Going through some old interviews, I was surprised to read that Brandon Sanderson is planning a 36-volume fantasy series.
The good news is that, if you've read all of his adult solo fantasy novels to date, you're already six books into it. And 'series' is probably the wrong word, a more accurate term would be 'setting'.
It's been an open secret for a while that Sanderson's fantasy novels share a common background setting and mythology, the 'Cosmere'. In his first five novels - Elantris, Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy - this took the form of a couple of easter eggs. Most notably, a character called Hoid plays a minor, background role in all five books, apparently observing events with interest.
In The Way of Kings this background suddenly became more important to the plot: Hoid (aka 'Wit' ) now has a brief POV section and plays a larger role in events. We also meet three other people who can travel between the worlds, two of whom we've met before (one in Elantris and one in Mistborn), who are apparently trying to track Hoid down. Hoid sends a letter to the organisation that sent them (an organisation called the 'Seventeenth Shard' ) expressing irritation with this move, a letter that appears throughout the second part of the novel. Ultimately, it is clear that the ten-volume Stormlight Archive series will expand on the Cosmere and the linked setting of Sanderson's fiction.
At the moment these works exist in the Cosmere setting:
Elantris (2005)
Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)
Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (2007)
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (2008 )
Warbreaker (2009)
The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings (2010)
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law (2011)
Note that The Alloy of Law, which was written as an unplanned side-project, is part of the Cosmere universe (Hoid has a cameo in the book as a beggar at a wedding and also apparently writes the appendix, at one stage comparing the Mistborn world's magic with that of Sel, the Elantris planet) but is not part of the planned 36 volumes in the series (nor are its planned sequels).
Sanderson plans to write the following books in the setting (and in some cases has already written very early drafts):
The Stormlight Archive books 2-10
Several further Mistborn side-novels featuring Wax and Wayne
The Mistborn II trilogy
The Mistborn III trilogy
Warbreaker II: Nightblood
Elantris II
The Dragonsteel series (seven volumes, first one is The Liar of Partinel)
White Sand and at least one sequel
The Silence Divine
Aether of Night
Sanderson plans to write Stormlight #2 (current working title: The Book of Endless Pages) this year for release in mid-to-late 2013, and then the third through fifth books of the series. He will take breaks to release additional Mistborn side-novels featuring Wax and Wayne. He also hopes to release Elantris II in 2015, on the tenth anniversary of the publication of Elantris (his first novel). Then he will release the Mistborn II trilogy (the one set in a world with modern technology). Stormlight #6-10 will follow, possibly with Warbreaker II and other books interspersed between them (presumably there will be no more Wax and Wayne books once Mistborn II has been released), then Mistborn III (the one set in space with magic-fuelled FTL travel). Only after that will we see Dragonsteel. Which assuming Brandon keeps up a book a year, means we'll hit that series somewhere around 2027!
That accounts for 28 further books in the setting. Combined with the six already published, that's 34 books with two left unaccounted so far (recalling that Alloy of Law and its forthcoming sequels are not part of the count, being new inventions). There may be a further Elantris sequel, and Brandon has also suggested that there may be a book called Hoid which tells the story of the titular character in much clearer detail (though apparently the Dragonsteel sequence will reveal a lot more about the underlying mythology and unifying points of the various books and sub-settings).
So far the Cosmere has been something that close readers have picked up on, but casual readers are probably totally ignorant of it. There are shades here of Stephen King's unified supernatural mythology: readers can read The Stand and Eyes of the Dragon with no real clue who Randall Flagg is, but then in The Dark Tower series more information is revealed about him and a grander masterplan can be discerned. This doesn't prevent the books being enjoyed individually but does reward readers who've been looking at things carefully.
Hopefully, by 2035 or thereabouts (when no doubt ebooks will be inscribed directly into our brains with lasers or something), we can look back and see how successful Sanderson was in pulling off the project. But it's certainly an ambitious - even grandiose - idea and it will be fascinating to see it develop in the years to come.
The good news is that, if you've read all of his adult solo fantasy novels to date, you're already six books into it. And 'series' is probably the wrong word, a more accurate term would be 'setting'.
It's been an open secret for a while that Sanderson's fantasy novels share a common background setting and mythology, the 'Cosmere'. In his first five novels - Elantris, Warbreaker and the Mistborn trilogy - this took the form of a couple of easter eggs. Most notably, a character called Hoid plays a minor, background role in all five books, apparently observing events with interest.
In The Way of Kings this background suddenly became more important to the plot: Hoid (aka 'Wit' ) now has a brief POV section and plays a larger role in events. We also meet three other people who can travel between the worlds, two of whom we've met before (one in Elantris and one in Mistborn), who are apparently trying to track Hoid down. Hoid sends a letter to the organisation that sent them (an organisation called the 'Seventeenth Shard' ) expressing irritation with this move, a letter that appears throughout the second part of the novel. Ultimately, it is clear that the ten-volume Stormlight Archive series will expand on the Cosmere and the linked setting of Sanderson's fiction.
At the moment these works exist in the Cosmere setting:
Elantris (2005)
Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)
Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (2007)
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (2008 )
Warbreaker (2009)
The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings (2010)
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law (2011)
Note that The Alloy of Law, which was written as an unplanned side-project, is part of the Cosmere universe (Hoid has a cameo in the book as a beggar at a wedding and also apparently writes the appendix, at one stage comparing the Mistborn world's magic with that of Sel, the Elantris planet) but is not part of the planned 36 volumes in the series (nor are its planned sequels).
Sanderson plans to write the following books in the setting (and in some cases has already written very early drafts):
The Stormlight Archive books 2-10
Several further Mistborn side-novels featuring Wax and Wayne
The Mistborn II trilogy
The Mistborn III trilogy
Warbreaker II: Nightblood
Elantris II
The Dragonsteel series (seven volumes, first one is The Liar of Partinel)
White Sand and at least one sequel
The Silence Divine
Aether of Night
Sanderson plans to write Stormlight #2 (current working title: The Book of Endless Pages) this year for release in mid-to-late 2013, and then the third through fifth books of the series. He will take breaks to release additional Mistborn side-novels featuring Wax and Wayne. He also hopes to release Elantris II in 2015, on the tenth anniversary of the publication of Elantris (his first novel). Then he will release the Mistborn II trilogy (the one set in a world with modern technology). Stormlight #6-10 will follow, possibly with Warbreaker II and other books interspersed between them (presumably there will be no more Wax and Wayne books once Mistborn II has been released), then Mistborn III (the one set in space with magic-fuelled FTL travel). Only after that will we see Dragonsteel. Which assuming Brandon keeps up a book a year, means we'll hit that series somewhere around 2027!
That accounts for 28 further books in the setting. Combined with the six already published, that's 34 books with two left unaccounted so far (recalling that Alloy of Law and its forthcoming sequels are not part of the count, being new inventions). There may be a further Elantris sequel, and Brandon has also suggested that there may be a book called Hoid which tells the story of the titular character in much clearer detail (though apparently the Dragonsteel sequence will reveal a lot more about the underlying mythology and unifying points of the various books and sub-settings).
So far the Cosmere has been something that close readers have picked up on, but casual readers are probably totally ignorant of it. There are shades here of Stephen King's unified supernatural mythology: readers can read The Stand and Eyes of the Dragon with no real clue who Randall Flagg is, but then in The Dark Tower series more information is revealed about him and a grander masterplan can be discerned. This doesn't prevent the books being enjoyed individually but does reward readers who've been looking at things carefully.
Hopefully, by 2035 or thereabouts (when no doubt ebooks will be inscribed directly into our brains with lasers or something), we can look back and see how successful Sanderson was in pulling off the project. But it's certainly an ambitious - even grandiose - idea and it will be fascinating to see it develop in the years to come.
Seems like it would get stale fter a while but I guess the only thing I have to compare it too that I've read is Erikson whose world definitely needed to end at 10. Probably helps too that it isn't just one series with one set of characters.
But wine was the great assassin of both tradition and propriety...
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson plans 36 books in his 'Cosmere' setting
19/02/2012 11:45:24 AM
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Was Sanderson created by the Writng Gods to counter balance GRRM?
19/02/2012 05:13:07 PM
- 1449 Views
I just wish he'd be done with the RJ shit and go back to writing his own books.
19/02/2012 05:40:59 PM
- 1388 Views
well, the publication date for that book is set somewhere a year from now..
19/02/2012 07:48:58 PM
- 1236 Views
Agreed on both points.....
19/02/2012 08:00:41 PM
- 1338 Views
Well, but he is a "fluff" writer from a literary standpoint
20/02/2012 02:16:11 AM
- 1400 Views
Not a fluff writer in my mind.....
20/02/2012 03:12:46 AM
- 1344 Views
You don't seem to want to hear what I'm saying
20/02/2012 03:51:13 AM
- 1302 Views
And I am saying that storytelling is more important.....
20/02/2012 04:52:39 AM
- 1426 Views
Storytelling is crucial...
20/02/2012 05:59:57 AM
- 1432 Views
A few comments/replies about your post.....
20/02/2012 02:57:16 PM
- 1357 Views
You are correct in one respect: all of this is opinion.
20/02/2012 07:01:11 PM
- 1343 Views
You sound like one of those nasty "literary elites"!
20/02/2012 08:07:13 PM
- 1298 Views
Literature is subjective
21/02/2012 12:26:35 AM
- 1375 Views
I agree with your point about reading Shakespeare from textbooks.
21/02/2012 03:18:37 AM
- 1404 Views
Never heard of Thomas Mann and the real Mona Lisa.....
21/02/2012 03:34:12 AM
- 1252 Views
Conversely, why should I trust the likes of you?
21/02/2012 06:19:18 AM
- 1502 Views
Oh, come now...
21/02/2012 10:35:18 AM
- 1426 Views
When it comes to evaluating schema, I'm not going to trust someone who only had English 101
21/02/2012 11:26:03 AM
- 1231 Views
Larry = snob
21/02/2012 05:34:22 PM
- 1287 Views
Amusing
21/02/2012 07:49:20 PM
- 1279 Views
Wow, you lack basic reading comprehension skills.....
21/02/2012 08:29:24 PM
- 1262 Views
No, I read that and didn't disagree that there couldn't be works that had both (read other comments)
21/02/2012 09:23:31 PM
- 1371 Views
Uh...Faust is a play. Doctor Faustus is a novel. The former is Goethe, the latter is Mann. *NM*
22/02/2012 12:00:22 AM
- 641 Views
I suppose fame is relative, but the most famous Doctor Faustus, to me personally, is indeed a play.
22/02/2012 07:29:59 PM
- 1187 Views
Wait, let's look at the gross disconnect between two statements.
21/02/2012 01:59:34 PM
- 1396 Views
So true about the Mona Lisa.
21/02/2012 07:57:41 PM
- 1406 Views
Yes, I was at the Louvre and you are right.....
21/02/2012 08:32:40 PM
- 1292 Views
This is where your own rethoric defeats you...
23/02/2012 06:38:54 AM
- 1269 Views
Slow down - it may not be the current elites that are hyping it.....
23/02/2012 05:12:47 PM
- 1126 Views
Re: Slow down - it may not be the current elites that are hyping it.....
13/03/2012 03:10:12 AM
- 1359 Views
Seems like an awful lot.
19/02/2012 08:11:22 PM
- 1503 Views
Sanderson is a machine. Also, the books (so far) have been wildly different
20/02/2012 12:50:41 AM
- 1414 Views
Re: Sanderson is a machine. Also, the books (so far) have been wildly different
20/02/2012 03:00:17 AM
- 1484 Views
Same here- I didn't know about the Cosmere at all until I started poking around online
21/02/2012 03:25:36 AM
- 1316 Views
Likewise. After reading Mistborn and Warbreaker I started looking into him more
21/02/2012 06:20:09 PM
- 1345 Views
It's likely to stay that way...
20/02/2012 06:22:50 AM
- 1405 Views
Confirmation on the Mistborn trilogies. I am so happy. *NM*
20/02/2012 05:38:23 AM
- 586 Views
I am thrilled to see that there will be more stories about Wax and Wayne.....
20/02/2012 03:46:37 PM
- 1172 Views
The one issue I had with that book...
21/02/2012 06:21:29 PM
- 1287 Views