It is possible both to read The Great Hunt as a contained, quest-style fantasy, following the chase after the Horn of Valere after its theft by agents of evil, and as an installment of a vaster epic in which this quest is a kind of backdrop to the main drama of our protagonists, and especially the struggle against destiny.
Impressions Map
I somehow wrote almost all of Impressions, which features a significant amount of travel for Raven, and lots of luxuriating in the worldbuilding, without even a sketch of a map. Only when my writing group began going through the story did I think to rectify the story’s tardy cartographic situation.
New Spring Review
It is Jordan at probably the height of his powers, managing with skill and finesse a task that stumps other skilled authors.
Eye of the World Review
The Wheel of Time turns, and the ages come again – in this case, it brings at long last my reread of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.
A Psalm for the Wild Built Review
I can’t tell if my lingering dissatisfaction with it is because it really wasn’t as good as it could have been, or because it didn’t match what I had in my head for the concept.
Using History
There’s clearly nothing wrong with being inspired by history for your writing – historical fiction is a genre, after all – but Impressions has me pondering how closely a fantasy story can hew to real history without confusing or distracting the reader.
The Steerswoman Review
A scene early on, when Rowan attempts to explain how objects fall, and accidentally constructs the Newton’s Canon thought experiment captures the mood of the story, the temperament of the protagonist, and, when I read it, captured my attention for the remainder of the book.
Why War
The point is not in the specifics, but in prompting you (and me) to consider these things when we write. I’ve said it many times, and I’ll continue saying it; the most important decisions you make in your story might be the ones that you don’t even realize you’re making.
The Sunlit Man Review
The Sunlit Man marks Sanderson’s fiftieth novel, and it is probably the deepest dive yet into connecting the Cosmere.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter Review
Reading a book like Yumi and the Nightmare Painter has me wondering if Tolkien ever envisioned this secondary world concept being taken to the imaginative extreme that Sanderson explores in the Cosmere.
IGC Publishing 