lovesimonliedtome

[kamisatoayato]

finished reading stormlight this week and now im just like... well now what. like that was four 50 hour long audiobooks i listened to. wtf am i gonna do now

[writtenonreceipts]

Hi friend! Can I ask you a book related question? So I read the Skyward series from Brandon Sanderson—those were the first of his books that I’ve read, and I loved them. I’ve wanted to read his other series for a long time, since I always hear so much about them, but I have no idea where to start. Cosmere? Stormlight? I read that they take place in the same universe, so do I need to read those series in order? If you could help me out it would be much appreciated. If not, I’m sure I can find the answer somewhere through google, but I thought I’d ask a friend first 🫶

Hey friend!! Yes! I love book questions! Haha 😄and I love Sanderson too, lol, and never get to talk about it enough. Forgive the rambling that is about to commence 😅

Skyward is honestly such a good place to start with his books tbh. He is very much a high and epic fantasy writer and that series really eases readers into his style as well. I still need finish them, lol, but I'm so glad you liked them! I've just read the first one and it was such a fun reach honestly.

As far as his other books go: The Cosmere is basically what Brandon called the magical universe he created to interconnect most of his books. (I think theres only 1 or 2 right now that aren't considered part of the Cosmere). So yeah, if you wanna choose chaos you can read any of the different series as you want in whatever order. But I do have some thoughts:

I do recommend starting with Mistborn. It is what he is best known for and what really launched his career. It's...it is a little denser, but the world building and characters and pay offs are phenomenal. It highlights a great magic system, political intrigue, overthrowing evil, and heists. Brandon describes it as his Cinderella heist novel, lol. It's the what would happen to the world if the villain had won? And highlights one man's desire to fight kill/eat the rich. The Mistborn books are considered "Era 1". He has 3 series planned set on this specific planet in the Cosmere.

Era 2 of Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne Books. A Western fantasy. And I love it. Queer characters, autistic characters, chaos, broody male mc, sarcasm and puns, marriage of convenience (thought that plot is very small. It's my favorite thing about the series though). The final book just came out last Nov. I'll spare you all the other thoughts lol. But it can technically be read on its own without needing to read Era 1, though, there are a lot of things about this series that work better when read after the og trilogy. I hold this series close to my heart. It's a lot of fun and you can tell Brandon just had fun.

Warbreaker. Handsdown love this book. I want to recommend reading it even before Mistborn as it does bridge the gap of ya to adult fantasy rather well. The magic system is different and fun too. This book has the forced marriage plot a bit stronger, political intrugue, queer rep (albeit small), and magical talking swords that want to kill you be your friend. And I love the female characters. Vivenna is my love. Hands down one of my favorite female characters ever. I don't think this book is talked about enough tbh. I could go OFF an all the things I love about it.

The Stormlight Archive. Get ready to buckle in. It is planned to be a 10 book series. Book 5 should be coming out in 2024. They are 1,300-1,500 pages long. So... yeah, long and epic but so so worth it. Like. I can't even begin to describe it. War, mental health, religious discussions, honor, depression, hope. Iconic characters. I also hold these books special to my heart. You can jump right into this one, but there are references to world hoppers on this book and the magic system is steep. So, I would recommend reading at least Mistborn. But that's just me.

>>Other Sanderson Books and thoughts: The Rhythmatist, people have mixed feelings but I liked it, which is why I bring it up. It's another ya almost adult fantasy. It's another great one to get into the way Brandon does magic systems and world building. Elantris is technically his first published. It was not my favorite. I mean...I enjoyed it but it was hard to get through. You can tell it's his first book. The premise is cool and interesting but I struggled with it. It is technically the first book of the Cosmere universe. He has a book of short stories and novellas interwoven through the Cosmere. If you can find it on it's own The Emperors Soul is great.

I'll stop. I loved this...anyways...

[fromthemindofpan]

I finished The Bands of Mourning. Same deal as usual, spoilers for the Mistborn series and possibly Stormlight Archives under the cut:

Let’s start at the end shall we?

I never really gave much thought about who this “Lord Ruler” could be. I figured it was either the actual Lord Ruler who somehow survived or someone pretending to be

Never would I have guessed it was Kelsier. Did I miss clues in the book or was it kept secret for the surprise factor

I’m starting to dislike the phrase “there’s always another secret”

The red haze that Harmony shows Wax is overall Cosmere related right? Like the only thing I associate the color red with in the Cosmere is the Parshendi in Stormlight

Wax

Our boy is here figuring out Cosmere stuff and talking about Investiture and I’m here like wha...? Hopefully Arcanum Unbounded helps with that

When he died I had no worries because this is Mistborn and everybody comes back in some way

I still see him as brooding Victorian lord/Old West lawman/Private Eye 

Wayne

Most of the time I love him but then there are those moments where I’m like dude, really? 

That moment when he picked up a gun, I got chills 

Marasi

She’s just becoming more awesome as this series goes on

Steris

I absolutely love her

MeLaan

I also love her

Telsin

This reveal to me was obvious. The clues were all there playing out at the right time. I had a feeling in Shadows of Self that this could have been a possibility

Relationships

Wax and Wayne: I didn’t realize how deep their relationship was until this book... Or maybe more like since I took such a long break between books I forgot

Wax and Steris: When the first wedding ended in disaster I wasn’t quite sure if we’d get a second one. But let me tell you I almost cried when it happened. I think they are great together and I’m glad that Wax had time to work through his issues 

Wax and Harmony: I loved Sazed but my opinion of Harmony is really being colored by Wax

Wayne and MeLaan: I saw this coming and hoped for it but I didn’t expect it to happen. So happy about it

Marasi and Steris: I really wanted more interaction between the sisters. Although I think a theme in these books are siblings don’t really know how to talk to each other

Marasi and Allik: I mean there’s something there right?

Overall thoughts

When Wayne disappeared on the train I thought he had been thrown off or he was in disguise and I couldn’t recognize him since we didn’t get his POV

It might just be me but that gods manipulating humans is much more prevalent in the Mistborn series 

One thing that I love more about Era 2 versus Era 1 is that Era 2 has more female characters

I also feel more connected to the crew in Era 2 than I did in Era 1

I think that’s all? On to Arcanum Unbound! Cannot wait to read The Secret History