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In an effort to get away from yet more SW threads and maybe put some more book geekyness out here, let's talk about The Cosmere! Remember to please use spoilet tags when discussing plot points for any books, new or old!

Who here is interested? What series brought you to the Cosmere? What series is your favorite? How did you get in to it? Who is your favorite character? Any theories for what Hoid is really up do?

I'll start! The series that started it all for me was Mistborn. I was pretty much hooked right at the start. The man has a way of worldbuilding that one day I hope to even get close to. His magic systems are well thought out and practical and he has very little issues explaining them. He is definitely not interested in keeping you in the dark there.

Mistborn may have gotten me in to it, but Stormlight Archive is his masterpiece, in my opinion. Everything about it makes me happy. From the Spren people use for magic to the real story behind the Shardblades. Oathbringer, the newest book in the Stormlight Archive excelled expectations for myself. Bringing an entirely new understanding to the world and its tragic past.

I actually got in to the series from a suggestion in OT when we had a book thread there. Not sure who made the suggestion, but big thanks. I have since gotten about 4 RL friends in to it, several going so far as to get the first ideal as a tattoo.

Now, I love the Stormlight Archives and it makes me smile. Lift is probably my favorite there. But all time favorite? Wayne from the second Mistborn trilogy. At the start you like him because of his mouth. Always a joke and sass in spades. Balls the size of a dragons. For a man who could walk through he'll and probably survive, he isnt in to the direct approach. He really likes his hats and disguises way too much. By the time you learn about his past, you are already in love with the man. His best feature is he tries. He really does.

As for Hold? Who knows man. I am searching for ideas on that one here.

So, how about you guys? Any copperminds out there?

It's odd, I've watched all the man's lectures on creative writing and found them fascinating, but I've never managed to get around to actually reading his books.

Given there's a fair few at this stage, is it best to just start at the very beginning chronologically, or are there some books to skip over to get to the best bits?

I've read all his books. They are all fantastic. There are plenty of reading orders online, I personally went Stormlight Archive, Elantris, The Mistborne Books (Era 1 and 2) then the Arcanum Unbound stories.

 Yodhrin wrote:
It's odd, I've watched all the man's lectures on creative writing and found them fascinating, but I've never managed to get around to actually reading his books.

Given there's a fair few at this stage, is it best to just start at the very beginning chronologically, or are there some books to skip over to get to the best bits?

Well, he has several series going at the moment. So there isnt really a set chronological order, except for within the series themselves. All of my friends have read them in different orders, except we all started with the Mistborn trilogy. I started Mistborn First Trilogy then Stormlight Archive then Mistborn second trilogy. Then the various one offs and so on. But I would start with whichever you think sounds the most interesting. Mistborn starts off about a heist and Stormlight Archive is military high fantasy.

Also, if people are not so much in the readin, the audio books are very well done. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are fantastic at what they do.

I hadn't read any of his stuff ever until I finally read "The Way of Kings" about 4 years after I picked it up.

For me, it started slowly and was a bit hard to get into, but once I did, there was no turning back and I found it all quite good.

Now the wait for the next book - but unlike certain other best-selling authors, he actually appears to be a professional full-time writer, and actually lets you track his progress almost real time online!

Brandon is my favourite author, and has been for some time.

As has been said, there's no real reading order for the entire universe yet, so go for whichever series takes your fancy first. That said, the first Mistborn trilogy was my initial start point, and looking back it was probably the easiest to start with, too. Bits of the Stormlight Archive can get heavy, and if I wasn't already used to his style of writing and knowing the payoff was going to be worth it, it might've been a struggle--even reading the latest addition to it I skipped the odd page or two after a brief skim.

Personally, my reading order has been:

Mistborn Trilogy 1
Stormlight Archive books 1 and 2
Mistborn Trilogy 2 (Wax & Wayne)
Elantris--I read this one while I was on jury duty two years ago; helped make some of the waiting tolerable.
Stormlight Archive book 3--because it only came out at the end of last year.

I've still got Legion and The Emperor's Soul somewhere, but no clue where, and I picked up one of The Reckoners series cheap in a charity shop the other day, so I'll be building that collection soon, too.

Oh man. I forgot about The Reckoners. My reading order is pretty much the same as yours, Avatar. Except I couldn't finish Elantris for whatever reason and I listened to the first Reckoners book before the third Stormlight.

I need to finish The Reckoners now!

But if I had to do it again, I would probably do it in the same order. Mistborn is incredibly good at easing you in to Brandon Sanderson.

 Mysterio wrote:
I hadn't read any of his stuff ever until I finally read "The Way of Kings" about 4 years after I picked it up.

For me, it started slowly and was a bit hard to get into, but once I did, there was no turning back and I found it all quite good.

Now the wait for the next book - but unlike certain other best-selling authors, he actually appears to be a professional full-time writer, and actually lets you track his progress almost real time online!

He also posts quite a bit on Reddit and Twitter. A lot of it has to do with the books and he likes to clarify things for people. He is very open about his work. Very refreshing, after having to deal with slow as gap George for so long.

He also finished out the Wheel of Time series for Robert Jordan. He did what the fans thought was impossible, he made the series even longer!

Big fan of Sanderson, I've read everything except Elantris so I need to get around to that. The Stormlight Archive series is excellent but definitely in the vein of the Wheel of Time series in length and grandness of setting.

The Mistborn series (original and the one set years after) are excellent. Really the perfect balance of length and detail for me.

The Reckoners was interesting but I had a bit of a hard time with the setting being believable (society not utterly collapsing given all of the supers) but still really enjoyed it if I just kind of lived in the moment.

He's one of my favorite authors and he is prolific like no other author I know, it's crazy how quickly he writes unless he's written most of this stuff already and is just releasing it now.

I think he writes quickly because he's quite talented AND he treats it as an actual profession and writes...professionally.

He's really good at it, and fast too - a good combo IF you like his work.

And...you probably will!

I like the Mistborn universe novels, but LOVE the Stormlight Archive. Such a cool setting. Midieval Fantasy power armor? Hell yeah.

Especially the knights in the visions from the past, which could do even more incredible things like descend from the sky (Im assuming at the end of superhero jumps).

Sanderson is probably my favorite author. There are some I like almost as much or are better at certain things (Flint for alternate history/crazy fiction ) and Weber for space opera and Butcher for modern fantasy but as an overall writer across genres he doesn't have a comparable out there.

I've read everything but the wheel finishes but my buddy that did said he crushed it. He's pretty much awesome.

At what point did you guys realize all his series are interconnected? I think I made it though the whole Mistborn series before I realized it. Caused me to miss a few interesting details and cameos.

 Dreadwinter wrote:
At what point did you guys realize all his series are interconnected? I think I made it though the whole Mistborn series before I realized it. Caused me to miss a few interesting details and cameos.

When I read Warbreaker. A talking sword is pretty unique.

I actually never realized that his series are interconnected. They are??

I definitely have to get the third Stormlight book. I didn't realize it was out!!

I think I read them so far in between that I didn't catch the weaving between all the books outside of the Reckoners stuff. I kinda wanna go back and read all the earlier stuff (Mistworld Era 1, Elantis, Warbreaker) and then the amazing stormlight series again cause it deserves it

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I actually never realized that his series are interconnected. They are??

He calls it a "hidden epic" his stated reasons for writing it being that he wanted to write a massive universe but didn't want to constrain readers. You can read the series as completely different works, or stumble/find the shared elements that bind them together.

I've only read two of his books (The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance). I always want to read Mistborn and the others but I've never had the time. Other things get in the way.

 LordofHats wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I actually never realized that his series are interconnected. They are??

He calls it a "hidden epic" his stated reasons for writing it being that he wanted to write a massive universe but didn't want to constrain readers. You can read the series as completely different works, or stumble/find the shared elements that bind them together.

I've only read two of his books (The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance). I always want to read Mistborn and the others but I've never had the time. Other things get in the way.

The third book in the Stormlight Archive is out now as well. In my opinion, it is at least on par with The Way of Kings.

As far as the interconnected nature of the books, LordofHats is spot on. They are great standalone series for casual readers and a very deep interconnected series for the fanatical(for lack of a better word) fans.

There are a few things that connect them. Careful, some big spoilers in here: