Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.38 AVERAGE
4.38 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Short story collections are almost the perfect style of book for Sanderson. His books generally are ok to pretty good and then the last third or so is awesome. This style continues in most the stories of Arcanum Unbounded, but when a story is only an hour long you get to the really good stuff a lot quicker. Can not wait for Oathbringer.
The stupid little nerdy excerpts telling you the size and gravity of the planets were actually my favorite part of this collection of stories. Although I think (other than secret history) the short story Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (sick title) was my favorite in the collection. Now that I've re read Secret History I have to re read Mistborn before moving onto era 2 because I miss them and it's my life I can read whatever books I want! Really recommend actually reading this book cover to cover like an actual novel instead of reading one short story at a time as it becomes relevant like I was doing previously. Although that might be a bit difficult to navigate spoilers.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably read all of it that I’m going to for now to avoid spoilers
some really good (secret history), some meh (most of the others). for sure give it a read if you care about the cosmere as an expanded universe. in general, my favorite part(s) of this whole book are the introductions to each system. i like the star charts and explanations about the specific gravity/size of each planet. good info.
since this is full of smaller stories, ill consolidate all of my reviews here in the order that they appear in the book:
The Selish System:
since this is full of smaller stories, ill consolidate all of my reviews here in the order that they appear in the book:
The Selish System:
- The Emperor's Soul
- first read: easily the most I've ever enjoyed a Sanderson book (as of now, I've read most of the Cosmere stuff aside from Mistborn). Love the protagonist, love the magic/power system. I'll be honest, Elantris and a lot of the other oneshot novels fell short for me. But this book managed to do in 4 hours what the Stormlight Archive (my favorite of the Cosmere series) just started to do ~200 hours in. Even from the beginning, I really had fun with this one.
I also listened to the audiobook narrated by Angela Lin, whose voice is soooo pleasant. I'm kind of tempted to seek out other books that she's narrated just to hear more. Major props to her. - second read: yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy shai i love shai i love this little story
- first read: easily the most I've ever enjoyed a Sanderson book (as of now, I've read most of the Cosmere stuff aside from Mistborn). Love the protagonist, love the magic/power system. I'll be honest, Elantris and a lot of the other oneshot novels fell short for me. But this book managed to do in 4 hours what the Stormlight Archive (my favorite of the Cosmere series) just started to do ~200 hours in. Even from the beginning, I really had fun with this one.
- The Hope of Elantris
- first read: (2 stars) who cares. i'm sure this matters more in the unbound book but iiiiiiiiiii read it separately bc that's all my library had available. oh well. elantris was never my favorite in the cosmere
- second read: (3 stars) its not anything crazy, but i think its nice. i am upwards of neutral towards it
The Scadrian System
- The Eleventh Metal
- it's fine. kelsie maxxing. very fun to compare the way he was taught with the way he taught vin
- Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania
- first read: meh.
- second read: revising my opinion of this work. jak is a tool but the editor's notes are fun and i do like the koloss lore here. koloss blooded people as a concept are so interesting to me, in a similar way that kandra are. i like to think of them as the two sides of the same process. koloss retain the body but kandra retain the mind/soul. spiked beasts my beloved
- Mistborn: Secret History
- first read: THIS IS WHERE ALL THAT GODDAMN LORE HAD BEEN HIDING THIS WHOLE TIME. FOR FUCKS SAKE.
- second read: ill elaborate more this time. this time, i read secret history alongside the mistborn era 1 trilogy, so this little booklet was spread out pretty far to make everything line up chronologically. it spans the last bit of TFE to after the end of HoA. i feel like the integrated readthrough is more or less essential to understanding the mechanisms behind the influence that mb era 1 characters feel. there's a lot of misleading going on throughout the whole thing, and without this reference on a case-by-case basis, its hard to keep everything pinned down. it's all so finicky and there are too many hands stirring too many pots. that being said, i think secret history is super important for kelsier's character and also for the cosmere as a whole. im rethinking my original 5 star rating because i dont really think its THAT good, but ill leave it for now
Taldain System
- White Sand Excerpt
- white sand as a whole is fine. i mostly like khriss, but she's not super present in this excerpt. i also cant remember if this writing is from the white sand draft(?) novel or if this is how the graphic audio version reads. i just kind of wish the novel would get republished. i dont love graphic novels/graphic audio.
Threnodite System
- Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
- first read: fun little read! would be very fun to read a longer story set in this system
- second read: my opinion is the same! silence's character is so cool, and i love the way her relationship with her daughter and grandmother are written. goes soooo hard. silence my beloved
Drominad System
- Sixth of the Dusk
- first read: meh
- second read: believe it or not, i also like this one better on the reread. i like dusk.
Rosharan System
- Edgedancer
- first read: meh. i'm just not a lift fan.
- second read: hoooooly shit this is so much more than just lift. szeth and nale are here. this arguably says more about skybreakers than it does edgedancers. what was i even thinking the first time. also love the aimian/sleepless mention! hashtag freaksquad
- third read: aimians are the best ever. and i like nale and his shitsquad. hello szeth my beloved. i have been enlightened as to your past and now this hits different.
Excellent set of novellas, including a lengthy parallel story to most of the first Mistborn trilogy. I’ve come to rely of Sanderson, trusting that whatever story he chooses to share will be worth it. And he hasn’t disappointed. The audiobook narrators are excellent as usual, too.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
adventurous
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated