Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I came into this thinking Brandon Sanderson was a master. I underestimated him – the Wheel of Time: Book 12 (review part VIII)

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

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I’m entering a new era in this series, and want to start this review with some thoughts unencumbered by the knowledge of how thinks change. This is the point at which The Wheel of Time turns to the better, according to everyone I’ve ever talked to who has finished it. Following the death of Robert Jordan in 2007, his widow and editor, Harriet McDougal, selected Brandon Sanderson to finish this series based partly on his novel Elantris and partly on a eulogy written by Sanderson […]

“I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.”

The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

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Well, I was hoping I would like this more this time, knowing how it ended, but it was about the same experience for me. A bit sloggy up until the last third of it, at which point it really picked up. I know what he was going for here, turning a tired fantasy premise on its head like he did with the first one*, but the nature of that premise and the world and characters he built for himself just made it not a very […]

For someone who said back in February they didn’t like sci-fi, I sure as hell am reading an awful lot of sci-fi

The Original by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal

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I have to confess I picked this book to read just because I was having a hard time finding a book with a cityscape on the cover. And this cityscape might be a little stylized, but there’s a reason for that and I’ll get into it, but let’s take a moment to celebrate Book Bingo incentivizing me to read. Hooray. The Original is a novella that was produced specifically to be launched as an audiobook, and I honestly love that concept. While I don’t think […]

An immensely exciting magic system in a novel with resolution

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

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BINGO – OLD SERIES Mistborn: The Final Empire (also frequently known as just Mistborn) in the first in a series of novels that was originally published in 2006. Vin is an orphaned street thief who has had a tough life hopping from thieving crew to crew just trying to survive in Luthadel, the capital of the oppressive Final Empire. Vin is skaa (the lower, poor, working class) and not a part of the nobility, the ruling upper class who treat the skaa as sub-human. Ultimately, […]

Listener, Singer, Human

Rhythm of War: Book 4 of the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

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Continuing in the Stormlight Archives, Rhythm of War focuses on Venli, the Listener turned Voidbringer, whose mostly at fault for causing all the calamities befalling our heroes. As always, we hear from all the characters as the book progresses, but Venili is front and center. While it was awesome to finally have the perspective of the non-human characters, and to understand the full weight of human destruction on Roshar’s native peoples, going back through Venli’s past retreads a lot of material already covered in the previous […]

The Evolution of the Soldier

Oathbringer: Book 3 of the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

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Oathbringer continues Sanderson’s epic tale, and while we hear from all the characters,  Dalinar Kholin takes center stage and much of the backstory that’s been hinted in books 1 and 2 comes to light. We are able to understand the depth of Dalinar’s past and how the Blackthorn became the legend he’s purported to be in the first two installments. Even though Sanderson uses this plot formula for both Kaladin in book 1 (who’s been my favorite character throughout the series), and Shallan in book […]



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