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Brandon Sanderson Sampler: The Way of Kings and Mistborn
Brandon Sanderson is one of the most innovative and prolific authors writing today, and Tor Books is proud to share with you two of his most exciting series: The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn.
This electronic sampler contains part one of The Way of Kings, book one in The Stormlight archive, and the first five chapters of Mistborn, book one of the Mistborn series.
We hope that you'll enjoy this look into the rich imagination of #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.
This electronic sampler contains part one of The Way of Kings, book one in The Stormlight archive, and the first five chapters of Mistborn, book one of the Mistborn series.
We hope that you'll enjoy this look into the rich imagination of #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.
50 pages, ebook
Published July 15, 2014
174 people are currently reading
1795 people want to read
About the author
Brandon Sanderson
398 books285k followersI’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.
The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.
During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.
Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.
November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.
Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.
I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.
Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!
Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.
I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.
Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.
The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.
During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.
Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.
November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.
Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.
I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.
Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!
Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.
I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.
Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 16, 2015
After Tolkins I like Brandon Sandersons style. Dark and gritty characters with no morals good snese of right and wrong are not my cup of tea.
January 29, 2018
To be honest, I didn't find Mistborn as interesting as The Way of Kings.
In part, I think that this is because The Way of Kings, with its depth of worldbuilding, reminded me of J-RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles or the Tales series -- games that I'm interested in mostly for their stories and characters. Needless to say, I'm definitely going to be picking up The Way of Kings when I get a chance.
Mistborn, on the other hand, is just a story with a ho-hum world but a unique magic system. And I know that Brandon Sanderson is a fan of making and writing about magic systems, but the magic system alone isn't enough to hook me. Why? Because I find the story's setting a little incongruous with the rest of what's going on. I just wasn't able to suspend my disbelief enough to make the apparently mega-city-centered world work for myself. Though, perhaps the snippets before each chapter are to blame; they seem to tell the story of how the world came to be the way it is, and give off the same sort of epic fantasy vibe that something like R. Scott Bakker's fantasy has.
Or maybe I just shouldn't have read The Way of Kings first. :P
I definitely enjoyed reading the samples of both of these books, but for me The Way of Kings is the clear winner.
In part, I think that this is because The Way of Kings, with its depth of worldbuilding, reminded me of J-RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles or the Tales series -- games that I'm interested in mostly for their stories and characters. Needless to say, I'm definitely going to be picking up The Way of Kings when I get a chance.
Mistborn, on the other hand, is just a story with a ho-hum world but a unique magic system. And I know that Brandon Sanderson is a fan of making and writing about magic systems, but the magic system alone isn't enough to hook me. Why? Because I find the story's setting a little incongruous with the rest of what's going on. I just wasn't able to suspend my disbelief enough to make the apparently mega-city-centered world work for myself. Though, perhaps the snippets before each chapter are to blame; they seem to tell the story of how the world came to be the way it is, and give off the same sort of epic fantasy vibe that something like R. Scott Bakker's fantasy has.
Or maybe I just shouldn't have read The Way of Kings first. :P
I definitely enjoyed reading the samples of both of these books, but for me The Way of Kings is the clear winner.
June 8, 2017
A good start
A friend turned me on to Sanderson, and I'm impressed. His mythos is excellent, ancient shard blades and armor (very cool) to sprites that appear for certain moods to 30 foot tall killer crustaceans. The Way of Kings starts out with an assassination, a perfect way to intro the setting if you've not read Sanderson before. Mystic blades and armor, power ups, gravity defying, death dealing, all in the first few pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I am a somewhat jaded long time fan of Sci fi who can tell crap when he sees it, this is the good stuff.
I don't go into plot too much in my reviews, you should discover it yourself. I will say that this is not a book to read in stages, it's myriad of story lines means you constantly have to refer back to catch up. I got distracted by the graphic novel sale at Amazon (I am but flesh and blood) so took a few days off. Big mistake, prob not a binge book but one that should be read without pause.
The good news is its an easy read and not that long, so go for it......
A friend turned me on to Sanderson, and I'm impressed. His mythos is excellent, ancient shard blades and armor (very cool) to sprites that appear for certain moods to 30 foot tall killer crustaceans. The Way of Kings starts out with an assassination, a perfect way to intro the setting if you've not read Sanderson before. Mystic blades and armor, power ups, gravity defying, death dealing, all in the first few pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I am a somewhat jaded long time fan of Sci fi who can tell crap when he sees it, this is the good stuff.
I don't go into plot too much in my reviews, you should discover it yourself. I will say that this is not a book to read in stages, it's myriad of story lines means you constantly have to refer back to catch up. I got distracted by the graphic novel sale at Amazon (I am but flesh and blood) so took a few days off. Big mistake, prob not a binge book but one that should be read without pause.
The good news is its an easy read and not that long, so go for it......
January 15, 2024
It’s a long book and it’s got a lot of stuff going on. I really loved the characters and how the world worked. Lot of cool power used in cool ways. A deeply depressed man learning to live again. An older man trying to interpret what he should do with his dreams. A young woman studying under a heretic so she can steal from her to save her family. Behind the shadows a plot that could lead to a great coming darkness.
February 28, 2019
I just cant resist anything grom Brandon Sanderson even if it's just samples from books I've already read. I absolutely love them all!
July 11, 2020
Great sample
This is a great sample of two of Brandon Sanderson’s books. I only wish it contained the entirety of both of them.
This is a great sample of two of Brandon Sanderson’s books. I only wish it contained the entirety of both of them.
November 21, 2022
Very slow start, but the series does pick up around page 300 and get very interesting.
Read
May 20, 2015Garrett Dalton
English 8
May 20 2015
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
Szeth, Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar
The book begins with a victory. We look at the life of the Heralds, the leaders of the Knights Radiant. The Heralds are cursed to perish in battle. They created blades more powerful than shardblades and shardplates, which can only be wielded by shardbearers. Then it moves to Szeths perspective a peace-loving believer in non-violence who is sent to kill the Alethi king, the parshendi a similar race of Szeth's says they with take credit in the murder. Kaladin is a warrior who kills a shardbearer in battle and is later captured. Shallan is on the quest of becoming a Soulcaster which allows her to turn anything to anything. She retrieves an apprentice Jasnah, who later lead Shallan to her uncle Dalinar's home. This how the story leads into the second book, Words Of Radiance. The conflict in this book is each characters task against each other. Shallan has to find ways to protect herself without a family, Kaladin has to protect his fellow warriors, and does anything to do so. Szeth hides from the act of violence and encouter many issues on the way. I liked this book alot because of fiction, and this book has alot of it.
English 8
May 20 2015
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
Szeth, Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar
The book begins with a victory. We look at the life of the Heralds, the leaders of the Knights Radiant. The Heralds are cursed to perish in battle. They created blades more powerful than shardblades and shardplates, which can only be wielded by shardbearers. Then it moves to Szeths perspective a peace-loving believer in non-violence who is sent to kill the Alethi king, the parshendi a similar race of Szeth's says they with take credit in the murder. Kaladin is a warrior who kills a shardbearer in battle and is later captured. Shallan is on the quest of becoming a Soulcaster which allows her to turn anything to anything. She retrieves an apprentice Jasnah, who later lead Shallan to her uncle Dalinar's home. This how the story leads into the second book, Words Of Radiance. The conflict in this book is each characters task against each other. Shallan has to find ways to protect herself without a family, Kaladin has to protect his fellow warriors, and does anything to do so. Szeth hides from the act of violence and encouter many issues on the way. I liked this book alot because of fiction, and this book has alot of it.
Read
November 18, 2014I read these two books separately. I loved both of them. I discovered Sanderson after R. Jordan passed. And I have to say that he picked an excellent author to continue the epic story. I digress.
Brandon is an amazing story teller and it shows in BOTH of these novels.
Brandon is an amazing story teller and it shows in BOTH of these novels.
October 23, 2014
very well written, love his concept.
December 31, 2014
these are fantastic books, great characters!
Read
April 6, 2015both fabulous books
May 21, 2015
this was an awesome book!
January 17, 2016
Extensive beginnings to read of both books. Both are fascinating!
June 15, 2016
AMAZING!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews