Blog - World Book Day 2025

If you have ever dipped your toe into the contemporary fantasy scene, Sanderson is a name you will probably have heard of; if, for nothing else, for his work finishing Robert Jordan's legendary series "The Wheel of Time". I've tried getting into Sanderson before when I received a copy of The Way of Kings; which I'm now very familiar with the opening chapters of. Sadly, I'm somewhat cursed with this book in that whenever I start it, despite being hooked, I end up putting it aside in favour of a shorter book and forgetting about it until a few years later, whereupon I start again.

Thankfully, so far this curse hasn't afflicted me for Mistborn which is less dense than "The Way of Kings". It's a sort of steampunk world that's covered in ash where few people have the ability to manipulate metals as well as eat them to fuel other magic powers, such as enhanced strength, vision and hearing, as well as the ability to see someones actions a few moments into the future. You could think of it as fantasy Victorian Birmingham, right down to the use of canals to move goods.

So far its proving to be a really easygoing read. The characters are all working towards a heist, with each having a particular area they are specialising in, some recruit troops, some mask the entire gang's actions and our main protagonist, Vin, is trying to infiltrate the upper classes of the book's society. The story is easy to follow, the characters have understandable motives and despite its size, the book's pacing has got me halfway through pretty quickly.

If it keeps up its current balance of intrigue and action, it'll get a solid recommendation.

Despite also being a steampunk fantasy book, Perdido Street Station is a very different tone to Mistborn. The prose is very flowery, you'll probably need a dictionary to hand if you pick this guy up. The characters aren't as conventional as Mistborn either; we follow Isaac, a sort of sleezy human scientist, and his girlfriend (in secret), Lin, an artistic and pleasant bugwoman called a Khelpi, as they both take on seperate projects that could be their magnum opuses.

The book is weird, something like Jack Vance's The Dying Earth or Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné. I love how colourful the world and characters are, and how crude it also is, New Crobuzon isn't a pleasant place to live by any means. But despite the intriguing world building and strange characters populate the book, it appears to be known for its political commentary.

I won't go into too much detail here, mostly as politics tends to be a bit beyond me, but even if you disagree with the politics on display its still a really interesting read from what I've experienced so far. That said, a few characters get a bit "workers of the world, unite!" with some of their speeches.

I also tend to have an audiobook on the go as well, usually something that I've already read once and what to experience again, usually as I'm beginning to fall asleep. Currently, this is the expectional Red Rising.

Often categorised, and arguably miscategorised, as teen fiction. You can think of it as Red Faction meets The Hunger Games (hence the teen fiction categorisation). A teenager named Darrow, who belongs to the lowest caste on Mars, joins a rebellion intent on destroying their overlords; who have set things up in a similar way to the Capital in The Hunger Games world of Panem. I compared to Red Faction, a First Person Shooter, before but its not a book about guerilla warfare or about Darrow becoming a propaganda piece like Katniss. Instead, it's about Darrow's skills in subterfuge and his incredible leadership skills.

I feel like this book could almost be a manual on how to lead a team, I'm pretty sure I've picked a few things up from. Darrow is a master strategist, but one who recognises his own limitations and, like all good leaders, knows when to rely on his team. I won't spoil anything but watching Darrow work is core of what makes this book good, he's a character I really like and when I've finished my current reads I'll be jumping straight into Golden Son.

Goodreads
I finished this earlier this year and think its got some points that are incredibly relevant now. Namely, it portrays programming as a low-grade, dirty job, like being a cleaner or a bin man, which may well happen in the current global opinion on AI is to be believed. Its also a damn good space opera book

Goodreads
If you don't want to read some of the tomes I've listed here, The Tombs of Atuan is a short read (180 pages) that acts as the sequel to A Wizard of Earthsea. I think you could probably get away with skipping the first book, though its also really good, as Ged/Sparrowhawk (from the first book) isn't the protagonist in "Tombs"; you just need to know that at this point he's one of the most powerful wizards going.

The book deals with a young girl (Tenar), who is a priestess for some nameless deity. To me, the story is about the importance of exposing yourself up to opposing idealogies and being willing to open up to people who mean you well. Its not an action heavy book by any means, the main draw here is seing the realtionship between Ged and Tenar develop as they learn more about each other.