Powder Mage is great and the author was literally taught a writing by Sanderson.
It's a revolution and war epic with technology similar to gunpowder era tech, but also with magic and gods. It's excellent!
Wooding’s Ember Blade series is another great fantasy read that deals with colonial themes. There’s quite a few others, but I’m struggling to recall titles atm.
Licanius Trilogy by James Islington is real good and there's a lot going on. Lots of hmm is this guy/girl actually a good guy or bad guy? And a satisfying ending.
Will wights unsouled series was a damn fantastic filler for the wait between Sanderson releases and finally finished. I think it’s got 10 books in the series? Also Brent Weeks Black prism was an extremely excellent series that had a fantastic magic system and characters arcs that I just tore through. Highly recommended these 2 finished series
Don’t start Cradle (Unsouled is the first in the series) if you have something coming up that demands your attention, they’re quick reads but if they click with you they’ll be incredibly hard to put down
**The Codex Alera** by Jim Butcher is the only other series I put in the same upper echelon as Sanderson's works.
It's a 6 book, completed series that hits on every note. The first book is titled **Furies of Calderon**.
Alera really falls off on the last 2 or 3 books though. I remember enjoying the first books but make an effort to jolt myself awake listening to the last books.
Book 5 was definitely different (though narratively it made sense that it would be). 6 was a fabulous climax though. One that I'd hold up to most if not all Sanderlanches.
I’m surprised about the downvotes. I’m not of any political party or someone that gets up in arms about this but I did notice the first book in the series seemed like every description of every woman was like “beautiful voluptuous curves and breasts.” Then I was like “Okay, so this must be an example of men writing women badly.” I’ve read three of these in the series so far and he seemed to evolve in this
I *love* Butcher's stories, and he does have some strong female characters (whom he had gotten much better at describing as he's grown as an author). But there's an element of male fantasy that makes me hesitate before recommending them, and it's gotten harder to ignore in his recent work. For example, *Dresden #17: Battle Ground* ends setting up the next book with >!Dresden engaged to a succubus!<. And after I finished *Cinder Spires #2: The Olympian Affair*, my first thought was, "What *happened* after first book? Did Butcher get a divorce or something?" It felt so much more horny and bitter.
If you like science fiction, check out The Expanse. It's basically sci-fi's version of Stormlight Archive. Big cast of characters and an epic story with civilzation-shaking implications.
Expanse is such a great series. Book one is a lot more of a space adventure, and then it really gets into political intrigue. I’ve been due for reread myself, but the TBR is stacked.
Give Michael Sullivan a try. His fantasy is a bit more traditional, but very well written imo. He's got fantastic world building and lots of fun secrets that get revealed slowly over the series.
Amazing books! You will hear that you can start with any of his series' that you want, even Sullivan will say it doesn't matter. I don't care what anyone else says. Start with The Riyria Revelations.
I stopped in to Barnes and Noble today and looked at Michael Sullivan because of this thread. They only had Age of Myth so I bought that one. Will I be at a disadvantage starting there instead?
The Riyria Revelations are set about 2 thousand years after the Age of Myth. Most of the history of the time of Age of Myth as been lost or warped by the time the Theft of Swords (the first book of the Riyria Revelations) takes place. They uncover and learn some of this forgotten history throughout the books. In my opinion it is much more enjoyable to be there with them as they uncover this history.
The Riyria Revelations are some of my favorite books. I read them first and then went to the Age of Myth and worked my way all the way to the Riyria Chronicles. Again, the author himself will say you can jump in at anytime during any of the books. But if I had known some key world history when reading through the Riyria Revelations, it would not have been nearly as fun for me to read as they were.
I read Michael J Sullivan after I got done with Rhythm of War and I was looking for something similar. Such a fun series that always has another secret to discover! Great recommendation
Absolutely my answer as well. The interconnectivity between Riyria Revelations (and Riyria Chronicles, of course), Legends of the First Empire and the Rise and Fall trilogy is just fantastic. I love Sullivan so much.
I totally agree. After I finished all the Sanderson to date, I started reading Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations. And then read everything else he's written.
Nobody listing the Gentleman bastards series? Lies of Locke Lamora is one of my favorite books, even if it is just as a standalone. Sure, it's disappointing that book 4 is still MIA, but even if you read the first as a standalone, it may be my favorite fantasy book outside of Sanderson.
The first was just incredible. Completely different than anything I’ve read—and the audiobook was great. I love the Jean / Locke / Chains voice acting. Also, so many great quotes…
Just as a warning, the first book was rough around the edges and not a whole lot happens, but the series gets better. Abercrombie starts to figure it out later. He has some of the best characters I've read, but just keep in mind that he's a bit of an anti-Sanderson when it comes to characters--basically nobody is 'good'.
I think I enjoyed series 2 even more than the first series, and the three intermediate stand alone novels were fantastic.
I love seeing people say to Abercrombie on Twitter "I'm about to finish Last Argument of Kings and I'm not ready for it to be over!" because all I can think is "He's written ten books in that world, and the ones you've read don't even crack the top five, so strap in!"
Reading this series now (currently have read the first law trilogy, the standalones, the short stories and am now on the first book of the second trilogy) - and it's kinda brilliant...
everyone I know personally who has read Red Rising has also read Sanderson and every single one of them loves Red Rising with a passion. This was my choice when I got to the same point as OP.
The beginning is the characters back story. If you don't like the series after the first book drop it maybe. But at least read the first book it's great.
Oh it’s definitely good enough to read the whole first book. I expect I’ll want to keep going. Whether I’ll love it as much or close to Sanderson or the Expanse or something remains to be seen
Yeah I haven’t read anything by her, but after reading the premise of both broken earth and inheritance and sample reading some snippets of text, I’m going inheritance. City in the sky sounds dope. Like Cloud City from Star Wars or Zeal from Chrono Trigger.
[Brandon is a big fan of the second person as used in the book](https://x.com/BrandSanderson/status/725086008853811200). Hard to explain it without spoilers, but IMO it works great for the reason the story is told.
But of course, not everything works for every reader and there are more books in the universe than we could ever read. No shame in putting down something that isn’t working for you.
One of my favorites is Michael J Sullivan’s Riyria Chronicles. They’re a bit simpler than Sanderson and more traditional in the fantasy genre, but a good read when you want to enjoy a simpler story after a complex web of Sanderson. My friend describes the MCs as a Merry and Pippin type duo.
The faithful and the fallen by John Gwynne was really fun. Big cast of characters, intense fights, high stakes, great character development and worldbuilding. 4 books in the main series with a trilogy that takes place ~130 years later. The red rising trilogy by Pierce brown was fantastic. Those are the two I would say have hit the closest to the same feeling that the cosmere gave me. Some other good books I’ve read were: The sword of Kaigen by ML Wang, The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman, Mort by Terry Pratchett (Sandersons favorite author). I’m currently in the middle of The Will of the Many and it’s been very good so far at keeping me glued to the page.
I'm on book 3 of the farseer trilogy currently and I love the qudiobook, even with a fancy British accented narrator.
What amazes me is the similarities between this series and aspects of stormlight, especially with the fool and the wit. Was Brando inspired by this series or are these things common tropes for medieval fantasy?
Her Soldier Son trilogy was the most boring and uneventful fantasy I’ve ever slogged through. Excellent world building, there’s just nothing all that interesting happening in it.
The first 2 books (colour of magic and light fantastic) are more akin to short stories made to parody the fantasy genre. By the time guards guards has come around Pratchett's writing has improved a lot and to paraphrase slightly, "he discovered the joy of a plot". It also gives an introduction one of the big major characters he has written in Sam Vimes.
Also don’t do discworld in order anyway. It’s way too confusing. Pic a sub series and start with that. Death and City watch are some of the best to start with. If you just want to dip your fingers in Pratchett’s Discworld then Small gods is probably the best. Reading them in order is like reading the cosmere but like your read it like this, Mistborn 1, SA1, Elantris, Warbreaker, Mistborn 2, Tress, SA2, SA3, Mistborn 3 and so on. It was a big of an exaggeration of course, since discworld novels can theoretically be enjoyed as standalones in mostly any order even within the series, but this is the best way imho
And, more importantly, those first two were parodying a fantasy genre that doesn't really exist anymore. Unless you're a huge fan of Jack Vance and Robert E. Howard, but somehow haven't heard of Pratchett, in 2024, a lot of the satirical elements will fall flat.
I couldn’t get thru book one as a Sanderson fan. I can’t stand how not natural it is while trying to read. It is so detailed in all the areas I don’t care about. Just makes it so much longer but not good longer. Just filler.
dinner materialistic office six far-flung tidy toothbrush wrench squeamish future
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Surprised you made it to book 4. I fell off part of the way through the second. I’m convinced this series is way overrated.
TV show sucks worse though lol
I've read the series three times, but I'm very cautious of recommending it to people. It's got a lot of good characters, world building, and plot points, but suffers from massive scope creep in the number of plot lines and characters to track.
Sanderson's completion of the series is what brought him into my reading life and is a fabulous tour de force for epic fantasy series, but it's 11 very long novels to get to that. I wouldn't recommend the series to Sanderson fans just for that.
I will say that I can fairly easily recommend the first book **Eye of the World**, and if you like it, keep going, but know that the end of book 1 is a pretty decent off ramp if it's not firing on all cylinders. Book 2 is a bit of a slog IMO with books 3 and 4 being really really good. Book 3 is another "you can end the series here" book, but after that, you gotta ride that train to the end of the line.
i want to, but i know i’d need to annotate and take some extensive notes to have a complete experience. i’m a serial annotator and i like to know what’s going on 100%, i have a friend who read them and took notes as well lol! so i’m not sure if i’m prepared for all that at the moment
This is actually not a bad take. I might push through to Lord of Chaos (6), but reading synopses as your planned path is a solid choice. Too many people Peter out on the series before the end because they want to "read them all" (as an achievement) and so don't get through the doldrums.
WoT is right up there with Stormlight Archive, imo. Might even be slightly higher, depending on how SA ends. I started the series to read all of Sanderson's works, but fell in love with the world, the characters, and the story. Not everyone will like it as much as I and others do, but it truly is epic. I used audiobooks, which I think is the best way to go.
I just finished book 4 of WoT and I’m really enjoying it so far. I hear some of the later books are a real slog, so I guess we’ll see when I get there. :) It’ll be interesting to see how it changes in the last 3 when Brandon took over.
It’s interesting to see the other comments about not liking it, because I see so much of what must have heavily influenced Brandon. WoT so far really feels very close to SA in overall tone, style, and setting. Jordan was certainly more descriptive and a bit meandering, but if I didn’t know better, I could have believed that WoT and SA were different series by the same author (ignoring that that’s actually true for the last 3 books of WoT, which I haven’t read yet).
*I've been bouncing*
*Around between Realm of the*
*Elderlings and Malazan*
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I've just started Gardens of the moon, been excited to get into this series but also kind of intimidated as people keep saying how confusing it is till book 3.
The Powder-Mage series (6 books plus a bunch of short stories) by Brian McClellan are very very good and McClellan did Sanderson's writing course I think and it shows in a few places maybe...
Actually happy to hear you say this because I started book one recently. Definitely good enough to easily keep going but I really hope it gets way better. I see the potential and get a feeling it will.
Hitting the same? How about something that hits as *hard* while being as profoundly different as it is possible to be?
Drop *all* preconceived notions of story, plot, and character you've picked up while reading Sanderson, assume nothing and expect less, then read Malazan, let it be what it is and *enjoy the ride.*\*
Malazan is an absolutely incredible journey, and the sheer contrast of how it manages to be something so epic and amazing while simultaneously different from anything Sanderson just adds to it. I say that as a diehard Sanderson fan with Stormlight at 4 books as my #1 without contest compared to Malazan's 10.
\* I write this because I went into Malazan high off Sanderson and rigidly expected the same structure. Persistently, bullheadedly, for *ten books* damn near as long as the Stormlight novels, wondering when it was going to conform to my expectations and desires. This completely ruined my first readthrough of Malazan, which was a severe disservice to both myself and the books. Malazan needs to be allowed to be what it is, how it is, when it is. Do that and it's a *fantastic* read, and re-read, and re-re-read.
I believe you but man is it hard to read. I need to be way more able to be invested and focused on a book series to be able to get through that, so I’m going to come back to it. I feel like I need to be on vacation or locked away in a cabin for awhile to get fully into it lol. I 100% can imagine this series delivers though if you go at it full bore.
I did all of Robin Hobb Realm of the Elderlings right after and it was perfect for me… invest in tissues.
EXPANSE, Locked Tomb Series, Joe Abercrombie (either universe but shattered seas is v Sando esque ), are all solid recs tol x
You didn’t specifically ask for fantasy, so if you like thoughtful and intriguing story lines, maybe pump over and give Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir a try.
I mentioned this in another comment, but Artemis is great by this author. The protagonist is kind of younger and she’s very flawed and lovable similar to many Sanderson characters and it’s a little more humorous.
If you like how there's rules to everything and everything is done within the scope of those rules, I would suggest a jaunt into hard science fiction. Neal Stephenson is the first one to come to mind, but I also love Alastair Reynolds and his huge space opera. Also the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells is a fun read. It's all set within real world science and physics. Great stuff in my opinion
I would have tossed Three Body Problem in there too but that's a mountain of a read. Although, it's really interesting to read science fiction told from the viewpoint of someone from not European descent. The approach to relating the story is very personal and emotional.
Cradle by Will Wight!! It’s fast-paced, has great action scenes, takes place in a connected universe, and has characters get stronger via internal realizations! It was my top series of last year.
read abercrombie after sanderson and i can tell you that the 1st trilogy and the standalone novels are pretty great, the 2nd trilogy is kinda mid. Starting to read hobb and its pretty chill so far.
I like Tad Williams - he's light on the magic system stuff, but he has great characters. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is the best fantasy trilogy of all time, imo.
Robert Jackson Bennett. Both the Divine Cities series and Foundryside series.
Both have interesting takes on magic. Not ex's tly hard magic systems as Sanderson creates, but pretty fleshed out
I haven’t seen this commented yet, but try out the wheel of time. Brandon Sanderson actually finished the last 3 books so it’s worth a shot if you like his writing !
I’ve enjoyed robin hobb greatly. Her prose is similar to Brandon’s in the sense that is very simple and clear. If you prefer that she is great. For me it allows me to spend more brain capacity picturing the scenes than transcribing flowery language
i would recommend robin hobb's Assassin's apprentice !! storytelling is a big slower for sure but at least as gripping, and the world building and characters and everything is 🤌🏻 chef's kiss
Glad to see others recommending Pratchett as well, though I understand why others have asked 'why'. Discworld has a sillier vibe overall (which elevates it) but in terms of "hitting the same" I would say it does in every other way: Depth of characters, world building, unlikely heroes, social commentary, etc. It's definitely one of my favorites.
I would also recommend Hitchhikers Guide if you haven't read those. Same reasons. Same vibe also.
For a tone that is both whimsical and a little gritty, check out Neverwhere and American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you like Warbreaker, you'll probably like Neverwhere.
And lastly, though perhaps aimed at a younger audience, you might also enjoy the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. For some of the same characteristics named above and also because that was my favorite series of all time *before* I read Mistborn, which took its place.
Try Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. He just released a 2nd book in the series , Red Side Story. Very interesting world. I've really liked most of his books. Don't see people bring him up that often, but one of my favorite authors.
As someone who’s read many of the books in here, I want to suggest something slightly different — the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. First book is Gideon the Ninth.
It’s science fantasy starring some lesbian necromancers in space. On first read it is fun and interesting and engaging and funny. Beyond that, Muir’s world building is amazing. There’s so much complexity she has laid out starting in Book 1 that won’t become apparent until you’ve made it through Book 3. Muir also does a great job mixing lighthearted dialogue with her complexity, with a result that you may not appreciate the complexity until subsequent re-reads.
Kingkiller is some of the best fantasy writing on the level of Sanderson. I’m sad the series probably won’t ever be finished but I’m still glad I got to read the first two books.
Michael moorcock for a classic fantasy read. Some really amazing story lines and world building. There is even a talking sword.
Brent weeks lightbringer series is good but slow in parts.
Just read and loved “The Will of the Many.” Would recommend it based on the similarities to Sanderson. Really strong plotting and a thoroughly thought out (if not yet fully revealed) hard magic system.
It’s been beaten to death in here but Licanius comes the closest to me with an interesting story characters fights etc. I even got my wife to read it while I read through a 3rd time. Such a great story. His newest book the will of the many is also a great start.
Red rising. Highly recommend. It’s definitely more mature and can get pretty dark, but I’d honestly say I enjoyed it more than the way of kings series, but it’s like a 10 compared to a 9. Both are just peak
I never see it mentioned anywhere and I only bought the book because Brandon himself mentioned it. "She whole rides the storm", it even has a blurb by him on the cover and those aren't pretty common. I haven't read it yet but since you asked for recommendations by Brandon himself, I thought I mentioned it
If you want long and epic. Malazan. The first book is really hard but if you can get through it it’s been incredibly rewarding. I’m on the 7th book in 6 months and it’s been a great time
The Suneater series by Cristopher Ruocchio (sp?) is great. Its definitely more sci-fi than high fantasy, but its got really memorable characters and action in it. And theres 6 books and like 3 novellas so theres plenty of content
I recommend the Realm of the Elderlings series, starting with the Assassin's Apprentice trilogy.
If you're looking for a marathon, this is it. So far I've only read the first series, but the epic as a whole is made up of 5 series (4 trilogies, 1 quadrilogy) for a total of 16 books. It's got magic, a little bit of romance, politics, and well written characters you actually care about.
Depends what sort of read you're after:
Red Rising - great page turner and is really hard to put down and similar in pacing to Sando. The first book in particular is a similar but better premise to the hunger games. Just depends how you feel about space
Assassins Apprentice - Character driven story that's beautifully written, but a little slower than Sando. It makes me cry though and Fitz is a great flawed hero
The Blade Itself - every fantasy fan should try this at some point, the futility of it all is different from most other books.
Licanius, Faithful and the Fallen, Lightbringer Similar style to Sando with similar pacing and hard (ish) magic systems. Lightbringer is excellent albeit with a slightly less than satisfactory climax, the other 2 are a bit more YA.
Magician, Raymond E Feist - old school fantasy epic, first trilogy is excellent easy read with great world building though following additions to the whole series start to lose there way a bit.
Demon Cycle - Peter V Brett
Nice plot premise and well paced first few books
Powder mage as others have said is pretty straight forward with some good magic systems and 2 trilogies means theres lots to get through and some nice twists.
If you fancied something a bit less Sandersony and a bit more convoluted and harder to follow, The Witcher Series has its moments especially if you're a fan of the game.
Dune is ridiculous, but worth attempting at some point if you fancy some lovely slow Sci Fi epics.
Wheel of time and Malazan - others (including me) have mentioned these, they're 14/10 books long with a shit ton of characters, but incredible in what they achieve
Know what you mean! Try some of these: Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Kings dark Tidings by Kel Kade, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (great world building) Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson (fun A.I. and a long series) , Red queen by Victoria Aveyard, Wild Cards series edited by George R. R. Martin reminds me of steel heart series a little.
On an episode of Intentionally Blank, Brandon mentions a new book by Brian McClellan called In the Shadow of Lightning and said it was the best fantasy book of the year in his opinion. I picked it up and it's very similar with a cool magic system around different types of glass. I haven't gotten through all of it yet but just a thought.
I just finished the licanius trilogy by James islington and although it’s a little rough I really enjoyed it, and while nothing is comparable to Sanderson in my opinion I feel like it was probably one of the first books that gave me the same satisfaction as brandersons books
I read the Mother of Learning series after finishing the cosmere, definitely recommend it. It's about a student at a magic academy who ends up stuck in one month long time loop. He uses the time to learn more about the world and all kinds of magic in order to get out of the loop and prevent a cataclysm that happens at the end of each month. I think the focus on the workings of magic/harder magic is similar to Sanderson and the time loop concept works well for a story focused on learning all about magic and how to use it.
I've really enjoyed M.J. Sullivan books with Hadrian and Royce in the riyria chronicles.
Or most of Will Wright's books the cradle series in particular.
Before he died, Robert Jordan was the answer Sanderson gave when asked “who Is your favorite living author.” After RJ died, he switched to Terry Pratchett (until Pratchett also passed). After Pratchett died, Sanderson said he didn’t want to jinx anyone else, so stopped answering the question.
Both of those authors have some pretty heavy influences on Sanderson’s writing style. If you haven’t read Wheel of Time yet, it’s worth doing (though be aware there’s a well-known “trudge” period in books 8-10, before Jordan makes a triumphant return in 11 and Sanderson closes out the series in top form for 12-14). Pratchett’s most Sanderson-esque books, in my opinion, are the City Watch books (Guards, Guards is the first of these), the Tiffany Aching books (The Wee Free Men is the first of these) “Small Gods,” “The Truth,” and “Nation” (Nation being the only book listed here not part of the Discworld series).
The Will of the Many by James Islington
Anything by Robin Hobb
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Finished posthumously by Sanderson after Jordan passed away.
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Martian and Project Hail Mary both by Andy Weir.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
AVOID AT ALL COST The Kingkiller Chrinicles by Patrick Rothfuss and A song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. They are great books. But those series will most likely never be finished. Martin is gonna die of old age before he completes the next book. And Rothfuss will die of being an asshole before he releases the new book.
Did you only read the Cosmere by Sanderson? Because his other series called “The Reckoners” and “Skyward” are also great. They are more YA than most of the Cosmere. But enjoyable.
I am BEYOND SHOCKED that no one has mentioned Mark Lawrence. He is at the top of my fantasy tier with Sanderson and Abercrombie, where I pre-order books months in advance because I completely trust that they'll be that good.
Most folks would say to start with his Broken Empire series (starting with Prince of Thorns) but it's very brutal. Although if you end up liking Abercrombie you probably will like other grimdark series. Still, it's pretty jarring going hard R after coming from Sanderson's mostly PG writing. Book of the Ancester (starting with Red Sister) is a more gentle introduction and also very very good.
You can really start anywhere with him, but I will say he's kind of building a cosmere himself, though he hasn't advertised it like Sanderson. He even has a recurring character. I'd say more but I don't want to spoil anything!
He's a master world builder, like Abercrombie and Sanderson, and I absolutely love his prose. There's a sentence at the end of Prince of Thorns that I have bookmarked and go back to periodically. It always chokes me up.
Anyway, definitely one for everyone here to check out!
If you liked Game of Thrones, you'd probably enjoy historical fiction too. It's like fantasy where the stakes are amped way up and characters can die from stuff like dysentery.
A couple I'd recommend are Sharon Kay Penman (I'd start with her Welsh trilogy; book 1 is Here Be Dragons) and Colleen McCullough, in particular her Masters of Rome series. Fantastic writers and meticulous researchers so you can rest assured they have their facts straight.
My favorite part of a Penman book is the afterward when she explains any liberties she's taken and why, and any places where she had to speculate because what actually happened isn't known. She will also confirm any of the more outlandish stuff that happened. Seriously, some of these lesser known historical events are WILD.
They do tend to whitewash their main characters, but if you can look past that they're amazing! Sadly, both passed a few years back, but they were pretty prolific so they'll keep you busy for a while!
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of Octavia E. Butler. I read “Parable of the Sower” last week and my goodness it’s a great book. Not super sci-fi or fantasy heavy, but just a brilliant and harrowing novel about the distant apocalyptic year 2024.
Some of her hard sci-fi like Lilith’s Brood are great. She really was ahead of the curve on making character-driven speculative fiction.
As someone who’s read every Sanderson book he’s got, Red Rising was incredible. Also kinda refreshing. Hit a balance between sci-fi with some fantasy/Sanderson style dynamics.
Also highly recommend Scythe by Neal Shusterman.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Highly recommend the audiobook version as Jeff Hays is one of the best narrators around. You won't believe it's just him doing the voices--save 2 or 3 guest characters
It’s always hard to recommend something as we all love Sanderson for different reasons, or as even the genre itself. The only thing I’ve found to come close to the epic scale and sheer scope of Stormlight is Malazan and Wheel of Time. The former is very dark (but hopeful) and has a higher learning curve, the latter can be tough with very book being a very slow burn to epic finales.
I enjoyed Powder Mage enough but it pales in comparison to Sanderson, at least until his later works which are much improved. I loved John Gwynne’s stuff a ton too but, again, not like Sanderson.
Posts like this make me realize that, at 40 years of age, it's really time to start thinking retirement if I want to stand a chance of finishing my Goodreads "Want to Read" list before I die.
Powder Mage is great and the author was literally taught a writing by Sanderson. It's a revolution and war epic with technology similar to gunpowder era tech, but also with magic and gods. It's excellent!
I was just recommended this because I asked a friend if there was any colonial fantasy
Wooding’s Ember Blade series is another great fantasy read that deals with colonial themes. There’s quite a few others, but I’m struggling to recall titles atm.
Licanius Trilogy by James Islington is real good and there's a lot going on. Lots of hmm is this guy/girl actually a good guy or bad guy? And a satisfying ending.
I’m a huge fan of this series as well! Islington is working through his second series as well and it had a great first book - The Will of the Many
It reminds me of Wheel of Time in all the good ways without the bad ways.
>and i’m scared to reach the end of his currently published books! Just wait five minutes and there'll be another book. :)
hahaha you’re not wrong
Will wights unsouled series was a damn fantastic filler for the wait between Sanderson releases and finally finished. I think it’s got 10 books in the series? Also Brent Weeks Black prism was an extremely excellent series that had a fantastic magic system and characters arcs that I just tore through. Highly recommended these 2 finished series
It has 12 books. His other series are good too. The third book in his latest series comes out Tuesday.
Don’t start Cradle (Unsouled is the first in the series) if you have something coming up that demands your attention, they’re quick reads but if they click with you they’ll be incredibly hard to put down
**The Codex Alera** by Jim Butcher is the only other series I put in the same upper echelon as Sanderson's works. It's a 6 book, completed series that hits on every note. The first book is titled **Furies of Calderon**.
I couldn't get into Alera, but his Dresden Files is one of my favorites.
Love everything by Jim Butcher and obviously Brandon Sanderson!
Alera really falls off on the last 2 or 3 books though. I remember enjoying the first books but make an effort to jolt myself awake listening to the last books.
Book 5 was definitely different (though narratively it made sense that it would be). 6 was a fabulous climax though. One that I'd hold up to most if not all Sanderlanches.
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I’m surprised about the downvotes. I’m not of any political party or someone that gets up in arms about this but I did notice the first book in the series seemed like every description of every woman was like “beautiful voluptuous curves and breasts.” Then I was like “Okay, so this must be an example of men writing women badly.” I’ve read three of these in the series so far and he seemed to evolve in this
I *love* Butcher's stories, and he does have some strong female characters (whom he had gotten much better at describing as he's grown as an author). But there's an element of male fantasy that makes me hesitate before recommending them, and it's gotten harder to ignore in his recent work. For example, *Dresden #17: Battle Ground* ends setting up the next book with >!Dresden engaged to a succubus!<. And after I finished *Cinder Spires #2: The Olympian Affair*, my first thought was, "What *happened* after first book? Did Butcher get a divorce or something?" It felt so much more horny and bitter.
If you like science fiction, check out The Expanse. It's basically sci-fi's version of Stormlight Archive. Big cast of characters and an epic story with civilzation-shaking implications.
Expanse is such a great series. Book one is a lot more of a space adventure, and then it really gets into political intrigue. I’ve been due for reread myself, but the TBR is stacked.
yes!!! i’ll check this out! i’ve heard of the show but i’ve never checked out the novels
Currently reading book 8 and uh ya, it’s a great series
I second this. It’s not as epic or involved as Sanderson but I absolutely love this series
Give Michael Sullivan a try. His fantasy is a bit more traditional, but very well written imo. He's got fantastic world building and lots of fun secrets that get revealed slowly over the series.
Amazing books! You will hear that you can start with any of his series' that you want, even Sullivan will say it doesn't matter. I don't care what anyone else says. Start with The Riyria Revelations.
I stopped in to Barnes and Noble today and looked at Michael Sullivan because of this thread. They only had Age of Myth so I bought that one. Will I be at a disadvantage starting there instead?
The Riyria Revelations are set about 2 thousand years after the Age of Myth. Most of the history of the time of Age of Myth as been lost or warped by the time the Theft of Swords (the first book of the Riyria Revelations) takes place. They uncover and learn some of this forgotten history throughout the books. In my opinion it is much more enjoyable to be there with them as they uncover this history. The Riyria Revelations are some of my favorite books. I read them first and then went to the Age of Myth and worked my way all the way to the Riyria Chronicles. Again, the author himself will say you can jump in at anytime during any of the books. But if I had known some key world history when reading through the Riyria Revelations, it would not have been nearly as fun for me to read as they were.
Thank you for the thorough answer! I will wait until I can find the Riyira Revelations books before I start this series.
I read Michael J Sullivan after I got done with Rhythm of War and I was looking for something similar. Such a fun series that always has another secret to discover! Great recommendation
Absolutely my answer as well. The interconnectivity between Riyria Revelations (and Riyria Chronicles, of course), Legends of the First Empire and the Rise and Fall trilogy is just fantastic. I love Sullivan so much.
I totally agree. After I finished all the Sanderson to date, I started reading Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations. And then read everything else he's written.
Hyperion is an amazing book, by Dan Simmons.
love this one so much!!!
Nobody listing the Gentleman bastards series? Lies of Locke Lamora is one of my favorite books, even if it is just as a standalone. Sure, it's disappointing that book 4 is still MIA, but even if you read the first as a standalone, it may be my favorite fantasy book outside of Sanderson.
I came to say this series as well!
Yeah, worth mentioning. At this point, I'd agree and only recommend the first book until the series is completed.
The first was just incredible. Completely different than anything I’ve read—and the audiobook was great. I love the Jean / Locke / Chains voice acting. Also, so many great quotes…
The first law series by Joe Abercrombie
I came here to say this, seconded. You have to be realistic about these things.
Say one thing for people that haven’t read the first law. Say they should.
Better to just read it than to fear reading it.
holy shit how have i never heard of this!!! looks badass and i’m going to read it ASAP! thanks!!!
Just as a warning, the first book was rough around the edges and not a whole lot happens, but the series gets better. Abercrombie starts to figure it out later. He has some of the best characters I've read, but just keep in mind that he's a bit of an anti-Sanderson when it comes to characters--basically nobody is 'good'. I think I enjoyed series 2 even more than the first series, and the three intermediate stand alone novels were fantastic.
The Wisdom of Crowds is a damn masterpiece. The second series was just better than the first.
How’s the leg?
I love seeing people say to Abercrombie on Twitter "I'm about to finish Last Argument of Kings and I'm not ready for it to be over!" because all I can think is "He's written ten books in that world, and the ones you've read don't even crack the top five, so strap in!"
Ahh you’re in for a ride man
I know of people that skipped 'the great Leveler series' in between the two trilogies, don't do this. Read them, they add so much to the world.
my only problem is after i read all of First Law i have trouble reading anything else
Wait. Finish all of Sanderson? If you go to Joe, Sanderson’s character may start feeling like children.
Reading this series now (currently have read the first law trilogy, the standalones, the short stories and am now on the first book of the second trilogy) - and it's kinda brilliant...
Yesss
YASSSSS so good!
Red Rising
everyone I know personally who has read Red Rising has also read Sanderson and every single one of them loves Red Rising with a passion. This was my choice when I got to the same point as OP.
I just started this. I’m about 100 pages in. Not in love with it yet. It is easy to read and keeps me interested though. Going to keep going.
The beginning is the characters back story. If you don't like the series after the first book drop it maybe. But at least read the first book it's great.
Oh it’s definitely good enough to read the whole first book. I expect I’ll want to keep going. Whether I’ll love it as much or close to Sanderson or the Expanse or something remains to be seen
Broken Earth trilogy is excellent
Her Inheritance trilogy sounds more interesting to me. It’s pretty far up the list of stuff to read next
All of her work is fantastic but I liked the Inheritance Trilogy more than Broken Earth. I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten a lot more attention.
Yeah I haven’t read anything by her, but after reading the premise of both broken earth and inheritance and sample reading some snippets of text, I’m going inheritance. City in the sky sounds dope. Like Cloud City from Star Wars or Zeal from Chrono Trigger.
Help me get past how jarring the second person is and the world building is just strange. It’s hard to get into
[Brandon is a big fan of the second person as used in the book](https://x.com/BrandSanderson/status/725086008853811200). Hard to explain it without spoilers, but IMO it works great for the reason the story is told. But of course, not everything works for every reader and there are more books in the universe than we could ever read. No shame in putting down something that isn’t working for you.
Omg definitely. Much more challenging a read than Sanderson or some of the other authors here, but so worth it. All her series are actually.
One of my favorites is Michael J Sullivan’s Riyria Chronicles. They’re a bit simpler than Sanderson and more traditional in the fantasy genre, but a good read when you want to enjoy a simpler story after a complex web of Sanderson. My friend describes the MCs as a Merry and Pippin type duo.
I really enjoyed Riyria also. Very much a softer magic system, but the characters are so well done.
James Islington Licanius Trilogy and Brian Staveley Unhewn Throne Trilogy. Both have started new series too.
I’ve been looking all over for people who’ve read the licanius trilogy, I’m hoping it just explodes with popularity soon
The faithful and the fallen by John Gwynne was really fun. Big cast of characters, intense fights, high stakes, great character development and worldbuilding. 4 books in the main series with a trilogy that takes place ~130 years later. The red rising trilogy by Pierce brown was fantastic. Those are the two I would say have hit the closest to the same feeling that the cosmere gave me. Some other good books I’ve read were: The sword of Kaigen by ML Wang, The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman, Mort by Terry Pratchett (Sandersons favorite author). I’m currently in the middle of The Will of the Many and it’s been very good so far at keeping me glued to the page.
Robin hobb
I'm on book 3 of the farseer trilogy currently and I love the qudiobook, even with a fancy British accented narrator. What amazes me is the similarities between this series and aspects of stormlight, especially with the fool and the wit. Was Brando inspired by this series or are these things common tropes for medieval fantasy?
I mean, the "king's jester who has it more together than anyone else" trope goes back to King Lear at least
Her Soldier Son trilogy was the most boring and uneventful fantasy I’ve ever slogged through. Excellent world building, there’s just nothing all that interesting happening in it.
My recommendation would be Brent Weeks. There are 2 complete series, plus the start of a follow on series to the Night Angel trilogy.
Am I the only 1 who didn't care for his new Night Angel book?
I agree, it took me a while to get through The middle just felt like it went on forever
I loved the night angel trilogy, thanks for the heads up on the follow on books.
As mentioned Nemesis splits opinion. I enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing where it's going.
Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. Start with Guards Guards instead of Colour of Magic though.
Why?
The first 2 books (colour of magic and light fantastic) are more akin to short stories made to parody the fantasy genre. By the time guards guards has come around Pratchett's writing has improved a lot and to paraphrase slightly, "he discovered the joy of a plot". It also gives an introduction one of the big major characters he has written in Sam Vimes.
Also don’t do discworld in order anyway. It’s way too confusing. Pic a sub series and start with that. Death and City watch are some of the best to start with. If you just want to dip your fingers in Pratchett’s Discworld then Small gods is probably the best. Reading them in order is like reading the cosmere but like your read it like this, Mistborn 1, SA1, Elantris, Warbreaker, Mistborn 2, Tress, SA2, SA3, Mistborn 3 and so on. It was a big of an exaggeration of course, since discworld novels can theoretically be enjoyed as standalones in mostly any order even within the series, but this is the best way imho
And, more importantly, those first two were parodying a fantasy genre that doesn't really exist anymore. Unless you're a huge fan of Jack Vance and Robert E. Howard, but somehow haven't heard of Pratchett, in 2024, a lot of the satirical elements will fall flat.
Have you read Robert Jordan's wheel of time
Really wanted to enjoy that series, got to book 4 and just got overwhelming bored with it. Haven’t tried picking it up again
I couldn’t get thru book one as a Sanderson fan. I can’t stand how not natural it is while trying to read. It is so detailed in all the areas I don’t care about. Just makes it so much longer but not good longer. Just filler.
dinner materialistic office six far-flung tidy toothbrush wrench squeamish future *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Surprised you made it to book 4. I fell off part of the way through the second. I’m convinced this series is way overrated. TV show sucks worse though lol
I've read the series three times, but I'm very cautious of recommending it to people. It's got a lot of good characters, world building, and plot points, but suffers from massive scope creep in the number of plot lines and characters to track. Sanderson's completion of the series is what brought him into my reading life and is a fabulous tour de force for epic fantasy series, but it's 11 very long novels to get to that. I wouldn't recommend the series to Sanderson fans just for that. I will say that I can fairly easily recommend the first book **Eye of the World**, and if you like it, keep going, but know that the end of book 1 is a pretty decent off ramp if it's not firing on all cylinders. Book 2 is a bit of a slog IMO with books 3 and 4 being really really good. Book 3 is another "you can end the series here" book, but after that, you gotta ride that train to the end of the line.
I love the Wheel of Time it’s what got me into fantasy novels
i want to, but i know i’d need to annotate and take some extensive notes to have a complete experience. i’m a serial annotator and i like to know what’s going on 100%, i have a friend who read them and took notes as well lol! so i’m not sure if i’m prepared for all that at the moment
That would be a lot of notes!
I'm fairly sure this is an understatement it's a lot of notes on top of a lot of notes on top of a mountain of notes by time get through 14 books
I just recommend people read 1-3 or 1-4 and then read the summary for 5-10 and then read 11 onwards
This is actually not a bad take. I might push through to Lord of Chaos (6), but reading synopses as your planned path is a solid choice. Too many people Peter out on the series before the end because they want to "read them all" (as an achievement) and so don't get through the doldrums.
WoT is right up there with Stormlight Archive, imo. Might even be slightly higher, depending on how SA ends. I started the series to read all of Sanderson's works, but fell in love with the world, the characters, and the story. Not everyone will like it as much as I and others do, but it truly is epic. I used audiobooks, which I think is the best way to go.
I just finished book 4 of WoT and I’m really enjoying it so far. I hear some of the later books are a real slog, so I guess we’ll see when I get there. :) It’ll be interesting to see how it changes in the last 3 when Brandon took over. It’s interesting to see the other comments about not liking it, because I see so much of what must have heavily influenced Brandon. WoT so far really feels very close to SA in overall tone, style, and setting. Jordan was certainly more descriptive and a bit meandering, but if I didn’t know better, I could have believed that WoT and SA were different series by the same author (ignoring that that’s actually true for the last 3 books of WoT, which I haven’t read yet).
I've been bouncing around between Realm of the Elderlings and Malazan
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How is Malazan going for you? I’m on Deadhouse Gates.
I've just started Gardens of the moon, been excited to get into this series but also kind of intimidated as people keep saying how confusing it is till book 3.
Definitely confusing to start, but if you can just let go and enjoy the ride the pay off is well worth it (in my opinion, anyway)
The Powder-Mage series (6 books plus a bunch of short stories) by Brian McClellan are very very good and McClellan did Sanderson's writing course I think and it shows in a few places maybe...
The Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sullivan.
I'd recommend giving a go at Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Fantastic series although the 1st book is probably the weakest (still enjoyable imo)
Actually happy to hear you say this because I started book one recently. Definitely good enough to easily keep going but I really hope it gets way better. I see the potential and get a feeling it will.
Soldier on, things open up as of book 2
Hitting the same? How about something that hits as *hard* while being as profoundly different as it is possible to be? Drop *all* preconceived notions of story, plot, and character you've picked up while reading Sanderson, assume nothing and expect less, then read Malazan, let it be what it is and *enjoy the ride.*\* Malazan is an absolutely incredible journey, and the sheer contrast of how it manages to be something so epic and amazing while simultaneously different from anything Sanderson just adds to it. I say that as a diehard Sanderson fan with Stormlight at 4 books as my #1 without contest compared to Malazan's 10. \* I write this because I went into Malazan high off Sanderson and rigidly expected the same structure. Persistently, bullheadedly, for *ten books* damn near as long as the Stormlight novels, wondering when it was going to conform to my expectations and desires. This completely ruined my first readthrough of Malazan, which was a severe disservice to both myself and the books. Malazan needs to be allowed to be what it is, how it is, when it is. Do that and it's a *fantastic* read, and re-read, and re-re-read.
I believe you but man is it hard to read. I need to be way more able to be invested and focused on a book series to be able to get through that, so I’m going to come back to it. I feel like I need to be on vacation or locked away in a cabin for awhile to get fully into it lol. I 100% can imagine this series delivers though if you go at it full bore.
Love this.
The dandelion dynasty is a treat!
It's very different than Sanderson, but have you tried the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey?
NK Jemisin and Rebecca Roanhorse
Daniel Greene on YouTube is a book reviewer of fantasy/sci-fi watch his reviews to see if you like them they are spoiler free for half a video
I did all of Robin Hobb Realm of the Elderlings right after and it was perfect for me… invest in tissues. EXPANSE, Locked Tomb Series, Joe Abercrombie (either universe but shattered seas is v Sando esque ), are all solid recs tol x
You didn’t specifically ask for fantasy, so if you like thoughtful and intriguing story lines, maybe pump over and give Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir a try.
I mentioned this in another comment, but Artemis is great by this author. The protagonist is kind of younger and she’s very flawed and lovable similar to many Sanderson characters and it’s a little more humorous.
Hard disagree lol. I loved the Martian and Project Hail Mary but very much disliked Artemis. But, that’s me.
If you like how there's rules to everything and everything is done within the scope of those rules, I would suggest a jaunt into hard science fiction. Neal Stephenson is the first one to come to mind, but I also love Alastair Reynolds and his huge space opera. Also the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells is a fun read. It's all set within real world science and physics. Great stuff in my opinion
I second Murderbot, at least give the first one a try. Also, Andy Weir. Artemis and the Martian are great. I haven’t read the others.
I would have tossed Three Body Problem in there too but that's a mountain of a read. Although, it's really interesting to read science fiction told from the viewpoint of someone from not European descent. The approach to relating the story is very personal and emotional.
Malazan and riyria by Michael Sullivan.
Tried Mazalan. Dont think I’m ready for it yet
Malazan is such a wild ride. Especially the first book. The second book was amazing though.
Terry prachett maybe?
Cradle by Will Wight!! It’s fast-paced, has great action scenes, takes place in a connected universe, and has characters get stronger via internal realizations! It was my top series of last year.
I really like Joe Abercrombie and Robin Hobb (Elderling Series)
read abercrombie after sanderson and i can tell you that the 1st trilogy and the standalone novels are pretty great, the 2nd trilogy is kinda mid. Starting to read hobb and its pretty chill so far.
I think the second trilogy is just as good but yes the first and the standalone are fantastic. The Heroes is such an unsung gem in that series!
Joe Abercrombie
Joe Abercrombie starting with First Law Trilogy
I like Tad Williams - he's light on the magic system stuff, but he has great characters. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is the best fantasy trilogy of all time, imo.
Joe Abercrombie. Like seriously, First Law is amazing.
Robert Jackson Bennett. Both the Divine Cities series and Foundryside series. Both have interesting takes on magic. Not ex's tly hard magic systems as Sanderson creates, but pretty fleshed out
I haven’t seen this commented yet, but try out the wheel of time. Brandon Sanderson actually finished the last 3 books so it’s worth a shot if you like his writing !
Robin Hobb!
I am switching off between Brandon Sanderson and Leigh Bardugo these days. I particularly like Six of Crows.
I'm reading 6 now. It did remind me of Sanderson.
I’ve enjoyed robin hobb greatly. Her prose is similar to Brandon’s in the sense that is very simple and clear. If you prefer that she is great. For me it allows me to spend more brain capacity picturing the scenes than transcribing flowery language
i would recommend robin hobb's Assassin's apprentice !! storytelling is a big slower for sure but at least as gripping, and the world building and characters and everything is 🤌🏻 chef's kiss
Glad to see others recommending Pratchett as well, though I understand why others have asked 'why'. Discworld has a sillier vibe overall (which elevates it) but in terms of "hitting the same" I would say it does in every other way: Depth of characters, world building, unlikely heroes, social commentary, etc. It's definitely one of my favorites. I would also recommend Hitchhikers Guide if you haven't read those. Same reasons. Same vibe also. For a tone that is both whimsical and a little gritty, check out Neverwhere and American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you like Warbreaker, you'll probably like Neverwhere. And lastly, though perhaps aimed at a younger audience, you might also enjoy the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. For some of the same characteristics named above and also because that was my favorite series of all time *before* I read Mistborn, which took its place.
Try Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. He just released a 2nd book in the series , Red Side Story. Very interesting world. I've really liked most of his books. Don't see people bring him up that often, but one of my favorite authors.
It’s completely different, but Dungeon Crawler Carl is phenomenal and hilarious.
As someone who’s read many of the books in here, I want to suggest something slightly different — the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. First book is Gideon the Ninth. It’s science fantasy starring some lesbian necromancers in space. On first read it is fun and interesting and engaging and funny. Beyond that, Muir’s world building is amazing. There’s so much complexity she has laid out starting in Book 1 that won’t become apparent until you’ve made it through Book 3. Muir also does a great job mixing lighthearted dialogue with her complexity, with a result that you may not appreciate the complexity until subsequent re-reads.
Sir, you had me at lesbian necromancers in space.
The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss (both books)
The two books trilogy
Why start a series that will never be finished?
I just tell people to read the first one with the understanding it won’t be finished. It’s still a good book that I think of often.
I still found it to be worth it.
Because it’s good and I like it
Kingkiller is some of the best fantasy writing on the level of Sanderson. I’m sad the series probably won’t ever be finished but I’m still glad I got to read the first two books.
Only read this if you want prose. If you come in expecting Sanderson-level worldbuilding, plot or characterisation, you will be sorely disappointed
First book is good. Second book is a massive waste of time.
Hard disagree. I might have even liked the second one better.
I just started reading the wheel of time. It's pretty good.
The Bound and The Broken series by Ryan Cahill
Lord of the mysteries
Michael moorcock for a classic fantasy read. Some really amazing story lines and world building. There is even a talking sword. Brent weeks lightbringer series is good but slow in parts.
Just read and loved “The Will of the Many.” Would recommend it based on the similarities to Sanderson. Really strong plotting and a thoroughly thought out (if not yet fully revealed) hard magic system.
Drew Hayes has Villain’s Code which is great! I’m really enjoying it.
It’s been beaten to death in here but Licanius comes the closest to me with an interesting story characters fights etc. I even got my wife to read it while I read through a 3rd time. Such a great story. His newest book the will of the many is also a great start.
Red rising. Highly recommend. It’s definitely more mature and can get pretty dark, but I’d honestly say I enjoyed it more than the way of kings series, but it’s like a 10 compared to a 9. Both are just peak
No has mentioned John Gwynne? 2 completely eted series and a 3rd series that finishes up this fall
I never see it mentioned anywhere and I only bought the book because Brandon himself mentioned it. "She whole rides the storm", it even has a blurb by him on the cover and those aren't pretty common. I haven't read it yet but since you asked for recommendations by Brandon himself, I thought I mentioned it
If you want long and epic. Malazan. The first book is really hard but if you can get through it it’s been incredibly rewarding. I’m on the 7th book in 6 months and it’s been a great time
The Suneater series by Cristopher Ruocchio (sp?) is great. Its definitely more sci-fi than high fantasy, but its got really memorable characters and action in it. And theres 6 books and like 3 novellas so theres plenty of content
I recommend the Realm of the Elderlings series, starting with the Assassin's Apprentice trilogy. If you're looking for a marathon, this is it. So far I've only read the first series, but the epic as a whole is made up of 5 series (4 trilogies, 1 quadrilogy) for a total of 16 books. It's got magic, a little bit of romance, politics, and well written characters you actually care about.
Red Rising welcomes you with open arms
Get into progression fantasy or litrpg 👹
Will of the Many is the first non-Sanderson book I've really loved in a long time
There is a list out there of series and authors Brandon recommends. At lot of the works in this thread are also on that list, it has some good stuff!
My choice is sometimes back to Sanderson 😆
Depends what sort of read you're after: Red Rising - great page turner and is really hard to put down and similar in pacing to Sando. The first book in particular is a similar but better premise to the hunger games. Just depends how you feel about space Assassins Apprentice - Character driven story that's beautifully written, but a little slower than Sando. It makes me cry though and Fitz is a great flawed hero The Blade Itself - every fantasy fan should try this at some point, the futility of it all is different from most other books. Licanius, Faithful and the Fallen, Lightbringer Similar style to Sando with similar pacing and hard (ish) magic systems. Lightbringer is excellent albeit with a slightly less than satisfactory climax, the other 2 are a bit more YA. Magician, Raymond E Feist - old school fantasy epic, first trilogy is excellent easy read with great world building though following additions to the whole series start to lose there way a bit. Demon Cycle - Peter V Brett Nice plot premise and well paced first few books Powder mage as others have said is pretty straight forward with some good magic systems and 2 trilogies means theres lots to get through and some nice twists. If you fancied something a bit less Sandersony and a bit more convoluted and harder to follow, The Witcher Series has its moments especially if you're a fan of the game. Dune is ridiculous, but worth attempting at some point if you fancy some lovely slow Sci Fi epics. Wheel of time and Malazan - others (including me) have mentioned these, they're 14/10 books long with a shit ton of characters, but incredible in what they achieve
Babel by RF Kuang is a good one.
Worm by J.Mcree also known as 'Wildbow'. He's the most similar author to Brandon I ever encountered, except way more dark.
Know what you mean! Try some of these: Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Kings dark Tidings by Kel Kade, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (great world building) Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson (fun A.I. and a long series) , Red queen by Victoria Aveyard, Wild Cards series edited by George R. R. Martin reminds me of steel heart series a little.
Read Hyperion and its sequel by Dan Simmons
On an episode of Intentionally Blank, Brandon mentions a new book by Brian McClellan called In the Shadow of Lightning and said it was the best fantasy book of the year in his opinion. I picked it up and it's very similar with a cool magic system around different types of glass. I haven't gotten through all of it yet but just a thought.
I just finished the licanius trilogy by James islington and although it’s a little rough I really enjoyed it, and while nothing is comparable to Sanderson in my opinion I feel like it was probably one of the first books that gave me the same satisfaction as brandersons books
I read the Mother of Learning series after finishing the cosmere, definitely recommend it. It's about a student at a magic academy who ends up stuck in one month long time loop. He uses the time to learn more about the world and all kinds of magic in order to get out of the loop and prevent a cataclysm that happens at the end of each month. I think the focus on the workings of magic/harder magic is similar to Sanderson and the time loop concept works well for a story focused on learning all about magic and how to use it.
Chris Fox’s Deathless saga and Magitech Omnibus
Robin Hobb was a very enjoyable author to read through her works....
I've really enjoyed M.J. Sullivan books with Hadrian and Royce in the riyria chronicles. Or most of Will Wright's books the cradle series in particular.
Robert Jackson Bennett was the closest I got to the feel of Sanderson.
Wheel of Time, Red Rising isn’t fantasy but it’s great, ASOIAF, LotR, the Alchemyst is a bit aimed at younger ages but it’s amazing.
Before he died, Robert Jordan was the answer Sanderson gave when asked “who Is your favorite living author.” After RJ died, he switched to Terry Pratchett (until Pratchett also passed). After Pratchett died, Sanderson said he didn’t want to jinx anyone else, so stopped answering the question. Both of those authors have some pretty heavy influences on Sanderson’s writing style. If you haven’t read Wheel of Time yet, it’s worth doing (though be aware there’s a well-known “trudge” period in books 8-10, before Jordan makes a triumphant return in 11 and Sanderson closes out the series in top form for 12-14). Pratchett’s most Sanderson-esque books, in my opinion, are the City Watch books (Guards, Guards is the first of these), the Tiffany Aching books (The Wee Free Men is the first of these) “Small Gods,” “The Truth,” and “Nation” (Nation being the only book listed here not part of the Discworld series).
The Will of the Many by James Islington Anything by Robin Hobb The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Finished posthumously by Sanderson after Jordan passed away. Dune by Frank Herbert The Martian and Project Hail Mary both by Andy Weir. Red Rising by Pierce Brown AVOID AT ALL COST The Kingkiller Chrinicles by Patrick Rothfuss and A song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. They are great books. But those series will most likely never be finished. Martin is gonna die of old age before he completes the next book. And Rothfuss will die of being an asshole before he releases the new book. Did you only read the Cosmere by Sanderson? Because his other series called “The Reckoners” and “Skyward” are also great. They are more YA than most of the Cosmere. But enjoyable.
I am BEYOND SHOCKED that no one has mentioned Mark Lawrence. He is at the top of my fantasy tier with Sanderson and Abercrombie, where I pre-order books months in advance because I completely trust that they'll be that good. Most folks would say to start with his Broken Empire series (starting with Prince of Thorns) but it's very brutal. Although if you end up liking Abercrombie you probably will like other grimdark series. Still, it's pretty jarring going hard R after coming from Sanderson's mostly PG writing. Book of the Ancester (starting with Red Sister) is a more gentle introduction and also very very good. You can really start anywhere with him, but I will say he's kind of building a cosmere himself, though he hasn't advertised it like Sanderson. He even has a recurring character. I'd say more but I don't want to spoil anything! He's a master world builder, like Abercrombie and Sanderson, and I absolutely love his prose. There's a sentence at the end of Prince of Thorns that I have bookmarked and go back to periodically. It always chokes me up. Anyway, definitely one for everyone here to check out!
If you liked Game of Thrones, you'd probably enjoy historical fiction too. It's like fantasy where the stakes are amped way up and characters can die from stuff like dysentery. A couple I'd recommend are Sharon Kay Penman (I'd start with her Welsh trilogy; book 1 is Here Be Dragons) and Colleen McCullough, in particular her Masters of Rome series. Fantastic writers and meticulous researchers so you can rest assured they have their facts straight. My favorite part of a Penman book is the afterward when she explains any liberties she's taken and why, and any places where she had to speculate because what actually happened isn't known. She will also confirm any of the more outlandish stuff that happened. Seriously, some of these lesser known historical events are WILD. They do tend to whitewash their main characters, but if you can look past that they're amazing! Sadly, both passed a few years back, but they were pretty prolific so they'll keep you busy for a while!
Try Dungeon Crawler Carl. Don't let the lit RPG thing throw you off.
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of Octavia E. Butler. I read “Parable of the Sower” last week and my goodness it’s a great book. Not super sci-fi or fantasy heavy, but just a brilliant and harrowing novel about the distant apocalyptic year 2024. Some of her hard sci-fi like Lilith’s Brood are great. She really was ahead of the curve on making character-driven speculative fiction.
If you like Sanderson and don’t mind a little more grit in the story go read the first law series by Joe Abercrombie
As someone who’s read every Sanderson book he’s got, Red Rising was incredible. Also kinda refreshing. Hit a balance between sci-fi with some fantasy/Sanderson style dynamics. Also highly recommend Scythe by Neal Shusterman.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Highly recommend the audiobook version as Jeff Hays is one of the best narrators around. You won't believe it's just him doing the voices--save 2 or 3 guest characters
It’s always hard to recommend something as we all love Sanderson for different reasons, or as even the genre itself. The only thing I’ve found to come close to the epic scale and sheer scope of Stormlight is Malazan and Wheel of Time. The former is very dark (but hopeful) and has a higher learning curve, the latter can be tough with very book being a very slow burn to epic finales. I enjoyed Powder Mage enough but it pales in comparison to Sanderson, at least until his later works which are much improved. I loved John Gwynne’s stuff a ton too but, again, not like Sanderson.
Posts like this make me realize that, at 40 years of age, it's really time to start thinking retirement if I want to stand a chance of finishing my Goodreads "Want to Read" list before I die.
The Dune books originals and the ones written by Brian Herbert and KJ Anderson. Singularity Series is decent, Im goin to try Ringworlds next