I think if sandersons gonna do something like the lost metal again he should do what he does in Arcanum Unbounded. So before the book begins explain ti the reader what books/short stories of his they should read prior to reading this one if they want full context. I personally dont care cause ive read everything but i will agree TLM would probably be tough if you havent read the entire cosmere
That is an awesome idea. It was really good! I listen to Arcanum whenever I need to refresh myself on a planetary system in cosmere. It is one of my favorite short story collections.
As someone who only read the first 3 SA books and Era 1 at the time, I promise you I enjoyed TLM just fine XD When I finished the trilogy, it was (and still is) some of my favorite books, and I felt the things I missed out on were simply Easter eggs that I'd understand once I read more into the Cosmere, which only gave more incentive to read more of his books. I do agree that he should add an emphasis on reading Era 1 and the specific shorts from Arcanum Unbound that are directly connected to it, but that's pretty much all a person needs.
I loved this book! This is exactly the sort of thing I look for in a story. I just love the western-esque story of being a stranger in a strange land and learning about it and getting caught up in the problems of that place and fixing it. I would love if this became a series, or if Sanderson just did more standalone books that explore different worlds. I think it would be really nice to explore more of the cosmere and really focus on each book exploring a single planet and a great way to do that is with an already established character in a series who is forced to keep moving.
Wow!!! This makes me so happy!!! Even though I predicted a 4 star haha. Makes me so excited to read this and makes me s happy when Sanderson keeps succeeding! I was enrolled in Sanderson's class when I went to BYU! Sanderson is an incredible author and better person so I'll always be rooting for him!
I loved tress because the magic was so new to the cosmere and because it was such a satisfying little fairytale-like story. I enjoyed yumi because of the atmosphere and imagery, but i wasnt impressed with the story, i also found most of the characters consistently annoying (i never could get into anime so maybe i found the cause. maybe i just dont like the tropes and themes it plays with). But this... this book was soooo goood. I've never felt so much emotion in such a short period of time. It reminded me why i came to love the stormlight archive (and warbreaker). I dont know why as im sure there is no personal experience involved but i swear Brandon is by far the best when writing soldiers, generals and, to a slightly lesser extent, scientists. Dalinar, Vasher and now Sigzil are my favorite characters and im sure once we get to know Taln more, he will be too.
Now you’ve gotten me really looking forward for my book to come! Love me some Brandon Sanderson. On the flip side of this, now I’m sad I won’t be getting another secret project book in 3 months. 😢
I really enjoyed this book. Loved the pace and the references. I do think this could be read as a standalone without prior Cosmere knowledge as well because of the trope of the wandering man, he's been so many places, did so many things, one book really can't stop to explain everything. If you have questions, there are books to read to figure out what happened. Not sure where I place this with the Cosmere secret projects though. I enjoyed Tress but I read it before Stormlight and Hoid as a narrator got to me. Yumi I really did enjoy and while romance isn't something for me it was good but I didn't enjoy the ending and the resolution of one character. This though was fast paced and was meant for the fans but it was short and I wanted more. It gave more more questions that, realistically, we won't get the answers to for over a decade.
I personally don’t think you had to have any knowledge of the rest of the Cosmere to enjoy The Lost Metal. However, I think I believe you can appreciate more of it if you are more familiar with the Cosmere. It’s the same with this book. The more you know about the Cosmere, the better you can appreciate all of the subtle things he throws in. And it REALLY helps to understand this book if you have read Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell beforehand.
I fully agree with this review. I know that's not why you make these, but I'm really glad you liked it too. Part way through the book I was feeling kind of iffy, but by the end, I feel like it was solid gold Cosmere.
I haven't read Sanderson in years but read Yumi and loved it. I guess I will read this and Tress as well. Don't want to commit to the whole cosmere but these standalones are perfect for me.
I enjoyed Frugal Wizard but if you ask me what I would re-read most it would be sunlight man. Tress was my favorite because it was a good start for the year and yumi was more enjoyable on my second read. I had to force myself to finish yumi which hasn’t happened to me with any Sanderson books till now. But Sunlight was awesome! Just like all other Stormlight books couldn’t put it down and had to re-read immediately.
Thanks for your review. I also loved the book. I probably liked Tress a little bit more, but Sunlit Man was so awesome also. I loved all the cosmere references. I think if you read Stormlight 1 and 2, Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell and Sixth of the Dusk you’re good to go. (Those last two are in Arcanum Unbounded.) There are some Mistborn Era Two references but they are not essential to know and nothing gets spoiled, so thats are not necessary.
As someone who only read the first 3 books in Stormlight and Mistborn Era 1 before Era 2, I highly disagree with your thoughts on Era 2. Even with the "vital" things I missed, it was (and still is) some of my favorite books in the Cosmere. While there were cameos and Easter eggs I missed out on, it never felt like it was enough to keep me from fully enjoying the trilogy. While I know I'm in a small camp with how much I enjoyed the trilogy, it still seemed worth mentioning from the perspective of someone who wasn't fully immersed at the time of reading.
I love mistborn and stormlight, I think he can be a bit lighthearted at times but still a big fan. Didn't read any of the other secret projects. Flipped through a few pages of each, just wasn't into the writing style. This one does intrigue me though.
In my opinion, Sanderson is getting better with each book. The secret ptoject books are amazing. I loved Tress and Yumi a lot. Personally, I thought Yumi was a masterpiece of creativity and I really connected with Painter. I'm going to download the Sunlit Man and give it a read this weekend. The only thing I hope Sanderson improves on is his humor. I really enjoy his funny characters like Lopin, but his use of puns with Shalan or Wit as narrator in Tress drove me crazy. I think he wants to be more like Pratchett (who i think is his favorite author) but he's not pratchett. Sanderson's humor is VERY endearing, he just overdoes it sometimes. Tress is a good example, but as I said, I loved Tress anyways. That book was also a masterpiece in creativity. I just love his work so much and I'm very happy that he writes so much with such a consistent level of quality. He is my favorite author and he will surpass tolkien as the God of fantasy.
I signed up to the kickstarter and have read the first 3, and while I’m a Sanderson fan I got tired of the YA themes. Looking forward to this one, maybe it’ll be a littlest more adult?
Just start with Mistborn. It's an amazing trilogy and has a great magic system. Most people will recommend this as the best option because it's not dense like Stormlight and it's one of his earliest works, and people love the series. I would recommend reading in pseudo-publication order after that, but as you get more familiar with his works, you can deviate from that as you like. If you don't want to start a new series, Warbreaker is also a good one to start with. Elantris is also fine along with the novella The Emperor's Soul, but Elantris is Sanderson's first published work so maybe not the best one to start with. I liked it, though.
I'm surprised you liked this so much due to your criticism of The Lost Metal's Cosmere tie-ins. There was a lot of "Investiture" talk in this one too. Interesting that my experience felt opposite. While I understood the magic system references because I've read Words of Radiance, I felt frustrated that there was so much reference to Dawnshard, which I know is the name the Stormlight novella meant to be read after Oathbringer. My impression was that I should have read Dawnshard before this novel to have a better understanding of the main character's situation. I didn't have trouble understanding the plot, but I felt that this prevented me from connecting with the main character. One example is I had no idea who The Night Brigade was, so I felt no tension for the main character's situation. It's meant to play a ticking clock scenario for the character, but I felt nothing for its presence in the novel. For people who have read all the books, they probably felt something when they were mentioned. The Lost Metal on the other hand didn't bother me because those Cosmere tie-ins didn't feel like a direct continuation of another plot and the main characters of the book are still centered within the Mistborn saga. So while The Lost Metal has some magic systems from other books, that didn't really bother me and I think someone could have fun with it without reading those books. Unlike The Night Brigade, the Ghostbloods and their situation were explained much more thoroughly within the book even though they are also in Stormlight. Anyway, interesting that we have different perspectives on what works and what doesn't work. I like The Sunlit Man fine, but is my third favorite of the Secret Project novels. I like slower paced fantasy more and I connected with the characters in Tress and Yumi more. The Sunlit Man had a solid ending though. I might reread it someday after completing the entire Stormlight Archive, especially since Sanderson hints that the main character is important to the Cosmere.
You don’t need to read Dawnshard to understand this. We don’t get that much information about Dawnshards in Dawnshard. Everything important is in this one too. The Nightbrigade was never featured in a book before, mybe it was mentioned but we didn’t know anything about what they do. But I get that thinking you don’t have all the information can ruin a book even if you didn’t really need it. It has happened to me too on other books or movies.
@@Florfilm thanks this is helpful. That was my feeling while reading. It felt like I was missing info even if that wasn't the case. Even then I still liked the book fine, I just prefer Tress and Yumi much more.
You've overestimated how much tie-in information these books really have. Reading Dawnshard doesn't give you much insight into what Dawnshards actually are and how they work. In addition, this is The Night Brigade's first appearance, so you've missed even less on that front than Dawnshard
@@voidsabre_ fair enough but the reading experience felt like I was missing context. For those that had read all of stormlight you realized these were meant to be mysteries. Regardless the book doesn't feel like it stands alone and I felt that Tress and Yumi are stronger stories. I'm sure for those that love Cosmere lore, Sunlit was a home run.
I agree that this is the best one. I still think Tress is the best entry point to someone that's never read cosmere. I have a soft spot for yumi because of my love of eastern light novels and jrpgs.
I just started reading this one last night and was sad I had to put it down this morning! So far the worst part about the book is not having the time to binge read it
Can’t wait to see your review for these! I’ve loved watching your book content-glad to see a few of my favorite Booktubers in each other’s comment sections!
Hard disagree on the lost metal. Cosmere knowledge helped, but nothing vital to the story required you to know anything from other books, except maybe previous mistborn books.
My problems with this book: *Spoilers* What kind of dead is aux? Not a deadeye, not even when it's personality is gone, and how exactly does it know to change form after losing it's personality? It's never explained before, new phenomenon and very convenient. The shades, they're suddenly conscious, and can even be controlled and continue their former lives as soldiers, where did that come from? I guess my point is not enough foreshadowing, something Sanderson has always been great at. Either way, still LOVED this book.
Interesting this was one of the hardest for me to read and put it down a lot, I felt like most of these secret projects may have suffered from not having as long of a beta reader feedback phase and man I couldn't care less what happened to Nomad or the locals, shocked you find this more appealing then the Cosmere connections in stuff like Lost Metal
Mistborn era 2 was disappointing for me, especially TLM. It felt like he wanted to get everybody ready for the ultimate boogey man coming but did too quickly
I’m going to be that guy, I think this was the weakest of the of the secret projects for me. Tress and Yumi were the strongest by a mile. And I think Tress wins it for me only because I could see myself rereading Tress before I would consider rereading Yumi. Frugal wizard and Sunlit man I think were on par with each other. But Frugal wizard was a more entertaining read for me. Sunlit man was an interesting setting and the mechanics of the the culture were neat as a thought experiment, but the characters and the plot read pretty flat. I think the choices the caused this for me was the pacing, we never get a break for the characters to breathe and when we do pause it’s to solve the new problem that arose and the solutions to the problems are explained to us in a very mathematical/analytical way that makes feel like I’m listening to a physics lecture instead of reading a fantasy novel.
Yumi broke me too hard. That book along with the lost metal and Cytonic makes me never want to pick up Sanderson again. I'll give Stormlight 5 a chance but if it's his normal standard I give up
Sadly this is the first Sanderson book I will DNF. The setting was neat but the story and characters were boring and didn't hold my interest at all. Tress and Yumi were great, but Frugal Wizard and Sunlit Man are below par for what I've come to expect from Sanderson.
