A Green Mushroom

I liked the Cosmere Collection a lot, but it's not going to be for most people.  The Cosmere is the greater interconnected universe that Brandon Sanderson has slowly been building in the background of a lot of his novels and novellas.  He's mentioned that they're all connected and only recently have some of the connections been mentioned in the text of his work. This is a short story collection all about that.  It's a series of short stories and novellas from his various worlds in the Cosmere. Some of them are brand new for this collection and some of them I've read before as stand-alones.  But, they're all good. If you've read the majority of Sanderson's work then you owe it to yourself to pick up this Cosmere Collection.  If you haven't read any of his work or only a few books then definitely skip this one for the moment and keep it in mind for later. But for the Sanderson fans out there, this one is great!

The Alcatraz series is the only writing of Brandon Sanderson's that I hadn't checked out.  I finally remedied that. Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians is about a kid named Alcatraz who suddenly finds out he has magic.  It's very Young Adult.  I like Young Adult books when they're closer to the higher part of the Young Adult age range.  Alcatraz is near the lower end. I felt like this was a book that my kids are almost ready for, not one meant for me.  Although I bet I would have loved it if I was 11-13. I wouldn't recommend this one for adults but if you have kids just hitting the Young Adult reading age this one would be a great book to pick up.

Calamity is the third book, and the conclusion of, The Reckoners trilogy.  It wraps everything up very nicely and overall it's a really good book. The Reckoners has become one of my favorite series written by Brandon Sanderson.  The basic premise is that a star showed up in the sky and suddenly a bunch of humans all gained superpowers at the same time.  Unfortunately, anyone who uses their powers gets corrupt and turns evil.  So, it's a superpower world with no heroes. The Reckoners are a group of humans who set out to take down the superpowered "epics" by learning their weaknesses and exploiting them. That's where the series starts but by this third book we know so much more about epics, their powers, how their weaknesses work, and that it's possible to fight through the evil to some extent. It's super hard to write about this book without getting into spoilers and I don't want to spoil it for anyone.  But, I highly recommend this series. ...

Bands of Mourning is the third book in the second set of the Mistborn series.  It follows Waxilliam six months after the events of Shadows of Self .  It directly deals with the fallout from that book and it picks up really quickly. I think Bands of Mourning was the best paced and most consistently interesting in this set of Mistborn books.  I'm sure that part of that is because it ties into the previous book so well and builds on it.  I didn't feel that way nearly as much between the first and second book. Bands of Mourning finds the main characters needing to leave the central city where they've spent the last book and go investigate what's happening in the wider world.  They're looking for a legendary item, the Bands of Mourning, because it could have a power that would change the world. While I still don't love this alternate history early 1900s type of setting at this point I really like the main characters and I want to know what happens to them. ...

Perfect State is a Brandon Sanderson novella.  As such it has a unique world and fantastic worldbuilding, just like all of his writing.  I really liked it. In Perfect State each person is in their own version of the matrix but they know about it.  The computer generated world adapts to them as they live their lives.  The worlds can be anything from a modern setting, to a fantasy realm with magic, or super futuristic high tech. In the end the human race is basically brains in jars.  They've generally come to terms with it. The really interesting parts occur when these humans interact with people from other "states".  Essentially people from other matrixes.  Someone who has lived their entire life in a realm of magic can suddenly find themselves dealing with future tech and robots.  It's a very interesting culture clash. Since it's a novella it's a quick read.  I listened to it on Audible and it was about a 3 hour listen. Perfect ...

This is another in the long line of Brandon Sanderson novels I've read.  Wow, he's good at staying productive and getting his books completed.  This is the latest in his Mistborn series. The Mistborn world has great worldbuilding (as does all Sanderson writing) and a really cool magic system.  Magic users are able to burn specific metals inside their body to produce very specific effects.  It ends up being weirdly precise and scientific while being awesome at the same time. The last book in this series, Alloy of Law, was a jump forward from the original trilogy.  The events of the first trilogy are mostly myths and legends now.  The world has advanced past the medieval setting and is made up of mostly western and early 1900s type settings.  Basically an entire set of new characters were introduced. This book, Shadows of Self, starts to bring the old and new series together.  Characters and events from the first trilogy begin interacting ...

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors these days and I just found out that he released this novella Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell a while ago and I somehow missed it. I remedied that situation. My favorite thing about novella length fiction is being able to sit down and read the entire thing in one session.  This one was no exception.  I read through the novella in one night and really liked it. Sanderson creates a new world with a new system of magic and superstition, as he usually does.  It's always interesting to see which direction he takes it.  In this world it seems to be built up around puritanical belief systems.  I'm not a person that likes too much religion in my fiction, but  Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell does a great job of using it as source material but not lingering on it. The story follows Silence, a character who owns a waystop along a dangerous road through the forests and the White Fox, a b...

I love Brandon Sanderson.  Not the man... but his books.  They're so good.  With the exception of his very first novel, Elantris, I've loved every single book or novella of his that I've read.  I recommend them to people all the time. I just finished listening to the audiobook version of The Rithmatist.  I've read the book a few times before, so the audiobook was a change of pace.  But, it was great! The world of The Rithmatist is basically an alternative history version of the early 1900s in the U.S.  Some major event has shaken the world, changed the landscape, and created a new form of science/math called Rithmatics.  Those in the world who are Rithmatists can use chalk to do things that would be considered magic in other circumstance, but it conforms to a very precise set of laws and theories.  It's an interesting setting. We learn throughout the book that wild creatures called chalklings may be on the loose.  They are anim...

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors.  His book vary in quality, but I like all of them on some level.  But his novellas are always amazing.  He takes all his worldbuilding ability and focuses it into the perfect little package. Legion and Legion: Skin Deep are two of his novellas that I recently re-read and loved. These are more modern than most of his other novels.  It's not sci-fi or fantasy.  The main character in Legion has an interesting psychological disorder where his skills manifest to him as imaginary people.  He doesn't have typical multiple personality disorder, he actually sees and interacts with his various aspects all the while knowing that they are imaginary.  He's found a balance that works for him and his aspects let me retain a ton of skills and abilities. They great novellas and fantastic in audio book form since each aspect gets their own voice.  It truly adds a level of depth to the story when listening t...