As I've stated in the past, Brandon Sanderson is currently my favorite author to read, so I was overjoyed when I found another book by him that I hadn't yet read. White Sand is a graphic novel trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, based off of his first (unpublished) book. The book takes place on the tidally locked planet of Taldain, where on half is permanently day and the other half night. White Sand follows a character named Kenton, who is a Sand Master on Taldain's dayside. The Sand Masters are a group who utilize magic to control ribbons of sand, which they can use as weapons, transportation, and even hydration (if they are skilled enough). Although he is the son of the Sand Master's leader, Kenton has very little innate skill with sand ribbons, only able to control one as opposed to others' dozens. Suddenly, the Sand Masters are brutally attacked by an opposing religious group, leaving Kenton as one of the only remaining Masters left alive. In order to rebuild the order of Sand Mastery and avoid assassination attempts, Kenton forms a partnership with a mysterious Darksider named Khriss, a duchess with a hidden agenda of her own.
Personally I really love graphic novels and comic books, so White Sand was inherently interesting to me. The art is amazing, but changes from book to book. This was one thing I had an issue with, was the changing art style. Books 1, 2, and 3 all had different main artists, leading to a very different art type in each book. Although the artist changes were confusing, I found the story fairly easy to follow. Spread out over 3 fairly short books, several plotlines were able to be kept up at once without getting too confusing or intertwined.
All in all, I really liked White Sand. Although it was short, I found the story compelling and the art interesting. If you are a fan of Brandon Sanderson already, then I definitely recommend this. For newcomers to the author, however, I suggest that you start on a different book by him, such as Elantris or Mistborn. White Sand is good, but I don't think I would have been as enthusiastic about Sanderson if I had started with it.
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