Review & Giveaway: “Arcanum Unbounded” by Brandon Sanderson
Note: For instructions on how to enter the giveaway, see the bottom of this post.
If you’ve been following my blog at all, you probably know that I’m a huge fan of pretty much everything Brandon Sanderson writes. I think it’s especially cool that many of his books are set on different planets in the same universe (the “Cosmere”), and that he plans to connect them all into an overarching story in the future. So when I found out that there was a Cosmere short fiction collection coming out, I was really excited to get it (even though I’ve already read many of the stories in it.)
First, I’ll talk about the book’s structure. I thought it would just be organized like a regular short story collection, but it actually has more. There are in-universe write ups (written by Khriss, the same woman who writes the Ars Arcanum at the end of all Brandon’s other books) about each planetary system featured in the book and how the magic there works. I’ve read a lot of Cosmere theories and interviews by Brandon about the Cosmere, and there’s quite a bit of information in these that has not been covered anywhere yet. Also, there are gorgeous illustrations for each story, and postscripts by Brandon about how the story came to be.
There’s one new novella in this book that has never been published before – Edgedancer, which is set in the world of the Stormlight Archive and features Lift, who we’ve met in an interlude in Words of Radiance. The Stormlight Archive is probably my favorite series by Brandon, so I was particularly excited to read this story, and of course it did not disappoint. It offers great moments of character growth, and it seems like it will be important to understand how a particular character’s attitude changes between Words of Radiance and the upcoming third book. Plus, Lift is a great character and I’d love to keep reading about her. Also, we see a few new things about Roshar, I wasn’t expecting more worldbuilding and answers from such a short story. My only complaint is that now I really, really cannot wait a year for the next book.
There were two other stories that were new to me, although they have been published previously in the Mistborn RPG books – The Eleventh Metal and Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania. They were fun stories, I enjoyed The Eleventh Metal a bit more because it featured Kelsier, and who doesn’t love Kelsier? Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania was a nice homage to pulp adventure, though.
I did reread all the stories I’d read previously as well. I absolutely love The Emperor’s Soul, I think it’s a really great standalone novella, and the fact that it’s set in the same world as Elantris and that it ties into the Cosmere just makes it better. The Hope of Elantris is a very simple story, but it’s cute, and it’s nice to see some of the backstory of what secondary characters were up to during the climax of Elantris. Mistborn: Secret History is pretty cool, I think it’s one of the first ones to actually delve directly into what’s going on with the Cosmere a little bit. I don’t want to say too much about it because even the protagonist’s name is a spoiler.
I guess White Sand will be new to a lot of readers, but it’s one of Brandon’s unpublished books that you can email him to get a copy of, and I’ve done that. It’s being published as a graphic novel series now, and the book excerpts both the graphic novel and the beginning of the unpublished book. I was afraid that the excerpt wouldn’t be satisfying enough by itself, but I think it manages to tell a good and complete story.
I first read Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell in George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois’ anthology Dangerous Women, and I love it. Threnody is a fascinating world, and the characters are different from the ones Brandon usually writes – darker and more serious. Sixth of the Dusk also has a very un-Brandon-like protagonist (someone who has trouble articulating himself), and the world is in a very interesting period as it evolves into the industrial age, prodded along by spacefaring humans. I think both of these stories are the most atmospheric in the book and I’d love to hear more from their world and characters in the future.
Overall, I’d highly recommend this collection. I think most of the stories would work for someone unfamiliar with Brandon Sanderson’s other work and the Cosmere just as well – the only ones I’d be iffy about are Mistborn: Secret History, which is set during the original Mistborn trilogy and probably doesn’t have much impact without reading it, and The Hope of Elantris, which is likewise set during Elantris.
Tor Books is letting me give away two copies of Arcanum Unbounded! To enter, please email me at kriti@justaworldaway.com with subject “Arcanum Unbounded” and your name and mailing address (US/Canada only). This giveaway is open until Dec 1, 2016.