This is a pretty good recap of all the books.

I'm still trying to decide which books I'm going to reread. I probably need to do Rhythm of War, at least, because I've only read it once. Reading them all would take a while.

Thanks for posting. I definitely don't have the time to reread a ton before this next release.

I've been deciding on what to do about Stormlight. I actually think The Way of Kings is a bit overrated and struggle to spend so much time reading about Kaladin's depression and Dalinar (my favorite character) getting played the entire freaking book. So when I reread the series, I actually start with the Sanderlanch at the end, and then continue on with the series from there. I can't skip Words of Radiance, even though i've ready it 4 times already, because it is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read Oathbringer twice and actually really like it, but only read RoW once.

Went ahead and read the WoK Sanderlanch, last night, so going to start on WoR.

That's awesome. I can't even remember what wave I was in at this point. My address hasn't even been locked in yet. Dang. Still got some time to go yet for mine. Looks great though and can't wait for my copy to arrive!

Awesome. I can't wait to get mine.

I've been reading the preview chapters, and even knowing how long this book is going to be, I can't believe how much he is allowing to be released to the public. First 20 chapters or so are already available, with basically 2.5 months to go. The entire book feels like it's going to be a Sanderlanche.

Checked on mine and remembered I missed out on the numbered copies so confirmed mine would be a later shipment. But seeing those above pics got me all super excited again. I'm not normally a swag person, at all, but I'll display my Dustbringer pendant proudly

Elsecallers, ftw

How did y'all figure that out?

About to start my reread of The Way of Kings. Just finished mistborn era 2 reread. Man I always forget how BIG these books are. Not lengthwise, just how dang interconnected everything is. What i like about rereads is not worrying about spoiling myself by going to the coppermind to remind myself who this random person is, what planet their from, etc

Chipotlemonger said:

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How did y'all figure that out?

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https://www.brandonsanderson.com/pages/official-knights-radiant-order-quiz

I got Edgedancer, then 1% below that was Truthwatcher, and then 1% below that Windrunner

I'm always fairly overwhelmingly an Elsecaller. I think 20% away was skybreaker. Been a while since I took the quiz.

My Windrunner inner self barely edged out my edgedancer. Neat poll

I just finished my reread and am still disappointed in RoW. I was so disappointed that I actually stopped buying Brandon Sanderson books. Wind and truth wil be the first book of his that I have purchase since then. And I have every Brandon Sanderson book leading up to RoW.

You're missing out. Mistborn Era 2 is excellent, and so are the secret projects. RoW was probably my least favorite Cosmere book, but it's not that bad, and is still better than a lot of offerings from his peers.

maverick2076 said:

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You're missing out. Mistborn Era 2 is excellent, and so are the secret projects. RoW was probably my least favorite Cosmere book, but it's not that bad, and is still better than a lot of offerings from his peers.

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I know ROW can be a slog between the Navani science sections and Kaladin and Shallan both dealing with their mental illnesses. That being said, the chapter where Wit tells the story of the Dog and The Dragon is one of my favorite pieces of anything Sanderson has ever written.
I think the climax to ROW is up there as well.

I thought Navanis sections were some of the strongest but I am a science fiction fan at heart so getting into scientific theory of magic really clicked for me

I kind of flip through Kaladins Die Hard sections and absolutely don't give a flying **** about the flashbacks in this book

For me the strongest stuff is in Shadesmar and the trial. The trial is probably a top 3 moment in Stormlight for me. I would put you will not have my pain, the Kaladin/Adolin pit fight, then the trial. Followed closely by Dalinar trading Oathbringer

The simple fact that RoW ends with Venli, who I straight up hated with the fire of a thousand suns and almost as much as Moash, as an actual protagonist who I cared about and even rooted for, is nothing short of stupendous.

From my memory, I felt the Sanderlanch at the end of RoW kind of fell flat. It didn't even come close the to epic moments in the first 3 books.

I'm hoping some of those scenes go by much quicker on my second read. I'm not looking forward to rereading the end with Moash... **** Moash.

I'm interested to find out what the 5th ideal adds to a Radiant.

That is definitely going to be interesting since we learned 4th ideal creates the shardplate. I honestly not sure where you go from there unless they no longer need to consume stormlight. Or they get something similar to Lift being able to create Stormlight on their own

Man those leather bound editions are beautiful. I want to collect a set one day. Where are folks pre-ordering the SA #5 from? I can't decide if I should get a physical copy or just an ebook

Saxsoon said:

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That is definitely going to be interesting since we learned 4th ideal creates the shardplate. I honestly not sure where you go from there unless they no longer need to consume stormlight. Or they get something similar to Lift being able to create Stormlight on their own

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**I reread my post and realized there are a ton of spoilers. I'm assuming no one is reading through these long posts in a Sanderson Stormlight thread if they haven't read through RoW. If so, that's on you. I'm not spoiler tagging all my damn posts.

The Lift thing is specifically a boon/curse from the Night-watcher/Cultivation. (lol... had to add a hyphen because of TexAgs censoring)

Also, I believe the Orders are all a little different. For example, Shallan was able to summon her Blade before swearing the 3rd ideal. If I'm not mistaken, "I killed my father" was her 3rd ideal and "i killed my mother" was her 4th. I can't remember if we got confirmation in RoW that Shallan is of the 4th Ideal or not, but I was always of that belief because of the last battle in Oathbringer where we see her in Plate.

They will have to always consume Stormlight because that is part of the Investiture of Roshar, and every planet in the Cosmere revolves around some form of Investiture. I don't know of a single entity in the entire Cosmere that does not require some form to use their magic/ability. I'm sure they do it the most efficiently at the 5th Ideal because each Ideal has allowed them to do so more so than the last.

I've read some theories about fabrials somehow being tied to the 5th Ideal, seeing as we still don't know how they are made. Apparently, a radiant of the 5th Ideal is incredibly rare. Most Radiants do not push themselves to that point, to achieve it. Because the most common fabrials are for Soulcasting, it would make sense that the most common fabrial is derived from a power of the Elsecallers, because one of their inherent qualities is to strive for excellence in their pursuits. So it makes sense there would be a greater percentage of 5th Ideal Elsecallers as opposed to the other Orders.

We Did get confirmation she was 4th ideal. What I am not certain of is if she was already third ideal as a child when summoning Testament

In fact Brandon said she might have or had the capability of having sworn some or all of the oaths as a child and repressed it. This leading to some inaccurate timing of her abilities compared to other orders

You could always just ask ChatGPT to summarize each chapter for you to go through quickly.

I just finished my reread of WoR, and there were a few interludes or chapters that I pretty much remember and didn't want to spend too much time on, so I would ask ChatGPT to summarize any important plot points in that chapter.

Well that's genius.

Finishing up The Way of Kings tonight, this is the first Sanderson book I've read. Wondering where to go next. Straight into Words of Radiance? Squeeze in Warbreaker first? Or I've also been considering changing gears and tackling Mistborn Era 1, then returning to Stormlight.

Any suggestions for a n00b?

Wow, wish I could reread a lot of the stuff for the first time! Welcome! I went straight into Words of Radiance if I recall correctly. I am one (like many on this thread) that got hooked and ended up just reading all of the Cosmere stuff. I do not recall the order I went in.

There is a handy chart somewhere that's been posted before for it. There are just a few truly "do not read this before that" things in the universe I think. Others will know this better than me. Most everything else can be read in chronological release order and you should be fine that way.

One thing that detracted from RoW for me was that I went deep into all of the Mistborn and Wax and Wayne stories before reading RoW. I had to reacclimate myself to Roshar.

No wrong answers. If you want to keep going you can do so with no issues of understanding.

Warbreaker would be a good read before or after Words of Radiance. There is a connection between the two that Warbreaker helps fill in details.

Saxsoon said:

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This one is controversial but when you jump to Mistborn, I recommend reading Secret History after Era 1 but before Era 2

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I can't disagree with this opinion more. The reveal we get in Era 2 is so much more exciting if you wait to read Secret History after Bands of Mourning.

Lathspell said:

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Saxsoon said:

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This one is controversial but when you jump to Mistborn, I recommend reading Secret History after Era 1 but before Era 2

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I can't disagree with this opinion more. The reveal we get in Era 2 is so much more exciting if you wait to read Secret History after Bands of Mourning.

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See I disagree. I was just reading a Reddit post where the person was wondering what the big deal was at the end of Bands. I know for me personally my enjoyment of reading Secret History first had a larger impact on the story of the cosmere