challenges I face, I’ve found that they actually help me improve myself. This kind of thing is hard to find in a book due to its deeply personal nature and is even harder to articulate to a stranger. The series in which I experienced this the most was The Stormlight Archive, in which I related in some way to almost all the primary characters—especially Shallan, Renarin, Szeth, and Kaladin—all of whom I share some of the same flaws or challenges with, even if not to the same degree or in exactly the same way. I don’t expect to find such a deep connection in every book I read, but at the very least, I want it to be thought-provoking.
by C-emperor_porg
1 Comment
I actuallly started Stormlight Archives late last year and am now hooked too. Will take a good while for all of Cosmere for sure, currently on wors of radiance and will slide in other books in between for sure.
On the “scientific feeling magic” bit I absolutely recommend Kingkiller Chronicles, but only if you can deal with an unfinished trilogy. book 2 came out in 2011 and there’s no perspective on when we might get 3.
On the SciFi side, Project Hail Mary is pretty great at the science leaning part without compromise on the excitement. Also recommend the Bobiverse and Expanse series, which you will usually get here a lot.
The whole Revelation Space universe has a lot of stuff (I actually haven’t been up to date with that in a while) with good scientific basis, though it doesn’t usually go into detail in explaining stuff.
More on the light hearted side, and because it’ll get recommended anyways, Dungeon Crawler Carl is…I don’t even know how to best describe it. It’s just insane, but in a good way. Book 8 coming in May 😀