Ava Christina

Spoilers Ahead for The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn Era 1

If you’ve meandered over to our book club section, you may have noticed that the first thing Saige picked for Olivia and I to read was The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

This is how Saige ruined my life.

Somehow, despite my deep love for sprawling fantasy series like The Inheritance Cycle and The Kingkiller Chronicle, I was twenty-three years old the first time I heard the name Brandon Sanderson.

I know.

I remember the first time I met Saige in person, I saw several BEEFY hardcover books on a shelf in her dad’s house. When I inquired about them, it was discovered, much to Saige’s dismay, that I had never heard of Brandon Sanderson and his incredible Stormlight Archive.

What followed was an energized summary of every important character and why they’re all amazing. Obviously, most of this bounced off my thick skull in the moment.

Cut to the following March. We’ve just started a book club, the three of us, and Saige’s turn to pick comes. Is there any other option in a book club full of nonbelievers?

I’ll admit I was very lost and confused for the first several hundred pages. I didn’t understand who all these people were, how they were related, what the heck they were doing, any of it. I did, however, fall headfirst into the worldbuilding. That’s his thing.

You can say all you want about his rich, multilayered characters and clever plots, but to a very beginning Sanderson reader, none of that means anything. It’s all about the worldbuilding with this man.

Thank the Heralds it’s what he does best.

Of course, by the end of The Way of Kings, I was a die-hard fan. I was a member of Bridge Four. I cried when Dalinar **SPOILER** gave up Oathbringer to free the bridge crews.

Of course, I moved on to Words of Radiance, which turned out to be my favorite of the first four books. Then came Dragonsteel.

We decided as a book club to attend Dragonsteel Nexus that year, in 2023. So, of course, I resolved that I had to read at least the entire published Stormlight catalogue before being in the same room with the Sanderman himself.

I’m a fast reader, but I didn’t anticipate how dense these babies are.

The convention was at the end of November, and by October I was getting worried I wouldn’t make it. Especially trying to get through Oathbringer, the heftiest guy of all. So, I began waking up at 4:00 in the morning to get a few hours of reading in before work, then I would read at work, and then for about an hour each night before bed.

It was the day before we left for Salt Lake City that I closed Rhythm of War, crying incoherently about **SPOILER** Eshonai being allowed to ride on the storm. Seriously, why did he do that to me?

Since 2023 was a Skyward release year, I missed a good amount of references. Not to mention I’d never even breathed on Mistborn, and 80% of the cosplays there were mistcloaks. But ho-lee-shit my readers, those were some of the best two days of my entire life.

I could talk for hours about everything we did, bought, listened to, experienced and ate on that trip. In short, it was storming awesome.

After my marathon run of Stormlight books, I took a brief break before cracking into Tress of the Emerald Sea. You’ve read it, right? Come on. Really. Seriously? Crem, go read it!

Eventually came The Sunlit Man, Alcatraz Vs. The Evil Librarians, and one of my personal favorites, Elantris.

Elantris is funny. Saige warned me that since it was his first novel it was a little harder to get through and that I may struggle with it. Saige, I know you know this, but goddamn you were wrong.

I ate that baby up. I read it at work, when I got home, I looked at fanart, I fantasized about the characters, I blew up the Discord with observations. That book just did it for me, man.

She told me it was required reading, and I understood, remembering all those mistcloaks at the convention. Clearly it was quite popular, maybe even more so than Stormlight.

I’m sorry. I did not like Mistborn.

Wait! Don’t click off! Please, I thrive on the acceptance of my peers!

I think it was Vin. The worldbuilding was great, the concept was solid, I just couldn’t like Vin. Don’t know how to explain it. She just did nothing for me, like a photo of Derek Jeter printed out and taped to one of those man-shaped body pillows.

Don’t worry, though, I kept going. The Well of Ascension was much more fun for me, since we focused a bit more on some other side characters. All the stuff with the Kandra was freaking fantastic- what a crazy unique creature race. I also definitely had the hots for Zane.

Don’t look at me like that. We were all thinking it. We love a beautiful mess. I know for a fact Saige is looking at me like that.

This brings us to today. I’ve actually started my first re-read of Stormlight, which is 110% better the second time around once you understand what the crem is going on, in anticipation for Wind and Truth, which stares at me accusingly from my Sandershelf.

Here’s the thing. Dragonsteel Nexus tickets are going on sale soon for this year.

We desperately wanted to go last year but, if you’re at all plugged in to the scene, you know many people lost out on tickets by not being there in the first two freaking minutes. So we didn’t go last year. We cried. Well, I did. I like to think I wasn’t alone.

But this year. This year, man, we are GOING whether it kills us.

So I needed a new stretch goal. I had so much fun cramming Stormlight into my head last time. It really helped build the excitement.

My new goal, to be achieved by convention time (first week of December), is to finish Mistborn.

All of it. Both eras.

With The Hero of Ages staring me down at the beginning, it’s a daunting task. I know I’ll have to groan through my forced proximity to Vin for 800 pages again. Though, I will admit, I’m excited to see what happens with Elend after the events of the last book. What’s getting me through it is the promise of Era Two. All Saige had to say was “steampunk western” and I was in. I’m ready to gobble it up.

But I guess I’ll deal with Vin and Elend for a bit first. It’ll be worth it. Right, Saige?

She’d better be nodding right now.

When Saige introduced me to Brandon Sanderson, she expanded my world by eons. Literally. And almost all of them have Hoid somewhere in there. Sandy’s got a lot of books. Lots of stuff happens in them. Kaladin’s boon is one of the first things that come to mind there.

My TBR has always been big. But Saige expanded it by several universes when she introduced me to the Mormon Machine.

That’s how she ruined my life. I will be in my forties when Stormlight is finished. She’s literally given me something to fret over for the next twenty years.

Thanks, Saige.

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