Brandon Sanderson writes Big Fat Books. Most of his latest books weigh in at nearly a 1000 pages. This short story collection, Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection is a mere 672 pages. It includes Sanderson’s Hugo Award winner, “The Emperor’s Soul.” And I’m found of “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.” Sanderson mentions in his “Preface” that he was impressed by Isaac Asimov who tied up his Foundation novels and his robot novels into one coherent story line. Sanderson is trying to weave all his many series together in such a fashion. Some of these stories are part of that effort to fill in the blanks and provide a backstory for some of his characters. If you’re a fan of high adventure and science fantasy, you might consider giving Aarcanum Unbounded a try. And, if you enjoy Sanderson’s style as much as I do, you might want to read one of his longish novels. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Acknowledgements
Preface
THE SELISH SYSTEM
The Emperor’s Soul, a novella originally published in 2012, Hugo Award winner
“The Hope of Elantris”, originally published as an e-book in 2007
THE SCADRIAN SYSTEM
“The Eleventh Metal”, originally released in 2011 as part of the Mistborn Adventure Game
“Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, Episodes 28 through 30”, originally released in 2011 as part of the Mistborn Adventure Game
Mistborn: Secret History, a short novel originally published in 2016 as an e-book
the taldain system
“White Sand”, an excerpt of the graphic novel originally published in 2016
THE THRENODITE SYSTEM
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, a novella originally published in 2013 in the Dangerous Women anthology
THE DROMINAD SYSTEM
Sixth of the Dusk, a novellette originally published in 2014 in the Shadows Beneath anthology
THE ROSHARAN SYSTEM
Edgedancer, a new Stormlight Archive novella
1000 pages! Yikes. Maybe the short story collection is the place to start.
Jeff, my advice to Brandon Sanderson newbies would be to read “The Emperor’s Soul” and ““Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.” If those two stories don’t impress you, then skip Sanderson’s novels.
I have read a couple of his Reckoners books.
Jeff, I have the final novel in the Reckoners series, CALAMITY, in the “oo-deck circle.”
No 1000-page books for me!
Bill, I don’t read many 1000 page books any more, but when I do it’s usually a Brandon Sanderson fantasy.
Robert Jordan’s and Brandon Sanderson’s brand of epic fantasy (not “science fantasy”) is too long-winded for my taste. Same with George R.R. Martin. I don’t mind long books, nor multiple volume fantasy, such as a trilogy, but multiple 1,000 + page books to tell a story is too much.
I read about 50 pages of the first Mistborn book, and wasn’t pulled in.
Rick, Brandon Sanderson must be appealing to many readers. He’s books sell well and he writes a lot of them!
And hey, I didn’t intend to have the comment in bold text.
Avoided him because of his link to the Wheels of Time series which I found terrible. Never understood their appeal.
Steve, I’m with you on THE WHEELS OF TIME series. I found vast stretches of the series arid and tedious.