All posts tagged: Brandon Sanderson

Fantasy warriors – Those who follow another path…

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herocollector.com Orc.  From The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Where else to start than the mythical warriors of Middle Earth, that we meet in the writings of Tolkien.  The term Goblin and Orc are actually synonymous in the world of Middle Earth, however Tolkien tended to refer to them as Goblins in The Hobbit, whereas by the time you reach The Lord of the Rings, the term Orc is more common. In Middle Earth, before the Dark Lord Sauron, there was Melkor – Sauron’s one time master.  It was Melkor who bred the first orcs, by corrupting enslaved elves, by the slow arts of cruelty and his malignant magic with which he infused his dark will.  This is because evil in Middle Earth isn’t capable of true creation, and so the orcs were born as a cruel mockery of the elves who they had first descended from.  The orcs then bred and multiplied in vast numbers, disgorging from the lands of Mordor to swamp Middle Earth with their cruelty and spite. Grotesquely malformed, …

The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. How magic should be done.

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The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.  With the news that Brandon Sanderson has released a new Mistborn novel (sorry, if I’m a bit late on this) I thought I better waste no time in giving my thoughts on the earlier trilogy of books in the Mistborn saga.  These start with the novel, ‘The Final Empire’.  For those that don’t know, Brandon Sanderson is a very talented fantasy author who is renowned for creating vivid characters, and for developing and describing mystical and highly developed forms of magic.  The Mistborn series is set in a gloomy world ruled by an absolute immortal ruler, who has ruled for a thousand years after allegedly saving the world from destruction.  Class conflicts divide the land and Kelsier leads a band of rogues, thieves, and confidence tricksters who end up rebelling against the burdensome yoke of an aristocracy who rule with a typical sense of arrogance and disdain for the peasantry known as the Skaa.  The nobility are suitably dastardly, enough to get our blood boiling, whilst at the same time living a lifestyle …

10 great maps of fantasy worlds!

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In no other genre, is a map at the start of the novel as important as fantasy.  I put a map at the start of my own historical novel Roman Mask, but as that map is essentially of Europe with Roman names, I realise is doesn’t really hold the same importance to a reader as a fantasy novel’s would.  A fantasy novel’s map is more than just a piece of cartography, it is a depiction of the world the writer has created in their mind, and a glimpse into a new world.  The rivers, valleys, forests, and mountains can sweep across continents and seas, creating the perfect avenue of escapism that makes the fantasy genre so appealing.  As my cousin used to say to me when we were eleven and first discovering fantasy books, ‘you can always tell it’s going to be a good one by its map, I always judge a fantasy novel by its map!,’ A bit harsh maybe, but that’s eleven year old’s for you, and it shows how important this aspect …

10 Types of Magic

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What is it that separates fantasy novels from other genres? Most fantasy novels are set on mythical worlds straight from the author’s imagination, some inhabited by outlandish beasts, or strange and mysterious semi-human dwellers. But what really defines and holds these worlds together is the existence of magic.