The best high fantasy books have one thing in common: Excellent worldbuilding work. Not just good, but legendarily, wonderfully, enthrallingly excellent.

One author, to me, stands apart from the rest, a true master of what Tolkien called subcreation. Brandon Sanderson weaves all his many stories within the bounds of one consistent universe, while maintaining a distinct feel to each of the separate series.

Each series is set on a different planet in the universe, and the magic on each planet is powered by a separate “shard” from the same original source. This diversity allows for unique processes of discovery and immersion in each series, while enforcing an overriding consistency where it matters.

This is beautiful for a many reasons, and I’ll highlight a few:

Dedication

Because Brandon chooses to set his epic adventures in the same universe, he effectively dedicates his life to building this universe.

Details that matter

While building his universe of Eä, Tolkien resorted to multiple stories designed specifically to outline the details of how the universe came to be in its current state. The Silmarillion.

Brandon Sanderson needs no such compendium, because the volume and variety of stories provides ample opportunity to slowly build out connections across the universe.

Discovery

One of the most delightful aspects of high fantasy is the process of discovery. In Brandon’s work, discovery works on multiple levels

  • It’s a pleasure to follow the protagonists in their journey, while they uncover the secrets of their world, and learn to wield wonderful new powers, and understand incredible magic systems.
  • It’s a fascinating puzzle for the reader to connect the magic system with the overarching magic system of the Cosmere (the name of Brandon’s universe) – by reading onwards, the reader discovers more pieces of this puzzle.
  • In Brandon’s work, there is an unusual delighter for avid fans – easter eggs hidden throughout different series hint at connections between worlds. Artefacts here and there. Characteristic similarities between mannerisms.

Immersion

Because there are many worlds to explore, and Brandon is unafraid of going over 1000 pages in his books, there is plenty of time to describe culture, nature, and emotion in his work. Reading any of Brandon’s work is deeply immersive, in the sense that for the duration of the book, you’re mentally teleported away to a remote planet in the Cosmere universe, in the shoes of the protagonist. I’ve often forgotten meals and foregone sleep to stay in the story.

Community

All of these factors come together to drive engagement in an extremely engaged community of readers. http://www.coppermind.net is something most creatives dream about – a fan site dedicated to examining and truly understanding their work.

Legacy

What’s more amazing when looking back on a life?
“I wrote books” or “I built a world”