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Brandon Sanderson - The Cosmere |OT| there's always another secret...

I've had The Way of Kings sitting on my shelf for over a year, and just got round to reading it over the last couple of weeks. Now I'm mad at myself for waiting so long. I can't remember the last time I was so gripped by a book. The universe, the characters, the plot, I just loved all of it.

My wife has bought me Words of Radiance for my birthday next month, but I need more now!

Are the Mistborn books as good?
 
I've had The Way of Kings sitting on my shelf for over a year, and just got round to reading it over the last couple of weeks. Now I'm mad at myself for waiting so long. I can't remember the last time I was so gripped by a book. The universe, the characters, the plot, I just loved all of it.

My wife has bought me Words of Radiance for my birthday next month, but I need more now!

Are the Mistborn books as good?

Ehhhhhhhh

They're decent, but Way of Kings kinda blows them away. Word of Radiance even moreso. The huge epic focus plays way more to Sanderson's strengths than Mistborn, which tends to be a lot more... intimate, which isn't something he's really all that good at.
 

Sulik2

Member
I've had The Way of Kings sitting on my shelf for over a year, and just got round to reading it over the last couple of weeks. Now I'm mad at myself for waiting so long. I can't remember the last time I was so gripped by a book. The universe, the characters, the plot, I just loved all of it.

My wife has bought me Words of Radiance for my birthday next month, but I need more now!

Are the Mistborn books as good?

Mistborn is solid, with some great moments in the first and third books. The second book isn't the greatest, but the world building and magic are as amazing as you can always expect from Sanderson. But really you just need to read them so you can move to the alloy of law books and secret history which are AMAZING. Plus there are all the cosmere connections.
 
Ehhhhhhhh

They're decent, but Way of Kings kinda blows them away. Word of Radiance even moreso. The huge epic focus plays way more to Sanderson's strengths than Mistborn, which tends to be a lot more... intimate, which isn't something he's really all that good at.

Mistborn is solid, with some great moments in the first and third books. The second book isn't the greatest, but the world building and magic are as amazing as you can always expect from Sanderson. But really you just need to read them so you can move to the alloy of law books and secret history which are AMAZING. Plus there are all the cosmere connections.

Mistborn isn't as good but they're still excellent books and well worth your time.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'll have to give them a go!
 
They're both quite a bit better than Alloy of Law imo. They really take the groundwork from the first book and run with it. The 3rd one in particular has a lot of interesting implications for the Mistborn world (Scadrial) at large.

Sweet, I'm excited to get back into the Cosmere universe. Been a while so I kind of forget how everything is connected though.

Also, to the other person asking about if Mistborn is worth reading. I would say to jump in and read them, I love the magic system in these books, plus the story overall is pretty good. The only book I had a rough time with of Sanderson's was Elantris. I would also recommend Warbreaker which I think you can read online for free on his website.
 

Grudy

Member
So I just started reading Mistborn and something is bugging me about one of the first few events with kelsier, spoiler warning.

When Kelsier is getting ready to begin his heist on the big noble family's palace, his preparation is on point: Two non-metal daggers, he replenished his mana, takes off his shoes and everything else. He also shows how much mastery and control he has over his allomancy, particularly with that small heavy object he found lying in an office and used to dispatch the 'hazekillers' which was ridiculously effective against them. So how come he doesn't just keep such an object on him at all times? The more I think about it, the more it irritates me even though I'm still so early in the book. I can think of two explanations but both are kind of lackluster.

1. Other allomancers can detect that some external metal has entered the palace somehow despite it being such a small item. This doesn't make complete sense because:

A. Kel wanted to stir up a scene and get into a fight or two. He says so himself. It would have made more sense to pack such a strong weapon and it's such an obvious idea for someone with his powers that it took me out of the immersion for a bit because he's supposed to be a veteran. Those 2 glass daggers were pitiful and didn't do much in comparison.
B. How can they pinpoint such a small object when there are armored knights walking around on the outside, not to mention all the metals that are already inside the palace. Is it reasonable to think that if some allomancers can really keep track of ALL the metals in the area that they can pinpoint the entry of a new one? Even so, I just remembered that he had coins which invalidates this point but I was still thinking that maybe the coins are so light that it's not so detectable. The back of the book also mentions burning Bronze by "Seekers" who are able to detect anyone using allomancy which Kel was using in spades. He should really have been detected the moment he jumped over the wall at most.

2. He didn't want the weapon to be used against him by other allomancers? Even taking the chance that the nobles have another mistborn in their ranks, they would still have their own weapons that they would use instead of fighting Kelsier over a small item. This point stops making sense from any angle when I think about it but I'm just throwing it out there.

Either way, I'm not convinced.

Great book so far though. I'm really enjoying it.
 

ExMachina

Unconfirmed Member
Oh shit, time to start a super accelerated reread of WoK and WoR. Lol

Didn't realize it was this close.

I'll put up a thread when the first batch goes live.
 

wamberz1

Member
Yoooo! Crazy hyped. Finally, finally getting oathbreaker!

I'm imagining people will want to post week-by-week impressions. Looking forward to it.
 

Veelk

Banned
Just as a clarification, are they doing this for the whole book? Once the chapters are up, are they going to stay up?
 

Woorloog

Banned
Yeah, Sanderson said it's the first 300 pages, out of almost 1300 pages total.

Wait, they can print 1300 page books? I thought the practical limit was lower. Though that was some years ago, and perhaps it isn't a cap so much as "we'd prefer not to print that big books". (Naturally prolific, well selling authors like Sanderson are exceptions.)

And...
Guess i need to un-sub for few weeks. Not gonna bother reading online, will just wait till the actual book.
 
Wait, they can print 1300 page books? I thought the practical limit was lower. Though that was some years ago, and perhaps it isn't a cap so much as "we'd prefer not to print that big books". (Naturally prolific, well selling authors like Sanderson are exceptions.)

And...
Guess i need to un-sub for few weeks. Not gonna bother reading online, will just wait till the actual book.

Did you never read Harry Potter lol?
 

Woorloog

Banned
Did you never read Harry Potter lol?

Been so many years since i read it i can't recall how long the books were. Read 6/7ths in Finnish anyway, which changes the length somewhat.

It's just that i often see some things said about 1000+ page books and their printing.

Like, Robert Jordan saying that WoT final book is one book, even if Tor needs to invent a new printing technology for 2000 page books. (Obviously this didn't happen, was probably a semi-joke anyway.)
 

Faiz

Member
I think I'll pass, as I will want to read the whole thing at my own pace, but still, damn.

I almost always pass on these things too... but given my time to read currently and the shear amount they are giving away, I think I'm gonna be down for this one.
 

Woorloog

Banned
They'll probably split it into part 1 and part 2 down the road like they did with Way of Kings.

The US editions are one book. The British edition is split for some reason.

Speaking of that, i really, really hope local bookstores carry the US edition, it has so much better cover art nearly always. Besides, i detest books being split for publication.
 

Faiz

Member
Wait, they can print 1300 page books? I thought the practical limit was lower. Though that was some years ago, and perhaps it isn't a cap so much as "we'd prefer not to print that big books". (Naturally prolific, well selling authors like Sanderson are exceptions.)

And...
Guess i need to un-sub for few weeks. Not gonna bother reading online, will just wait till the actual book.

I'm wondering if that isn't manuscript pages. 1300 actual printed pages seems... yeah I thought that was over what most publishers considered a cap of some sort.
 

VanWinkle

Member
I'm wondering if that isn't manuscript pages. 1300 actual printed pages seems... yeah I thought that was over what most publishers considered a cap of some sort.

Makes sense. Page is a rather vague indicator of length after all.

I'm just going off of the Amazon listing for the hardcover version, which lists it at 1248 pages, compared to 1088 for Words of Radiance and 1008 for Way of Kings. I guess it's possible that the listing is wrong.
 

Woorloog

Banned
1088 and 1008 seem right. I think WoK has 1001 numbered pages (note the palindrome number and 10 motif) but naturally there are few empty ones too.
 

zroid

Banned
Words of Radiance was already insanely long, I honestly never considered Oathbringer would be even longer



....not that i'm complaining
 

RS4-

Member
Just started the first Mistborn book a few days ago when a friend mentioned it, halfway through and it's a very good read so far.
 

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
Words of Radiance was already insanely long, I honestly never considered Oathbringer would be even longer



....not that i'm complaining

honestly WoR went by so fast, WoR was a much easier read than TWoK. I loved both books but re-reading them now (finished TWoK and about 20% into WoR) makes it even more obvious.

Just hitting me that within a couple of months we'll be getting Book 3 of the series, meanwhile Winds of Winter... lol

edit: I'll pass on the 3 chapters every week thing. Need the book in my hand.

I'm fucking hyped.
 
1300 pages doesn't seem like a huge deal to me and I honestly don't see any logistical issue with printing or binding that much.

Only reason I could imagine not to print that is it would surpass War and Peace which is notoriously known for being "long."

But I feel like if the book is good, something that length doesn't feel long at all. I had zero issues with TWoK or WoR. Their length felt right. By comparison, reading something like Glen Cook's The Black Company, every book felt extremely short.
 
I'm doing a reread and still on the first book, so I'm fine with waiting for November. Realllly looking forward to Oathbringer. November is going to be an awesome month. Going to be hard reading a massive hardcover in bed but its worth it!

And it's ~1300 pages? Awesome. Hope there are plenty of pages with art on them. Something I really like about the Stormlight Archive books.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Since the book's main focus is on Dalinar, I reckon his flashbacks give some insights on Jasnah as well.
 

legend166

Member
I don't think I'm going to have time to do a complete reread, is there a good chapter by chapter summary out there?

It's funny how easily you forget things when you finish a thousand page book in a week.
 

zroid

Banned
I don't think I'm going to have time to do a complete reread, is there a good chapter by chapter summary out there?

It's funny how easily you forget things when you finish a thousand page book in a week.
I forget shit that happened at the beginning of a book before I finish it sometimes :lol
 
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