Board 8 > My final(?) Brandon Sanderson topic! Almost all caught up (cosmere spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hope the newer readers chime in with their thoughts on various Sanderson books, I like hearing other impressions.

I'll try to keep this topic going while I read Wheel of Time.
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What's his best series after Mistborn?
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It's been a while since I've read Shadows and I don't remember it too well. I remember liking it well enough, but being more a fan of Sixth of the Dusk which I read about the same time.

Anagram posted...

What's his best series after Mistborn?

The Stormlight Archive is his best series imo.
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I think everyone would agree the Stormlight Archive is his best.
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I read the Stormlight Archive fairly recently (really enjoyed it) but have never read anything else by Sanderson, what would be the best of his other works to check out?
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Mistborn is his most popular series outside Stormlight. I would recommend reading Warbreaker first though. It's a standalone (for now) and certain things in Stormlight will make more sense after having read it
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The Reckoners series is really good imo

I also really enjoyed The Rithmatist.
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Has the next cosmere book to be released been announced? I can't find anything about it, all I see is that he's currently writing a new YA novel.

I'm hoping it's either Wax's final book or the Elantris sequel.
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Skyward is his young adult novel. He's also working on a secret project and I'm not sure we have any details on what it is. He updates his progress regularly on his website in the top right corner

https://brandonsanderson.com
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AquaArcane posted...

Has the next cosmere book to be released been announced? I can't find anything about it, all I see is that he's currently writing a new YA novel.

I'm hoping it's either Wax's final book or the Elantris sequel.

It I probably on the site posted above, but his plans was to write Wax&Wayne 4 the back half of this year. But he also said he was going to start Stormlight 4 at the start of 2019 rain or shine, so I wonder if he'll delay one or the other if not finished.
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Ah, I see. Would you say he's a speedy writer? Trying to determine how long I'll have to wait, right now I'm thinking at least a year or so.

Of course it depends on which book he prioritizes. Stormlight will clearly take longer.
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he has a very strong reputation for pumping out books at an absurd speed and being a lot faster than his peers who write of a similar quality

Stormlight books take longer though and he likes to write other series in between Stormlight books to avoid burnout. It refreshes and relaxes him to write Wax and Wayne or White Sand or Shadows for Silence or Steelheart or Legion or whatever the hell else he comes up with before diving back into Stormlight

Every year he does a "State of the Sanderson" blog post where he reviews everything he did that year, all of his ongoing projects, everything he has on his radar for the future, and what he intends to accomplish in the next one year period

https://brandonsanderson.com/state-of-the-sanderson-2017/

I love reading these

Unfortunately, he doesn't think book four will come out until 2020 or 2021. I think he plans for book five to be worked on relatively sooner after book four though.
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Very helpful post, thank you!

So long as I get some sort of cosmere fix every year I think I'll survive.
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Whoa, 1980's spy thriller Mistborn? First I'm hearing about that. I still thought the science fiction setting was to be the third era.

I'm totally down for spies in my Mistborns.
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If Stormlight is his most popular series, why does he have so many damn Mistborn series?
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They're smaller and easier to write?
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Anagram posted...

If Stormlight is his most popular series, why does he have so many damn Mistborn series?

Why not?
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Anagram posted...

If Stormlight is his most popular series, why does he have so many damn Mistborn series?

Because he wrote half the Mistborn books before any of the SLA books
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https://brandonsanderson.com/call-to-adventure-stormlight/

A Stormlight card game is in the works for next year
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That game looks kinda sweet, but I wish there was a tier on the Kickstarter to not get the Kingkiller expansion and get Stormlight instead!
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His blog also mentions a Shattered Plains VR experience of some sort.

I'm not much into VR... and I'm not too sure the Plains are the most interesting landscape in the cosmere.

Show me Urithiru
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So I went to start reading Sixth of the Dusk, figuring I'd only get about 10 pages in. I read the whole thing instead. I was way too hooked and I didn't want to be at work all day tomorrow wondering what would happen next. And much more difficult to stop reading when there are no chapter breaks.

Damn that was phenomenal. I wonder who these worldhoppers are trying to pull a fast one on an adolescent planet.
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Do we even really know when Sixth of the Dusk takes place in the Cosmere? It could be possible that they are from a future Scadrial. That's the only thing that came to my mind
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Yeah supposedly it takes place around Mistborn era 4, the sci-fi trilogy.
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bump for now, I'll have a final ranking tomorrow and then I'll be on to wheel of time
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spoilers for each book

14. Elantris
-Almost placed this higher solely for the New Elantris plotline. Raoden and the sickly Elantrians were interesting. Pain not healing piqued my mordib curiosity like no other concept has before. I spent days imagining what that must have felt like. However, the best part about this book was afterwards I got to read up on the Coppermind about the two Shards that power the Dor. Nothing to do with the actual book.

13. Alloy of Law
-This falls into a group of books that I read too long ago to remember well enough. At first a Twinborn didn't sound nearly as cool as a Mistborn, but Wax makes it look stylish as fuck. Major points for the protagonist not ending up with the obvious romance option. Brandon gained my trust with that move.

12. Way of Kings
-Considering Kaladin is probably my favorite cosmere character, it's funny that his book is near the bottom. It took a looooong time for me to get into. Lots of worldbuilding. Of course the final quarter made up for it all, my determination paid off. I didn't understand a lot of things. I primarily remember Kaladin grabbing a spearhead out of the air and stabbing a shardbearer through his visor.

11. Mistborn: Secret History
-Brandon sure found a genius way to weasel one of his favorite characters out of death. And I'm sure glad he did! He's one of my favorites too. Secret History reveals a lot about what's going on behind the scenes, and so the mysteries of the greater cosmere started to clear for me. It would have been helpful to read Elantris beforehand, although not overall relevant, it worked out either way. Now with all this newfound knowledge, reading the past books again will have a fresh layer.

10. Edgedancer
-What a cool name. Better than Windrunner... hmm maybe. Lift took a while to grow on me, fortunately we were introduced to her prior to this shortstory. Now I love Lift. She's a character that gradually gets more awesome with each appearance.

9. Shadows of Self
-The true beginning of Wax and Wayne's trilogy. I don't even care what happened in the first 90% of the book, that ending shattered me. No book has ever made me feel so hard. It was wonderful.

8. Warbreaker
-I like colors. Warbreaker features a lot of colors, that's right up my alley. I personally loved all the main characters, Vivenna being my favorite aside from Vasher. Lightsong could have been the best character, but he lost some potential at the end, whereas other characters got to become worldhoppers. My biggest praise for this book is the twist. I did not see it coming at all and it shocked the fuck outta me. That doesn't happen often (I hadn't read a whole lot of books by that time but still). Bravo, Brandon.

7. Sixth of the Dusk
-I had to resist the urge to place this lower on account of its setting in the far far future. We won't see First of the Sun again for YEARS. Regardless, Sixth of the Dusk is too good, I can't deny. I tried to stop reading in the middle, couldn't focus on anything else, couldn't go to bed, had to finish. Dusk is already another of my favorite characters in the cosmere, with just one shortstory. His lack of talent with words speaks to me all too deeply.

6. Words of Radiance
-Secretly, this masterpiece should be #3 but I didn't want two Roshar books in my top 5 for reasons. Unlike Way of Kings, which was slow, Words of Radiance kicks it up a notch right from the start, and doesn't let up until never. It never lets up. Kaladin vs Szeth above the stormclouds would place in a separate Top 5 Fights of the Cosmere list.
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5. Mistborn Era 1
-Eventually I will reread these to better differentiate them. Currently the three stories blend together to create one big blurry adventure. As of now, I remember that blurry adventure very fondly. Mostly for Vin and the magic system.

4. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
-Silence has it rough, man. She couldn't seem to catch a break, and that curse passed even worse to poor William Ann. Maybe some worldhoppers will bring her a cure. I assume someone will arrive to help defeat the evil.

3. Bands of Mourning
-Wax is in incredible shape for his age. His skills might have even improved, I'm now fully convinced that a Twinborn is just as awesome as a Mistborn, at least when that Twinborn is Waxillium Ladrian. Shredding through the warehouse was likely the highlight of his skills. Also shoutout to Sterris, she seriously stepped up her game.

2. Emperor's Soul
-Crazy that this is only a shortstory. There was not a single wasted line (unlike Elantris where there were many). Every word had me hooked. Shai was an instant hit, which I feel is rare. Characters usually take some time to make an impression. As for the magic system, Forging is a neat way to use the Dor, although I might still be more intrigued by the Elantrian's Aons.

1. Oathbringer
-Dalinar deserves a ton of credit, I don't feel I say that enough. I'm always too busy praising Kaladin. And Adolin, and Shallan, and Szeth, and Jasnah, and Renarin... maybe Teft. Anyway, Dalinar had my full respect from the start. His flashbacks this time around were my favorite of the three so far. But enough about the ol' Blackthorn, the Shalladin ship is almost surely sunk now. At least Kaladin will always have Syl.

And with that, I'm all wrapped up. Time to embark on a brand new adventure...
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WoR would be my #1, though Oathbringer is still pretty great. I also like Elantris a lot, despite its general unpopularity among Sanderson fans.

AquaArcane posted...

No book has ever made me feel so hard.

must not have read much erotica I guess...
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What exactly happens in Secret History of Mistborn that undoes Kelsier's death? I haven't read it.
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Anagram posted...

What exactly happens in Secret History of Mistborn that undoes Kelsier's death? I haven't read it.

Nothing. He's dead.

He's a dead spooky ghost.
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Nice writeups about the different books. It's nice to see your profound enjoyment of everything Brandon does. Even the very bottom of your list is just full of praise.

Honestly Shadows for Self is super high up for me, the ending really affected me too. Bands of Mourning was great but felt like another adventure like Alley of Law compared the emotional trials of Shadows for Self.
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I'd definitely have no shame about putting all 3 main Stormlight books in my top 5
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Mac Arrowny posted...

must not have read much erotica I guess...

Nah too much effort for not enough payoff

Anagram posted...

What exactly happens in Secret History of Mistborn that undoes Kelsier's death? I haven't read it.

Basically, when someone dies their soul goes to the cognitive realm before moving on to the "beyond". Kelsier's soul said no, resisted the beyond and clung to the cognitive realm. He's essentially a ghost.
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Also it's cool to see people's different takes on Sanderson. I think he has a lot of variety despite his books having the same basis, so there's a lot of different things to like. For instance you call out Twinborn as not being as cool as Mistborn, but for me I found them to be a much more interesting take on that magic system! Not that I don't like epic metal wizard duels, but after reading Stormlight and Mistborn Era 1 which were really high magic, the power reduction (and sweet power combos) felt very fresh.
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HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I'd definitely have no shame about putting all 3 main Stormlight books in my top 5

It's not so much shame as it is me trying to be fair to everyone

CoolCly posted...

Honestly Shadows for Self is super high up for me, the ending really affected me too. Bands of Mourning was great but felt like another adventure like Alley of Law compared the emotional trials of Shadows for Self.

That is a fair point, I definitely felt more connected to Wax in Shadows. His badass moments from Bands are more fresh in my memory though so that likely altered the ranking.
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I should have clarified a bit more about Twinborn. I tend to like overpowered characters for some reason, so Mistborn appealed to me right off the bat. Twinborn however, even though I was skeptical at first, I quickly learned the creative potential of the reduced powerset in combination with basic firearms.

Comparing them now is difficult, because it's two different styles, both equally impressive.

Twinborn offers a whole lot more room for interesting combos in the future. Mistborn are old news at this point.
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