Do you love to read? More specifically, do you love to read epic fantasy books? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then I would like to recommend to you my favorite book series: The Stormlight Archive, by Brandon Sanderson.
The Stormlight Archive is, by far, not only my favorite fantasy book series, but the single greatest work of literary fiction I have come across thus far. Now, I know that is a very bold claim to begin with, but my hope is that, in this blog post, I will somehow persuade you to at least consider giving the series a shot.
The series takes place on the fictional planet known as Roshar— a world quite unlike our own. Every few days, a massive storm sweeps the planet, causing mass destruction to anything in its path; these storms are so common that nature itself has learned to adapt to these harrowing conditions in order to survive. For instance, most of the wildlife on Roshar is crustacean-like, having formed shells or carapace to protect themselves from the harsh weather. In a similar fashion, the grass retracts into the ground when disturbed to protect itself, and certain plants fold their roots and leaves away. While the environment of Roshar is very interesting, there is another aspect of the world that I find even more fascinating: the creatures known as Spren.
They are, in essence, a physical manifestation of human emotion; they are extremely common on Roshar. Whenever someone is feeling a strong emotion, they attract a spren that corresponds to said emotion. For example, if someone is afraid, they will attract Fearspren, which appear as small globs of purple goo wiggling in the air; if someone is in pain, they will attract Painspren, which appear as tiny orange hands that crawl around the person experiencing the pain. Other spren include Joyspren (which appear as blue leaves swirling around a person), Angerspren (which appear as blood-red pools of liquid that boil on the ground), Anticipationspren (which appear as red streamers on the ground, whipping in an invisible wind), Shockspren (which appear as yellow triangles constantly breaking and reforming), and many, many others.
The world and world building in the series is great, but the characters and plot are easily just as good. In each book, there are multiple moments that make you want to stand up and cheer. There are also moments, however, that make you very emotional, because you are so invested in these characters and their journeys.
If you want big, massive, epic fantasy, then look no further than The Stormlight Archive! It may be intimidating at first—especially since the first book is one thousand pages long, and there’s going to be ten books in total—but it is so worth your time. The fifth book is planned to come out this December, so you have a little while to catch up if you want to start the series. Oh, and did I mention that some characters wield swords that are six feet long? Yes, you heard me correctly, six feet long!
So, if you are looking for your next great read, consider giving The Stormlight Archive a try!
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