Great news for those who backed the Year of Sanderson physical books. Secret Project 2 is arriving at a steady pace and they've already received all of Secret Project 3 from the other bindery.
The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread
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If Brandon Sanderson decides to work with Fromsoftware what kind of genre do you think the game would be? Mid evil fantasy like Dark souls/Elden ring, or victorian horror like Bloodborne, Asian like Sekiro or something else
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Fantasy Sci-Fi hybrid, mixing Armored Core with Elden Ring.
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@Shiebs How about a setting based off Persia or India?
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Both these ideas sound cool
It would be wild to see Midevil fantasy and Sci-fi put together in some sort of crazy amalgamation
And Persia and India are so much different from anything they've done before, I honestly don't know much about either place but Just knowing how epic some bollywood movies sets and costume designs are and there religious art, they could defintley make some insane looking characters, enemies and places
I hope whatever he does it's open world like Elden Ring
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I will say this much: Brando has touched Indian culture in the Cosmere if you know where to look.
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@andre is it in his Arcanum unbound works?
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FINALLY finished the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks. What a ride. It's taken basically all my reading time this year to do, (each book was 700-900 pages, about 1.5 million word) but it consistently surprised me, made me re-evaluate what I already knew, worried about characters and had me hooked from the start to the end. There's a thing that happens about halfway through the first book that sets the entire premise on its head and its just... whew.
I kept wanting to go back and re-read it from the start knowing what I knew now, but had to keep going!
It slogged a little in the later books when the cast was spread out doing their own subplots instead of interacting with each other, but it was a great ride. Can fully recommend for any Brando Sando fans.
I'm gonna read a couple short things now as a cleanser, (This is How You Lose the Time War or some Discworld or something) and then finally onto the secret projects!
@andre said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
Fantasy Sci-Fi hybrid, mixing Armored Core with Elden Ring.
Eh, he already worked on a sci-fi game, lets keep him in an open world souls-like, that's what I really wanna see.
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@Robby said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
I'm gonna read a couple short things now as a cleanser, (This is How You Lose the Time War or some Discworld or something) and then finally onto the secret projects!
@andre said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
Want to read a novella? Feel like reading a female author for a change? Read "Every Heart a Doorway". It's amazing.
It's a clever idea, "What happens to the children who went to different worlds AFTER they came home? How do they deal with everything they saw?"
Alice and Dorothy don't show up, but it's based on the theme. Fell down the rabbit hole/went through the wardrobe, then came back. Now what?
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Finally got round to SP2 this week and it's fine. Nothing wrong with it. In terms of technical storytelling mechanics, the setups and payoffs, it all runs like clockwork and none of it feels extraneous. Achieves everything it set out to do and ends before any part of it can outstay its welcome. There's even a few genuine chuckles throughout it (the corporate speak and disclaimers in the handbook fragments being a regular highlight).
I enjoyed it, but I don't have any really strong feelings about it. Isekai and amnesia aren't premises that do much for me personally, and while they're not badly executed here by any means, their presence just from the outset made it a story that pushed fewer of my buttons than SP1 or most of the wider Cosmere.
It's a good enough book that I hate to damn with faint praise, but it just doesn't play to my interests enough to be inspiring in the way Sanderson's other works are.
But now that we're two for two on the secret projects being refreshingly sharp and focussed in their structure and pacing, I'm very, very excited to see what SP3 has in store for a new corner of the Cosmere.
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I feel somewhat similar about SP2. Not a bad book, but not a great one. The best stuff in it for me was apart from the book. I adored the art, the snippets of the actual handbook, and the mervin comic book in the margins. It's nowhere near the overall story that SP1 was, but the overall package of it as a premium hardcover still managed to deliver. I'd give the story about a 2.5/5 and the premium hardcover close to a 4/5 as an entire reading experience.
Brandon says that SP3 is his favorite of the 4 books, so I'm really looking forward to it. If they get all of SP2 delivered by the last week in June and the Sel box out in a similar timeframe, then I plan to wait for my book to get delivered before even seeing the cover for SP3. I was in the first 20 or so percent, so I'm hoping it's not too long of a wait. I think it will be neat to experience the cover that way and there's a chance that it delivers near my born-day.
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@Satsuki I can second this recommendation. I enjoyed this book, though truthfully, I enjoyed its 2 sequels even more. I haven't read the latter 5, but I'm sure they're all of the same quality and execution.
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I haven’t gotten my physical copy yet, can’t wait for it though
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@andre said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
I feel somewhat similar about SP2. Not a bad book, but not a great one. The best stuff in it for me was apart from the book. I adored the art, the snippets of the actual handbook, and the mervin comic book in the margins. It's nowhere near the overall story that SP1 was, but the overall package of it as a premium hardcover still managed to deliver. I'd give the story about a 2.5/5 and the premium hardcover close to a 4/5 as an entire reading experience.
Brandon says that SP3 is his favorite of the 4 books, so I'm really looking forward to it. If they get all of SP2 delivered by the last week in June and the Sel box out in a similar timeframe, then I plan to wait for my book to get delivered before even seeing the cover for SP3. I was in the first 20 or so percent, so I'm hoping it's not too long of a wait. I think it will be neat to experience the cover that way and there's a chance that it delivers near my born-day.
If it had been a non-Sanderson I'd picked up or been recommended at random by a friend I'd probably be calling it a pleasant surprise, but the guy has me expecting more.
Definitely agreed on the quality of the whole package, the illustrations added a lot this time around. There were definitely some charming bits in the core text as well. I liked the main character approximating an arcane language to medieval peasants through an unintelligible string of modern slang and brand names. Felt like a bit you'd see Harry Dresden doing, more than the kind of humour I usually expect from a Sanderson character.
As much as I'm looking forward to the post-Stormlight aspects of SP4, it's hard to go past that designated author's favourite label for hype. I've been getting my books fairly early into each run so far (SP2 sat on my desk for like a week while I was finishing Zelda) so fingers crossed the pattern holds for the next one. I'll probably look at the cover when the PDF drops though. Can't help a peek.
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FINALLY started on Tress. I'm really digging it so far. Brandon needs to write more entire books with the voice of Hoid.
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I think Tress is going to become the new starting-point for a lot of people with Brandon Sanderson. It's a terrific intro to the Cosmere. If there's any issue with it as an intro in my opinion, it's that people might end up missing it's particular writing style.
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@andre said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
@Satsuki I can second this recommendation. I enjoyed this book, though truthfully, I enjoyed its 2 sequels even more. I haven't read the latter 5, but I'm sure they're all of the same quality and execution.
All are amazing, although I didn't enjoy the 2nd as much as I hoped.
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@Robby If I'm not mistaken, he's intending to and wanted to use a low-stakes book like Tress as a way to get used to writing in his voice.
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Woo, just got my notice that my copy of SP#2 is shipping! Guess I better hurry up on Tress!
@Satsuki said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
Want to read a novella? Feel like reading a female author for a change? Read "Every Heart a Doorway". It's amazing.
I read female authors all the time!
It's a clever idea, "What happens to the children who went to different worlds AFTER they came home? How do they deal with everything they saw?"
I've seen a few stories like that. They can be pretty interesting. I'll add it to the list.
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Just got my physical copy
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I started the book yesterday and finished today, can’t wait to get the next one
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The last batch of secret project 2 should be going out today, and Secret Project 3 has started shipping! Woo!
I'm still only 2/3 of the wayh through Tress, and haven't even started on Frugal Wizard yet. This is all Lightbringer's fault for eating up my book time the first half of the year
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Speaking of Lightbringer I just started the first book, I’m about 150 pages in
It’s okay so far, I’m not in love with it, not like I am the Cosmere, but I’m not even halfway through so that could change
So far the magic system seems to just be making crystals
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Finally finished off Tress. That weas delightful. I'm glad I waited for the physical copy, as that pulled off a trick I've never seen done in a book before outside of a deluxe edition of Neverending Story, and that was super neat. A minor thing, but neat.
I dunno that I'm going to go directly to Wizard's Guidebook. Brandon writes faster than I can read and SP#3 should be arriving soon and I love his work but need variety too.
I also got through Discworld: Guards Guards. This is my 9th or 10th Discworld book and I dunno. I want to fall in love with Pratchett's stuff so badly. The elements are there, I don't dislike them, and every book has a few moments that get me and go "damn, that's a great bit of writing and observation of humanity there"... but the rest of the book just doesn't work for me guess I'll try another City Watch book. I've been basically doing them in order, though I jumped around a little with RIncewind since he had cliffhangers. .
@Shiebs said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
Speaking of Lightbringer I just started the first book, I’m about 150 pages in
So far the magic system seems to just be making crystals
That's just the surface, it's way, way more than that. Right now you're mostly seeing it from the eyes of a kid that doesn't understand any of what he's seeing. You'll see a lot more soon.
It’s okay so far, I’m not in love with it, not like I am the Cosmere, but I’m not even halfway through so that could change
I don't want to spoil or tease or oversell anything. Just... keep going. As you said, you're not even halfway through the first book. I won't say anything else.
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In the second book of The Lunar Chronicles (Scarlet) so far, and enjoying them. I love fairy tale re-tellings and re-imaginings. I mean the first book (Cinder) re-imagines Cinderella as an Asian cyborg mechanic. What's not to like?
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So THAT'S what the bald cap and beard were about!
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I'm about halfway through SP3 and it is delightful.
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Finished SP3 and while I wasn't too sure about it in the opening chapters I think the story came together in some really satisfying ways toward the end. Charming work, great art, all the final act worldbuilding revelations and twists on the established info we love Sanderson for. Another fantastic corner of the Cosmere.
Tress still played harder to my personal tastes though. SP4 will have it's work cut out if it wants to unseat her.
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I just got my notice that number 3 is on the way!
I haven't even started 2 yet.
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It is every bookworm's duty to buy more books before you're done with the one you're on.
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Got my third book yesterday! Can’t wait to start
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I'm a little disappointed that Yumi is a dark blue cover material. After Tress was a bright green and Wizard's was a bright blue, I was hoping the whole set would be bright colorful variety. The last book could still be red or yellow but no matter what two of the books are going to be different shades of blue. Ah well, minor nitpick. This one has by far my favorite bookmark so far.
I tried The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi. Iat had an interesting premise on was on a list of "If you like Princess Mononoke." I sadly DNF, I didn't get too far into it. The story may be good but the translation was pretty rough and dry so it just wasn't working for me.
I also picked up In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan from my library, as it has a Sanderson recommendation on the front cover.... and the first page is a glossary of terms for the magic system and what the different powers do.
And I just noped out.
I guess I'm a little burned out on epic fantasy after giving Light Bringer and Sanderson half the year. I still want to get through Malazan and a bunch of other stuff... but taking a break from the fantasy epics for a month or two. So I'm switching to some light reading...
War and Peace! it's only 590K words, no problem! That's only two Lightbringer books! Or half of Harry Potter!
It's been on my agenda for ages and for whatever reason I've spent a couple months now itching to try it. Did you know that War and Peace is actually 4 books and an epilogue smooshed together? Like Lord of the Rings? Consider that and its suddenly a much more digestible 300 page book instead of a 1200 page monster!
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Here's that first page from Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan. Shiebs you're always hunting for elaborate magic systems so maybe after you get through the first Lightbringer you can give this a shot.
Of course, after I got through the first Lightbringer I had to get the second one immediately...
But I just looked at that and went "yup, that's a Sanderson style system." I can't deal right now. Maybe in a few months.
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@Robby thanks! Another one to add to the list! Keep them coming
I’m in love with good magic systems, Brandon Sanderson got me hooked now I can’t get enough
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I just finished Yumi and the nightmare painter and now I’m getting into black prism
Question Robby, in this book they say orange represents greed, that’s the same as the orange lanterns in DC comics, is there some reason that both use orange to represent greed? Is that common like rage being red? Or is it just a random coincidence?
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Dragonsteel 2023 panel, celebrating the release of the final book in the Skyward series before Brandon hands it over to Janci full time.
Brandon's on track to finish the first draft of Stormlight 5 by Dec 15, and has already done enough revisions that draft 2 is like 70%, He'll be working on that till June probably.
After that his plans remain as they were pretty much,
-Novelization of White Sands
-Mistborn Era 3 written all at once. Held until all three are written.
-Elantris 2 and 3 in the middle of those.
-Stormlight 6.And that's probably the next 5 years. There may be other surprises along the way, but don't expect another Secret Project 4 secret books sort of deal.
-Dragonsteel is going to be building a massive scope mini village to be offices, warehouse space, bookstore, cafe, community center, event center, etc. Retail locations on the side, art gallery, bakery, etc, That's years away, they're not just opening a random shop in a strip mall, they're making a THING. It's going to take years to make.
-Stormlight 2 leatherbounds campaign in March. The books are already printed and in.
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@Shiebs said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
Question Robby, in this book they say orange represents greed, that’s the same as the orange lanterns in DC comics, is there some reason that both use orange to represent greed? Is that common like rage being red? Or is it just a random coincidence?
Just saw this three month later, lol.
Some colors are just built in as tied to things, culturally. Green is envy, yellow is fear or joy, red is anger, blue is calm or sad. You see those used in films all the time to convey specific moods and tones. When you think along a color spectrum there's only the six basic colors, red, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet, plus black and white as the extremes and those usually going to good and evil.
(And some color combos, like blue and pink you only see at clubs but get used for bisexual lighting and it really pops out and looks good)
So with some of those just universally understood to be a specific thing, the remainders, orange, violet, possibly brown or pink if you need to get extra, just get the random remainders of what your story demands.
So it's coincidence mostly, but its a very guided coincidence due to limited choices after the obvious ones are taken.
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@Robby thank you for the response
Also I’m very much enjoying black prisim, I would have finished it already if not for the constant inflow of Cosmere books this year
But thank you again for suggesting it
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@Shiebs said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
Also I’m very much enjoying black prisim, I would have finished it already if not for the constant inflow of Cosmere books this year
But thank you again for suggesting it
Glad you're enjoying it! There were two major hooks in the first book, after which I knew I was on board for the rest of the series just to see how that turned out. I won't even say them in spoilers unless I know you're past it.
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@Robby said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
@Shiebs said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
Also I’m very much enjoying black prisim, I would have finished it already if not for the constant inflow of Cosmere books this year
But thank you again for suggesting it
Glad you're enjoying it! There were two major hooks in the first book, after which I knew I was on board for the rest of the series just to see how that turned out. I won't even say them in spoilers unless I know you're past it.
I think I read the first one already
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Yuuup, that was the biggie. I was interested up to that point... But that's when I started going full speed.
Or as I said back in June.
"but it consistently surprised me, made me re-evaluate what I already knew, worried about characters and had me hooked from the start to the end. There's a thing that happens about halfway through the first book that sets the entire premise on its head and its just... whew.
I kept wanting to go back and re-read it from the start knowing what I knew now, but had to keep going!"
And then how the first book ends was just "whelp, I need the second volume. RIGHT NOW."
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Has anyone else finished all four Secret project books?
I liked all of them
Back to Black Prism now
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All my reading time the last few months has been going into War and Peace (about 2/3 through it) , and trying to round out the Neil Gaiman novels I hadn't read yet. (I'm in the middle of Neverwhere right now, and then after that is Anansi Boys.) Haven't had a lot of time for reading the last few months, and I've been doing some podcasts rather than audiobooks for a bit.
I love Brandon's stuff but need breaks from it, and between Mistborn 7, Alcatraz 6, Tress, and wrapping up my reread of Oathbringer and working on the Arcanum Unbound... and the months I spent on Lightbringer last year burned me out a little on the epic fantasy scene. I intend to pick the secret projects back up soon, and then start my re-read of Rhythm of War in prep for the next Stormlight book in the fall.
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@Shiebs I have! I liked them all, but Tress and Yumi were my favorites. Sunlit was great as well, but not as strong, and the Handbook was an OK story that was truly elevated by the premium hardcover and the extra content in the margins. They really made my year.
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@andre said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
@Shiebs I have! I liked them all, but Tress and Yumi were my favorites. Sunlit was great as well, but not as strong, and the Handbook was an OK story that was truly elevated by the premium hardcover and the extra content in the margins. They really made my year.
I agree on those rankings, I throughly enjoyed them all, can’t wait to see more of the Cosmere
I would love if he does more one shot planets like these
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@Shiebs said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
@andre said in The Brandon Sanderson (Cosmere) and other Fantasy novels thread:
@Shiebs I have! I liked them all, but Tress and Yumi were my favorites. Sunlit was great as well, but not as strong, and the Handbook was an OK story that was truly elevated by the premium hardcover and the extra content in the margins. They really made my year.
I agree on those rankings, I throughly enjoyed them all, can’t wait to see more of the Cosmere
I would love if he does more one shot planets like these
I totally agree. I think Brandon is really good when just getting to tell stories and craft worlds around them on the fly. My favorite singular story of his is still probably Sixth of the Dusk because of how perfectly the story of the world informs the story of the characters.
I'm not sure if that's actually going to happen given the schedule he outlined in the State of the Sanderson and other previous comments recently. These were able to happen because Covid gave him more free time since he wasn't attending public events. I don't expect that to happen again anytime soon.
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I got The Night Circus for Christmas. Let's see how this lives up to reputation.
I'm really hoping it's good because the author is an alumna of my college.
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Night Circus is a book that's kind of all vibes. It's light on plot and the characters are a bit thin but it still does its best to enchant you anyway with descriptions.
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Night Circus actually been on my TBR pile for a while. I'd be curious to hear more in depth thoughts on it since who knows when I'll get to it..