Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection [April 2018]

[Angela, I'm Silverfox lost]

Buddy read starts 1st April.

[Virginie]

Brandon Sanderson!
Brandon Sanderson!
Brandon Sanderson!

Woohoo!

:)

[C.P.]

Thanks, Angela!

I've read most of these on their own, but it will be good to get back to it. It's been a while.

Have you read Stormlight Archives yet, Virginie?

[Virginie]

Yes. I've read every Cosmere-related novels. I still have a few novellas / short-stories to read (hence Arcanum Unbounded). I've only read the first White Sand (I'm not fond of the graphic novel) but I'm planning on reading the prose version at some point.

What about you, CP?

[C.P.]

Yes, I've read them all at least once. Just a couple of the shorts left.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This is quick... I need to read Hope of Elantris... probably re-read some others... be great to watch people read Secret History...

[C.P.]

I'm excited to read Secret History again. I have the ebook from when it first came out.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I started... I'm not planning to read this all in one go, since most are re-reads, but I'm most of the way through Emperor's Soul

(view spoiler)[Reading this again after reading Elantris reminds me how different Elantris is from other worlds in the Cosmere... this part of the planet has entirely different magic systems than what is seen in the "main" story...

I think the magic has to be heavily tied to religion on Sel, and since there are so many religions, there are so many variations of magic... not just the ones we saw in the first book... there are still similarities...

It leaves the world wide open for sequels, for sure... if I try really hard, I can find similarities to Lift here, but without the annoying mannerisms... (it's a real stretch tho... main similarity is that they are both thieves) (hide spoiler)]

[C.P.]

I'm about 60% finished with Elantris, so I will probably finish that before starting this. I might not though. We'll see how I feel about it later.

[Virginie]

I'll start The Emperor's Soul tonight, I think. I remember loving it the first time :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm through to Secret History already... I think I'll wait for someone to catch up before I start this one...

This means I read Hope of Elantris (nice little addition... been wanting to read since I heard the backstory to it at the end of Elantris... written for his first fan, basically)... Eleventh Metal (every time I read this it gets me in the mood to start Mistborn again)... and Allomancer Jak (a silly little story)

[Virginie]

Oh wow, you're fast! I knew it already but... Eh!
I just read the presentation of the Sel system so far. So... The theories I took very long in elaborating are explained there. (I wrote some on the Elantris thread for you Iain. Don't know if you read those). Very simply, very clearly. I feel cheated lol. At least I was right ><

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... I also listen faster on re-reads... Hope of Elantris was the only new read for me here... and half the stuff I listed is only 30 minutes long... there are really 4-5 long pieces in here and the rest are short...

I'd forgotten the info about the Sel system when I was reading Elantris... always good to be proven right in your theories...

[Diana Stormblessed]

I wish my husband was active on goodreads. He's just started Sanderson last year and more or less he's been reading the same books as this group in the same order. He's now on his last one, Arcanum Unbounded. Think he'd get so much out of the discussion.

Anyway, stalking you guys.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

He still has 1 more "book" after Arcanum Unbound... the Coppermind wiki... that this is so full of missed connections and Brandon Sanderson Q&A info... he could spend days on there...

[Diana Stormblessed]

Iain wrote: "He still has 1 more "book" after Arcanum Unbound... the Coppermind wiki... that this is so full of missed connections and Brandon Sanderson Q&A info... he could spend days on there..."

Lol, that's not a book and we've both already spent WAY too much time on that website.

[C.P.]

I will probably start this in the next couple of days. Most of them will be reread for me as well.

[Diana Stormblessed]

He's not done with Sanderson, though. Just The Cosmere. Next I'm going to get him to read the Reckoners and/or Rithmatist.

[C.P.]

I really like both of those. Hope he enjoys them! I also had a lot of fun with the Alcatraz books. I think you said you didn't enjoy them?

[Diana Stormblessed]

C.P. wrote: "I really like both of those. Hope he enjoys them! I also had a lot of fun with the Alcatraz books. I think you said you didn't enjoy them?"

Yeah, they were the only things Sanderson that I just couldn't get into. I read the first 2 and totally intend to finish them... one day. I know my husband won't like them though. I kind of feel like Sanderson tries too hard to be silly in them. Yes, yes, intended for younger audiences. I'm just not the right kind of reader. I also recently discovered there are 2 more Sanderson books I haven't read: Infinity Blade and Liar of Partinel, which I'm not even sure where to get. Email his team?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

What about Snapshot?... i always see the banner on his site...

Snapshot

[C.P.]

I haven't heard of the Partinel one.

Snapshot is pretty good.

[Diana Stormblessed]

Iain wrote: "What about Snapshot?... i always see the banner on his site...

Snapshot"

Have it :-) Team Sanderson brought it to JordanCon last year right before it was released. Of course I HAD to buy it immediately.

C.P. wrote: "I haven't heard of the Partinel one.

Snapshot is pretty good."

The Liar of Partinel is another one of those that was unpublished. I don't think he ever even finished it. But it gives good info, supposedly, about Hoid. I think you can get it by emailing the team?

[Diana Stormblessed]

My version of Snapshot came as a double with Dreamer. I actually haven't read the Dreamer side yet. It's just been sitting there, unread, on my bookshelf. Sad. Need to fix that. It's pretty short.

[C.P.]

I'll have to look into that one. It's probably one I saw in passing and then forgot about.

[C.P.]

I plan to finish Elantris today and then get started with this. It's taken me longer than expected.

[Virginie]

I'm only reading a chapter of The Emperor's Soul a day :'(
I'm so busy with work right now, I'm exhausted when I go home.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "What about Snapshot?... i always see the banner on his site...

Snapshot"

Have it :-) Team Sanderson brought it to JordanCon last year right before it was released. Of..."

Liar of Partinel is one that he says he recommends NOT reading, from what I remember, since I think he's changed his mind about a lot of details...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm still waiting for y'all to catch up... plenty of other things on my plate in the meantime, tho... :)

[C.P.]

Hopefully soon, Iain!

[Diana Stormblessed]

Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "What about Snapshot?... i always see the banner on his site...

Snapshot"

Have it :-) Team Sanderson brought it to JordanCon last year right..."

Yeah but he wrote it... so I must read it. That's just how it is....

[C.P.]

I finally started and read through the first chapter of The Emperor's Soul. Pretty sure I've forgotten nearly the whole thing.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I forgot to load Halfling's Gem onto my phone, so I continued with this at work last night, after finishing Queen Bitch...

Read through Secret History, White Sand, and part of Shadow of Silence in the Forests of Hell..

I think I noticed more Cosmere-y stuff this time around with Secret History... (view spoiler)[paid more attention to the details about Shadesmar... I think I forgot about that the first time around, since Kelsier interacts with it so differently than the characters on Roshar/Hoid (since he's a cognitive shadow and doesn't fall through the marble landscape)...

And did Preservation give Hoid's real name?....... Coppermind says no, it's one of his earliest Aliases... and is referenced in a couple epigraphs in Oathbringer... I have so much more to learn from the Oathbringer epigraphs, still... I never dug into the wiki for that...

I think the ending with Preservation/Harmony is the strongest indicator at the moment to my theories on Shard Reconstitution... considering how broken Preservation was at the end, there... I can't tell if his claims to death before that were literal or just inevitable...

I also came over to people's ways of thinking that Hoid didn't seem very likeable in this story... I was just happy to see a new side of him the first time... but he did seem a little overhappy to be capable of violence...

Another thing this got me excited for again was Dragonsteel, the eventual prequel that explains the Shattering of Adonalsium, and the origins of Hoid... cause I think we're going to see the 16 original Shardbearers here... Rayse, Ati, Bavadin, etc etc etc... so cool... altho from what Sanderson has said, he doesn't know what these avatars are like yet, exactly... he only has more elemental attributes attached to them...

I could clearly talk about this forever... (hide spoiler)]

The White Sands excerpt just reminds me how much I wish these were being written as novels...

[C.P.]

Ok, I read through The Emperor's Soul today. And goodness I had pretty much forgotten all of it from the first time. I don't know what is up with me forgetting things from this world, because Elantris was the same way.

I really enjoyed it. (view spoiler)[The idea of the Soulstamps was interesting, to be able to change a things history was a fascinating concept. And I liked the crossover ideas to the Stormlight magic. It had some similarities to Soulcasting without being the same thing. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

C.P. wrote: "Ok, I read through The Emperor's Soul today. And goodness I had pretty much forgotten all of it from the first time. I don't know what is up with me forgetting things from this world, because Elant..."

I'd forgotten a lot of details as well... some stories more than others...

I finished today with Sixth of Dusk and Edgedancer... only thing I remembered about Sixth of Dusk is that the Investiture involved psychic birds... and that I'd heard there is an outline for a sequel (view spoiler)[(WITH DUSK EXPLORING SHADESMAR) (hide spoiler)]

Edgedancer I read mostly for completion... a weird time to do it right after Way of Kings... it was alright... I actually found Wyndel's whining more annoying that Lift this time round...

[Virginie]

Gahr, I thought I posted here but didn't apparently.
Read up to Silence. I'm quite excited to start this one as it's the first work I'll read for the first time in the collection.

I remembered pretty well The Emperor's Soul but still enjoyed it immensely. (view spoiler)[ So I confirmed that the stamps have a representation of Maipon on them, just like the Aons have a basic representation of Elantris. I'm quite sure this is Dominion's influence. (hide spoiler)]

I'd read Secret History before diving into Stormlight Archives to first time around. All the cosmery explanations make a lot more sense now :D

[Virginie]

I'm not sure I'll read Edgedancer... I read it recently and... Well. Too much Lift.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Virginie wrote: "Gahr, I thought I posted here but didn't apparently.
Read up to Silence. I'm quite excited to start this one as it's the first work I'll read for the first time in the collection.

I remembered pre..."

That MaiPon thing seems obvious in hindsight... DOH...

You just got me onto the wiki again... and I found something interesting... pay attention to the God Beyond... the Unknown God... etc... it's a missed connection that some characters across the Cosmere seem to worship:
(view spoiler)[Shai (hide spoiler)] did in Emperor's Soul...
(view spoiler)[Wayne (hide spoiler)] mentions him in Mistborn Era 2...
(view spoiler)[Hoid (hide spoiler)] mentions him in a story to (view spoiler)[Shallan (hide spoiler)] in Words of Radiance...
(view spoiler)[Dalinar (hide spoiler)] might have felt him in Oathbringer...
(view spoiler)[Silence and William Ann (hide spoiler)] swear by him in Shadows of Silence... and
(view spoiler)[Hoid again (hide spoiler)] mentions him in the extra scene at the end of the 10th Anniversary edition of Elantris...

[Virginie]

Oh! OOOOH!

I noticed (view spoiler)[ Shai (hide spoiler)] mentioning it but I assumed it was (view spoiler)[ either Devotion or Dominion. Since the Shards are splintered, any magical manifestation could be the work of a god the people know nothing about. But it would make sense if it was another Shard with all those references.

If Odium's wandering around, killing bearers and splintering Shards, then another Shard could have visited all the worlds too. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Virginie wrote: "Oh! OOOOH!

I noticed [spoilers removed] mentioning it but I assumed it was [more spoilers]..."

That's definitely a possibility... some Shards apparently (view spoiler)[have seeded the Cosmere with little Shard Babies... the island from Sixth of Dusk is an Avatar of Autonomy... and another Avatar of Autonomy is referenced in the epigraphs of Oathbringer (Obrodai)... it's also a fan theory that Autonomy is behind Trelagism on Scadriel in Era 2... (hide spoiler)]

it's another theory that (view spoiler)[The God Beyond, is outside of Adonalsium... (hide spoiler)]

You sent me down a rabbithole... I could spend all day on the 17th Shard forums and the wiki reading things if I don't stop...

[C.P.]

I still haven't read anything past Emperor's Soul and Hope of Elantris. Hopefully soon. I plan to reread Edgedancer, though it annoyed me quite a bit the first time around.

[Virginie]

C.P. wrote: "I still haven't read anything past Emperor's Soul and Hope of Elantris. Hopefully soon. I plan to reread Edgedancer, though it annoyed me quite a bit the first time around."

I won't get back to Arcanum until this weekend at least... I'm swamped in work and got several other books to read at the same time :o

[Virginie]

@Iain Did you read the prose version of White Sand? I plan to read that one at some point, especially since I'm not continuing with the White Sand graphic novels.

[C.P.]

We should set up a buddy read for the prose version. I have it on my kindle and plan to get to it eventually. I am still reading the graphic novels, but would like to read that version as well. I'm sure it's much more detailed.

[Diana Stormblessed]

C.P. wrote: "We should set up a buddy read for the prose version. I have it on my kindle and plan to get to it eventually. I am still reading the graphic novels, but would like to read that version as well. I'm..."

Do that! It's a great read :-) Too bad there's no audiobook.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Can anyone share the prose?... I know you can get it by contacting 17th Shard or Peter (there's 2 manuscripts, I think, for 2 things, and they've been outsourced)... but from what I hear it takes awhile...

[C.P.]

Mine got to me in minutes. Not sure why it was so much faster than everyone else. I can email it to you.

I got mine by signing up through his website or something.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nevermind... White Sands is the one you get for signing up for the Newsletter... which I did a month or 2 ago... I just downloaded it... it's the other one that's hard to get, I think...

The scrapped Hoid material for Dragonsteel, maybe...

[C.P.]

Gotcha. I think they used to do White Sand differently. I've heard people say it took them ages.

I haven't tried to get the other stuff. Not sure I will.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

If it's Dragonsteel Prime, he's advised against it anyway... it was scrapped for a reason...