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[Faiz]

Sanderson posted an update re: Oathbringer (SA book 3) to Reddit. He cautiously warns of possible spoilers but only regarding structure of the book.

Most important takeaway - he's approaching the halfway mark.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight...thbringer_spoilers_stormlight_three_update_2/

 

[Error]

Not gonna click on the link but seeing some progress on the book is nice, the whole progress bar thing is awesome and I like how open he is to fans regarding how each book is coming.

Can only imagine how tough it must be for ASOIAF fans lol, silence for months and then to pop out and say he is not going to release the book anytime soon. It would kill me.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Sanderson posted an update re: Oathbringer (SA book 3) to Reddit. He cautiously warns of possible spoilers but only regarding structure of the book.

Most important takeaway - he's approaching the halfway mark.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight...thbringer_spoilers_stormlight_three_update_2/

He's got a tracker on his personal website that tells you the approximate percentage.

Right now it's sitting at 44% done with the First Draft. I don't know how many drafts his books usually go through but I'd assume we're still quite a ways away as he suggested in his end of the year blog.

 

[Faiz]

He's got a tracker on his personal website that tells you the approximate percentage.

Right now it's sitting at 44% done with the First Draft. I don't know how many drafts his books usually go through but I'd assume we're still quite a ways away as he suggested in his end of the year blog.

Yes, he's been doing those for all his books for years, literally.

 

[Kaladin]

Sanderson is one of the more fan friendly and followable authors I've been a fan of. He does more updates than anyone I've seen.

 

[Incandenza]

Mistborn Era 2 is insanely fun. I'm loving Shadows of Self. Probably gonna finish around the time Bands of Mourning comes out.

 

[LProtag]

I'm liking the hint he drops about Renarin being a major character in the 2nd half of the series. I want to find out more about him.

 

[Kaladin]

I'm liking the hint he drops about Renarin being a major character in the 2nd half of the series. I want to find out more about him.

I kinda figured

Spoiler

when he was revealed to be a Truthwatcher

we'd get more about Renarin.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Instead of saying what I have read it's probably easier to say what I haven't: Elantris, The Emperor's Soul and the second Mistborn series.

I love Sanderson's work, even have a plant named after him. Though I am sometimes disappointed by his views on things in real life shaped by mormonism.

 

[Kaladin]

Instead of saying what I have read it's probably easier to say what I haven't: Elantris, The Emperor's Soul and the second Mistborn series.

I love Sanderson's work, even have a plant named after him. Though I am sometimes disappointed by his views on things in real life shaped by mormonism.

If I let an artist in any medium's real life views affect my opinion of their work, I wouldn't like many of the things that I do today. The only time I cross that line is if they let it slip into their work or if their work directly supports something I fundamentally disagree with.

 

[gdt]

Orson Scott Card got a little crazy in Shadow Puppets, at that point I really had to out loud go..."what the fuck?"

Sanderson hasn't ever done that to me. So he can be as Mormon as he wants.

 

[LProtag]

I kinda figured

Spoiler

when he was revealed to be a Truthwatcher

we'd get more about Renarin.

Well yes, he also mentioned he's going to be a flashback character in the back 5 series, but I still don't think he's going to be anything more than one of the novelette-type characters in these next few books.

 

[NomarTyme]

Just finished Shadow of Self! Oh man I cannot wait till Bands of Mourning drops.

Mistborn Era 2 is insanely fun. I'm loving Shadows of Self. Probably gonna finish around the time Bands of Mourning comes out.

Indeed. Wayne is my favorite so far.

 

[Fou-Lu]

If I let an artist in any medium's real life views affect my opinion of their work, I wouldn't like many of the things that I do today. The only time I cross that line is if they let it slip into their work or if their work directly supports something I fundamentally disagree with.

Orson Scott Card got a little crazy in Shadow Puppets, at that point I really had to out loud go..."what the fuck?"

Sanderson hasn't ever done that to me. So he can be as Mormon as he wants.

I never said it's affecting my enjoyment of his works.

 

[NomarTyme]

I didn't even know that there was a 4th book for Mistborn era 2. Oh am I so please to hear about more mistborn shit!

 

[VanWinkle]

I'm insanely excited for SA3, as Dalinar has been my favorite character throughout so far. There's so much I want to know about his past.

 

[Faiz]

I didn't even know that there was a 4th book for Mistborn era 2. Oh am I so please to hear about more mistborn shit!

Yeah it's a fact that's easily gotten lost along the way. Easy to fall under the assumption that Bands of Mourning concludes a trilogy... I certainly did for a while!

 

[Kaladin]

I think at this point, I anticipate the next Stormlight Archives more so than the next Song of Ice and Fire. Especially after the end of Book 2.

Also...this Book 2, had no real Book 2 symptoms. The story just kept chugging along.

 

[Sylas]

If I let an artist in any medium's real life views affect my opinion of their work, I wouldn't like many of the things that I do today. The only time I cross that line is if they let it slip into their work or if their work directly supports something I fundamentally disagree with.

CoughTerryGoodkindCough.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Shadow of Selves was disappointing imo.

It just felt mundane there was no real sense of discovery, no real world building. Precisely what drew me to his books after getting recommended the Mistborn trilogy.

 

[Faiz]

Shadow of Selves was disappointing imo.

It just felt mundane there was no real sense of discovery, no real world building. Precisely what drew me to his books after getting recommended the Mistborn trilogy.

That aspect is admittedly muted in Shadows of Self. It's there, just a little subtle.

 

[Toxi]

Just finished Words of Radiance. That was very enjoyable.

Spoiler

I get the impression Nalan is an imposter and not actually the Herald of the same name. He seems to be a mess of contradictions, like how one of the Words of Radiance excerpts says Nalan was the last of the Heralds to accept patronage yet the guy in the book has tons of minions and is recruiting more.

 

[NomarTyme]

Yeah it's a fact that's easily gotten lost along the way. Easy to fall under the assumption that Bands of Mourning concludes a trilogy... I certainly did for a while!

3 more days! I want to start the stormlight series but it's a long ass book, so I'll wait to listen to it after Band of Mourning!

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

That aspect is admittedly muted in Shadows of Self. It's there, just a little subtle.

There's a lot of character building and the current climate of society but the Harmony stuff felt weird.

Spoiler

Sazed was a decent character but someone calling himself Harmony shouldn't interfere. And the whole he made it too nice for people? That just goes too much against my belief that humans as an amalgamation are assholes. You can't make it too nice for humans they'll always ruin it to make it less nice for a majority of the people.

 

[TouchMyBox]

Didn't know about the Cosmere until reading this thread, now I'm conflicted.

I enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy, but I've disliked most major combined universes in popular culture. Hmm...

 

[Woorloog]

There's a lot of character building and the current climate of society but the Harmony stuff felt weird.

Spoiler

Sazed was a decent character but someone calling himself Harmony shouldn't interfere. And the whole he made it too nice for people? That just goes too much against my belief that humans as an amalgamation are assholes. You can't make it too nice for humans they'll always ruin it to make it less nice for a majority of the people.

Spoiler

Sazed basically made a paradise for people with the Elendel basin. If you've read the Bands of Mourning excerpts from Tor's site, you will see one effect of this. People certainly can make a mess of even a paradise. I would remind you that Sanderson is obviously a big optimist, and this is very visible in his writing. One reason i like it, i really dislike the modern trend of having to make every fucking thing grimdark. (And given what people had to endure during the Lord Ruler's reign, i can easily see why Sazed thought it would be good to be nice for people for change. Besides, people to whom others are nice tend to be nice themselves.)

Spoiler

Also, it is Sazed who interferes, it is Harmony who tries to avoid interfering. A Shard (well, two of them) affects their holder heavily. Indeed, when you look at Mistborn trilogy, Sazed was big on interfering compared to the Terris people in general.

Didn't know about the Cosmere until reading this thread, now I'm conflicted.

I enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy, but I've disliked most major combined universes in popular culture. Hmm...

What combined universes? I can't think of any.

A thing about Cosmere is that Sanderson's been building it from the beginning, so it won't be something glued together. That should affect the quality positively, i'd imagine.
Also, as a general rule, the Cosmere stuff is secondary or even lesser in individual books set in Cosmere.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Didn't know about the Cosmere until reading this thread, now I'm conflicted.

I enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy, but I've disliked most major combined universes in popular culture. Hmm...

The Cosmere connections are primarily minor. Sanderson didn't want his readers to feel like they had to read every single thing in order to enjoy the stories. So the most closely related things are going to be within the same series of books.

So the Stormlight Archives, all being one series, will be strongly connected but the various Mistborn trilogys won't be strongly connected to Stormlight and will even only be loosly associated between themselves (every trilogy is planned to be different time periods).

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Spoiler

Sazed basically made a paradise for people with the Elendel basin. If you've read the Bands of Mourning excerpts from Tor's site, you will see one effect of this. People certainly can make a mess of even a paradise. I would remind you that Sanderson is obviously a big optimist, and this is very visible in his writing. One reason i like it, i really dislike the modern trend of having to make every fucking thing grimdark. (And given what people had to endure during the Lord Ruler's reign, i can easily see why Sazed thought it would be good to be nice for people for change. Besides, people to whom others are nice tend to be nice themselves.)

Spoiler

Also, it is Sazed who interferes, it is Harmony who tries to avoid interfering. A Shard (well, two of them) affects their holder heavily. Indeed, when you look at Mistborn trilogy, Sazed was big on interfering compared to the Terris people in general.

I get that it just goes too much against my own beliefs. Grimdark does get boring but I don't know if that's the answer.

Just that

Spoiler

Sazed became Harmony instead of either ruin or preservation seeing the necessity of their coexistence but then goes and interferes. Makes little sense to me.

Now I'm pleasantly surprised Bands of Mourning is another Mistborn book not one of his others series. Expected quite the wait.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Didn't know about the Cosmere until reading this thread, now I'm conflicted.

I enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy, but I've disliked most major combined universes in popular culture. Hmm...

Because of the way that every series takes place on a different planet, the individual series are kept very separate from each other. They read different, they feel different, and unless you're looking carefully, you're unlikely to be aware of the connection.

Supposedly that will change someday, as Sanderson has said there is an overarching story arch to the Cosmere, but that's unlikely to be revealed for a couple decades yet.

the various Mistborn trilogys won't be strongly connected to Stormlight and will even only be loosly associated between themselves (every trilogy is planned to be different time periods).

Shadows of Self had pretty strong ties to the original trilogy, IMO. It's hard for me to imagine someone reading that book without knowledge of what happened before.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Because of the way that every series takes place on a different planet, the individual series are kept very separate from each other. They read different, they feel different, and unless you're looking carefully, you're unlikely to be aware of the connection.

Supposedly that will change someday, as Sanderson has said there is an overarching story arch to the Cosmere, but that's unlikely to be revealed for a couple decades yet.

He's said that Stormlight will be the major series in the Cosmere and that there will be a series to be written in the future surrounding a specific character that will likely make connections more clear.. but that's about it as far as I can remember. I don't think he'll make the series themselves more connected to each other.. just that he'll write books later that will serve to make the connections more clear.

Shadows of Self had pretty strong ties to the original trilogy, IMO. It's hard for me to imagine someone reading that book without knowledge of what happened before.

That's due to confirmation bias because you've read the original trilogy. Wax and Wayne Tetralogy (Quadrilogy) Spoilers:

Spoiler

There's nothing that needs to be read in the OT in order to understand Shadows. The magic system is explained again in Alloys and in Shadows and you need not know who Harmony or any other legacy character actually is for the story to work. It's not as if Wax, Wayne, or any other primary character is intimately familiar with them. They're just legends to them.

 

[studyguy]

Stormlight book 2 ended pretty fucking well connected didn't it?

Spoiler

With Warbreaker iirc

Also decided to reread stormlight book 1 instead of firefight. So hyped for bands.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Stormlight book 2 ended pretty fucking well connected didn't it?

Spoiler

With Warbreaker iirc

I read Words of Radiance before reading that other material and I didn't feel like I was missing anything.

There are connections but you have to remember that if a reader can read the story and fully understand it without having read the connecting material, then it's considered a very light connection.

If you read The Hero of Ages without reading The Final Empire or The Well of Ascension.. the story isn't going to make much sense. It will feel like there's plotholes. That's a strong connection.

But you can read The Alloy of Law without having read any of the first three Mistborn books without feeling like you've missed something or the plot doesn't make sense.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

He's said that Stormlight will be the major series in the Cosmere and that there will be a series to be written in the future surrounding a specific character that will likely make connections more clear.. but that's about it as far as I can remember. I don't think he'll make the series themselves more connected to each other.. just that he'll write books later that will serve to make the connections more clear.

I was thinking more along the lines of DragonSteel... That is supposedly going to be

Spoiler

Hoid's

"origin story" and "a prequel to the entire Cosmere." Presumably this is going to have ties to a bunch of different series.

Also, I'm almost sure that I've seen Sanderson say somewhere that (much) later books will rely on previous Cosmere knowledge, although I can't remember where now. I think it was a Reddit AMA of some sort.

(That spoiler is only spoiling the first two Wax and Wayne books, correct? No spoilers from unreleased stuff? Just making sure, the way you worded it wasn't entirely clear.)

 

[Jest Chillin]

I was thinking more along the lines of DragonSteel... That is supposedly going to be Hoid's "origin story" and "a prequel to the entire Cosmere." Presumably this is going to have ties to a bunch of different series.

Also, I'm almost sure that I've seen Sanderson say somewhere that (much) later books will rely on previous Cosmere knowledge, although I can't remember where now. I think it was a Reddit AMA of some sort.

(That spoiler is only spoiling the first two Wax and Wayne books, correct? No spoilers from unreleased stuff? Just making sure, the way you worded it wasn't entirely clear.)

Dragonsteel was the future series I was trying to refer to without saying the character name. ;p

And yes, it only concerns the first two Wax and Wayne books. I don't read stories in advance of their official release. It's not even really a hard spoiler but I like to play it safe with these kinds of things.

Edit: And apologies for the confusion in the wording. I just wanted to make it clear that it concerned all the released books in the series since technically Sanderson considers Alloy a Standalone book and Shadows to be the first in a Wax and Wayne trilogy.

 

[Woorloog]

Just that

Spoiler

Sazed became Harmony instead of either ruin or preservation seeing the necessity of their coexistence but then goes and interferes. Makes little sense to me.

Think of it this way:

Spoiler

The Shard Harmony (combination of Ruin and Preservation) is a different "person" than Sazed, a person that has considerably influence on Sazed. Sazed, being a human (or still close enough to human) wants and likes to act for humankind in general. Harmony on the other hand says "Don't interfere, don't interfere".
A person who holds a Shard has immense power but the power imposes severe limits though a "young" Shardholder can override those, such as when Vin "killed" Ruin with Preservation's power, despite such act being against Preservation's Intent. Had Vin held the power for 500+ years before attempting to destroy Ruin, she probably couldn't not have done that (and probably would not have contemplated that either, for she would not longer have been Vin but Preservation).
Sazed's morals are likely a bit different from what Harmony's Intent. He has held the power over 300 years so he is more and more limited in what he can do.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I went in and spoiler'd "that character's" name.

Can we please come to an agreement on whether, for the purposes of this thread, we're going to consider his/her name to be a spoiler? I've seen both approaches used in this thread. I'm 100% for staying on the conservative side of what is and is not a spoiler, but it doesn't seem to be considered a spoiler anywhere else, and I'm not sure what it's supposed to spoil, anyway. Besides, as far as I know, he/she is only ever mentioned by name in

Spoiler

Stormlight

.

 

[Hyams]

I went in and spoiler'd "that character's" name.

Can we please come to an agreement on whether, for the purposes of this thread, we're going to consider his/her name to be a spoiler? I've seen both approaches used in this thread. I'm 100% for staying on the conservative side of what is and is not a spoiler, but it doesn't seem to be considered a spoiler anywhere else, and I'm not sure what it's supposed to spoil, anyway. Besides, as far as I know, he/she is only ever mentioned by name in

Spoiler

Stormlight

.

That individual is also name-dropped in

Spoiler

Shadows of Self

.

I personally wouldn't consider their name a spoiler, but the books they appear in is.

 

[Faiz]

Mistborn: Secret History - A Cosmere Novella.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B0NS93U/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Just popped up for preorder on Amazon. As far as I know he's never mentioned this, which is a very Sanderson thing to do!

 

[Jest Chillin]

Mistborn: Secret History - A Cosmere Novella.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B0NS93U/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Just popped up for preorder on Amazon. As far as I know he's never mentioned this, which is a very Sanderson thing to do!

My guess is this is the secret project he talked about in his State of the Sanderson post

September–October: Revisions and a Secret Project

Traveling so much made it difficult to do Stormlight 3 writing, which requires a lot of time investment. So between revisions, I managed to finish a project I’ve been working on for about a decade now. (Yes, a decade.) You’ll see this soon. It’s a novella.

 

[NomarTyme]

Mistborn: Secret History - A Cosmere Novella.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B0NS93U/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Just popped up for preorder on Amazon. As far as I know he's never mentioned this, which is a very Sanderson thing to do!

omg.

 

[X-Frame]

My guess is this is the secret project he talked about in his State of the Sanderson post

Do we know what it's about? If he's been working on it for 10 years, maybe it's about Hoid.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Do we know what it's about? If he's been working on it for 10 years, maybe it's about Hoid.

No clue. Though I don't think it's about him because he's planned to have an entire series of books devoted to his story.

 

[Faiz]

My guess is this is the secret project he talked about in his State of the Sanderson post

Totally forgot about that one. Yeah that's probably it!

Edit: just realized I never preordered Bands of Mourning. Placed the order and Amazon says delivery estimated for next Monday. That's with Amazon Prime. /sigh....

 

[Incandenza]

I finished Shadows of Self this morning and immediately pre-ordered Bands of Mourning on my kindle. Perfect timing!

 

[X-Frame]

Errr .. Mistborn: Secret History is coming out TONIGHT at midnight on Kindle.

Whatever Amazon has is wrong. Sanderson intended for it to come out in secret the same moment Bands of Mourning dropped. Click the link for his Reddit explanation.

EDIT: 50,000 words?!? That's a huge novella.

 

[Faiz]

Errr .. Mistborn: Secret History is coming out TONIGHT at midnight on Kindle.

Whatever Amazon has is wrong. Sanderson intended for it to come out in secret the same moment Bands of Mourning dropped. Click the link for his Reddit explanation.

EDIT: 50,000 words?!? That's a huge novella.

Yeah I saw Ahlstrom's explanation earlier. Pretty bad turn of events there. :/

I'll see you guys next week some time, since I won't be reading any of it till then .

 

[Crimson_Justice]

This guy is insane. Cold drops a novella on the same day his new novel comes out. I love it. If I had money right now, I'd be all over it and the two recent Wax and Wayne books.

Sucks about Amazon spoiling the reveal (of the novella's existence) though. Still, I'm as surprised as I would have been. Just, wow.

"There's always another secret..."

 

[NomarTyme]

Errr .. Mistborn: Secret History is coming out TONIGHT at midnight on Kindle.

Whatever Amazon has is wrong. Sanderson intended for it to come out in secret the same moment Bands of Mourning dropped. Click the link for his Reddit explanation.

EDIT: 50,000 words?!? That's a huge novella.

I'll listen to Band of Mourning first. I'll wait for the audible version.

 

[Toxi]

My guess is this is the secret project he talked about in his State of the Sanderson post

September–October: Revisions and a Secret Project

Traveling so much made it difficult to do Stormlight 3 writing, which requires a lot of time investment. So between revisions, I managed to finish a project I’ve been working on for about a decade now. (Yes, a decade.) You’ll see this soon. It’s a novella.

"I was running into some difficulties writing my third 1000+ page book, so I finished a novella to pass the time."

What sort of perpetual motion device powers Brandon Sanderson?

 

[VanWinkle]

WOW, a 50k long novella? Definitely getting that.