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[Faiz]

I think the Mistborn series takes place in the "Cosmere" but are not counted as a prequel to The Stormlight Archive. (I haven't yet read the Mistborn series, just going off of what I've heard)

Yeah, calling it (or any of the other Cosmere books) prequels is a bit of a stretch. I'm not really sure that Sanderson has even spoken on the subject of when the various series occur in relation to each other, though he may have.

That said, there are clear and distinct ties between them. Those ties are becoming more obvious as additional books are published, and what were more like Easter eggs are now becoming overt parts of the story. Don't want to say too much as the way he's building the universe of the Cosmere and the intertwining overarching story is one of the most fun things about his work.

 

[suzu]

Yeah, the Mistborn books are definitely not prequels.

 

[cdkee]

I just started the first book a few days ago. I'm already about 25% through and it's really hooking me...well I get hooked to most novels anyway...

but cool to hear that my timing was good.

 

[Sax Russel]

Time to start that Way of Kings re-read soon! Hypehype.

http://www.17thshard.com/ has a great Wiki on all of Sanderson's books and the whole Cosmere thing. Go read about how everything connects and then try to keep your brain from exploding thinking about how/when/if everything will connect in the books too.

You can start here =P http://coppermind.net/wiki/Shard

 

[Qvoth]

can't even remember what way of kings was about anymore

was it the one with 10 or 12 demi-god heroes thing?

 

[gdt]

Man so hyped. Way Of Kings was crazy good. I'll probably need to read a refresher too.

 

[ultron87]

can't even remember what way of kings was about anymore

was it the one with 10 or 12 demi-god heroes thing?

That's the prologue chapter, but a ton more happens.

My other favorite part besides the Tower battle is the chapter where Shallan is getting chased by the things that only show up in her sketches. It was super creepy.

 

[hamchan]

Time to start that Way of Kings re-read soon! Hypehype.

http://www.17thshard.com/ has a great Wiki on all of Sanderson's books and the whole Cosmere thing. Go read about how everything connects and then try to keep your brain from exploding thinking about how/when/if everything will connect in the books too.

You can start here =P http://coppermind.net/wiki/Shard

This is all pretty awesome, even though I didn't notice the connections reading through all the books.

I like that this guy appears in most of Sanderson's books:
http://coppermind.net/wiki/Hoid

 

[Run_64bit]

Just re-read Way of Kings a couple months ago (I had completely forgotten a surprising moment at the end of the book).

So pumped for this.

 

[Qvoth]

didn't remember way of kings that much... was it that good?
guess i'll check it out again

 

[Westlo]

Really hyped for this, the first book was a fantastic read, especially the final quarter. Not going to touch the online chapters at all...

 

[fanboi]

That's the same length as the first, which means I'll finish it in about 2-3 weeks. If I really pressed, I could finish it in a week (but, you know, work and family).

The deal is we can't put those milestones up in a book club thread, since those tend to be a bit more leisure in pace. Cyan is considering making a longer book like this be a two month book club nomination, which makes sense.



On my to read list, but I've never heard them referenced as prequels. I understand he does the whole shared universe setup, but is there a legitimate connection between the series?

Same universe as stated before me, buuut also minor spoiler

Spoiler

wit is in it but mentioned just with a row of text and the main protagonist is afraid of him and don't want to engage in discussion

 

[Eoin]

First time I heard about this. What's so special about it?

First book was an extremely good debut, with one of the most epic endings i've read in a long time. Well worth checking the series out.

 

[GasProblem]

Still reading the first one, already ordered this.

I have the first one in paperback though. Maybe I'll have to get a hardback version one day to have it match.

 

[NekoFever]

Got the Kindle edition preordered. Can't wait. I thought The Way of Kings was great fun. Over-long, perhaps, but that's Sanderson for you.

 

[Blackace]

Only Sanderson work I really really like

 

[vareon]

It's just the sequel to a new fantasy series. Book one was generally well received, so many are excited for book two. It seems a lot of longer book series are older or already a good ways along, so it's cool to be at the start.

Do you know anything about the author? He's one of the most prolific fantasy authors out there, but still manages consistently high quality.

He could be writing the next yellow pages and I'd be hyped for it.

First book was an extremely good debut, with one of the most epic endings i've read in a long time. Well worth checking the series out.

Thanks for the answers. Brandon Sanderson is often mentioned in GAF threads and I saw his name on bookstores, but I had to be really cautious of fantasy series since I was burned by a lot of them in the past.

This series has glowing impressions from you guys, though, and since it's pretty young I guess I'll jump in after I finished my backlog.

 

[Lirlond]

Subscribing for the hype. Cannot wait!

 

[Kaladin]

Tor is doing their own chapter by chapter Way of Kings re-read here:

http://www.tor.com/features/series/the-way-of-kings-reread-on-torcom

 

[Jarlaxle]

Can't wait for this book. I've had it preordered for quite awhile now. I don't have time for a re-read unfortunately so I'll be checking out the chapter synopsis' to bring myself back up to speed. So excited.

 

[Eoin]

Read the pre-release chapters. I really shouldn't have. They are such a tease and have just made the wait harder.

 

[Celegus]

Very excited for this! I'll need to read a refresher of WoK since I haven't touched it since the week after it came out.

 

[Bboy AJ]

Currently reading Book 1 and it is great. Really looking forward to this one.

 

[Sax Russel]

This is all pretty awesome, even though I didn't notice the connections reading through all the books.

I like that this guy appears in most of Sanderson's books:
http://coppermind.net/wiki/Hoid

And these guys from Elantris, Mistborn, and White Sand are on the Way of Kings world looking for him =O http://coppermind.net/wiki/Seventeenth_Shard

 

[Tragicomedy]

Tor is doing their own chapter by chapter Way of Kings re-read here:

http://www.tor.com/features/series/the-way-of-kings-reread-on-torcom

Thanks for posting this. I'm going through it right now and it's an extremely thorough refresher, even hitting on themes and links between characters that I missed when I read the book.

Cheers!

 

[-NeoTB1-]

So much hype! The Way of Kings was an awesome debut for this series.

 

[Dominic_Shade]

Cannot wait for the inevitable Kaladin vs Szeth showdown. It's gonna happen, guys. It has to.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Cannot wait for the inevitable Kaladin vs Szeth showdown. It's gonna happen, guys. It has to.

Yeah, in like book 8 or 9.

 

[Fuzzery]

Jack Nicholson.jpg

 

[Kaladin]

Yeah, in like book 8 or 9.

This is assuming Kaladin is the main character of the entire series.

Spoiler

He is....I think both him and Sveth are Heralds reincarnated

 

[Tragicomedy]

This is assuming Kaladin is the main character of the entire series.

He had better be!

 

[Kaladin]

He had better be!

see my stealth edit

 

[kadotsu]

Loved the first as an audiobook and will get the second the day it's released.

 

[Tragicomedy]

*SPOILER* Regarding Shallan for those who haven't read the first book.

Spoiler

I caught the reference to her summoning a Shardblade late in the book, but holy shit! Here's the first reference as early as chapter 7.

"It still felt odd to her that she been the one to take charge after… After the incident… After…

Memories attacked her. Nan Balat bruised, his coat torn. A long, silvery sword in her hand, sharp enough to cut stone as if they were water."

 

[CornBurrito]

*SPOILER* Regarding Shallan for those who haven't read the first book.

Spoiler

I caught the reference to her summoning a Shardblade late in the book, but holy shit! Here's the first reference as early as chapter 7.

It still felt odd to her that she been the one to take charge after… After the incident… After…

Memories attacked her. Nan Balat bruised, his coat torn. A long, silvery sword in her hand, sharp enough to cut stone as if they were water.

Actually as far as I know there's a hint dropped way earlier than late in the book about that.

Spoiler

she at one point raises her hand in a very shardbearer way but then remembers something and puts her hand down.

 

[Kaladin]

I think there are many clues

Spoiler

that all of the main characters are each reincarnations of one of the heralds. We pretty much know Kallidin is Kalak, and I have an idea of who Sveth is. The others I'm not sure about.

 

[dionysus]

I think there are many clues

Spoiler

that all of the main characters are each reincarnations of one of the heralds. We pretty much know Kallidin is Kalak, and I have an idea of who Sveth is. The others I'm not sure about.

I hate to break it to you but you are wrong.

Spoiler

Probably all the heralds are alive and active in Roshar but they aren't reincarnations, they are the originals. We know for sure that the Mistress who destroys the faces of a certain herald's statues is in fact that herald, confirmed by Brandon.

What you are sort of right about is that many of the main characters are going to end up being Knights Radiant/Surgebinders, and each order of Knights Radiant is associated with a herald. They will have similar powers and have similar main ideals. Like Kaladin is Protecting and Leading because he is a proto-Windrunner, which is associated with the Herald Jezrien.

If you really want major spoilers for book 2.

Spoiler

Jasnah and Shallan are also confirmed surgebinders which makes them proto-Radiants. Shallan is a Lightbringer and I forget Jasnah's order.

 

[Woorloog]

Yeah, calling it (or any of the other Cosmere books) prequels is a bit of a stretch. I'm not really sure that Sanderson has even spoken on the subject of when the various series occur in relation to each other, though he may have.

He has.
From earliest to current:
Elantris-Mistborn trilogy-Warbreaker-The Alloy of Law, with The Way of Kings happening concurrently, if i recall correctly. That said, he changed things a bit once already so i wouldn't assume this is final timeline (and he never went into specifics, just the general order, again IIRC).

 

[Kaladin]

I hate to break it to you but you are wrong.

Spoiler

Probably all the heralds are alive and active in Roshar but they aren't reincarnations, they are the originals. We know for sure that the Mistress who destroys the faces of a certain herald's statues is in fact that herald, confirmed by Brandon.

What you are sort of right about is that many of the main characters are going to end up being Knights Radiant/Surgebinders, and each order of Knights Radiant is associated with a herald. They will have similar powers and have similar main ideals. Like Kaladin is Protecting and Leading because he is a proto-Windrunner, which is associated with the Herald Jezrien.

If you really want major spoilers for book 2.

Spoiler

Jasnah and Shallan are also confirmed surgebinders which makes them proto-Radiants. Shallan is a Lightbringer and I forget Jasnah's order.

I knew there was

Spoiler

some association with the main characters and the heralds, wasn't sure where it came in.

It's a lot to take in and I'm re-reading right now.

 

[dionysus]

I knew there was

Spoiler

some association with the main characters and the heralds, wasn't sure where it came in.

It's a lot to take in and I'm re-reading right now.

Must of my knowledge is cause I go to 17thshard.com. The community has figured out a ton of shit from barely any evidence and Brandon has confirmed some of it at book signings and what not. I missed most of it myself as any single person would working on his own. I will tell you that one thing I completely overlooked is all the artwork, maps, diagrams, etc that are in the hardcover of WoK. That stuff is extremely informative about the workings of the Cosmere and magic on Roshar.

 

[Faiz]

He has.
From earliest to current:
Elantris-Mistborn trilogy-Warbreaker-The Alloy of Law, with The Way of Kings happening concurrently, if i recall correctly. That said, he changed things a bit once already so i wouldn't assume this is final timeline (and he never went into specifics, just the general order, again IIRC).

Fair enough. Sometimes I wish he'd stop making statements about what isn't directly in the text yet - he's confirmed and revealed so many things in different places I have a hard time keeping up. I hate haunting coppermind and 17th shard for fear of learning something I really shouldn't know yet ... generally speaking I prefer that kind of information to be codified by publication anyway.

Though I admit after I posted I realized it at least made sense for WoK to be after both Elantris and Mistborn - again based on information I almost wish I didn't know yet, hahah.

 

[Kaladin]

The deeper universe connections are always interesting. The trick for any author is to make it accessible where the connections are there for your hardcore readers, but it doesn't scare away newer readers who don't want to get into the author's entire collected works to understand the world they're building.

I think Stephen King did it right with how he connected his Dark Tower world with his other novels. There are little hints here and there of connections with the DT universe and it's there for fans to make the connections and get that deeper level of enjoyment out of it, or you can read the novels and not know that characters like Randall Flagg appear across his many novels in different incarnations, or that those novels in fact take place in the same universe, just in different planes of existence (or something like that).

 

[Woorloog]

Fair enough. Sometimes I wish he'd stop making statements about what isn't directly in the text yet - he's confirmed and revealed so many things in different places I have a hard time keeping up. I hate haunting coppermind and 17th shard for fear of learning something I really shouldn't know yet ... generally speaking I prefer that kind of information to be codified by publication anyway.

Though I admit after I posted I realized it at least made sense for WoK to be after both Elantris and Mistborn - again based on information I almost wish I didn't know yet, hahah.

None of that Cosmere stuff is required knowledge, more like extra for those who are interesting in stuff like that.

 

[Faiz]

None of that Cosmere stuff is required knowledge, more like extra for those who are interesting in stuff like that.

Ok, first, I didn't say that it WAS.

However, clearly all of the cosmere stuff is going somewhere. Eventually it's all going to fit together and the grand story of the Cosmere and the Shattering will become apparent, even if there isn't a book or series that deals directly with it.

As someone who IS interested in it, I'm expressing my preference for this to be revealed in the text of the novels, not to piece it all together from a couple wikis cobbling together statements from Sanderson made in dozens of different places across the globe and the Internet.

 

[Kaladin]

I can see Sanderson writing a Cosmere centric novel, that ties everything together eventually.....but that would be years from now.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Ok, first, I didn't say that it WAS.

However, clearly all of the cosmere stuff is going somewhere. Eventually it's all going to fit together and the grand story of the Cosmere and the Shattering will become apparent, even if there isn't a book or series that deals directly with it.

As someone who IS interested in it, I'm expressing my preference for this to be revealed in the text of the novels, not to piece it all together from a couple wikis cobbling together statements from Sanderson made in dozens of different places across the globe and the Internet.

The Internet is the Cosmere. The Shattering has not yet occurred.

#Shimalayantwist

 

[Tragicomedy]

The Internet is the Cosmere. The Shattering has not yet occurred.

#Shimalayantwist

Are Highstorms to blame for GAF's frequent 504 errors?

 

[Kaladin]

Are Highstorms to blame for GAF's frequent 504 errors?

Either that or a build up of Gifspren clogging the tubes.

 

[Woorloog]

I can see Sanderson writing a Cosmere centric novel, that ties everything together eventually.....but that would be years from now.

I think he actually hinted that he might do one, but it would be years from now.
And i figure he would write it so that you don't have had to read his other books for it to make sense. I hope.

 

[Kaladin]

I think he actually hinted that he might do one, but it would be years from now.
And i figure he would write it so that you don't have had to read his other books for it to make sense. I hope.