I like that you have your own opinion on these and go against the typical rankings people would have on these books. Your channel is great! Keep it going :)

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the support! My take on Elantris and Warbreaker is definitely different.😂 I have more Cosmere videos planned in the next couple months.

Super unique ranking list here, loved hearing your reasonings. For me, if I just limit myself to the books in this review to make it compare better would be: 1) Words of Radiance - Best single book I think I've ever read. Not perfect, but as close as any book has gotten. 2) Way of Kings - Has some of my favorite moments in any book ever, better then anything in WoR, but pacing isn't as strong and the beginning is a little rough to get through. Still I consider both books 10/10. 3) Emperor's Soul - One of the best short stories I've ever read, was my gateway book to get my wife to give Sanderson another chance after she found Mistborn amateurish and boring. She's since read more Cosmere then me! 4) Oathbringer - Loved it, only this low because the above 3 are, in my opinion, better. I felt like 3 massive tomes plus multiple related side stories (Edge Dancer, Dawnshard, etc.) were more then enough set up for the big final battle. 5) Hero of Ages - The only Mistborn book I'd consider a master piece, that I truly enjoyed and couldn't put down. I might even put it above Oathbringer if not for the fact that it requires reading two "meh" books for it to have its full impact. 6) Elantris - I'd heard it was his worst book, a rough read that mostly served as a time capsule of how far he'd come as a writer since writing it (and the value being a successful writer who can hire beta readers and editors these days). All that was true... but I still quite enjoyed it, I like the premise and some of the characters. By the end of it I was ready to be done with the world, so I'm not particularly excited for Elantris 2 that Sanderson announced, but I'm very glad to have read this book fully through. 7) Warbreaker - I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. I'd just finished Way of Kings which I couldn't put down so my wife kept comenting on how disinterested I seemed to be compared to the previous book (this was before she would give the cosmere another chance) which I don't think was true, I was interested, just not AS interested. It was like eating really good fast food after having an amazing gourmet burger. 8-9) The first 2 wax and wayne books are all I've read so far, I started the third but was struggling to maintain interest so took a break and haven't come back yet. These books are all fine, I enjoyed them well enough, but not so much I'd recommend them to some one else except as additional cosmere after they've read the good stuff. 10) the Final Empire - Not being a fantasy fan it took me years to get my wife to give sanderson a chance, we decided to start with mistborn, since I hadn't read it yet and it was next on my to read list. HUGE mistake. More so then elantris I think TFE really shows how far Sanderson has come as a writer since he wrote it. The story is okay, not his best work but not terrible, but the quality of the writing itself is well bellow everything above this book on my list. So many times repeating things we've already learned over and over, and the character themselves, while not "bad", lacked the depth his characters have in his later works. My wife read with me to the end and didn't hate TFE, but her impression was that she didn't understand why I liked Sanderson so much as he just seemed like a forgettable author based on this work. 11) The Well of Ascension - I actually got my wife to start this one with me and that was the last straw, she could not make it all the way through, it was just soooooooo boring and still poorly written. It took several years before I talked her into Emperor's Soul and then Way of Kings after which she became a massive Sanderson fan, but this story really left a sour taste in her mouth, unlike TFE which she just found meh, she actually disliked this story, found it unenjoyable. For my part I didn't have as strong a reaction, but I would agree its the weakest of his books I've read to date. 12-13) Haven't read Rythm of War or all of the third Wax and Wayne book so can't comment on them.

Spicy takes, but I respect it. Each readers experience is unique!

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. I still have yet to meet someone with my same top 2. Very unique placement.

@josephreusch

2 жыл бұрын

@@jonathankoan indeed, it's funny Warbreaker was my first Sanderson and Elantris my second I loved Warbreaker but didn't love Elantris at the time. Now Warbreaker is much lower on my list and I would say Elantris is probably in my top 5. My buddy's top 2 are Way of Kings and Elantris. Got to think more about my own list but there are just a lot of good books to choose from.

Really unique list, thanks for another great video Jonathan!

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching! Glad I can provide a different perspective.

I’m going through the cosmere for the first time (I’ve read Warbreaker, emperors soul and am currently reading mistborn ATM) and your feelings on elantris make me want to get to it sooner 😄

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

I think I’m the only person that likes it this much. Everyone else has it at the bottom, but it hits every single note I wanted it to.

I completely agree on giving every Cosmere novel a relatively high score. I don't think Sanderson has written a mediocre story yet. It's just a matter of which stories you prefer over others. He's just next level.

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly!

This tough because all of the Cosmere books I’ve read are all on an equal playing field. I’ve been blown away by 2 books which are The Final Empire & The Well of Ascension. The rest can go in any order really. But here’s my rankings anyways. 1) The Well of Ascension 2) The Final Empire 3) The Way of Kings 4) The Hero of Ages 5) Oathbringer 6) Words of Radiance 7) Warbreaker 8) Elantris I do plan on reading Mistborn Era 2 & short stories here very soon!

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

It is funny, on Goodreads, I gave all the books 5/5, but there are some that I like more than others, so when I rate something low I have to say “but I still loved it”. Nice rating. Almost reverse of mine. 😂

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody put anything but Stormlight and/or Mistborn in the top two, so it was cool to see a unique perspective. I’ve only read the Mistborn trilogy so far but I absolutely adored all three. Each one is a 10/10 for me but if I had to rank them, it would probably be 1) The Well of Ascension 2) The Final Empire 3) The Hero of Ages As a side note, we found a stray kitten very soon after I finished Mistborn. I loved it so much that I convinced my wife to name her Vin

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

That’s cool! I love it when animals are named after characters! And I think part of the reason I love the standalones so much is that the story is essentially complete. They really are full, and they each told exactly the story I wanted them to tell.

@Revan-sk4qx

2 жыл бұрын

@@jonathankoan I think the first Mistborn could work well as a standalone as well. That’s part of the reason why I chose it as my first, as I’d heard it can also work okay on its own in case I wasn’t sold on it. It tells a complete story, and with them bringing down the Lord Ruler you think it’s got a happy ending. And that works fine, but then the sequels come along and… well, I guess it’s not so happy after all!

Hey Jonathan, great video (as usual!) I’ve read somewhere that Brandon is of the Mormon faith, can you tell me if his books include proper LGBTQ+ representation? Thanks, and have a good day

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

He did an Ask Me Anything on his KZread Channel recently where he goes more in depth on that answer. It’s a much better answer than I could give here.

Mistborn trilogy is my favorite trilogy besides lord of the rings and I agree on words of radiance.. it's just a masterpiece

Elantris? Number one. I’m on the fence with BS and hearing this makes me really think I’m out on BS. I’ve read MB era 1 and emperors soul which I liked for the most part. Elantris not so much. Oh well.

@jonathankoan

2 жыл бұрын

Keep in mind that I am literally the only person with this as their favorite Brandon Sanderson book. Almost everyone else includes the Stormlight archive books higher up, so don’t let mine be the only opinion to sway you. But the political intrigue, the religious questions, the world building, and the three parts story just worked so well for me with Elantris. But it has the least amount of action of any Brandon Sanderson book, so it could be viewed as is most boring. But I definitely think he’s worth it. By far my favorite author of all time now.