American writer Brandon Sanderson: biography, creativity and reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Brandon Sanderson is a contemporary American science fiction writer. He made his debut in 2005 with the novel Elantris, and in 2007 his novel The Hope of Elantris was published. From that moment on, the author began to write professionally. We will talk about the biography and work of this author further.

Biography

Brandon Sanderson was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on December 19, 1975. Graduated from Brigham Young University, the leading educational institution of the Mormon Church, which is located in Orem. Here, the future writer graduated from the Faculty of English Literature in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Brandon did not stop there, and already in 2005 he graduated from the magistracy, becoming a master of arts, having received the speci alty "creative writing". After graduation, he did not leave his alma mater and returned as an English teacher.

In 2006, the writer married Emily Bushman, a teacher from Provo. The couple has no children yet.

Sanderson is a member of the Mormon Church.

About loveto reading

Brandon Sanderson, whose books we will review below, in an interview said that his love for reading in general, and for fantasy in particular, developed in high school. In elementary school, the writer's favorite books were the children's detective series The Three Investigators, which had been published since 1964. With age, Brandon began to advise more serious and realistic books that only caused boredom. This discouraged him from reading, and in high school he had little interest in literature.

Then, in high school, Sanderson got a great English teacher. She then gave the boy to read "Dragon's Doom" by Barbara Hambley. This book was the first in the fantasy genre that Brandon read, but far from the last. With this novel, the author's love for this genre began. By the writer's own admission, he re-read all the books in the library that contained the word "dragon" in their titles.

Academic years and debut

Brandon Sanderson originally went to college to study biochemistry, but after studying for a year he realized that this was absolutely not his speci alty. Throughout the year of study, Brandon wrote tirelessly, this was the defining moment in the decision to change direction. He abandoned biochemistry and went to study English literature. Taking a new direction, Brandon made every possible effort to fulfill his dream of becoming a writer. The result of the work was the publication of the novel "Elantris", in Russiantranslated as "City of the Gods". The work was written back in 1999, and was published only in 2005. As soon as the book came out, Sanderson was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for the best debut authors. The author does not plan to continue this novel at this time, and if he decides, then, according to him, he will describe the adventures of minor characters.

Creative process

Brandon Sanderson (the writer's books are now translated into many languages) always wanted his first book to be a non-cyclical novel, as he thought it would be the best way to introduce himself to readers. A reader who meets a writer for the first time is more likely to read one complete story to see if the author is worth paying attention to, Sanderson suggests. That is why "Elantris" has no sequels - with this book you need to start acquaintance with the work of the author.

In 2006, the second novel was published, written by Brandon Sanderson (a collection of the writer's stories will be released much later). It turned out to be the first book in the Mistborn trilogy called The Final Empire.

The author himself claims that this cycle was born from 2 ideas. The first came to Sanderson's mind when he was watching Ocean's 11 and realized that many of the films he likes center on teams of professional thieves. And he decided to try to transfer this technique to fantasy. The second idea came from the many adventure novels that Sanderson read as a teenager. It consisted in the fact that too many books tell about a young man from a peasant family who left home to fight the forces of darkness. But what if the young hero failed to defeat the overlord, and evil won?

Thus, it turned out that the Mistborn cycle tells what would happen to the world where the dark lord won. The hero has been defeated, the prophecies have not come true, ashes are falling from the sky, and humanity is enslaved. Then a team of thieves enters the scene, which decides to deal with the dark lord in their own way - by robbing him and outbidding the minions. But it gradually turns out that not everything was so simple with that hero defeated a century ago.

Brandon Sanderson: books by the author

After the publication of the first part of the cycle, two volumes of the continuation came out, which were no less successful than the first book. From that moment on, Sanderson's new novels are constantly on the book shelves, the writer continues to delight his fans with more and more new works. Next, we will look at the most famous books of the writer.

City of the Gods

It's worth starting with the debut work - the novel "Elantris". The reader will see the marvelous city of the gods Elantris, full of wisdom, beauty and the center of magic, which was likened to a silver fire that burns in eternity. Any mortal touched by a shaod could become like the gods and become an Elantrian - a kind of magical transformation that endows the chosen one with magical abilities. However, those days are over a decade ago. The city of the gods fell, and shaod turned from a blessing into a curse. The new capital of the lands of Arelon was the small town of Kai, which is located near the black walls of the once beautiful stronghold, in which those unfortunate people touched by the shaod are now imprisoned. Our story begins from the moment when the crown prince of Arelon, Raoden, became a victim.

The Doomed Kingdom by Brandon Sanderson

The novel has a second title - "The Way of Kings". It is the first work in the unfinished series "Petrel Archive".

With this book, the writer begins a large-scale saga, which is not inferior to the works of J. Tolkien, R. Dalvatore, R. Jordan. The author depicts an amazing world with unique flora and fauna, in addition, Brandon carefully thought out the spiritual culture of the races living in this world, paid great attention to the political structure of the world - there is nothing randomly depicted in this novel, everything is thought out and fits into the general system.

At the center of his book, Sanderson Brandon depicts the world of Roshar, which is in the grip of the greatest storms that sweep away everything in its path. However, this is not the most terrible, much more terrible is the true devastation. Waiting for its onset can change the fate of entire races. Will the inhabitants of this world have enough strength to unite and confront the terrible danger together? Will there be a hero for whom the words of the ancient oath - "death below life", "weakness below strength", "goal below the path" - will not be just an empty old fairy tale?

In the meantime, the worldremembers the Shining Knights who fell centuries ago, leaving only armor and weapons. In the Shattered Plains, battles continue with the strange people of the Parshendi, who organized the assassination of the ruler of Alethkar.

Sanderson won the 2011 David Gemmel Award for this novel, and the book won Fantlab Book of the Year (2013).

The Coming Storm

In 2007, after the death of the famous American science fiction writer Robert Jordan, who began one of the longest cycles - "The Wheel of Time", Brandon Sanderson took on the difficult task of completing the series. The writer, based on the diary entries of the deceased science fiction writer, was able to brilliantly fulfill his task. And in 2009, the book "The Coming Storm", which completes the cycle, was published.

The novel was well-received by Jordan's fans and fits in seamlessly with the series.

Mistborn

To date, this is a complete cycle that Brandon Sanderson completed in 2008. The series includes three novels: "Ashes and Steel", "Source of Ascension" and "Hero of the Ages", as well as a short story "The Secret History", which was published in Russia quite late - in 2016.

The trilogy tells about a world in which the Last Empire has been flourishing for a millennium, which rules an immortal ruler, a single ruler and a god. A millennium ago, he defeated the unknown Abyss and, instead of freeing him, enslaved the world. Since that time, the sun has turned red, ash falls from the sky, and at night the world embracesfog that takes people's souls.

Today, Sandorson lives in Provo and continues to teach at the university.