Happy Monday, book pandas! 🐼 I’ve been eyeing the Fantasy with Friends discussion meme for a while now—it looked like so much fun and I’ve enjoyed reading many blogger posts since Briana and Krysta started up the meme earlier this year. I’ve always wanted to join but wasn’t sure if I’d really have much to say, but today I’ve finally decided to participate after seeing the topic was about Brando Sando. I don’t know if I’ll have much of substance to say (even though I’ll probably ramble on, lol), but the topic also didn’t feel so intimidating to my brain! 🤭

But first, what is Fantasy with Friends?

Fantasy with Friends: A Discussion Meme Hosted by Pages Unbound

Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works. The schedule for the year is posted on the Pages Unbound page, so feel free to get a head start!

How can you participate?

• Check the schedule on Pages Unbound for upcoming prompts, and write a post on your own blog answering the question!
• Come back to Pages Unbound on the scheduled day and leave the link to your post in the comments of our post. You can also tag us on Twitter or Bluesky (@pagesunbound). We just need to know about the post in order to link back to you!

Today’s question is: Are you a Brandon Sanderson fan? Some readers online have called his books the “fast food of fantasy?” Do you think that’s a valid criticism?

Are you a Brandon Sanderson fan?

For a long time, whenever someone would ask me this question, I’ve always immediately answered “yes, I am!” And while that technically may still be true, I have to admit that I haven’t read anything by Sanderson since 2017. To date, I’ve only read his Mistborn Trilogy and it’s safe to say that the details are more than a little fuzzy after a decade and that I recall close to nothing about what happened in that series. 😬

That said, what I do remember is how much I loved reading it. It completely swallowed me up and I was hooked on the plot and so invested in the characters. I was in that world with them, hanging on to every word that Sanderson had to share with his audience. I distinctly recall how, after finishing the book, I wanted to immediately read more fantasy. I guess you could say it was the catalyst for me to explore more of the fantasy genre, and where would I be today if that hadn’t happened?! Thankfully, we’ll never know. 😊

I’m definitely still interested in reading more books by Sanderson, especially since I already own many of them. Seeing how much people love his books is definitely a pull for me (that FOMO y’know), and I want to discover whether or not I’d feel the same way if/when I read his books.

Some readers online have called his books the ‘fast food of fantasy’ — do you think that’s a valid criticism?

What does it mean to be the ‘fast food of fantasy’? When I hear that term, I immediately think of how some people call contemporary romances “popcorn reads” as they are entertaining, fluffy, and easy to read—almost like a palate cleanser. Thinking in those terms, I think it feels a bit odd to apply to Sanderson’s books because I don’t think they would really qualify as “light and easy reads”. I mean, we’ve all seen the size of his books, right? 😅 Short, they are not. Sure, his fantasies are entertaining, engaging, and in terms of readability, I think highly accessible. He doesn’t write flowery or overly complicated prose, and that straightforward writing style is a big part of what makes his books easier to read compared to other works of high/epic fantasy. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are ‘easy reads’ though.

But if you look at it from the perspective of how quickly Sanderson churns out new books on a fairly regular basis—and that they’re all absolute chonks as well—then the fast food term definitely makes a lot more sense. I honestly can’t name another fantasy author who has produced so many big books with a huge cast of characters, multiple magic systems, and massive world-building in such a short span of time. Obviously, I can’t speak on whether or not that changes the quality of his stories, but considering how large his fanbase is and how popular his books are, I would say that he’s doing something right. Would this level of prolific writing work for another author in the genre? I’m not sure… But it certainly seems to be working for him!

I also don’t think being labelled the ‘fast food of fantasy’ is necessarily a bad thing, even though I feel like it has a somewhat negative connotation and that it might be seen as a bad thing. Not every fantasy needs to be a Hobb or Tolkien—as much as I love them, I genuinely think my brain would be beyond exhausted if every fantasy was of that calibre. There is nothing wrong with ‘fast food fantasy’ and if that’s entirely your cuppa, then that’s absolutely fine as well! You’re still a reader, you’re still a fantasy reader, and it most definitely still counts as reading books!

What I think is great about Sanderson’s books is that they are readable and accessible for many readers, whether you’re just starting out exploring fantasy or if fantasy is all you read. Actually, I think his books are great gateway fantasy reads to other epic or high fantasies with more intricate language/writing styles and even more complex plots and twists.

And that’s it from me today, folks. Are you a fan of Brandon Sanderson? What do you think of his books being known as “fast food of fantasy”?

• Follow me on Goodreads!
• Follow me on Bluesky
• Follow me on Instagram!
• Follow me on Twitter!