Without further ado, here are my top 10 reads of 2023!
Brandon Sanderson
Review: Defiant (Skyward #4) by Brandon Sanderson
Synopsis Spensa made it out of the Nowhere, but what she saw in the space between the stars has changed her forever. She came face to face with the Delvers, and finally got answers to the questions she’s had about her own strange Cytonic gifts. The Superiority didn’t stop in it’s fight for galactic dominance […]
Review: Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive #3.5) by Brandon Sanderson
I jumped in with zero knowledge of The Stormlight Archive (I haven’t even read the synopsis’) and I found Dawnshard a fascinating and completely compelling read. I am sure that there are spoilers for the first 3 in the series (although I wouldn’t know what they are), and I’m sure there are things I didn’t understand, or get the significance of. BUT, I had a great time reading Dawnshard and I found Sanderson’s writing so accessible that I actually found it really easy to understand what was going on.
Review: Sunreach (Skyward #2.1) by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson
delightful must read novella set in Skyward (after Starsight) that furthers the world and plot as we expect events to conclude in upcoming Cytonic.
The Well Of Ascenscion (Mistborn #2) by Brandon Sanderson
Synopsis The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler—the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years—has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, […]
Review: The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
aisle of a specific section in a library. You grab several large volumes to return to your table and your extensive research thesis you’ve been working on for years. You sit down and in front of you lays a thousand-book-pages book, and you sift through every page, drinking the excitement of investigation and glancing at sketches, pictures and schematics of times of old, slowly taking notes and drawing your own conclusions. This is how I felt while I was reading The Way of Kings. A rich study about an extensive world name Roshar with interesting characters and their history. Even after the first 1000 pages of this grossly engaging and epic adventure (4000-5000 pages total), I felt like I only scratched the surface.
Review: Skyward (Skyward #1) by Brandon Sanderson
Some reviews or taglines in the covers mention the non-stop action and amazing plotting of the book and yes, there is that too! But the characters and the growth (and losses) they experience through this book made me put the novel at the top of my favorites. Sanderson nailed the human part of going through such a crisis as an impending alien invasion, and enhanced it with crazy spaceship fights, crazy-yet-funny AI and a world of characters and a planet we truly want to know more beyond this first novel. I literally had to take a breather after I finished this book, something that never happened before. It touched me deeply, as if I knew Spensa and lived Detritus’ struggles against the Krell with her, as a friend. For me, Skyward opened a door to the possibility of living a book on a deeply emotional plane, something I’ve never experienced before.
The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson – Why you should read it!
Review: Dark One Volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson/Jackson Lanzing/Collin Kelly
m a big fan of anything Brandon Sanderson is involved with, and typically I’m engaged, impressed and enjoy his books. But somehow Dark One Volume 1 couldn’t connect with me.