Any other Sanderson readers out there?

So I just wrapped up reading through Elantris and began The Emperor's Soul, which will bring an end to my 3-month binge of reading Brandon Sanderson's fantasy stuff. I started with all the Mistborn books, then went through The Stormlight Archive, Warbreaker, and then Elantris. Partway through Warbreaker, I had an idea dawn on me, which I promptly when to go research, and then had my fucking mind blown when I found out about the Cosmere.

In case you weren't aware, all of Sanderson's fantasy novels (except for the Wheel of Time novels he wrote) take place in the same universe, and there are a whole bunch of little details hinting at the interconnected nature of the books. It's not necessary to read them in any given order, as the stories themselves are separate, but they will eventually all build to a series called Dragonsteel, which will dig into the nature of this universe and the one character that shows up in every single Cosmere book.

So anyway, I just wanted to see if there are any other duders out there who are into Sanderson's stuff. I enjoyed Mistborn quite a bit (although I thought the 2nd one dragged at times). Warbreaker was a neat little thing, and Elantris is not especially great (you can really tell it's his first book). However, I got super into the Stormlight books and just fell in love with the world and characters. I'm now anticipating Stormlight 3 more than any other book (besides Pat Rothfuss's third book).

Mistborn is one of my favourite series and I read through Steelheart pretty recently. Sanderson is quickly becoming one of my absolute favourites.

I've heard of the Cosmere, but I don't think I've read enough to notice anything myself yet. I plan on reading through most of his stuff soon though, so I imagine I'll be seeing it soon enough.

@gunslingerpanda: Mistborn and Stormlight have the most Cosmere stuff so far, with Stormlight having more. Even so, that stuff is really easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for.

I'm pretty excited for Mistborn 4 and 5 coming out late this year/early next year, respectively.

The only thing I've read of his so far is Mistborn and I absolutely loved it. I've had a few of his other books sitting in my Amazon wishlist for a while as a way to remind me to pick 'em up one day, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I think I've only read Elantris so far. I have a big backlog of books - mostly fantasy and sci-fi.

I got The Way of Kings when it was on sale on the Play Store a while ago and have had some problems getting into it. It didn't really grab me right off the bat so I just put it down and kind of forgot about it. I have heard a lot of glowing praise for the series though so I do feel like I'm missing out on something. I'll go back to it and see if I can't get over the hump.

Last year or the year before, I may have gotten a bit obsessive and read every Sanderson book I could get my hands on (outside of the Wheel of Time books and the Alcatraz series). So, yeah...you could say I'm a fan.

The Cosmere is interesting, but it hasn't been vital to any stories yet. It seems to be building up to in the Stormlight Archives, as Szeth is given Nightblood, the sword from Warbreaker, at the very end. Beyond that, the only real connection with it I had noticed thus far is that Hoid pops up in a number of his books.

I knew about the Cosmere before going in. I've read Elantris, Warbreaker, Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and Shadows Beneath. According to Sanderson's most recent update, the earliest a Dragonsteel book might come out is in like 16 years. That's ridiculous man. I don't wanna have to wait until I'm an old man. It's gonna take forever for the Stormlight books to come out as well. Plenty of stuff in the Cosmere, but also plenty to wait for.

Also Shadows Beneath is really interesting if you can get your hands on it. Both its world and the overall Cosmere parts (pretty significant parts). Enjoyed it quite a bit.

Now that you know about the Cosmere, did you figure out who Zahel is? You can just answer yes or no. No need for spoiler blocks unless you wanna get into it.

I've read almost all of Sanderson's novels minus Elantris, Alcatraz and the Wheel of Time books. The Way of Kings was the first fantasy novel that I've read voluntarily and it really sparked my interest in reading more. I absolutely adored The Rithmatist, which is really making me itch to program a game based on it.

The Wheel of Time books made me want to read his other stuff. I've got copies of Mistborn, and The Way of Kings, though I'm not sure which to start with.

Yeah, I can't wait for the new Mistborn books. Though wouldn't that be 5 and 6 or is Alloy of Law not considered part of the series proper? While I'm looking forward to them, it's kind of a bummer that it will delay the planned modern- and future-era Mistborn trilogies.

Any idea if there is a recommended order to read the cosmere books in? If I'm gonna go deep, I wanna do it properly.

Reading Warbreaker before Words of Radiance (2nd Stormlight book) is recommended. Also there's one scene in Way of Kings that's tied to the Elantris book, but you can read Elantris later if you want and just look up the connection between the two. Other than that, just pay attention to a man named Hoid when he's mentioned (he goes by other names as well). He's the main character in the overarching Cosmere plot. You can always check on the internet for anything you missed after reading one of the books. All of his appearances and "maybe" appearances are catalogued out there.

A little more about Hoid: He's a worldhopper, which is why he can travel between the worlds of different books. There are other worldhoppers, which is kinda why I suggested Warbreaker and Elantris as well (hint hint).

Actually the planned modern era Mistborn books were always going to be after Book 5 or 6 of Stormlight. The western era Mistborn books are like a side project he works on between larger books (as in the 1000 page+ Stormlight books) so they aren't really delaying them. The reason the guy can put out so many books, is that his way of recharging between books is to write books.

As far as order is concerned, publishing order is probably the best as of right now.

I would say he is also my current favorite author and I really like the way he constructs his books. I've heard it described as "cinematic" and I think that is a good descriptor. Also, is it just me, or would his magic systems often make fore great gameplay mechanics? I mean, the magic in the Rithmatist was basically based around a chalk MOBA. It seems like the general internet may be getting a bit down on him recently, so it is super cool to see other fans.

As far as the Cosmere goes... there doesn't seem to be a set order yet. I would base your reading on what stories appeal to you the most. I would recommend starting with the original Mistborn trilogy.since it is the easiest to get into, despite the fact I feel like the first half of "The Well of Ascension" (the second Mistborn book) really drags. I think my favorite book of his would be "Words of Radiance," which is the second Stormlight Archive book, but "Way of Kings" may not be a great starter book. It is super long and has a lot of world building in it. The only general Cosmere recommendation is that you may want to read Warbreaker before you read Words of Radiance. I say this because some Warbreaker characters appear in Words of Radiance, though you won't be missing anything beyond a "that is cool" moment if you haven't read it. Also, one character appears in all the Cosmere books.

And I did want to point out that those Mistborn books coming out soon are indeed sequels to "The Alloy of Law" and not part of the next Mistborn trilogy that is planned. I loved "The Alloy of Law," so I am really looking forward to them.

I don't think I've seen any author that nails pacing and build up as consistently as Sanderson. All of his books are this steady build to a climax that never fails to be the most awesome shit ever. The climax of Hero of Ages was probably my favourite, because there's so many "holy shit" revelations and awesome heroic moments for pretty much every character. I think what makes it work is that all the revelations and twists make sense from the crazy internal logic his worlds and magic systems have. So much so that if you're paying attention you can actually figure some of it out.

Hero of Ages (Mistborn 3) spoilers: For example, I was able to predict that Vin's earring was what held back her powers well before the moment Marsh figures it out.

To be honest I really didn't like his work on the Wheel of Time, which has made me wary of picking up anything else he's done.

Whoops, I meant 5 & 6. I'm dumb. Also, there is only 1 more Mistborn trilogy planned (Brandon has referred to it as "1980's level tech"). Although he's also stated that there will be space travel in this one, so who knows exactly what he's going for. So 9 books total.

Now that I've read most of the Cosmere stuff, this is the order I'd recommend if you want the chance to figure out the hidden stuff as you go: Start with Mistborn, Warbreaker, and Elantris. Doesn't really matter what order you read them in. THEN go through Stormlight.

Also, if you're interested in really reading EVERYTHING that's tied in, here's the complete list of series and books (each of these is set on one of the 10 worlds):

Elantris (So far just Elantris and The Emperor's Soul. Brandon's stated he'll do another couple of books before the third Mistborn trilogy)

Mistborn (The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages, The Alloy of Law, and the upcoming ones: Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning, then the third trilogy which won't come until after Stormlight 5 is out)

Warbreaker (So far just Warbreaker, but a sequel titled Nightblood is planned, probably after the Elantris sequels)

The Stormlight Archive (The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and 8 more novels. The third one will probably come late 2016/early 2017)

Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (A short story included in the 2013's Dangerous Women anthology)

Sixth of the Dust (A short story included in the Shadows Beneath anthology)

And then the upcoming series:

The Silence Divine (stand-alone novel)

Aether of Night (stand-alone novel)

White Sand (graphic novel series)

Skyward (young adult novel)

Dragonsteel (the big one. this will be specifically about the Cosmere)

Sanderson has stated that with what he has planned now, there will eventually be 36 Cosmere books.

I think that early Sanderson, like Warbreaker and Elantris and his work on the Wheel of time, was slightly above average in quality. His hero characters tended to be cliched while he'd have a number of flawed antiheroes that were really interesting but who would inevitably die to facilitate his perfect main characters' success. This infuriated me every time. He also totally f'ed up Mat Cauthon, shame on him for that.

A friend talked me into reading the Stormlight Chronicles after having avoided him for a few years based on this impression, and I thought those were really fantastic, however, with the only trace of his former flaws in the main character Kaladin. I went ahead and gave Steelheart a shot too, and enjoyed it, but have been stalling in finishing Firefight as it has a lot of silly parts/leans into David's awful (and usually not funny) metaphors too much.

Yes, agreed! It seemed like Mat's character suddenly changed so much, which is a shame.

Mistborn and The Stormlight series are pretty amazing. He really does a fantastic job of drawing you into his really fleshed out worlds. And he isn't afraid to lay on the detail. One of my favorites for sure.

Also, Osaladin, Kaladin... huh? HUH? ok.

He didn't change, he just acted more like he did in the earlier books. Which I was alright with, because Jordan did nothing interesting with him for the entire second half of the series. Sanderson talked about this on his blog at one point, he's inclined to agree that Mat was a misstep in the first book, and he did his best to fix that in the following two.

@hunter5024:

I dunno, it just felt like his "voice" changed a lot, if you know what I mean. It was a difficult situation I guess, taking over a series that was already 11 books old. It felt more noticable to me because Rand and Perrin seemed to stay pretty much as Robert Jordan had written them, whereas other characters like Matt and Elayne suddenly felt different to me. I'll check out his blog though, I'd be interested to see what he has to say about his work on WoT, I'd also be interested to know if Robert Jordan had written stuff before his death or whether it was all Sanderson filling out Jordan's plot outline.

@claritysam: Yeah there were certainly some differences, but overall I think they were pretty minor compared to what I expected. The blog is definitely worth checking out for the reasons you mentioned. It's super interesting to learn which things were Jordan and which things were Sanderson, and which things he struggled with. I wasted a whole afternoon reading that stuff.

I feel like Sanderson kind of saved WoT, personally. I loved the hell out of that series up through Lord of Chaos, but books 7, 8, and 10 are some of the most boring books I've ever read through. Winter's Heart was only saved by the cleansing of saidin, which may have been the most world-shattering event in a fictional world that I've ever read/seen. Jordan seemed to figure out how to write again in Knife of Dreams. I feel like Sanderson did a great job finishing the series, and that those final books are better than about 50% of the rest of the series. I mean, he didn't hit the highs of books 3-5, but I enjoyed them quite a bit.

Edit: I feel the same way about the middle of WoT that I feel about book 4 of A Song of Ice and Fire: 50-60% boring stuff I don't care about. Aes Sedai politics and Cersei-perspective chapters are not interesting.

Hi5 to all of you guys, I'm a massive Sanderson fan, though to be honest I haven't bought into the whole cosmere thing. IMO he has to prove it's compelling to me via the continuation of the Stormlight Archives. At the moment it seems pretty unnecessary, aside from the fact that it allows him to experiment with different interpretations of deities.

Honestly though, I have read everything he's written except the Alcatraz books and none of them are bad. Alongside Jim Butcher, Sanderson is the best fantasy author going today in my opinion - they don't strive for the depth or intrigue of a Martin, but instead focus all of their books on a central cast of very deep characters. They have a knack for making you care deeply for them and the world they inhabit.

I highly recommend trying out the Dresden Files series (ongoing) and/or Codex Alera (complete) by Jim Butcher. They have very distinct styles, but if you like Sanderson's work you're pretty much guaranteed to love Butcher's work too.

@selfconfessedcynic: FYI, Alloy of Law is considered the first book of the next Mistborn trilogy. There are 2 more Wax and Wayne books, which Sanderson has mostly finished writing already.

@nophilip: A common misconception! I'm happy to inform you that it isnt. Sanderson quotes the following in his December update;

"So a week or two back, I turned in two new Wax and Wayne Mistborn novels. They’re titled Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning, and Tor decided to publish them in quick succession: the first in October 2015, the second in January 2016. So, if you have read the original trilogy but haven’t tried The Alloy of Law yet, you might want to give it a look! From the beginning, I’ve planned Mistborn to be a continuum series, showing off Allomancy in different time periods. I think you’ll find the Wax and Wayne books to be fun, quick reads—and they introduce some very, very big things coming in the Mistborn world.

There will be one more Wax and Wayne (early 1900s-era) Mistborn book. Back after I finished The Alloy of Law, I sat down and plotted out a trilogy with the same characters. The Alloy of Law was more of a happy, improvised accident. The follow-up trilogy is meant to be more intentional. So in the end, we’ll have four total. (The final one is tentatively called The Lost Metal.) From there, I might jump to the second “big” trilogy, which is 1980s tech. Or I might dally a little more in something 1940s-era instead. We’ll see."

The rest can be found here:

http://brandonsanderson.com/state-of-the-sanderson-december-2014/

In any case, I edited out that paragraph in my previous post as so many others had pointed the sequels out :P

I wouldn't have said what I did if I agreed with that. And I don't think it's a problem only with the first book, because it was in the second book with the Tower of Ghenjei where he really let me down.

I don't hold it against Sanderson too much to be honest. It's an impossible task, picking up from an author who's not only already written all the characters, but written them for so long that they're all quite firmly established. Mat was just my favorite, so it sucked when I didn't even like him anymore after the switch. On the flipside, Nynaeve became like 100x more bearable after the switch.

@selfconfessedcynic: That's cool! Most of the statements I've seen from him about the W&W books seemed to imply that Alloy was the first of the trilogy. Good to know.

Right here. I've read Warbreaker (first novel I read from him), Mistborn (just the first book so far, but I have the other two), and the Stormlight Archive books. I really have to catch up on reading Mistborn but I just have not had the time. Hopefully I can start reading them really soon since I've heard they get really good.

I think it is cool that he has his books connected in some way. I haven't really delved too far into it but I did know about Hoid. I've always enjoyed when an author does something like what Sanderson is doing.

Damn it now I want to read. Which Sanderson book should I start with?

@hunter5024: I'd probably start with Mistborn - its his first trilogy and when he really found his feet as an author.

Then again, if you like less in the way of epic fantasy and more superhero kinda stuff, Steelheart is pretty good.

If you want to go all the way epic fantasy with it, The Way of Kings is one of the best works of epic fiction ever written IMO.

In any case, I still point to Mistborn as a good all-round primer, and though the 2nd book isn't as good as the bookends of the series, it all does come to a fantastic climax. A very good arc that only gets better when you find out he isn't done with the universe yet (followups are seta couple hundred years in the future)

Mistborn isn't a bad place to start, what with it being a complete trilogy and all. Just be warned that while Sanderson is very good at worldbuilding and inventing crazy magic systems, the characters in Mistborn all come from some very well-worn archetypes. If you want to read his best stuff though, read The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. The first book is a lot of set up but it pays off really well in the second.

@arbitrarywater: @selfconfessedcynic: Thanks guys. I'll start with the Mistborn books since they're shorter.