The Final Empire is good Fantasy, no more, no less. In comparison with Sanderson's Stormlight Archives it's much more YA-y (not in a bad way, though). I enjoyed that I wasn't able to predict the plot too far ahead, aside of generalities. This book didn't shake my perception of the world – it's too generic for that, but it's genuinely touching in enough places to keep it from feeling boring/overly generic/as if I had read it already.

Oathbringer shows how intensely Brandon Sanderson can deliver payoff to >1k pages long story archs. There are several moments where I was so invested in both the characters an the story, that the ongoing action made me emotional – we get to see our share of drug problems, depression, psychic breakdowns, all from characters that have a lot of history and have come a far way. Finally getting all the backstory on Dalinar, and seeing his development, were definitely worth the read – but I really wish that this Brandon could make this payoff possible in thinner books. The Stormlight Archives do tend to be … lengthy. And despite the length, somehow we never get to see how the main cast react to drastic events and revelations. It's weird – but it's still good (sometimes: great) fantasy.

The Stormlight Archive looks like it's going to be outstanding Fantasy – Brandon Sanderson starts out with a nearly flawless first volume with The Way of Kings. We get a fascinating, complex world, with slow, steady, and subtle worldbuilding (except for some on-the-nose "I'm explaining the rules here" in the first five pages). This world has a lot of distinct cultures, with histories, and mythologies (partly connected, partly separate), and we get to figure it out mostly for ourselves! The story is unpredictable (at least for more than a hundred pages at a time or so), the characters are distinct, mostly lovable or at least understandable, and not Mary Sue-ish at all. One of the protagonists has to deal with explicit depressive episodes, for example. It's a long book, but it's very much worth it, and while at times characters seem like Fantasy archetypes (is that Ned Stark? Is that Hermione?) – that never lasts long, and instead they evolve to be distinct characters that I can't wait to read more about.

Not as great as the first one, but longer, and fleshes out the concept nicely.

Wow. It's not only the soulstamp concept that drew me in, it's the mechanics of plausibly altering the past, and the basic assumption that everything has a soul, an understanding of self, and a dream. Love it. At the same time, it's very much a one-gimmick story, so if you can't get into the gimmick, you won't like it – but at under 200 pages, you also won't have lost much time. I'd recommend giving it a shot.

Woop, amazing stuff! Haven't really read Sanderson apart from Alcatraz (which was annoying af), and this short story was so good!

I'm seriously impressed – Words of Radiance doesn't come with the usual drop or lull second volumes tend to bring. It advances the plot and the worldbuilding and the character development at a great pace. While we got the backstory of one major POV character, Kaladin, in the first volume, we get more backstory to the other major POV character, Shannan. The worldbuilding tells us more about the past of the various nations and their lore, but also on day-to-day life in different roles, and how gender roles play out and came to be. All of this is well-written (though the prose is more of a functional carrier of the content), and well-paced, and absolutely worth reading. Good thing there is another volume of The Stormlight Archive waiting for me.

I'm pampered by more recent Brandon Sanderson novels, and so I thought that the writing in The Well of Ascension (part two of Mistborn) was disappointing. Both the story arcs and character arcs were decent (and while patterns Sanderson likes are very noticeable, and he has gotten better at their execution, that wasn't so bad), but the writing made clear why people say they read Sanderson "for the plot, not for the writing". Had the plot been less plausible or the characters less likeable, I might have just stopped reading this book after the first couple of chapters. But I liked how Vin and her friends have agency and some development (even if it would've been great if it hadn't been slapped in my face repeatedly). Let's just see this book as a testament of how far Sanderson has come as a writer since then.

People kept telling me how good the Alcatraz books are. I gave the second part a chance and I just don't see it.

Despite wanting to like the book, the humour wasn't for me.