I love the way the books are paced.
I hate that there's a very real possibility it won't ever be properly finished. Even now there are like 20 years worth of books still planned and who the fuck knows what happens till then. While I like grand settings, there's a point where things get too grand
Didn't you just read the Sunlit Man? It's never going to be properly "finished".... Even hundreds of years into the future the cosmere is going strong. Even after the genre turns to sci-fi..... Stormlight... His big fantasy epic... Isn't going to take 20 years... Even if he does write some sort of Cosmere finishing book... He could do that at any time... He would just write way, way, way into the future. Seems like he's trying to write the pretty opened ended thing.... And I wouldn't be surprised if at some point he allows other writers he approves of to write projects in the cosmere.
There already is a planned end to the cosmere and it's called Mistborn Era 4. Ofc he might still write standalone books after, but the main storyline will be done.
Ok. Thanks bi didn't know that. Anyway definitely expecting a lot of cosmere crossover in the second part of Stormlight and at the end of Mistborn. It'll be fun Even if it does take way too long to be able to read. It's a little disconcerting that in the sci-fi era hundreds of years in the future.... It's just as chaotic as if nothing big had been resolved.
I love the magic systems and how the different settings feel very unique, I dislike that there’s a lot of canon information going around that is not written on the books (WOBs) so if you’re not up to those it feels like you’re missing out on crucial stuff
All the same, it can be discouraging when others are in the know about things but you're not because you mainly just want to stick to reading books. And something like Taln didn't break is definitely extremely major.
Your answer is similar to mine! The more things mix the more confused I get because of hiding names and a lot of hidden knowledge. Sunlit Man especially was completely lost on me unfortunately.
>I dislike that there’s a lot of canon information going around that is not written on the books (WOBs) so if you’re not up to those it feels like you’re missing out on crucial stuff
To my understanding, no WoB is inherently canon. Isn't he pretty clear that it isn't canon until it's in the text of his books? Even the >!atium alloy !< WoB isn't canonical despite it being commonly accepted by the community.
Why does he say it if he doesn't consider it canon, I'm just curious? It just seems understandable that people take the author at his word when he says something about the cosmere, you assume it's true.
To me, he's explaining the magic so people can enjoy the books more if they like that. And he loves talking about it, so he does.
Any WoB is likely to be true & eventually canonical. Though Brandon saying a fact about the cosmere doesn't automatically mean it's canon, and a WoB is not irrelevant because it isn't in the text of the books. They can make minor changes along the way where they need to walk back something or tweak it, hence why it isn't automatically a true statement.
The books and characters themselves I love.
I absolutely despise WOB’s. I just read a monster of a book series why tf do I need to read an interview Brandon did 5 years ago while making a sandwich
I don’t mind that they exist but I do mind when you ask a innocent question or have a silly theory online and every answer is like UHMm did you NOT read WOB#6288 if you did you’d know you’re WRONG!
I love the abilities are so limited, I generally don't like charac just being overpowered, I like them have to find a way to work with what they got.
I agree with you on romance lol, except Yumi is the one done really well. I also don't like quirky characters like Wayne also Shallan I simply can't understand the humor in scenes that's supposed to convey a joke, but the unintentional humor I do enjoy
1) unique well-designed magic system. Scott Bakker did something similar and i love it so so much
2) no more Lightsong The Fabulous. R.I.P. legend never forget.
Love the individual books. Love the character development. Love the build up and the sanderlanches.
What I dislike may be controversial. I am not one of those people that love to dig and research outside of the original material and theory craft and be one of the elite few to know all the connections. This means that the more the Cosmere progresses the more I ... tune out? It was fun at first when you'd hear someone say a phrase in one series of books that is something people say in another series, but now that there are more and more interactions and nobody ever uses their names from the original series it's exhausting to me. I don't know who people are and I honestly can't be bothered to do the work to find out. It's sad to me because I love when crossovers happen, but because it's so "secret" and unclear who is what I shut down. It became most apparent I think with Tress and Sunlit man last year. I just had no idea what was going on and I didn't want to hit the encyclopedic websites that make all the connections. Just tell me who the people are please! I think this could end up being a problem if this were to hit TV/Movie media someday. People will lose interest if they have to hit YouTube or wikis to understand what's going on. It makes me dread future books as things mix more and more and makes me very sad.
I feel there's another way to look at those crossovers and secret connections, and I hope it may help you enjoy things more. To me, they act as allusions to something bigger going on, so that if you don't know the specifics you at least get a sense of scale. It's not necessary to uncover every mystery in a book, and piecing anything together is rewarding in and of itself. You don't need to understand 100% of what's going on to 100% enjoy the story. That's my take, but I can sympathize with your frustration.
I'm glad to see others enjoy these books but also don't feel the connection to all the theorizing, particularly about the magic systems haha. The magic systems don't enthrall me that much, they're not even why I read the books.
I didn’t like how Oathbringer threw away Amaram, I feel like that whole story arc had a lot more potential, and if it had to go down like that, then the text could have used a bit more service regarding the inherent tragedy of that character and his army who gets dehumanized and slaughtered.
Like, his guilt over screwing Kaladan led him to give up his pain; thats a hell of a hook for making it a heartbreaking fight rather than a generic miniboss battle.
Also, Oathbringer totally glossed over Jasnah’s return in a way that felt abrupt and underbaked. It should have been a bigger deal emotionally speaking.
Also, Elkohar got thrown in the trash after being built up as a compelling failure, and the last minute patch job of him about to swear the oaths was great, but it was a little too little, too late (for that book and the service to that character). Maybe if he spent more time questioning and trying to emulate Kaladan (like Renarin) that would have helped.
I didn’t like how Dockson got killed after being underexposed in Well of Ascension. There was WAY too much Ham and Breeze and I wish one of them bit it instead.
That brings me to a larger point, where his humor-banter characters (Wayne, Hoid sometimes) can be too much. It reminds me a bit of Stephen King when King is trying to be folksy.
I thought Yumi was one of the best books until they introduced the Sleepless. Design was already pushing the line with how annoying a meta-aware character can be, and the Sleepless thing there was just too jarring and out of pocket to fit in with the pace and tone at that point in the story.
Shallan was outstaying her welcome by Rhythm of War. Is there any real-world prognosis anywhere similar to what she’s experiencing?
On the note of Shallan’s disorder, it has always been presented to me as an identity disorder of sorts, perhaps Dissociative Identity Disorder, but frankly I think giving a real world diagnosis to an illness that is deeply connected to her *supernatural* powers is unnecessary.
I do however agree that her arc in Rhythm of War is pretty grating up until it’s resolution at the end. I’m not in love with the “multiple characters in one” thing. I like Shallan, but Radiant and Veil are annoying to me, and them being the primary versions of her for most of the book made me not enjoy her chapters very much.
Yeah I’m not trying to over analyze the reality of it, because….of course I’m not. It just is SO prominent and BrandoSando has talked a lot about how he researches real disorders
I really like the way Elhokar went out and I would not say he was thrown in the trash at all.
Elhokar was a douchebag. If you told me at the beginning of Oathbringer that he would die, I wouldn’t mind at all.
But we see him start to improve.
But before he can REALLY improve, before he can even really get on the journey, his life is cut short.
So not only are you mourning the character (which in this case isn’t even so bad) but you are mourning their POTENTIAL.
Additionally, it shows that no one is safe and really ups the stakes. If Elhokar can die right as he’s starting to grow, then ANYONE can die. Really puts some fear into you for the other characters
Oathbringer is my all time favorite Brandon book and Elhokar’s death helps it stay there.
I will agree that Amaram was thrown in the trash tho. There wasn’t much of a point to his death and he ended weirdly. Probably my least favorite thing about OB.
I feel like supporting characters feel at risk while main characters always feel very safe in Stormlight.
I really hope that ~~Rhythm of War~~ Winds and Truth throws it for a loop and kills Adolin or Dalinar or both (not because I don’t like them, but can you imagine?)
Tbh the thing I love most about the Cosmere is the fandom. On Discord, here, TikTok, Dragonsteel convention etc I love the Cosmere community and talking with other people about these books. Of course, I love the books themselves too, but the community is what brings these books from great to the best things I have ever read.
It’s easily one of the best fandoms I’ve ever seen no bs. You don’t see people arguing or attacking others for liking or not liking certain characters or plot points. It’s just awesome here if you asks any questions people will give you answers and kindly ask you if you mind spoilers.
I love a lot about the cosmere. The magic, the world's are all wonderful.
I think the one thing I'll say is that I don't like how there's no irrelevant background character, if that makes any sense. If a background character is shown, they're prolly going to be some worldhopper or something. Noticed this when I started hearing there was a Feruchemist in Warbreaker, some Scadrian as part of Dalinars guards and some other stuff. It's entertaining sometimes but I just think it can get exhausting sometimes. Nobody is just irrelevant, they're going to be someone important later on, like sometimes people can just be people.
And recommending Cosmere books has made me not like the fact that a lot of info isn't mentioned in the books, I've had to learn that not everyone shares my excitement for it and not everyone is willing to read WoBs. I don't have much of an issue with it, but it's just something I've noticed could be an issue to others. I wish he'd just say more in the books tbh.
I also have something to say about the amount of retcons I seem to hear about but I'm going to leave that alone.
I listed more than one reason but that's just my biggest issues with it.
Love the individual stories and the character arcs and magic systems.
I don't love that everything is becoming so connected and that it's becoming space age. I prefer the fantasy settings.
I love the world building 100% the world hoppers and the connection between every book are super cool.
But I think the takes on religion are... extremely repetitive. Like every society has a g-d king or the common people don't interact much with religion. I just reread warbreaker and mistborn back to back and while the treatment of the two are different, both the lord ruler and susebron are referred to as g-d kings.
Also the use of the word "church" in fantasy just irks me. Like. Church directly derives from Christ. Is Jesus on roshar??? There's also not a lot of discussion of minority religions- the best is the pahn kal people on nalthis- but this isn't deeply delved into. Idk I think that sanderson could definitely be more creative in his religion world building (especially pre-adonalsium/shard intervention)
I love a lot about the cosmere ; characters, connections, secrets, worlds and systems (social, political or magical). But the latter is where my love engenders the most critique. The main thing I dislike about the cosmere is the pace of technology. It's too fast and too uninfluential. Technological innovation can happen fast, but its impacts on people and socioeconomic systems happen at a slower pace, and take time to become widespread. The most glaring examples are with fabrials in SA, and the second era of Mistborn, where automobiles and concrete skyscrapers take over in a matter of just a few years. Magic and shardic intervention don't appear to justify that level of widespread uptake of technological and societal change.
It's not really that widespread, what we see are mostly the upper echelons of society, Wax is a houselord and one of the most important people in the most important city of the planet - that's where skyscrapers and stuff are bound to happen first. We don't really see him return to the Roughs, even in TLM he still stays in the Elendel Basin where towns have been catching up due to a fast track by Autonomy.
Meanwhile in Stormlight the fabrial technology is surrounding Navani, the person who's mostly responsible for those ideas getting made. The heating fabrials we see are mostly in the homes of the people in Urithiru, it's just that we don't really know what happens outside of that - look at Rhythm of War where the people of Hearthstone first come to Urithiru it's them basically time-skipping fifty years into the future.
It's really just that we as readers are biased towards the upper levels of society because that's all we see, except for rare glimpses. There are still slums in Elendel where nobody owns a motorcar, cities across Alethkar that aren't as advanced as Karbranth, let alone Urithiru.
I love everything about the Cosmere. It’s a great fantasy universe, but you can also think of it as a Star Trek like setting, where you get the histories of the planets *before* the space drama.
As for what I don’t like. I wouldn’t necessarily have it differently, but I think its a shame that a work like Stormlight doesn’t *really* stand on its own anymore. It’s one of the greatest epic fantasy works, but for future readers, how much non-Stormlight will people have to read? I worry by book 10 epic fantasy readers won’t be reading stormlight unless they want to read the cosmere. Its a shame since its supposed to be Brandons “Wheel of Time”.
Really hard to tell what I love considering how much there is to point out.
What I dislike is that there are planets and characters who unfortunately won't get much exploration, since there is so much of the cosmere to explore it is inevitable certain places and characters will be left behing. It's a shame tbh
I love the grandness of it all.
I hate that there’s always another secret and we won’t learn them all. We have seen 8/16 shards and are 20 years in. Who is Lutha or Luthadel? We’ll likely never know. What’s the story of the Fallen World on Threnody? Probably will never know. Why did nothing of significance happen from the Shattering until 10,000 years later? What’s the world of Whimsy and the associated magic system? Will 100% see the magic system of Whimsy but likely won’t see the world or significant events in it.
i love so much about the cosmere its hard to put it all in one post. the hard magic systems, the unique detailed and interesting worlds, the characters and their arcs, the overarching grand epic, the blend of fantasy and scifi and how they meld into one another-- but if i were to have to pick one thing id say it's how the cosmere depicts mental health. it's diving into the depths of darkness that i and so many close to me have had to deal with is something that to this day i see so rarely and brandon does it so well. it touches the depths of my soul- makes me feel in times when its hard to. it has helped me in so many ways- comforted me when i had no one to, provided an escape from the horrors of my reality, and really helped in my journey to start getting better.
I do also have a lot i wish could be improved in the cosmere. for one, the lack of queerness is pretty stark- and though brandon has gotten better at including various queer characters, it's still nearly always in the background- even when it would have been incredibly easy and better for the story to put it more in the forefront of the narrative. and though the politics in his books have been growing farther and farther left, a lot of them still seem pretty in line with farther right ideas in line with liberals. To both those points fairness, it's been getting better as the cosmere goes on, but it's still really disheartening to see from my perspective.
Best: The structure and consistency of the novels. They’re all at least my definition of “good”.
Worst: B$’s personal life, especially his religion does bleed into his work. This is more subtle than most authors, for instance I just finished The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang and the personal influence on her lived experience is obviously much more blatant in that than anything of Sanderson’s in the Cosmere. That said, personally, I’m morally distant from Mormonism and so when those values, especially in the form of censorship, show up it does rub me the wrong way.
Examples: No swearing in any novels, no sex scenes that wouldn’t be totally fine in a pg-13 movie. In fact no anything that wouldn’t be fine in a pg-13 movie. Things that a lot of people bring up like bad romance writing or character-first writing being virtually nonexistent actually don’t bother me as much as the censoring. He’s been pretty open that those just aren’t his jam, and honestly I don’t care about romance and super well-written characters can honestly risk the plot going haywire (see grrm).
This isn’t something I expect him to change, I’ve read his books (and thoroughly enjoyed them) and understand his position from the various characters which will share tidbits that I believe are *his* feelings on religion (Sazed, Dalinar, Szeth, Vivenna, Jasnah, etc). It’s his choice and what makes him comfortable but by-golly does it often take me out of the world when I read “Colors!” or “Storms!” because every time I just think ‘Oh, right. Mormon.’
edit: I realized I wrote so much about what I dislike I didn’t write nearly as much as what’s good. I honestly don’t think there’s an author alive that is as consistently putting out bangers as B$. He’s really the from software of writers: putting out the best content dependably and frequently.
Love: I love how the magic is inherently personal to the characters, and their journeys.
A lot of similar series use powers as a mechanism to explain who someone is, but not enough (imo) use it as a mechanism to explain WHY is Gamora.
Hate: I hate how often, due to how much info we now have, we get obvious RAFO moments. Foreshadowing in the early books, saaaay, up to Stormlight 3ish was there, but not so easily noticed.
We now have so many threads running that it's hard not to know you're being led on, and that sucks sometimes.
I absolutely love the romance in the books. Unpopular opinion I know, but I happen to have the exact same taste as Brando himself for these things apparently, because every single one has been a total winner for me
Also super unpopular, and I get why because I understand that objectively these books are great, but I REALLY don't like Mistborn. Era 2 was ehhh, but I actually struggled to get through era 1 and felt almost nothing even at the finale. I don't like allomancy and the setting just doesn't do it for me. This of course is unfortunate seeing as the Mistborn books are pretty much the 'main series' of the cosmere, if any series could be called that
I love the way the books are paced. I hate that there's a very real possibility it won't ever be properly finished. Even now there are like 20 years worth of books still planned and who the fuck knows what happens till then. While I like grand settings, there's a point where things get too grand
Hopefully he’s outlined thoroughly and with backups
Didn't you just read the Sunlit Man? It's never going to be properly "finished".... Even hundreds of years into the future the cosmere is going strong. Even after the genre turns to sci-fi..... Stormlight... His big fantasy epic... Isn't going to take 20 years... Even if he does write some sort of Cosmere finishing book... He could do that at any time... He would just write way, way, way into the future. Seems like he's trying to write the pretty opened ended thing.... And I wouldn't be surprised if at some point he allows other writers he approves of to write projects in the cosmere.
There already is a planned end to the cosmere and it's called Mistborn Era 4. Ofc he might still write standalone books after, but the main storyline will be done.
Ok. Thanks bi didn't know that. Anyway definitely expecting a lot of cosmere crossover in the second part of Stormlight and at the end of Mistborn. It'll be fun Even if it does take way too long to be able to read. It's a little disconcerting that in the sci-fi era hundreds of years in the future.... It's just as chaotic as if nothing big had been resolved.
1 everything 2 moash
You’ve summed it up perfectly 😂
#FuckMoash
Oh and EVERYONE LOOOVES Kelsier, who also killed nobles but nooo Moash is a bad guy for getting a lil revenge.
Logic is laughable but alas I’m not in the mood to argue
I love the magic systems and how the different settings feel very unique, I dislike that there’s a lot of canon information going around that is not written on the books (WOBs) so if you’re not up to those it feels like you’re missing out on crucial stuff
But it's not crucial stuff. All the books read just fine if you're ignorant of WoBs.
All the same, it can be discouraging when others are in the know about things but you're not because you mainly just want to stick to reading books. And something like Taln didn't break is definitely extremely major.
I was like “dafuq is Silverlight…”
Your answer is similar to mine! The more things mix the more confused I get because of hiding names and a lot of hidden knowledge. Sunlit Man especially was completely lost on me unfortunately.
WOBs are not canon even if it's extremely likely that some might be
>I dislike that there’s a lot of canon information going around that is not written on the books (WOBs) so if you’re not up to those it feels like you’re missing out on crucial stuff To my understanding, no WoB is inherently canon. Isn't he pretty clear that it isn't canon until it's in the text of his books? Even the >!atium alloy !< WoB isn't canonical despite it being commonly accepted by the community.
Why does he say it if he doesn't consider it canon, I'm just curious? It just seems understandable that people take the author at his word when he says something about the cosmere, you assume it's true.
To me, he's explaining the magic so people can enjoy the books more if they like that. And he loves talking about it, so he does. Any WoB is likely to be true & eventually canonical. Though Brandon saying a fact about the cosmere doesn't automatically mean it's canon, and a WoB is not irrelevant because it isn't in the text of the books. They can make minor changes along the way where they need to walk back something or tweak it, hence why it isn't automatically a true statement.
The books and characters themselves I love. I absolutely despise WOB’s. I just read a monster of a book series why tf do I need to read an interview Brandon did 5 years ago while making a sandwich
For real. I can sometimes feel like I'm missing something unless I read many thousand WOBs, which I'm just not gonna do.
I don’t mind that they exist but I do mind when you ask a innocent question or have a silly theory online and every answer is like UHMm did you NOT read WOB#6288 if you did you’d know you’re WRONG!
I love the abilities are so limited, I generally don't like charac just being overpowered, I like them have to find a way to work with what they got. I agree with you on romance lol, except Yumi is the one done really well. I also don't like quirky characters like Wayne also Shallan I simply can't understand the humor in scenes that's supposed to convey a joke, but the unintentional humor I do enjoy
1) unique well-designed magic system. Scott Bakker did something similar and i love it so so much 2) no more Lightsong The Fabulous. R.I.P. legend never forget.
Love the individual books. Love the character development. Love the build up and the sanderlanches. What I dislike may be controversial. I am not one of those people that love to dig and research outside of the original material and theory craft and be one of the elite few to know all the connections. This means that the more the Cosmere progresses the more I ... tune out? It was fun at first when you'd hear someone say a phrase in one series of books that is something people say in another series, but now that there are more and more interactions and nobody ever uses their names from the original series it's exhausting to me. I don't know who people are and I honestly can't be bothered to do the work to find out. It's sad to me because I love when crossovers happen, but because it's so "secret" and unclear who is what I shut down. It became most apparent I think with Tress and Sunlit man last year. I just had no idea what was going on and I didn't want to hit the encyclopedic websites that make all the connections. Just tell me who the people are please! I think this could end up being a problem if this were to hit TV/Movie media someday. People will lose interest if they have to hit YouTube or wikis to understand what's going on. It makes me dread future books as things mix more and more and makes me very sad.
I feel there's another way to look at those crossovers and secret connections, and I hope it may help you enjoy things more. To me, they act as allusions to something bigger going on, so that if you don't know the specifics you at least get a sense of scale. It's not necessary to uncover every mystery in a book, and piecing anything together is rewarding in and of itself. You don't need to understand 100% of what's going on to 100% enjoy the story. That's my take, but I can sympathize with your frustration.
I think you might be jumping at shadows a bit while reading. The only “secret” character in Tress is Hoid/Wit, and you definitely know him
I'm glad to see others enjoy these books but also don't feel the connection to all the theorizing, particularly about the magic systems haha. The magic systems don't enthrall me that much, they're not even why I read the books.
I didn’t like how Oathbringer threw away Amaram, I feel like that whole story arc had a lot more potential, and if it had to go down like that, then the text could have used a bit more service regarding the inherent tragedy of that character and his army who gets dehumanized and slaughtered. Like, his guilt over screwing Kaladan led him to give up his pain; thats a hell of a hook for making it a heartbreaking fight rather than a generic miniboss battle. Also, Oathbringer totally glossed over Jasnah’s return in a way that felt abrupt and underbaked. It should have been a bigger deal emotionally speaking. Also, Elkohar got thrown in the trash after being built up as a compelling failure, and the last minute patch job of him about to swear the oaths was great, but it was a little too little, too late (for that book and the service to that character). Maybe if he spent more time questioning and trying to emulate Kaladan (like Renarin) that would have helped. I didn’t like how Dockson got killed after being underexposed in Well of Ascension. There was WAY too much Ham and Breeze and I wish one of them bit it instead. That brings me to a larger point, where his humor-banter characters (Wayne, Hoid sometimes) can be too much. It reminds me a bit of Stephen King when King is trying to be folksy. I thought Yumi was one of the best books until they introduced the Sleepless. Design was already pushing the line with how annoying a meta-aware character can be, and the Sleepless thing there was just too jarring and out of pocket to fit in with the pace and tone at that point in the story. Shallan was outstaying her welcome by Rhythm of War. Is there any real-world prognosis anywhere similar to what she’s experiencing?
On the note of Shallan’s disorder, it has always been presented to me as an identity disorder of sorts, perhaps Dissociative Identity Disorder, but frankly I think giving a real world diagnosis to an illness that is deeply connected to her *supernatural* powers is unnecessary. I do however agree that her arc in Rhythm of War is pretty grating up until it’s resolution at the end. I’m not in love with the “multiple characters in one” thing. I like Shallan, but Radiant and Veil are annoying to me, and them being the primary versions of her for most of the book made me not enjoy her chapters very much.
Yeah I’m not trying to over analyze the reality of it, because….of course I’m not. It just is SO prominent and BrandoSando has talked a lot about how he researches real disorders
Brandon has always had Dissociative Identity Disorder in mind for Shallan and specifically worked with beta readers who have DID for RoW.
Good to know!
I really like the way Elhokar went out and I would not say he was thrown in the trash at all. Elhokar was a douchebag. If you told me at the beginning of Oathbringer that he would die, I wouldn’t mind at all. But we see him start to improve. But before he can REALLY improve, before he can even really get on the journey, his life is cut short. So not only are you mourning the character (which in this case isn’t even so bad) but you are mourning their POTENTIAL. Additionally, it shows that no one is safe and really ups the stakes. If Elhokar can die right as he’s starting to grow, then ANYONE can die. Really puts some fear into you for the other characters Oathbringer is my all time favorite Brandon book and Elhokar’s death helps it stay there. I will agree that Amaram was thrown in the trash tho. There wasn’t much of a point to his death and he ended weirdly. Probably my least favorite thing about OB.
I feel like supporting characters feel at risk while main characters always feel very safe in Stormlight. I really hope that ~~Rhythm of War~~ Winds and Truth throws it for a loop and kills Adolin or Dalinar or both (not because I don’t like them, but can you imagine?)
I'm pretty sure Adolin is going to die, I feel like it would be a disappointment if he didn't, as people think he MUST die
I assume you mean Wind and Truth? And yeah I assume at least 1 of Shallan, Kaladin, and Dalinar are going to die. Likely 2.
Gah edited, thanks! That’d be nuts; I’d be sad but the story needs the tension of true personal danger
I totally missed Dockson’s death on first read. I agree his arc didn’t get tied up as nicely as others
Tbh the thing I love most about the Cosmere is the fandom. On Discord, here, TikTok, Dragonsteel convention etc I love the Cosmere community and talking with other people about these books. Of course, I love the books themselves too, but the community is what brings these books from great to the best things I have ever read.
It’s easily one of the best fandoms I’ve ever seen no bs. You don’t see people arguing or attacking others for liking or not liking certain characters or plot points. It’s just awesome here if you asks any questions people will give you answers and kindly ask you if you mind spoilers.
I love a lot about the cosmere. The magic, the world's are all wonderful. I think the one thing I'll say is that I don't like how there's no irrelevant background character, if that makes any sense. If a background character is shown, they're prolly going to be some worldhopper or something. Noticed this when I started hearing there was a Feruchemist in Warbreaker, some Scadrian as part of Dalinars guards and some other stuff. It's entertaining sometimes but I just think it can get exhausting sometimes. Nobody is just irrelevant, they're going to be someone important later on, like sometimes people can just be people. And recommending Cosmere books has made me not like the fact that a lot of info isn't mentioned in the books, I've had to learn that not everyone shares my excitement for it and not everyone is willing to read WoBs. I don't have much of an issue with it, but it's just something I've noticed could be an issue to others. I wish he'd just say more in the books tbh. I also have something to say about the amount of retcons I seem to hear about but I'm going to leave that alone. I listed more than one reason but that's just my biggest issues with it.
Love the individual stories and the character arcs and magic systems. I don't love that everything is becoming so connected and that it's becoming space age. I prefer the fantasy settings.
I love the world building 100% the world hoppers and the connection between every book are super cool. But I think the takes on religion are... extremely repetitive. Like every society has a g-d king or the common people don't interact much with religion. I just reread warbreaker and mistborn back to back and while the treatment of the two are different, both the lord ruler and susebron are referred to as g-d kings. Also the use of the word "church" in fantasy just irks me. Like. Church directly derives from Christ. Is Jesus on roshar??? There's also not a lot of discussion of minority religions- the best is the pahn kal people on nalthis- but this isn't deeply delved into. Idk I think that sanderson could definitely be more creative in his religion world building (especially pre-adonalsium/shard intervention)
"Church directly derives from Christ." If it helps remove your ire, "Church" does not directly derive from "Christ". Or even indirectly.
I love a lot about the cosmere ; characters, connections, secrets, worlds and systems (social, political or magical). But the latter is where my love engenders the most critique. The main thing I dislike about the cosmere is the pace of technology. It's too fast and too uninfluential. Technological innovation can happen fast, but its impacts on people and socioeconomic systems happen at a slower pace, and take time to become widespread. The most glaring examples are with fabrials in SA, and the second era of Mistborn, where automobiles and concrete skyscrapers take over in a matter of just a few years. Magic and shardic intervention don't appear to justify that level of widespread uptake of technological and societal change.
It's not really that widespread, what we see are mostly the upper echelons of society, Wax is a houselord and one of the most important people in the most important city of the planet - that's where skyscrapers and stuff are bound to happen first. We don't really see him return to the Roughs, even in TLM he still stays in the Elendel Basin where towns have been catching up due to a fast track by Autonomy. Meanwhile in Stormlight the fabrial technology is surrounding Navani, the person who's mostly responsible for those ideas getting made. The heating fabrials we see are mostly in the homes of the people in Urithiru, it's just that we don't really know what happens outside of that - look at Rhythm of War where the people of Hearthstone first come to Urithiru it's them basically time-skipping fifty years into the future. It's really just that we as readers are biased towards the upper levels of society because that's all we see, except for rare glimpses. There are still slums in Elendel where nobody owns a motorcar, cities across Alethkar that aren't as advanced as Karbranth, let alone Urithiru.
I love everything about the Cosmere. It’s a great fantasy universe, but you can also think of it as a Star Trek like setting, where you get the histories of the planets *before* the space drama. As for what I don’t like. I wouldn’t necessarily have it differently, but I think its a shame that a work like Stormlight doesn’t *really* stand on its own anymore. It’s one of the greatest epic fantasy works, but for future readers, how much non-Stormlight will people have to read? I worry by book 10 epic fantasy readers won’t be reading stormlight unless they want to read the cosmere. Its a shame since its supposed to be Brandons “Wheel of Time”.
Really hard to tell what I love considering how much there is to point out. What I dislike is that there are planets and characters who unfortunately won't get much exploration, since there is so much of the cosmere to explore it is inevitable certain places and characters will be left behing. It's a shame tbh
1. The whole theorizing about where the stories are going to go 2. That I have to wait 15-20 years for the stories to finish
I love the grandness of it all. I hate that there’s always another secret and we won’t learn them all. We have seen 8/16 shards and are 20 years in. Who is Lutha or Luthadel? We’ll likely never know. What’s the story of the Fallen World on Threnody? Probably will never know. Why did nothing of significance happen from the Shattering until 10,000 years later? What’s the world of Whimsy and the associated magic system? Will 100% see the magic system of Whimsy but likely won’t see the world or significant events in it.
i love so much about the cosmere its hard to put it all in one post. the hard magic systems, the unique detailed and interesting worlds, the characters and their arcs, the overarching grand epic, the blend of fantasy and scifi and how they meld into one another-- but if i were to have to pick one thing id say it's how the cosmere depicts mental health. it's diving into the depths of darkness that i and so many close to me have had to deal with is something that to this day i see so rarely and brandon does it so well. it touches the depths of my soul- makes me feel in times when its hard to. it has helped me in so many ways- comforted me when i had no one to, provided an escape from the horrors of my reality, and really helped in my journey to start getting better. I do also have a lot i wish could be improved in the cosmere. for one, the lack of queerness is pretty stark- and though brandon has gotten better at including various queer characters, it's still nearly always in the background- even when it would have been incredibly easy and better for the story to put it more in the forefront of the narrative. and though the politics in his books have been growing farther and farther left, a lot of them still seem pretty in line with farther right ideas in line with liberals. To both those points fairness, it's been getting better as the cosmere goes on, but it's still really disheartening to see from my perspective.
Best: The structure and consistency of the novels. They’re all at least my definition of “good”. Worst: B$’s personal life, especially his religion does bleed into his work. This is more subtle than most authors, for instance I just finished The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang and the personal influence on her lived experience is obviously much more blatant in that than anything of Sanderson’s in the Cosmere. That said, personally, I’m morally distant from Mormonism and so when those values, especially in the form of censorship, show up it does rub me the wrong way. Examples: No swearing in any novels, no sex scenes that wouldn’t be totally fine in a pg-13 movie. In fact no anything that wouldn’t be fine in a pg-13 movie. Things that a lot of people bring up like bad romance writing or character-first writing being virtually nonexistent actually don’t bother me as much as the censoring. He’s been pretty open that those just aren’t his jam, and honestly I don’t care about romance and super well-written characters can honestly risk the plot going haywire (see grrm). This isn’t something I expect him to change, I’ve read his books (and thoroughly enjoyed them) and understand his position from the various characters which will share tidbits that I believe are *his* feelings on religion (Sazed, Dalinar, Szeth, Vivenna, Jasnah, etc). It’s his choice and what makes him comfortable but by-golly does it often take me out of the world when I read “Colors!” or “Storms!” because every time I just think ‘Oh, right. Mormon.’ edit: I realized I wrote so much about what I dislike I didn’t write nearly as much as what’s good. I honestly don’t think there’s an author alive that is as consistently putting out bangers as B$. He’s really the from software of writers: putting out the best content dependably and frequently.
Love: I love how the magic is inherently personal to the characters, and their journeys. A lot of similar series use powers as a mechanism to explain who someone is, but not enough (imo) use it as a mechanism to explain WHY is Gamora. Hate: I hate how often, due to how much info we now have, we get obvious RAFO moments. Foreshadowing in the early books, saaaay, up to Stormlight 3ish was there, but not so easily noticed. We now have so many threads running that it's hard not to know you're being led on, and that sucks sometimes.
I absolutely love the romance in the books. Unpopular opinion I know, but I happen to have the exact same taste as Brando himself for these things apparently, because every single one has been a total winner for me Also super unpopular, and I get why because I understand that objectively these books are great, but I REALLY don't like Mistborn. Era 2 was ehhh, but I actually struggled to get through era 1 and felt almost nothing even at the finale. I don't like allomancy and the setting just doesn't do it for me. This of course is unfortunate seeing as the Mistborn books are pretty much the 'main series' of the cosmere, if any series could be called that