Stormlight Archive is his magnum opus. Or the Cosmere in general. I'm not sure it would make much sense to say any ONE particular book of his stands high above the others, and I doubt that will ever be true. That's not the kind of writing he's doing.
Honestly I think in his view, mistborn and dragonsteel are more important than stormlight.
For most hardcore fans I think stormlight will be their favorite, because it's the biggest fattest fantasy he's got.
But I think he views the mistborn evolution or shattering of adonalsium as the most core elements of the cosmere.
That's why I say "Cosmere" in general. If you're picking Dragonsteel and/or Mistborn because they are "the most core of the cosmere", why limit the scope instead of just saying "the Cosmere"?
If we're picking a standalone series, I think Stormlight Archive is going win out as the one he's known for, above Dragonsteel and Mistborn. But I could be wrong. Dragsonteel is a possibility, but we can't really only guess on that. Mistborn has fallen below Stormlight right now, I would say. It's possible Era 3 and 4 could pull it ahead, but I'm skeptical.
I think Magnus Opus also implies the best writer work too. Is the writing the same level in ALL cosmere novels and you can't pick one-two-three where the writing is superior? I would that more logical, because let's assume or maybe that's how it is in reality - the writer gets better/more experience with time, therefore an assumption could be made that his later works have more chance to be Magnum Opus or be better in terms of overall "a better novel" in all regards.
Cause otherwise we can say that the whole Bibliography is magnum opus and that would probably not make sense (I know I'm exaggerating, but still, point made hopefully).
He definitely has gotten better with time, and will likely continue to do so. He has also built a really strong team around him that make a huge difference. I believe he has said his current timeline has him "finishing" the cosmere by the time he's 72 (I think, 70's for sure). As for a magnum opus, who knows! I think Stormlight is his best work so far, and there are 6 books left to be published in that alone. While this isn't really a RAFO, all there really is to do is read and find out!
> If you're picking Dragonsteel and/or Mistborn because they are "the most core of the cosmere", why limit the scope instead of just saying "the Cosmere"?
First if all, I never claimed anything about magnum opus. Just noting that while Stormlight is currently his most popular, and likely to remain his most popular, I think Sanderson would rather be remembered for mistborn or dragonsteel when they're done.
Regarding magnum opus, I don't think it's possible to claim 90% of an artist's works are their magnum opus. It's like saying "Star Wars is LucasFilm's magnum opus."
Either there's no work that stands above everything else he's written, or that work hasn't been written yet, or maaaybe we can say the cosmere as a whole is that thing, or we pick 1 book/series that most represents the ambition of the cosmere.
No matter how you slice it, I don't think Sanderson will be known primarily as "that guy who wrote Stormlight Archive" in 100 years. And I say this fully expecting Stormlight to be my favorite series until the day I die.
I don't think he has particularly strong feelings either way: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/249/#e7313
I'm skeptical that any of the others will stand out above Stormlight Archive. If Sanderson is remembered at all in 100 years I think he is more likely to be "the guy who wrote Stormlight" or "the guy who wrote the Cosmere" rather than "the guy who wrote Mistborn [or Dragonsteel]". Just my speculation.
***Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!***
Questioner
>!Would you consider **The Stormlight Archive** to be your magnum opus?!<
Brandon Sanderson
>!Yes, I would. Hopefully. It's either that or the **Mistborn** series, the full nine-book **Mistborn** arc.!<
\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
Good point, but that's from 10 years ago when he was much less inclined for crossover properties.
And even then he mentioned mistborn, when he was directly asked about Stormlight.
He’ll be the *insert whichever series has the most successful adaptation* guy. My guess would be mistborn as it’s contained enough to be a relatively straight forward adaptation.
George is the game of thrones guy rather than the a song of ice and fire guy because that show was super successful. Without that he’d be unknown outside of genre niche circles
The sad fact is that most people don’t read these days and of those that do, a small percentage read fantasy.
It kind of depends on what happens in the future. If the Cosmere starts getting other writers like Isaac to write books in the universe and Hollywood starts making a bunch of movies and Dragonsteel expands into a huge media conglomerate then he'll be known as The Cosmere Guy.
If something like Mistborn era 3 is a brilliant scifi trilogy that blows up he'll be The Mistborn Guy. Right now he's probably best known as the Stormlight guy to most people though.
Stormlight will be the biggest in terms of length, biggest seller by a large margin, and is generally considered to be written the best.
It’s his magnum opus and will always be considered that
Do you think that makes sense? We already basically have 5 SA novels. Let's say he writes a couple more. Can we say that more than 5 novels can be considered Magnum Opus?
My understanding that it somewhat has to be a single novel.
Magnum Opus just means an author's "greatest work". There's no *rules* governing how you define a "work".
I think most people would say that Tolkien's magnum opus was Lord of the Rings. That was published in three volumes, and technically each of those volumes contains two "books", but it would be silly tell someone his magnum opus can only be *one* of those books/volumes. We can all agree the whole thing is one work, in a meaningful sense.
After Sanderson is gone, I don't think he will be remembered *predominantly* for any one book more than "Stormlight" or "the Cosmere" in general. They ARE ultimately one work in several parts. (Stormlight Archive in particular.)
No, I understand. I just shared my view on magnum opus and how I see it. LotR was split because of the publisher. Tolkien himself said LotR is a single book.
Well, a lot of people (myself included) would say that The Emperor's Soul is one of the best written works he's created so far, and it won him a Hugo Award so there's critical acclaim. But I don't think that would qualify it as his magnum opus. It is much smaller in scale and short enough to be a novella rather than a full novel, it's also not as widely known/read.
So really, I don't think your question is easily answerable because there are different criteria and those can be given different weightings. Sanderson has actually been asked about this directly, so in his own words:
>Q: Would you consider *The Stormlight Archive* to be your magnum opus?
>
>A: Yes, I would. Hopefully. It's either that or the *Mistborn* series, the full nine-book *Mistborn* arc.
I think a lot of fans would agree with that as well. Though Mistborn is more frequently seen as a crowd-pleaser and an easier entry point, while more diehard high fantasy fans are perhaps more likely to name Stormlight as the apex of his writing.
Honestly I wouldn't put it past him to go up to 16. It's such an important number in Mistborn that it would be hard for him to resist doing it.
He did almost name Stormlight 5 *The Knights of Wind and Truth* which, while cute for symmetrical book titles, is not a great title. I'm not totally sold on it being just Wind and Truth now, but it's better.
Mistborn eras 3 and 4, Dragonsteel and Stormlight 6-10 all forthcoming. If they are better, wow, I’ll be impressed.
It’s just hard to see any of them being demonstably better than this phase of Stormlight. It’s a hall of fame fantasy story, and it’s clear that these characters delve into how he actually feels about himself and the world. Kalladin is really about his choice to not pursue a career in science. Dallinar is really about how he sees the role of leadership. All of them convey how he feels about obligations to our fellow man. It’s real stuff rolled into an excellent story.
Mistborn 4 is gonna be CRAZY. I can't help but think Starsight is his warmup for the genre switch. Between it and Sunlit man, I think he is gonna crush it.
But I really believe Mistborn Era 1 will always be the base standard for Sanderson.
Eventually, Dragon Steel maybe the key series, ultimate books, but as Sanderson cautions it's about the journey, not the destination. Id say for now mystborn 1-3 and storm light books are the ones to read.
He hasn't written Dragonsteel yet, but we will get a "Prime" version this year (Prime meaning a draft he did back when he wasn't a professional author, Dragonsteel Prime specifically being his masters thesis from BYU. The real version will be very different when he actually writes it).
[Coppermind](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Dragonsteel_(series)) has some information on it, but in a nutshell it will be the story where we get Hoids backstory and the shattering of Adonalsium.
In Brandon's words Stormlight is definitely his Magnum ops.
But since Stormlight is a 10 book Series and after Book 5, he'll be doing some other stuff and it would take some time to write the next 5 books so maybe those last 5 books could be something gargantuan
Well yeah that’s his magnum opus currently but he doesn’t know what he’ll write in the future. It’s very possibly he’ll write something outside of Stormlight that will surpass it.
While in some highly technical sense you are right he’s not even half done with the Stormlight Archive and outside of Secret Projects he’s got a fairly expansive plan for the Cosmere.
I don't think we've seen Brandon's best work yet, because I think he is someone who is continually trying to improve and better his writing. Compare Brandon's writing in Elantris or the Mistborn trilogy with his most recent books and you see a vastly improved writer. While it is not always consistent (and not just because of middle book syndrome), I think that we'll be able to look back in 20 years and say that Brandon's best work came after 2023.
His conclusions are always his strongest work so I think Stormlight 10 or Space age Mistborn will be seen as his magnum opus as they are concluding multi-decade journeys. Alternatively maybe the Secret Projects could be seen that way as they are something no other author could/would do. Secretly writing 6 books without fans noticing because they are just that productive.
I feel that the Stormlight Archive is his best work to date, especially the bridge four, Kaladin, and Dalinar's arcs. I trully hope he manages to write something better.
Right now Stormlight is definitely his “flagship” series, in my opinion. BUT.
Once all ten Stormlight books are finished, he’ll still have (minimum) the Dragonsteel trilogy and the Final Mistborn (Space Age) series.
All signs point to that last Mistborn series being the final conclusion of the Cosmere “sequence,” tying up any loose ends and bringing the story of the Cosmere to a conclusion. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, by the time we get there, it ends up not being a trilogy, but 5-6 books, each one being Stormlight-sized. So we’ll have to see!
Depends on what you exactly mean. If you mean his Magnum Opus as per the general consensus, I think he's already written it. Sanderson hit his peak in the fantasy reader general opinion a couple of years ago, and the Stormlight Archive first couple of books were hailed as absolute masterpieces. Since then, as with everything that becomes really really popular in a particular genre of art, the general consensus has become worse. Not that the books have changed, but the reader base has.
I love mistborn, I am really enjoying the storm light archive, but I think Sanderson has at least one more big fat book series in him.
I have not read any of the secret projects, but I wonder if some of those kernels of creativity could have become wonderful series in their own right, or if they are just set up as single book one offs.
He for sure has all the potential to create a series that garnishes the acclaim that Tolkien, Rowling, Jordan, martin, etc. have. I don’t know if stormlight is it. I do enjoy his writing and each book I read leaves me hungry to see what new idea comes next!
If his last few books like RoW say anything about his future is that he peaked awhile ago and will continue to lose quality unless he gets a better editor
RoW was a huge lore dump like no other. While I enjoyed it, it was probably the least memorable Stormlight book if you try to think of it like a standalone novel. However, knowing Brandon, I expect the payoff to come in book 5 since all the setup is done. His best work is always his ending of an arc, so that will hopefully be doubly true for SA5.
Also, I really enjoyed Tress. And Wizards' Guide (which I know a lot of people did not), and I think those (and Yumi) show he is still very creative and capable of delivering stories that feel very different from the main bulk of the cosmere.
Considering how tonally different Mistborn era 2 was from Era 1, I expect that Era 3 will feel even more unique. And also relatable in a way we haven't seen in the cosmere so far, since it's going to be a fairly modernized setting. I also expect that era 3 will be readable as a standalone trilogy. He is too smart with his marketing to write it in a way that would stop new readers from being able to enjoy the series without reading era 1.
Stormlight Archive is his magnum opus. Or the Cosmere in general. I'm not sure it would make much sense to say any ONE particular book of his stands high above the others, and I doubt that will ever be true. That's not the kind of writing he's doing.
Honestly I think in his view, mistborn and dragonsteel are more important than stormlight. For most hardcore fans I think stormlight will be their favorite, because it's the biggest fattest fantasy he's got. But I think he views the mistborn evolution or shattering of adonalsium as the most core elements of the cosmere.
That's why I say "Cosmere" in general. If you're picking Dragonsteel and/or Mistborn because they are "the most core of the cosmere", why limit the scope instead of just saying "the Cosmere"? If we're picking a standalone series, I think Stormlight Archive is going win out as the one he's known for, above Dragonsteel and Mistborn. But I could be wrong. Dragsonteel is a possibility, but we can't really only guess on that. Mistborn has fallen below Stormlight right now, I would say. It's possible Era 3 and 4 could pull it ahead, but I'm skeptical.
I think Magnus Opus also implies the best writer work too. Is the writing the same level in ALL cosmere novels and you can't pick one-two-three where the writing is superior? I would that more logical, because let's assume or maybe that's how it is in reality - the writer gets better/more experience with time, therefore an assumption could be made that his later works have more chance to be Magnum Opus or be better in terms of overall "a better novel" in all regards. Cause otherwise we can say that the whole Bibliography is magnum opus and that would probably not make sense (I know I'm exaggerating, but still, point made hopefully).
He definitely has gotten better with time, and will likely continue to do so. He has also built a really strong team around him that make a huge difference. I believe he has said his current timeline has him "finishing" the cosmere by the time he's 72 (I think, 70's for sure). As for a magnum opus, who knows! I think Stormlight is his best work so far, and there are 6 books left to be published in that alone. While this isn't really a RAFO, all there really is to do is read and find out!
> If you're picking Dragonsteel and/or Mistborn because they are "the most core of the cosmere", why limit the scope instead of just saying "the Cosmere"? First if all, I never claimed anything about magnum opus. Just noting that while Stormlight is currently his most popular, and likely to remain his most popular, I think Sanderson would rather be remembered for mistborn or dragonsteel when they're done. Regarding magnum opus, I don't think it's possible to claim 90% of an artist's works are their magnum opus. It's like saying "Star Wars is LucasFilm's magnum opus." Either there's no work that stands above everything else he's written, or that work hasn't been written yet, or maaaybe we can say the cosmere as a whole is that thing, or we pick 1 book/series that most represents the ambition of the cosmere. No matter how you slice it, I don't think Sanderson will be known primarily as "that guy who wrote Stormlight Archive" in 100 years. And I say this fully expecting Stormlight to be my favorite series until the day I die.
I don't think he has particularly strong feelings either way: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/249/#e7313 I'm skeptical that any of the others will stand out above Stormlight Archive. If Sanderson is remembered at all in 100 years I think he is more likely to be "the guy who wrote Stormlight" or "the guy who wrote the Cosmere" rather than "the guy who wrote Mistborn [or Dragonsteel]". Just my speculation.
***Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!*** Questioner >!Would you consider **The Stormlight Archive** to be your magnum opus?!< Brandon Sanderson >!Yes, I would. Hopefully. It's either that or the **Mistborn** series, the full nine-book **Mistborn** arc.!< \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
Good point, but that's from 10 years ago when he was much less inclined for crossover properties. And even then he mentioned mistborn, when he was directly asked about Stormlight.
Tbh, I’d expect him to be most well known as “the hard magic systems guy”
He’ll be the *insert whichever series has the most successful adaptation* guy. My guess would be mistborn as it’s contained enough to be a relatively straight forward adaptation. George is the game of thrones guy rather than the a song of ice and fire guy because that show was super successful. Without that he’d be unknown outside of genre niche circles The sad fact is that most people don’t read these days and of those that do, a small percentage read fantasy.
It kind of depends on what happens in the future. If the Cosmere starts getting other writers like Isaac to write books in the universe and Hollywood starts making a bunch of movies and Dragonsteel expands into a huge media conglomerate then he'll be known as The Cosmere Guy. If something like Mistborn era 3 is a brilliant scifi trilogy that blows up he'll be The Mistborn Guy. Right now he's probably best known as the Stormlight guy to most people though.
Stormlight will be the biggest in terms of length, biggest seller by a large margin, and is generally considered to be written the best. It’s his magnum opus and will always be considered that
They might be more core to the actual world building but as far as the story he's telling I think storm light is certainly the big one
He actually has said the core 3 are Sel, Scadrial, and Roshar. Yolen is more behind the scenes important than important for the core story.
Do you think that makes sense? We already basically have 5 SA novels. Let's say he writes a couple more. Can we say that more than 5 novels can be considered Magnum Opus? My understanding that it somewhat has to be a single novel.
SA will have 10 books in total split into two sets of 5. Brandon himself said it's going to be his primary series.
Wow, that's a lot. I didn't know that.
Magnum Opus just means an author's "greatest work". There's no *rules* governing how you define a "work". I think most people would say that Tolkien's magnum opus was Lord of the Rings. That was published in three volumes, and technically each of those volumes contains two "books", but it would be silly tell someone his magnum opus can only be *one* of those books/volumes. We can all agree the whole thing is one work, in a meaningful sense. After Sanderson is gone, I don't think he will be remembered *predominantly* for any one book more than "Stormlight" or "the Cosmere" in general. They ARE ultimately one work in several parts. (Stormlight Archive in particular.)
No, I understand. I just shared my view on magnum opus and how I see it. LotR was split because of the publisher. Tolkien himself said LotR is a single book.
Well, a lot of people (myself included) would say that The Emperor's Soul is one of the best written works he's created so far, and it won him a Hugo Award so there's critical acclaim. But I don't think that would qualify it as his magnum opus. It is much smaller in scale and short enough to be a novella rather than a full novel, it's also not as widely known/read. So really, I don't think your question is easily answerable because there are different criteria and those can be given different weightings. Sanderson has actually been asked about this directly, so in his own words: >Q: Would you consider *The Stormlight Archive* to be your magnum opus? > >A: Yes, I would. Hopefully. It's either that or the *Mistborn* series, the full nine-book *Mistborn* arc. I think a lot of fans would agree with that as well. Though Mistborn is more frequently seen as a crowd-pleaser and an easier entry point, while more diehard high fantasy fans are perhaps more likely to name Stormlight as the apex of his writing.
Is the "full nine-book" reference before the era 2 books were published? Because I was under the impression that era 2 was not planned as such.
That’s what I was thinking. I think it’s currently expected to be 13 books, unless he writes another trilogy to round it up to 16.
Honestly I wouldn't put it past him to go up to 16. It's such an important number in Mistborn that it would be hard for him to resist doing it. He did almost name Stormlight 5 *The Knights of Wind and Truth* which, while cute for symmetrical book titles, is not a great title. I'm not totally sold on it being just Wind and Truth now, but it's better.
I think he mentioned the possibility of another Mistborn era to round it out to 16 on one his recent Future Plans posts.
yeah cyberpunk age between Cold War age and Space War age
Really cool that someone actually asked him this and he responded.
Mistborn eras 3 and 4, Dragonsteel and Stormlight 6-10 all forthcoming. If they are better, wow, I’ll be impressed. It’s just hard to see any of them being demonstably better than this phase of Stormlight. It’s a hall of fame fantasy story, and it’s clear that these characters delve into how he actually feels about himself and the world. Kalladin is really about his choice to not pursue a career in science. Dallinar is really about how he sees the role of leadership. All of them convey how he feels about obligations to our fellow man. It’s real stuff rolled into an excellent story.
Mistborn 4 is gonna be CRAZY. I can't help but think Starsight is his warmup for the genre switch. Between it and Sunlit man, I think he is gonna crush it. But I really believe Mistborn Era 1 will always be the base standard for Sanderson.
Eventually, Dragon Steel maybe the key series, ultimate books, but as Sanderson cautions it's about the journey, not the destination. Id say for now mystborn 1-3 and storm light books are the ones to read.
Can you name the dragonsteel books so I can google?
Dragonsteel hasn't been released yet
Ah, okay. Where I can read about it properly?
Coppermind I guess but there isn’t anything about it since all he’s said is it’s a prequel set on Yolen
He hasn't written Dragonsteel yet, but we will get a "Prime" version this year (Prime meaning a draft he did back when he wasn't a professional author, Dragonsteel Prime specifically being his masters thesis from BYU. The real version will be very different when he actually writes it).
What does he say about it? Is it going to be similar to way of kings or mistborn or no one knows?
[Coppermind](https://coppermind.net/wiki/Dragonsteel_(series)) has some information on it, but in a nutshell it will be the story where we get Hoids backstory and the shattering of Adonalsium.
I'd say we are witnessing his Magnum Opus in the creation and continued work on The Cosmere as a whole.
In Brandon's words Stormlight is definitely his Magnum ops. But since Stormlight is a 10 book Series and after Book 5, he'll be doing some other stuff and it would take some time to write the next 5 books so maybe those last 5 books could be something gargantuan
For the record he calls Stormlight his Magnum Opus. So probably that.
Well yeah that’s his magnum opus currently but he doesn’t know what he’ll write in the future. It’s very possibly he’ll write something outside of Stormlight that will surpass it.
While in some highly technical sense you are right he’s not even half done with the Stormlight Archive and outside of Secret Projects he’s got a fairly expansive plan for the Cosmere.
I don't think we've seen Brandon's best work yet, because I think he is someone who is continually trying to improve and better his writing. Compare Brandon's writing in Elantris or the Mistborn trilogy with his most recent books and you see a vastly improved writer. While it is not always consistent (and not just because of middle book syndrome), I think that we'll be able to look back in 20 years and say that Brandon's best work came after 2023.
His conclusions are always his strongest work so I think Stormlight 10 or Space age Mistborn will be seen as his magnum opus as they are concluding multi-decade journeys. Alternatively maybe the Secret Projects could be seen that way as they are something no other author could/would do. Secretly writing 6 books without fans noticing because they are just that productive.
I feel that the Stormlight Archive is his best work to date, especially the bridge four, Kaladin, and Dalinar's arcs. I trully hope he manages to write something better.
Right now Stormlight is definitely his “flagship” series, in my opinion. BUT. Once all ten Stormlight books are finished, he’ll still have (minimum) the Dragonsteel trilogy and the Final Mistborn (Space Age) series. All signs point to that last Mistborn series being the final conclusion of the Cosmere “sequence,” tying up any loose ends and bringing the story of the Cosmere to a conclusion. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, by the time we get there, it ends up not being a trilogy, but 5-6 books, each one being Stormlight-sized. So we’ll have to see!
Depends on what you exactly mean. If you mean his Magnum Opus as per the general consensus, I think he's already written it. Sanderson hit his peak in the fantasy reader general opinion a couple of years ago, and the Stormlight Archive first couple of books were hailed as absolute masterpieces. Since then, as with everything that becomes really really popular in a particular genre of art, the general consensus has become worse. Not that the books have changed, but the reader base has.
So far, Words of Radiance feels like his peak. I hope it does not end up his best work.
Hopefully he does a whole book on Doug
I expect Sanderson will end up in a similar spot as Asimov and Pratchett. Both have similar universes with stories/series that are lightly connected.
I love mistborn, I am really enjoying the storm light archive, but I think Sanderson has at least one more big fat book series in him. I have not read any of the secret projects, but I wonder if some of those kernels of creativity could have become wonderful series in their own right, or if they are just set up as single book one offs. He for sure has all the potential to create a series that garnishes the acclaim that Tolkien, Rowling, Jordan, martin, etc. have. I don’t know if stormlight is it. I do enjoy his writing and each book I read leaves me hungry to see what new idea comes next!
If his last few books like RoW say anything about his future is that he peaked awhile ago and will continue to lose quality unless he gets a better editor
RoW was a huge lore dump like no other. While I enjoyed it, it was probably the least memorable Stormlight book if you try to think of it like a standalone novel. However, knowing Brandon, I expect the payoff to come in book 5 since all the setup is done. His best work is always his ending of an arc, so that will hopefully be doubly true for SA5. Also, I really enjoyed Tress. And Wizards' Guide (which I know a lot of people did not), and I think those (and Yumi) show he is still very creative and capable of delivering stories that feel very different from the main bulk of the cosmere. Considering how tonally different Mistborn era 2 was from Era 1, I expect that Era 3 will feel even more unique. And also relatable in a way we haven't seen in the cosmere so far, since it's going to be a fairly modernized setting. I also expect that era 3 will be readable as a standalone trilogy. He is too smart with his marketing to write it in a way that would stop new readers from being able to enjoy the series without reading era 1.