“What are Brandon Sanderson’s Best Books?” We looked at all of Sanderson’s authored bibliography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the books written by Brandon Sanderson and looked at their Goodreads, Amazon, and LibraryThing scores, ranking them against one another to see which books came out on top. The books are ranked in our list below based on which titles have the highest overall score between all 3 review sites in comparison with all of the other books by the same author. The process isn’t super scientific and in reality, most books aren’t “better” than other books as much as they are just different. That being said, we do enjoy seeing where our favorites landed, and if you aren’t familiar with the author at all, the rankings can help you see what books might be best to start with.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

The Top Book’s Of Brandon Sanderson

46 ) The Dark Talent

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 35

Alcatraz Smedry, practically the world champion of breaking things, never thought his most boring birthday present – a bag of sand – would get him into this much trouble. Yet now he’s fleeing from evil Librarians, releasing dinosaurs to create a diversion in the fiction section, and learning that clumsiness can be a powerful talent! The first in a gripping and action-packed adventure series featuring an unlikely but immensely likeable hero.

45 ) What the Storm Means

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 42
• LibraryThing: 35

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. In the Prologue to The Gathering Storm, the first volume of the last trilogy of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time epic, Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, struggles to unite a fractured network of kingdoms and alliances in preparation for the Last Battle. As he attempts to halt the Seanchan encroachment northward—wishing he could form at least a temporary truce with the invaders—his allies watch in terror the shadow that seems to be growing within the heart of the Dragon Reborn himself.

43 ) Awakening

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 35
• LibraryThing: 35

Trained from birth in swordplay and combat, a young knight named Siris has journeyed to the Dark Citadel with a single purpose: fight through the army of Titans to face the tyrannical God King in one-on-one combat. This was his father’s sacred mission, and his father’s before him, going back countless generations in an effort to free their people from enslavement. But when Siris somehow succeeds where all those from his bloodline previously have failed, he finds himself cast into a much larger world, filled with warriors and thieves, ancient feuds and shifting alliances, Deathless immortals and would-be kings. His quest for freedom will take him on an epic journey in search of the mythical figure known as the Worker of Secrets – the one being in the world who can unravel the secrets of the Infinity Blade.

43 ) Firstborn

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 35
• LibraryThing: 35

Of the son of a High Duke of the interstellar Empire, much glory is expected. And expected. And still expected, despite endless proof that young Dennison Crestmar has no talent whatsoever for war. But the life Dennison is forced to live will have its surprising lessons to impart…

42 ) Mitosis

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 38
• Amazon: 35
• LibraryThing: 34

Epics still plague Newcago, but David and the Reckoners have vowed to fight back. Catch all the action before Firefight, the exciting sequel to Steelheart, comes to audio.

40 ) By Grace and Banners Fallen

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 31
• LibraryThing: 35

40 ) Redemption

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 31
• LibraryThing: 35

Long months have passed since Siris and the God King, enemies betrayed together, were left to rot in the prison at the Vault of Tears. Their true enemy – the Worker of Secrets, creator of the Infinity Blade itself – now reigns. Upon finally obtaining freedom, Siris must unravel plots that seem to make no sense, lead a rebellion with no direction, and fight against the division within his very heart. The secrets unraveled will dig backward in time toward the origins of the deathless and the true nature of the world itself…. From number one best-selling author Brandon Sanderson and ChAIR entertainment, creators of the blockbuster Infinity Blade video game series, comes the second novel in the epic Infinity Blade saga. This latest tale delves deeper into the fantastical world of Infinity Blade, a world of mystery and intrigue where magic and technology are indistinguishable and even life and death are not as they seem.

37 ) Legion

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 28
• Amazon: 40
• LibraryThing: 32

As the story begins, Leeds and his ‘aspects’ are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society. The action ranges from the familiar environs of America to the ancient, divided city of Jerusalem. Along the way, Sanderson touches on a formidable assortment of complex questions: the nature of time, the mysteries of the human mind, the potential uses of technology, and the volatile connection between politics and faith. Resonant, intelligent, and thoroughly absorbing, Legion is a provocative entertainment from a writer of great originality and seemingly limitless gifts.

37 ) Skin Deep

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 29
• Amazon: 40
• LibraryThing: 31

They crowd his head, and he lives with them in a vast, empty mansion. While he can call on any one of them to solve a problem, he also walks a line across an all-consuming madness. In development for television, Brandon Sanderson’s Legion stories are gripping psychological thrillers, perfect for any fan of speculative fiction. They will resonate particularly strongly with fans of stories about that other tortured crime-fighting genius: Sherlock Holmes. Legion: Skin Deep is an all-new, action-packed novella starring one of the most fascinating and charismatic heroes ever.

37 ) Perfect State

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 31
• LibraryThing: 35

From the author of Legion and the number-one New York Times best-selling Stormlight Archive comes an action-filled novella about privilege, culture clash, and expectations. God-Emperor Kairominas is lord of all he surveys. He has defeated all foes, has united the entire world beneath his rule, and has mastered the arcane arts. He spends his time sparring with his nemesis, who keeps trying to invade Kai’s world. Except for today. Today Kai has to go on a date. Forces have conspired to require him to meet with his equal – a woman from another world who has achieved just as much as he has. What happens when the most important man in the world is forced to have dinner with the most important woman in the world?

36 ) Lies of the Beholder

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 42
• LibraryThing: 25

Stephen Leeds, also known as ‘Legion’, has a unique mental condition. He can become an expert on any subject in hours . . . and with every new area of expertise a new ‘aspect’ of Stephen is created. Is he schizophrenic? Possibly. Does that make him an incredible intelligence agent? Definitely. And this is his final, and perhaps his strangest, adventure. It begins with two unrelated events: the disappearance of Armando, one of Stephen’s many “aspects,” and an unexpected cry for help from Sandra, the woman who, many years before, helped him learn to live with his condition . . . and the combination of the two leads to a sinister high-tech firm specializing in advanced methods of human incarceration. An original, challenging, and utterly absorbing story, this unmissable novella showcases Stephen Leeds at his best: a compelling hero, and a man constantly struggling to understand and control his own divided nature.

35 ) Snapshot

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 31
• LibraryThing: 33

If you could re-create a day, what dark secrets would you uncover? From New York Times number-one best-selling author Brandon Sanderson comes a detective thriller in a police beat like no other. Anthony Davis and his partner, Chaz, are the only real people in a city of 20 million, sent there by court order to find out what happened in the real world 10 days ago so that hidden evidence can be brought to light and located in the real city today. Within the re-created Snapshot of May 1, Davis and Chaz are the ultimate authorities. Flashing their badges will get them past any obstruction and overrule any civil right of the dupes around them. But the crimes the detectives are sent to investigate seem like drudgery – until they stumble upon the grisly results of a mass killing that the precinct headquarters orders them not to investigate. That’s one order they have to refuse. The hunt is on. And though the dupes in the replica city have no future once the Snapshot is turned off, that doesn’t mean that both Davis and Chaz will walk out of it alive tonight.

34 ) Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 37
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 35

When the familiar and seemingly safe turns lethal, therein danger lies. Amid a forest where the shades of the dead linger all around, every homesteader knows to follow the Simple Rules: “Don’t kindle flame, don’t shed the blood of another, don’t run at night. These things draw shades.” Silence Montane has broken all three rules on more than one occasion. And to protect her family from a murderous gang with high bounties on their heads, Silence will break every rule again, at the risk of becoming a shade herself.

33 ) Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 19

A hero with an incredible talent…for breaking things. A life-or-death mission…to rescue a bag of sand. A fearsome threat from a powerful secret network…the evil Librarians. Alcatraz Smedry doesn’t seem destined for anything but disaster. On his 13th birthday he receives a bag of sand, which is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians plotting to take over the world. The sand will give the Librarians the edge they need to achieve world domination. Alcatraz must stop them!…by infiltrating the local library, armed with nothing but eyeglasses and a talent for klutziness. Alcatraz’s ability to break things, he soon learns, is actually a Talent. Alcatraz must learn to use his Talent as he goes after the sands with a team of resistors, including Grandpa Smedry (Talent: “I have the ability to arrive late to things”…including arriving late to pain, or to his own death), Sing Smedry (Talent: “I can trip and fall to the ground”…avoiding injury in surprise attacks), Quentin Smedry (Talent: “I can say things that make absolutely no sense whatsoever”…if captured, he speaks nonsense instead of spilling secrets), and Bastille (a girl Alcatraz’s age, who is a knight charged with protecting Grandpa Smedry. Bastille has no Talent, but she’s got spunk, skill, and spark to spare). Together they must defeat a Dark Oculator and retrieve the magical lenses smelted from the sand, which allow Alcatraz to read The Forgotten Language, a previously indecipherable text–including a message from his long-lost father, who may not be dead after all…

32 ) Sixth of the Dusk

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 35

A fascinating new novella in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, the universe shared by his Mistborn series and the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive. Sixth of the Dusk, set in a never-before-seen world, showcases a society on the brink of technological change. On the deadly island of Patji, where birds grant people magical talents and predators can sense the thoughts of their prey, a solitary trapper discovers that the island is not the only thing out to kill him. When he begins to see his own corpse at every turn, does this spell danger for his entire culture?

31 ) Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 29

When Alcatraz and Grandpa Smedry make a pilgrimage to the Free Kingdom city of Crystallia, the Smedry home base, Alcatraz is shocked to see that he is, in fact, a legend. When he was a baby he was stolen by the Evil Librarians, and his mother, a Librarian herself, was behind the whole scheme. Now, with his estranged father, who is acting indeed strange, Bastille, who has been stripped of her armor, and Grandpa Smedry, who is, as always, late to everything (that’s his Talent), Alcatraz tries to save a city under siege. From who? Why, the Librarians of course!

30 ) Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 30
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 29

The fourth and final book in the fabulously funny Alcatraz Smedry series! Alcatraz Smedry is on a mission to save the day! In his final adventure in the series by bestselling adult fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson, Alcatraz has a lot to prove and, as always, little time in which to do it!

29 ) Shadows Beneath

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 2
• LibraryThing: 35

Dan Wells’s “I.E.Demon” features an Afghanistan field test of a piece of technology that is supposed to handle improvised explosive devices. Or so the engineers have told the EOD team that will be testing it; exactly what it does and how it does it are need-to-know, and the grunts don’t need to know. Until suddenly the need arises. Howard Tayler’s “An Honest Death” stars the security team for the CEO of a biotech firm about to release the cure for old age. When an intruder appears and then vanishes from the CEO’s office, the bodyguards must discover why he is lying to them about his reason for pressing the panic button. For years the hosts of Writing Excuses have been offering tips on brainstorming, drafting, workshopping, and revision, and now they offer an exhaustive look at the entire process.

28 ) Steelheart

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 27
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 25

It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills. Nobody fights the Epics . . . nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in. He wants Steelheart – the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David’s father. For years, like the Reckoners, David’s been studying, and planning – and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience. He’s seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

27 ) Elantris

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 26
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 24

Elantris was built on magic, and it thrived. But then the magic began to fade, and Elantris began to rot. Now its shattered citizens face domination by a powerful Imperium. Can a young Princess unite the people of Elantris and lead a rebellion against the imperial zealots? Brandon Sanderson’s debut fantasy showed his skill as a storyteller and an imaginer of baroque magical systems to be fully developed from the start.

24 ) Legion and The Emperor’s Soul

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 12
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 16

An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his 100-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos. Shai is given an impossible task: to create – to Forge – a new soul for the emperor in less than 100 days. But her soul-Forgery is considered an abomination by her captors. She is confined to a tiny, dirty chamber, guarded by a man who hates her, spied upon by politicians, and trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood. Shai’s only possible ally is the emperor’s most loyal councillor, Gaotona, who struggles to understand her true talent. Time is running out for Shai. Forging, while deducing the motivations of her captors, she needs a perfect plan to escape…

24 ) Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 12

A genius of unrivaled aptitude, Stephen can learn any new skill, vocation, or art in a matter of hours. However, to contain all of this, his mind creates hallucinatory people – Stephen calls them aspects – to hold and manifest the information. Wherever he goes, he is joined by a team of imaginary experts to give advice, interpretation, and explanation. He uses them to solve problems . . . for a price. His brain is getting a little crowded and the aspects have a tendency of taking on lives of their own. When a company hires him to recover stolen property – a camera that can allegedly take pictures of the past – Stephen finds himself in an adventure crossing oceans and fighting terrorists. What he discovers may upend the foundation of three major world religions – and, perhaps, give him a vital clue into the true nature of his aspects. Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds includes Legion, Legion: Skin Deep and the brand new, shocking finale to Leeds’ story, Lies of the Beholder.

24 ) Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 30
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 28

The Evil Librarians are still up to their antics and it’s up to Alcatraz Smedry to put a stop to it! This second book will take Alcatraz and company on an exploration of the Library of Alexandria, which — despite Librarian rumors — was never destroyed. It is a mysterious place and everyone knows that it holds dark secrets. Can Alcatraz, with his talent for breaking things, break into this secret world? Or will the Evil Librarians once again prevail?

23 ) The Alloy of Law

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 23
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 21

Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds. Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history – or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice. One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

22 ) Calamity

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 27

They told David it was impossible – that even the Reckoners had never killed a High Epic. Yet Steelheart – invincible, immortal, unconquerable – is dead. And he died by David’s hand. Eliminating Steelheart was supposed to make life more simple. Instead it only made David realize he has questions. Big ones. And there’s no one in Newcago who can give him the answers he needs. He found some of those answers in Firefight. Now he has to decide what to do with them…. Calamity is about what you do to fill your heart once you have vengeance.

21 ) Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell / Perfect State

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 19
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 1

Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell is a novella set in the Cosmere. Who names their daughter Silence, and what does it imply? What is it like to grow up with this name? The answer’s built into the concept of a stout pioneer woman who ran an inn on the frontier, drawing the seediest criminals the land had to offer. She’d then track them after they left her inn and murder them for their bounties. Perfect State sets God-Emperor Kairominas on a date. What happens when the most important man in the world is forced to have dinner with the most important woman in the world?

20 ) Warbreaker

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 17

After bursting onto the fantasy scene with his acclaimed debut novel, Elantris, and following up with his blockbuster Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson proves again that he is today’s leading master of what Tolkien called ‘secondary creation’, the invention of whole worlds, complete with magics and myths all their own. Warbreaker is the story of two sisters who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can be collected only one unit at a time from individual people. By using breath and drawing upon the colour in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron, the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery; and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

19 ) The Rithmatist

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 35

More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings – merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles. As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students study the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing – kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery – one that will change Rithmatics – and their world – forever. Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings his unique brand of epic storytelling to the teen audience with an engrossing tale of danger and suspense – the first of a series.

18 ) Shadows of Self

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 17
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 22

Fans of Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin alike have found a new champion of epic fantasy in Brandon Sanderson. And now, in the first of two sequels to The Alloy of Law, the Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling author returns to the world of Mistborn. It is more than 300 years after the events of the The Final Empire shaped Scadrial. Waxillium Ladrian has returned to the capital city of Elendel from the far-flung roughs. Elendel is crisscrossed by canals and railways, and towers reach for the sky, but this is still a city of dangers and of magic; Allomancy and Feruchemy can still change the world. Wax faces many more adventures. Sanderson is a master of rich worlds, appealing characters and gripping plots, and his return to Mistborn shows him at the height of his powers.

17 ) The Well of Ascension

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 13
• Amazon: 23
• LibraryThing: 15

The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler – the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years – has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves. As Kelsier’s protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her. Stopping assassins may keep Vin’s Mistborn skills sharp, but it’s the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn’t run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier’s crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won’t get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler’s hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal. As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

16 ) Edgedancer

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 17

Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older–a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can’t help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility.

14 ) Arcanum Unbounded

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 5
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 35

Welcome to New York Times and Sunday Times best seller Brandon Sanderson’s first collection of short fiction. These wonderful works, originally published individually, have been collected for the first time and convey the true expanse of the Cosmere. Telling the exciting tales of adventure Sanderson fans have come to expect,

14 ) Firefight

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 18
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 22

They told David it was impossible – that even the Reckoners had never killed a High Epic. Yet, Steelheart – invincible, immortal, unconquerable – is dead. And he died by David’s hand. Eliminating Steelheart was supposed to make life more simple. Instead, it only made David realise he has questions. Big ones. And there’s no one in Newcago who can give him the answers he needs. Babylon Restored, the old borough of Manhattan, has possibilities, though. Ruled by the mysterious High Epic, Regalia, David is sure Babylon Restored will lead him to what he needs to find. And while entering another city oppressed by a High Epic despot is a gamble, David’s willing to risk it. Because killing Steelheart left a hole in David’s heart. A hole where his thirst for vengeance once lived. Somehow, he filled that hole with another Epic – Firefight. And he’s willing to go on a quest darker and more dangerous even than the fight against Steelheart to find her and to get his answers.

13 ) Alcatraz

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 12

On his thirteenth birthday, Alcatraz-a foster child-gets a bag of sand in the mail which purports to be his ‘inheritance’ sent from his father and mother. The Librarians, of course, immediately steal the bag of sand from him.This sparks a chain of events which leads Alcatraz to realize that his family is part of a group of freedom fighters who resist the Evil Librarians-the secret cult who actually rule the world. Alcatraz’s grandfather shows up and tows him off to infiltrate the downtown library to steal back the mystical bag of sand. The ensuing story involves talking dinosaurs, sentient romance novels, and a dungeon-like labyrinth hiding beneath the innocent-looking downtown library.

11 ) Secret History

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 11
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 20

Mistborn: Secret History is a companion story to the original Mistborn trilogy. As such, it contains huge spoilers for the books Mistborn (The Final Empire), The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages. It also contains very minor spoilers for the book The Bands of Mourning. Mistborn: Secret History builds upon the characterisation, events and worldbuilding of the original trilogy. Listening to it without that background will be a confusing process at best. In short, this isn’t the place to start your journey into Mistborn (though if you have listened to the trilogy – but it has been a while – you should be just fine, so long as you remember the characters and the general plot of the books). Saying anything more here risks revealing too much. Even knowledge of this story’s existence is, in a way, a spoiler. There’s always another secret.

11 ) The Emperor’s Soul

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 15
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 6

Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Though condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor’s sceptre, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Despite the fact that her skill as a Forger is considered an abomination by her captors, Shai will attempt to create a new soul for the emperor, who is almost dead from the attack of assassins. Skillfully deducing the machinations of her captors, Shai needs a perfect plan to escape. The fate of the empire lies in one impossible task. Is it possible to create a forgery of a soul so convincing that it is better than the soul itself?

10 ) The Final Empire

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 8
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 6

Brandon Sanderson, fantasy’s newest master tale spinner, author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails? What kind of world results when the Dark Lord is in charge? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises and magical martial-arts action that begins in Mistborn. For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark. Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Only then does he reveal his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot. But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed. Readers of Elantris thought they’d discovered someone special in Brandon Sanderson. Mistborn proves they were right.

9 ) The Gathering Storm

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 13
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 10

Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle, looms. And mankind is not ready. The final volume of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, was partially written by Robert Jordan before his untimely passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor—his wife, Harriet McDougal—to complete the final book. The scope and size of the volume was such that it could not be contained in a single book, and so Tor proudly presents The Gathering Storm as the first of three novels that will make up A Memory of Light. This short sequence will complete the struggle against the Shadow, bringing to a close a journey begun almost twenty years ago and marking the conclusion of the Wheel of Time, the preeminent fantasy epic of our era. In this epic novel, Robert Jordan’s international bestselling series begins its dramatic conclusion. Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, struggles to unite a fractured network of kingdoms and alliances in preparation for the Last Battle. As he attempts to halt the Seanchan encroachment northward—wishing he could form at least a temporary truce with the invaders—his allies watch in terror the shadow that seems to be growing within the heart of the Dragon Reborn himself.

8 ) A Memory of Light

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 6
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 5

And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land and weighed down the hearts of men, and the green things failed, and hope died.’ – Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon. In the Field of Merrilor the rulers of the nations gather to join behind Rand al’Thor, or to stop him from his plan to break the seals on the Dark One’s prison – which may be a sign of his madness, or the last hope of humankind. Egwene, the Amyrlin Seat, leans toward the former. In Andor, the Trollocs seize Caemlyn. In the wolf dream, Perrin Aybara battles Slayer. Approaching Ebou Dar, Mat Cauthon plans to visit his wife Tuon, now Fortuona, Empress of the Seanchan.

7 ) Bands of Mourning

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 8
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 12

The Mistborn trilogy has become a firm favourite with fantasy fans the world over. The imagination that Sanderson brought to the series, his skill at marshalling epic storylines and dramatic action and his ability to create vivid characters made him a natural choice to complete Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time sequence. But with Mistborn, Sanderson has shown his bountiful talents in his own fiction. Now he returns to the series that made his name with a new story, building on the incredible success of The Alloy of Law. The new Mistborn books move the series into a richly imagined 19th-century analogue world with elements of the Wild West mixed with magic and science. It’s a wonderful concoction from a master storyteller. Sanderson has the knack of giving epic fantasy listeners exactly what they want. This ability has thrown him to the forefront of the genre, and this novel will take him to the next level.

6 ) Towers of Midnight

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 10
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 8

The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One’s prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unraveling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight. The sun has begun to set upon the Third Age. Perrin Aybara is now hunted by specters from his past: Whitecloaks, a slayer of wolves, and the responsibilities of leadership. All the while, an unseen foe is slowly pulling a noose tight around his neck. To prevail, he must seek answers in Tel’aran’rhiod and find a way–at long last–to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever. Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The creatures beyond the stone gateways–the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn–have confused him, taunted him, and left him hanged, his memory stuffed with bits and pieces of other men’s lives. He had hoped that his last confrontation with them would be the end of it, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The time is coming when he will again have to dance with the Snakes and the Foxes, playing a game that cannot be won.

5 ) Oathbringer

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 3
• Amazon: 14
• LibraryThing: 4

While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified. Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar’s blood-soaked past and stand together – and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past – even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.

4 ) The Hero of Ages

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 7
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 9

Who is the Hero of Ages? To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness—the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists—is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed. Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. She can’t even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans! The conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy fulfills all the promise of the first two books. Revelations abound, connections rooted in early chapters of the series click into place, and surprises, as satisfying as they are stunning, blossom like fireworks to dazzle and delight. It all leads up to a finale unmatched for originality and audacity that will leave readers rubbing their eyes in wonder, as if awaking from an amazing dream.

3 ) Skyward

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 4
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 11

Spensa’s world has been under attack for hundreds of years. An alien race called the Krell leads onslaught after onslaught from the sky in a never-ending campaign to destroy humankind. Humanity’s only defense is to take to their ships and fight the enemy in the skies. Pilots have become the heroes of what’s left of the human race. Spensa has always dreamed of being one of them; of soaring above Earth and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father’s – a pilot who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, placing Spensa’s chances of attending flight school somewhere between slim and none.

2 ) The Way of Kings

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 2
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 3

Kaladin, a highborn young man who has been brought low, indeed to the most miserable level of military slavery, and like Ben Hur must suffer and struggle to survive and rise again. * Shallan, a naïve but brave and brilliant young woman who will do anything to save her impoverished noble house from ruin. These are people we will come to know deeply and take to our hearts. But just as important to The Way of Kings is a fourth key ‘character,’ the unique world of Roshar itself, a richly imagined setting as real as science fiction’s Dune, as unforgettable as epic fantasy’s Middle Earth. Through all the volumes of The Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson will make Roshar a realm we are eager to visit. What Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time has been to the fantasy genre for the last two decades, The Stormlight Archive will be to the next, and The Way of Kings is where it all begins.

1 ) Words of Radiance

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 1
• Amazon: 2
• LibraryThing: 2

Return to a planet swept by apocalyptic storms, a world tipping into war as aristocratic families move to control the shard blades and shard plates, ancient artifacts from a past civilisation that can win wars. As the world tips into a war for control of the mythical artifacts of power made from Shard, characters are swept up into new dangers which will threaten their integrity and their lives. Huge, ideas-filled, world-spanning fantasy from a master of the genre.

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