How do you know where to start with prolific authors?
Hello Tildes! I often find myself intimidated by authors of great sagas, trilogies upon trilogies, and dozens of standalone novels. How do I know which book (or series) to read first?
I've been recommended Terry Pratchett and Brandon Sanderson recently. I've read zero novels by either author. I've also been warned that there is a definitive best place in the canon to start, "and it's this one!" But then someone else interjects and says, "no, it's this one!" followed by passionate reasoning. Okay. If it is really worth starting somewhere in particular, where should I begin?
I'm unlikely to read an author's entire corpus. I just have too many books to read and not enough time. But I'm not opposed to reading longer series if they're really fun. I'd appreciate any input about these authors in particular and this problem in general. Thanks!
As a Pratchett fan, and a frequent participant in book recommendation conversations, I have become aware that some people in the 21st century simply don't vibe with the first few books in the Discworld series, even if they like Discworld books more generally. Others love them all. Others just don't get Pratchett's style.
There are charts that show reading order for character focused subseries within Discworld.
Personally I tend to recommend a few possible starter books depending on the interests of the reader. Going Postal, the Wee Free Men, Small gods, the Truth, Guards Guards, Reaper Man, Wierd Sisters, Monstrous Regiment are each in their own way a good possible entry point imho.
Just to complement this, I'd like to reinforce that while there are continuities in the Discworld almost every book is ultimately stand-alone. You can read them in any order. boxer_dogs_dance's recs are great books so just pick one that seems interesting to you personally!
Discworld was a massive influence for me and I'm a lifelong fan. I now own and have read every book, but never in any kind of order, due to availability constraints in Portugal back in the day.
Your recommendation worked for me! I opined somewhere that I'd tried prachett and couldn't get into it - I've now gone through 2 / 3 VonLipwig books and highly enjoyed them. Thank you :)
My pleasure 😊
Start with a trip to the library (maybe the digital library if you prefer Libby or Hoopla). What's available? What's popular? What appeals to you?
I love Sanderson and will gobble up every book he releases, but tastes are different, and some won't like him. #Most# of his books are connected to the "Cosmere" universe but they don't have to be read in any specific order (besides the books in a given series.) There are a few reoccurring characters, but not an over-arching Plot. Yet. For someone who hasn't read anything of his, start with a stand-alone book: "Elantris" (is Cosmere, but also not a series), "Warbreaker" (also Cosmere), or "The Frugal Wizards Handbook for Surviving Medieval England" (not Cosmere, just fun). Actually any of the "Year of Sanderson" books are standalone, just the other three are all Cosmere. I can't review them well for a new reader since I read them all after a heavy dose of the rest of his writing. Some might advise to start with the Mistborn saga (starting with "The Final Empire") but I'd say start with something else; it's kind of dark and often feels hopeless. The Wax and Wayne series is chronologically set after in the same world, but they are set enough apart that Mistborn feels kind of like "what really happened" to Wax and Wayne's myths.
I learned about Sanderson because I dedicated some time to reading The Wheel of Time, and really liked how he wrapped up that series. It was clear that Robert Jordan kinda got lost in the weeds of the story, and Sanderson is really, really good at writing solid, satisfying endings.
Regarding Sanderson, a good general rule of thumb is publication order. Reading Elantris first means you get through his rougher early writing before you get used to how he writes after he finds his groove, and you hit Warbreaker before Stormlight Archive (which is relevant, a few things get explained in WB that make Stormlight make sense). Standalones are good, but it's hard to know what's a standalone and what's a story that ties directly into other series sometimes.
I had never read any Sanderson until just a couple weeks ago. I started with The Final Empire and now I'm about 1/5 of the way through The Well of Ascension. It's not as captivating as the internet has led me to believe, but the bleakness doesn't bother me. I'll finish the trilogy at the very least, no idea where I'll go then.
While I enjoyed his various other works, nothing captured me as quickly and completely as my first reading of The Way Of Kings, which was the first thing of his I'd read.
Even though I hadn't read anything else on the expanded universe, I in no way felt like I was missing anything. The references are obscure and not important to the plot.
Everyone's recommendations are probably valid. They reflect their own knowledge of the corpus and a genuine attempt to help you. That's why I like to bombard people with questions before I make recommendations (sadly, few people play along). You can read their explanations and decide if their reasoning resonates with you!
As one of Sanderson's beta/gamma readers - though making absolutely no claim to any sort of authoritarian knowledge or even general wisdom; I'm actually very much a filthy casual - I can recommend based on my taste two possible starting points:
Start with a Cosmere book (The shared universe in Sanderson's adult books, as @Mountain-View5322 mentioned) but not with the massive series, even though people absolutely love the beginnings of those. Dip your toes in with something smaller and that can be read without any additional knowledge of the universe, such as the multi-award-winning The Emperor's Soul or Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. If you like them, good news! There's a whole lot more where that came from! I wouldn't start with Elantris just because it's his first published novel and I find it less interesting than most (much the same reason why a lot of people recommend not starting Discworld with the earliest books).
Start with one of the Young Adult books. They're still quite good and easy to read without requiring any massive commitment to a wider universe. There's obviously Skyward (my choice here), or if you like superhero deconstructions Steelheart.
I said this elsewhere in the thread but after reading your comment I thought you might find it amusing. I had never read any Sanderson until a couple weeks ago. I started with The Final Empire and now I'm about a fifth of the way through The Well of Ascension. It's good enough I suppose but nothing I can't put down. I plan to finish the trilogy and then I don't know what.
Sanderson's typical strengths are very easy to digest prose (this is a deliberate choice) and, if you read enough books, worldbuilding at a huge scale, with interesting ideas for spell systems and other "foundation" principles in his worlds (as a bonus, many books also come with extra notes and illustrations if you're into that sort of thing). From my perspective, Mistborn era 1 is far from his strongest work, especially since he has written many stories since. It usually is considered compelling, though! What kind of fiction do you usually like to read?
Mostly fantasy, so this should be right up my alley. Terry Goodkind, Dave Duncan, Bernard Cornwell are some of my favorites.
If it is a series, start from the beginning.
If it is a collection of separate works, read the summaries, and pick one that sounds interesting.
You can also start with the book that has the most good reviews, that is known as the author's show piece.
Example, starting to read all of Heinlein's books by starting with "Stranger In A Strange Land". Reading Asimov, by starting with "Foundation" or "I Robot".
A good way to start with certain authors is to see what the local schools are assigning as required reading or curriculum reading. Like Hemingway will usually be The Old Man and the Sea, or Steinbeck will be Grapes of Wrath, or you can see what each grade is reading: 1984, Catch 22, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, Beloved, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Catcher in the Rye. Most of these authors wrote a ton, you just need to pick a book that's recommended and start.
With authors like Pratchett (Discworld, mentioned elsewhere in this thread) I've followed the charts to keep some semblance of narrative order.
With other authors I typically look at a few of their most popular books and choose the one that looks most interesting to me and read from there, which gives me a sense of whether I want to read more of their works.
I've also asked people I know who were fans of the author. I used to work with a guy who was a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft and that inspired me to read a few of his works. The first one (the title of which I've forgotten) which my coworker recommended was really good, but the subsequent ones I didn't enjoy nearly as much, so I stopped reading his work.