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Aether of Night

NOT A BOOK

4.10 · Rating details · 291 ratings · 42 reviews

ebook, 762 pages

Published by Dragonsteel

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· 291 ratings · 42 reviews

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Sep 07, 2017 Dana Ilie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

I do not understand why Brandon says that this "is only an okay book", i love it every minute.
Maybe I'm being subjective when it comes to Sanderson, but I liked it, and I liked it a lot. ...more

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Apr 17, 2022 Anna *Bran. San. Stan* rated it it was amazing

I absolutely loved this! Even if this is non-canon Cosmere and “just“ a draft and unpublished, I enjoyed every single page. Brandon, this is more than just an “okay“ book! Raeth has got to be among my favorite characters - reminding me a bit of Adolin (minus the girlfriend parade). If you’re interested in reading this, and you should be if you love Sanderson, you can get a free copy at the 17th Shard, provided you sign up.

Raeth, the first son of the Emperor of Aedinor, should have been Heir but ...more

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Dec 04, 2019 Twila added it

Shelves: slower, favourite-authors, unsatisfying-conclusion, underdeveloped, just-alright, no-stars

After thinking on it, I’ve decided not to rate this book.

First of all, Aether of Night is available for free right here on 17th Shard.

I only initially heard of it a few weeks ago and was so thrilled to discover an early work of Sanderson’s. Even an unrevised and unpublished one. Then I see that the book is prefaced with a very ominous introduction by Brandon where he basically begs us not to judge him as an author with, in his words, this “only okay book” and to “read at your own risk.”

Oh boy, ...more

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Mar 31, 2018 OhWell rated it really liked it

Shelves: brandon-sanderson, fantasy-world, magic, angels-demons-gods

I will take a draft, unpolished Brandon Sanderson novel over a lot of fully released stories out there. I was hooked from the first chapter, and cheering for the MCs, Raeth in particular. How many other authors can manage to do that?...

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Dec 10, 2021 Le Chat Noir rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: Only people who think Sanderson can do no wrong

I will start by saying I know this is an unedited manuscript but, if Sanderson is confident enough to share it with the public, then it deserves a fair review. The book begins with Sanderson stating that it’s two books that don’t quite merge into one. That’s true, but, I’d take it a bit further and say it’s two books that don’t merge together, where one book is bad and the other just okay. While White Sand felt unpolished, needing just a few tweaks to be complete, this book feels like it’s a tru I will start by saying I know this is an unedited manuscript but, if Sanderson is confident enough to share it with the public, then it deserves a fair review. The book begins with Sanderson stating that it’s two books that don’t quite merge into one. That’s true, but, I’d take it a bit further and say it’s two books that don’t merge together, where one book is bad and the other just okay. While White Sand felt unpolished, needing just a few tweaks to be complete, this book feels like it’s a true rough draft.

The basic foundation that the story is built on is the story of two warring brothers, Agaris and Makkal or Slaughter and Despair. Promised Earth by their father for whoever can win over the people, the brothers used violence and sabotage to win. When one brother made the Gol, a long lived Yeti-like creature with sharp claws and powerful limbs, the other brother made the Gol peace-loving creatures with a heart for art but no talent to recreate it. One brother created a virus that caused sterility, intending to infect his brothers people thus killing them out, the other brother changed the virus making the infected noticeably different from the regular people so that his people would know to avoid them. From this the Aether were born.

The better story begins during the set up of the second (less interesting) story. An execution turns into a massacre. This sparks a war between the people and the difficult to kill soldiers nicknamed “The Forgotten.” A war that costs many lives, exposes the weakness of Amberite fighting strategies, reveals secrets long hidden by the religious sector of the land and unmasks a plot spearheaded by Agaris. While all this is happening, there is a soft attempt to usurp the throne by High Senator Laene from the highly unpopular Prince Hern, the conclusion to why the Shentis ambassador Shateen was found buying children and the mystery of the Forgotten hordes to solve.

Prince Hern working to undo the damage of the past while trying to figure out a way to help fight against the hordes was an interesting journey to follow. The conclusion of who is behind the attacks, especially how they were killing people near the end, was a tense and unexpected twist. The world building, fighting and use of the Aethers during this segment added to the vibe of the story. Raeth is right, Bestarian is useful to have during a time of war.

The second story, which should have been lightly sprinkled throughout the story instead of taking up so much space, is basically a dating show. One where you know who will win from the get go because all but one of the contestants has any semblance of a personality, with a slight subplot involving harvesting an amberite bud and protecting land. Whenever the story switched to the brides I skimmed, bored out of my mind for the most part.

Most of the brides are props, of the four that are somewhat recurring, Alean is the typical mean girl, selfish, scheming and uses her body to get ahead. Nahan of the Mahallen is the sultry woman who comes from an aggressive people. She pulled a move involving her golden hoops that made very little sense considering the punishment for lying. Tae of the Ferrous line is basically a robot, her people are the ones who become Corpates and so her personality is expected. D’Naa reminds me a lot of Vin, I’ve only read The Final Empire, but based on that they seem similar.

The magic system was interesting but I feel like Sanderson has come up with more interesting ideas on that front. Essentially, it’s like having magic rings but taken a little bit further, the amberite is kind of like the Green Lantern rings with varying strengths and capable of forming full-body armour for those strong enough to do so. Verdant is vines shooting from arms and winding around the target. Bestarin use animal body parts and skin to heal wounds and replace limbs and the Ferrous entomb a human soul inside a Corpate who have Nurturers who take care of the soul inside the machine. Amberite is repelled by Verdant, Bestarin by Ferrous. There are the Vo-Dari who can teleport others but not themselves. The Dari are priests who recite Ynaa poems asking the ancestors for guidance, blessings etc they are not exactly magical but form a major part of the greater culture. The end of the story ends with the brothers breaking out of their prisons, if there were a book two, I wonder how it would work with the magic bonding.

As someone who hasn’t read very far ahead with Sanderson, I am curious to see the progression made from unpublished/unpolished to the popular series. For that, the story is a perfect place to start, but as a story to read it left much to be desired for me.

2/5 – Good for the history but not really worth the 700+ pages for anything else. ...more

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Nov 21, 2017 Alma rated it it was amazing

Excellent book that every Sanderson fan should read. If you're not a Sanderson fan, disregard the intro and read it even if it's your first Sanderson book. It's very good.

Most of the comments on this book are extremely misleading and I will explain why.

Major spoilers. I'm not kidding.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Apr 03, 2022 Ilsa rated it really liked it

Aether of Night is an unpublished novel that you can get off the 17th Shard website. The story is not canon and elements of it have been used in other books. The magic system is canon and, with some changes, will be a major system in the Cosmere.

If you are new to Brandon Sanderson’s books, do not start with this book. While it is by no means a terrible book, it is, after all, unpublished, and you will get an inaccurate picture of the author’s other, published novels.

I’ve read just about everythi ...more

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Aug 09, 2017 Laura rated it liked it

I hate to say it, because I usually love Sanderson's writing, but this one wasn't for me. It was like The bachelor, the Cosmere edition, and just seemed trite and full of stereotypes. The group of women (including the stereotypical slutty one, uptight one, overly religious one, catty one and the cool chick) all competing with each other, because women can't be in competition and still be civil, or two dimensional, evidently. The ending sat wrong with me too (specifically the part involving alcoh ...more

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Aug 29, 2018 Matthew Manchester rated it liked it

I actually liked this book more than the unpublished novel-form of White Sand. Why the lower rating then? The climax and ending didn't stick. Sanderson writes a small foreward to this manuscript stating that the novel is really two different stories that didn't mesh well at all. For the longest time I didn't understand while reading this. However, come the last 15% of the book, it's quite clear.

That said, the magic system was really quite unique and wonderful. Sanderson has said the only thing ...more

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Jul 31, 2017 Benny Hinrichs rated it really liked it

You know, it's funny. Even though I've given this book four stars, it's better than a lot of published books that I've read.

This was an interesting book. I liked the concept of aethers. Definitely a lot of typical Sanderson elements (nobility, balls, in-depth magic, personified gods, a young man struggling to lead, a young woman doing subterfuge). It was almost like reading Mistborn, Elantris, White Sand, and Warbreaker again without knowing what was going to happen.

One of the things I like abou ...more

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May 09, 2018 Marita_z rated it really liked it

This is an early work, and its shows, but I enjoyed it. Really loved the whole idea of the Aethers. We can see a lot of ideas that he used in later books.
The ending was a bit corny...

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Dec 16, 2020 Bruna Oliveira rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020

3.5
Of course it's one of his best works, but it's good. ...more

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Sep 27, 2017 Gregory Angeloff rated it liked it

Quick Review: Great if you are a Sanderson fan and want to read his pre-publication work and the seeds it plants for future projects; however, the book struggles to be above the level of fanfiction.

-

A heavily flawed "book." This isn't a knock on Brandon Sanderson as he claims it is unfit for publishing and has given it away for free.

It was a fun adventure reading about a world of his and seeing the seeds it set for future stories (Amberite being shardblades/plate, and the Twins being early Ruin Quick Review: Great if you are a Sanderson fan and want to read his pre-publication work and the seeds it plants for future projects; however, the book struggles to be above the level of fanfiction.

-

A heavily flawed "book." This isn't a knock on Brandon Sanderson as he claims it is unfit for publishing and has given it away for free.

It was a fun adventure reading about a world of his and seeing the seeds it set for future stories (Amberite being shardblades/plate, and the Twins being early Ruin/Preservation). I enjoyed seeing his early work just to see how much he progressed. He has clear eras in his writing: Aether -> White Sands -> Elantris -> Mistborn 1 -> WoK -> Mistborn 2 -> WoR/Oathbringer. While Aether of Night was enjoyable, it is straight trash compared to his modern works, barely above fanfiction. I don't regret reading it in the least, but it is only 3 stars tops.

Raeth was an enjoyable character, but D'Naa was a failed attempt at Sanderson to write an enjoyable female character. He HEAVILY flounders at this until Vin, and even she had issues in the writing department. On the era chart above, he finally hits the mark in the WoK-> Mistborn 2 area.

*spoiler*

For a story about mistaken identity, I was disappointed that we never saw Hern again. I was expecting him to be doing bad shit behind the scenes as the big bad. Also, the story ends on a softworld-cliffhanger which will never be resolved due to this novel never being published.

The story had a lot of fun ideas, but you can tell it never hit the second draft for consistency, which is essentially admitted by Sanderson. None of my negativity in this review is on the author, I love his work, just giving an honest review of a nearly 20-year-old unpublished work. He was going for a Choas vs Order opposite thing, but Chaos and Order never really got played up well. It was more Dark vs Light (night vs illumination). It was clear he was throwing together ideas and was going to go back and fix it later, but he ultimately decided it wasn't a story worth correcting. Instead, he canabalized the good parts for later stories which were successes!

I would love to see this world and the characters again, particularly with the talent Sanderson has garnered over the last 20 years! ...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Xochiquetzalli rated it liked it

Every time I review a book by Sanderson, I use a Sanderson-scale. If I didn’t, everything would always be 5 stars and all nuance is lost. That’s why this “non-book” gets 3 stars… The truth is it’s better than oh-so-many books I’ve read, but by his standards, by his own words, this is just an okay book (his words).

I went in knowing this, so I wasn’t expecting much, but I was still pleasantly surprised. Yes, I can see what he means with it actually being two books meshed together, there is a sense ...more

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Sep 19, 2020 Mark McGrath rated it really liked it

This book was far better than I expected it to be. And to be honest better than I think it had a right to be. The first page of it is message from Brandon asking you check you expectations and letting you know that the book has never seen an editor. That said it’s in surprisingly good shape. There’s spelling and grammatical mistakes but there relatively minor and don’t really detract from the story.

I’m simply loved it. Loved the characters and the story. The best bit was probably the magic. As ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Adam rated it liked it

Raw, but the seeds are there for some very interesting future storytelling.

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May 31, 2018 Simonne Robinson rated it it was amazing

I wish he'd publish this!! 2nd reading of this and still love it ♡ ...more

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Jan 03, 2018 Vitor Rodrigues rated it really liked it

I understand why Sanderson decided not to publish this book, there were a few things which I did not consider as good as in his later books. I also understand how difficult it would be to try and fix those things, sometimes it is better to just get the base idea and start from scratch.

I liked the magic system, but I think it could be a bit more balanced.

Still, this book was an awesome surprise, as it usually happens with his books, I couldn't stop reading it until it was over.

I am looking forwar ...more

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Feb 14, 2021 Ellen rated it really liked it

this book was so much fun??? I have no idea why sanderson at the beginning says that he doesn't think the double identity and war plots of this book don't mesh bc oh my god they do.
like it's obvious that this is an early work of his but I love the story and the magic and the characters and omg I am SO ready for years from now when he finally gets around to rewriting aether!!! this world is so interesting and I'm so interested to figure out where in the cosmere timeline the canon aether books wi ...more

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Aug 07, 2017 Jessie rated it it was amazing

This was fantastic! Even for an unfinished work, I really enjoyed this. There were a lot of elements that you can find reworked and polished in his other books. And it's been so long since I've gotten to read a Sanderson book that's not a reread, so it was really fun to read one of his books for the first time again.

I would definitely recommend this but only if you've already read all of Cosmere. ...more

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Oct 15, 2018 Drew McCaffrey rated it really liked it

A solid book overall, though parts felt disjointed. Knowing what Brandon has said of this, how he tried to meld two separate plots into one, it makes sense. He did a good job—mostly—but a few key points didn't ring true and the resolution felt both rushed and fabricated.

The characters were a delight throughout, however. Raeth, D'Naa, and Darro are all among my favorite Cosmere characters now, and I'll be keeping an eye out in future books for a tall, muscular man with one arm. ...more

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Jan 30, 2019 Tessa rated it liked it

I can see the potential here to be on the same level as the rest of Sanderson's work. Amazing for an unpublished early work, with some flaws that I'm sure he could easily fix if he were ever to revisit it. Nice to read in addition to the rest of the Cosmere books. ...more

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Oct 29, 2020 Gautham Battineni rated it really liked it

While unpublished, it is pretty darn good. With a little proof reading and slight editing, it can turn out to be a great series, though one that is not as grand as the StormLight Archives..

Definitely worth a read.

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Aug 01, 2017 Nina Høegh-Larsen rated it really liked it

I actually thought this book was way better than "everyone" says. Even though I can see a lot of ideas being reused in other works, I seriously hope it will someday be rewritten. ...more

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Aug 16, 2017 Ruthie rated it liked it

I really liked the main characters (Darro, D'Naa, Raeth). The ending was a bit shaky, but overall a good book. ...more

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Aug 18, 2017 Matt rated it really liked it

Definitely has the bones to be somethin' good. I can see why Sanderson doesn't consider it finished though. ...more

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Nov 06, 2017 Soursock rated it it was amazing

Really wish this became a full, proper series

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Feb 17, 2018 Matt Reno rated it liked it

Not his best work, as he clearly states in his intro. Still a fun read. You can see elements that he eventually incorporated into different stories he has published

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Nov 27, 2020 Kishore Kadapala rated it it was amazing

Shelves: brandon-sanderson

It is very enjoyable!!

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Apr 06, 2021 Awinky added it

god i fucking love this book

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