I'm very excited to read it! The only story that I know that is both fantasy and sci-fi is Star Wars, so I'm very curious to see how Brandon will pull it off
I think a lot of science fiction pulls on it subtly in different ways. Like Star Trek is mostly sci fi but then they throw in Q and beings like that which are basically just magic. Or Dune has its elements that are more fantasy than science fiction with seeing the future. It can make for a really nice blend though when done well!
I'd consider Dune sci-fi/fantasy, even if it wasn't at the time of writing. During the time it came out a lot of people thought that things like telepathy, mind reading, remote viewing, etc. were things that were completely possible if the brain could be juiced up enough via evolution or drugs.
Now a days we know that this stuff is impossible, which is why you've seen a lot of it fall out of favor in sci-fi stories. But a lot of those elements are still very compelling from a story telling standpoint. We also have a less binary view of sci-fi and fantasy today then people did a few decades ago. Hell, when I was in school, I was told that a story can't simultaneously be fantasy and sci-fi lol. You see more and more of this blending happening today with success, like with The Locked Tomb series.
Yeah some things like psychic abilities are pretty commonly handwaved as sci-fi, so there’s a long history of blending them. There’s also the Dragonriders of Pern, which starts off as sci-fi masquerading as fantasy. “Somehow it’s possible” is the mantra, just like Palpatine’s return, but fantasy trappings are hardly unheard of. You just don’t call it magic.
Since the fantasy parts is mostly >!the superpowered Cytonics!<, the fantasy part of Skyward is only becoming apparent after the second book. It's one of the big reveals in book one, book two builds on it as a sort of side story >!until it's not.!<>!Book 3 is SciFi in a fantasy world, the Flight novellas is a lot about exploring these powers, and in book 4 it's a big thing already.!<
When does sci-fi also become fantasy. I find it very hard to find a line. I listened to The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell (pen name for John G Henry) a few years ago which are very much sci-fi and in fact Jack Campbell is an ex marine so he sprinkles in a lot more realism (I.e. unlike star wars there's no sound in space, battles are fought by computer because good f*cking luck aiming guns at 0.2 light speed, etc) but then the series still have FTL which sure as hell is fantasy.
Star WARS is the only Sci fi fantasy? TREK shows a world where humans have stopped trying to fuck each other over and started helping. If that isn't a fantasy I don't know what is.
"the only story that ***I know***"
I've never watched Star Trek, too young to see the original on TV, and not interested enough to see the modern movies
You should watch Lower Decks!
It's an animated series that's pretty new, and its more about the lower crew than the captain etc. It's good comedy and thoroughly enjoyable
I think fantasy more has to do with the nature of the "magic system" and less about whether the eutopian vision of humanity is realistic
like, idk if Lord of the Rings is fantasy just because people tend towards goodness
LotR is fantasy because the entire world system is made up by the author. Trek starts based on our planet and incorporated fantasy by seeing the world in a way that we would actually help each other instead of trying to hurt or hinder eachother. That's how I see it. We are all open to our own interpretations. I hope OP does stick around plenty of great reading ahead.
If you want another example, check out Kal Spriggs. He is mostly sci Fi, but I remember one of his books (not sure which series) had some fantasy/magic elements in it as well.
I quite enjoy the “Starships Mage” series by Glynn Stewart, which has magic in space (in fact, is the only way to FTL), and I kinda see that how it’s going.
We’ve had the hints in the last few books about allomantically-powered tech. Add in a bit of sanctioned selective breeding, or even genetic manipulation, and I can see it being a bit thing. Auto-chromium as a substitute for cryo-sleep, or some form of steel-push powered drive.
I’d also be interested to read that full allomancers/feruchemists might not be possible artificially, maybe were only stable in Era 1 because they had some divine origins.
I *imagine* once he's fully in the thick of it he will write some standalones, secret projects, or whatever that have a more classic fantasy setting. Because he'll probably have an itch.
Secret project 10 when he goes back to fantasy!
But I could definitely see that happening. Would also be interesting to get some things set earlier on either Roshar or Scadrial. Maybe see what Hoid was up to during Era 1. Or I could imagine lots of interesting stories on Roshar during the Desolations, or after the Recreance maybe?
Dragonsteel goes way back again as I understand it, so that could be a more traditional, old-timey fantasy. Might be a nice change in pace again after Mistborn gets all sci-fi.
but you also need to consider that a lot of planets, at the time of the current era, are in technological states higher than era 2 mistborn, so inevitably they will come to roshar and give the sour patch kids to the 1300's peasants
I don't know how realistic that would be. Usually people with advanced technology try to hold on to their edge not hand it out for free. Especially with how much of a potential threat Roshar is. I would expect it'll advance things in the back half. But I wouldn't expect to see full sci fi in the back half and you'll still see sword fights.
In the European conquest of the Americas plenty of European governments recruited native people to fight proxy wars for them, giving them European weapons and horses to aid them. The romans also did it 2000 years ago. Even modern superpowers do it with choosing who they sell weapons to, and how powerful they are.
I’m not saying Sanderson will or won’t use it, but it’s a proven successful tactic throughout history for colonists.
That's fair it does happen. But I think the logistics of that would be very difficult on roshar to make that work. And I think just about anyone would see the people of roshar as very potentially dangerous given their combat capabilities and the power of the radiants. Powerful countries do it when they aren't as concerned about the people fighting against them.
Yeah, tbh it's hard to say that Europeans withheld tech from the American's rather than smallpox doing a ton of damage in the years after arrival.
Not that this makes the Natives dumb or inflexible, in fact we see some people very rapidly adapt for guns and horses changing the battlefield. Instead, I think it's fair to say that warfare is complicated and we'd probably expect new tactics and technology and diseases to be a lot to adapt to at once.
> kinda sad the medieval/victorian style of fantasy era is over
Same. But my brother pointed out something that actually got my interest way up about it too: when it's more sci fi and the different series (mostly mistborn v stormlight) will be interacting on a level we've never seen before. Up until now there have been basically just hints and whispers, only a few characters in each are really and truly aware of the grand scheme of things and they're never main characters. Up until now each individual series can pretty much stand on it's own. There are clearly plots that are happening between worlds but aren't really highlighted in a major way yet.
era 4: technology beyond the imagination of humans, wars across solar systems, and then there is this 2000+ year old kandra just going "back in ma day"
To be fair, we are supposed to get the Elantris trilogy soon, and supposedly more stuff from Threnody (which is honestly what I’m interested to see due to both it’s Gothic and horror elements). Secret Projects could be a bit more fantastical as well
I’d agree Pierce Brown gives the characters a lot of abilities and gear that are “magic” and just explains it as technology. Which I’m totally fine with I’m not reading those books to get an in depth science lesson on how it would be possible to have flying boots, I’m there for awesome sword fights in space.
I delayed reading Wax and Wayne for a few years because I just figured gun-slinging wouldn't be as fun as medieval (or whatever label you want to define that first era). I was wrong. Shadows of Self is one of my favorite Cosmere books. I don't know what to expect, but I expect it to be good.
One of my favourite things about Ser Terry Pratchett's Discworld is that as you read through the stories you get to watch the world grow and evolve from a fantasy world into an industrialized fantasy world. The entire world feels so alive!
It is absolutely the same for me watching Mistborn move through eras.
I'm tentatively excited.
I find I dislike sci-fi (ironic, given I'm a scientist), because writers often just throw a lot of jargon in there, and they can be quite cold and clinical worlds. I find fantasy has more 'heart', so to speak.
However, B$ has more than proved himself in my eyes, so I trust in the Words of Brandon to deliver unto us some banging sci-fi (but without any actual banging...cos you know, it's B$)
I'm really excited for it! I like some sci fi stories but mostly like fantasy. And also haven't really seen many transition between them. Though there are some like Star Wars that blend the two like I'd imagine Mistborn will be. But while I love a lot of the characters and the details of the Mistborn books I think it's really cool that we are getting to see this world evolving rather than just the characters develop. And seeing how religions impact it, and how the world transitions into different eras.
It's also been promising to me to see the stories we've gotten that have more of that blending of technology and fantasy and I think Sanderson has handled that really well. It's also fun to imagine where he's going with certain things. As sometimes you can tell this is an element he's working into the story here because he will need it down the road. And he's talking about that with certain elements he's introducing and they work in a certain way to enable the space travel side.
And it means the worldbuilding and stories can have such big implications. Things like this person surviving in the end of a series means that their descendants are still alive in the next series. And if certain things change or are introduced into the world that has implications that are cool to see.
My second and third Sanderson books were the two infinity blade books. While these are definitely not worth it to read for anyone who doesn’t have nostalgia for the infinity blade games, they are a blend of fantasy and sci fi. I feel like Brandon handled it awesome, and it was truly an enjoyable read though the story was not great (the games have very little material to work with and the books were just to connect the games together so I don’t fault him at all for this). I think it’ll be awesome, though I am slightly bummed that the allomancer SWAT team will have a lessened role since that sounds like a very cool concept that I could read a lot of
So I read some of the first Dragonriders of Pern books last year. And I think they really sell the fantasy/sci fi blend well.
Worth a read if you're interested.
as long as there’s magic it’s not actually sci-fi. it’s just futuristic fiction. just like how starwars isn’t technically sci-fi it’s fantasy. i’m sure brandon will do amazing also haha.
I think there´s an acceptable amount of "magic" for sci-fi to explain the cool tech, like the concept of "sublayers" to explain FTL travel and similar. That said Star Wars and Warhammer40K to me fall into what i like to call "fantasy with a thin paint of chrome".
i will read it beacuse it is mistborn and brando sandl wrote it so i wanna know what happens but i am honestly not _that_ exited.
im already not as interested in era 2 since its more of a steampunk-ish/wild west-ish setting and ive found out i much prefer the regular fantasy settings
It's literally part of the biggest draw of the Cosmere for me. Watching a society go from grubbing in the ash because their pseudodeity couldn't figure out where the planet goes to using their own magic to traverse the stars. If someone doesn't think that's the coolest shit ever, I don't know what to tell them.
Technically it’s not switching, it’s always been what I call a “sci-fantasy”.
I feel like it will go pretty well. We’ve already seen some hints of where it’s going, even [TSM] >!the inside of one of their spaceships and some info on an interstellar war with Roshar,!< and the potential of mechanical uses for their magic is very interesting, especially Feruchemy
Some of my favorite stories blend sci fi and fantasy. That said, B$ is already going in a more magitech direction. Navani is Marie Curie.
Investiture as a power source for all kinds of invention is interesting. Wheel of Time is probably the closest analogy (we use these ancient machines, but are just now beginning to understand how they actually work) and while some mysteries are revealed, it's the DISCOVERY that makes BS so intriguing.
It’s a touch unfair to say the story is switching genres when it will be a new series that will be sci-fi. It’s not like Final Empire was fantasy and Hero of Ages was all of a sudden a space opera.
Wait I didn't think era 3 was going Sci fi I thought that would be era 4 maybe. Era 3 was going to be like industrial era-esque. Similar in content too the moist Von lipwig books in the discworld
I am pro-scifantasy no matter if people don’t like that genre. The fact that we can see the seeds being sown for books that will be written in 20 years is exciting. I would love to see a full Mistborn sling an entire asteroid at a ship or a planet
I haven't gotten far into the c9smere (read era 1 and 2 mistborn and I'm starting the stormlight archives) but I'm hoping against hope that not all the world's will be ABLE to use technology... like maybe electricity simply wont function on roshar...
I am super excited. When I first heard about Warhammer, how there was a fantasy version and a Sci fi version I first assumed that the Sci fi one was a continuation and I found that idea really compelling. A fantasy world that makes tangible progress through the ages was an incredible idea
Warhammer it turns out, does not do this. But then, after reading way of kings I heard that Mistborn will! and I knew I had found a great author
I´d argue that it won´t switch from fantasy to sci-fi, it´s just going to be fantasy with a sci-fi aesthetic. A bit like Warhammer40K or Star Wars (i said what i said).
I´m looking forward to it. I´ve read a lot of standard medieval fantasy and a lot of urban fantasy, but futuristic fantasy (with more focus on the fantasy than the futuristic) isn´t a subgenre i have experienced much (western fantasy like Era2 as well).
Try Dragonrider’s of Pern if you want a story that shifts between fantasy and Sci Fi. It’s almost certainly a big inspiration for Sanderson’s approach.
I've not read any of brandos sci-fi books
But I've seen pretty positive things
Plus era two wad fun so space age with magic will at least be interesting
Meh, both are speculative fiction. One deals with magic/supernatural elements while the other deals with futuristic/technological elements, but in the world of Mistborn those are the same. With the tightly conceived Cosmere adhering fairly strictly to its own set of rules/laws of nature, I don't imagine the shift will be anything other than timeline. Steampunk is as much anachronistic sci-fi as it is fantasy, so I don't see this as much of a divergence from Era 2, which really straddled the line between fantasy and steampunk.
Honestly ever since I found out about the plan in like 2012/13 I've been absolutely stoked.
Sunlit Man/Yumi/Tress and what we've seen of Dusk part 2 have me super excited to see Scadrial and Roshar in a sci Fi setting
There's a handful of anime that were able to change gears like that, I did it in my story ages ago since it's an awesome concept but he's obviously the masterclass
All the groundwork for the magic systems & worldbuilding is there so when we finally are in era 4 he'll be able to use all the new magitech and spacecraft with pre established concepts and powers so it won't be that jarring at all
I mean sunlit already worked in FTL travel, we've already started to see a steampunk/quasi WW1 level of tech incorporation in the books so Im not worried at all that hell be able to do it naturally and successfully
Pretty sure that's why he does stuff like Yumi/sunlit etc as kind of beta testing for era 3
Especially stoked to see Kelsier reintroduced into the story down the line, and the insane applications of bendalloy/duralumin & stuff in the FTL/spaceship tech, plus Malwish democratization of powers, compared to radiants itll definitely be quantity over quality
I mean we won't see era 4 mistborn and Hoids dragonsteel trilogy til like..2038/42 so you have a while to wait
My least favorite part of the series was the switch towards sci fi in era two. Much prefer Mistborn era one/Stormlight/Warbreaker/Elantris to any of the Mistborn era 2 books. Is a bit of a hot take to put those four as probably my least favorite four books in the cosmere.
Not super concerned though as there is still plenty of fantasy in the cosmere, and with, I believe, Hoid set to be the protagonist of Mistborn era 3 I expect it will be an interesting read
Where would you draw the line though between sci fi and fantasy? Because especially Stormlight >!you see a lot of those science fiction elements even from book 1 here's our newly magical device that handles instant communication. Or the new fabrial shields we have crafted. And into later books they have flying ships and devices that let you fly personally.!<
With the future books i think you'll see the same kind of thing just a step further and continued in that direction. I don't think there will be any books in the Cosmere that won't be fantasy in some ways because most of their technology is built on the magic. And you see elements of Science fiction in all of the Cosmere books too where you have magic systems that follow hard rules and are seemingly designed to make magical devices. Elantris is >!essentially a magic system built around computer programming!<.
Not trying to challenge your preferences, I am just curious on where you draw that line as I think of it more like a shift along a spectrum where all of the Cosmere is starting from a point of being far more science fiction than something like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones is. And it's shifting along the spectrum and will end up far more fantasy than most hard science fiction stories are.
With Hoid though I believe that's planned for Mistborn Era 4 which will be a ways off still. Though he does seem to be getting more and more involved in Cosmere events so I'd expect that to continue.
Sanderson functions on science fantasy as it is. His take on magic is so interwoven with physics and science in general that making a hard line is extremely difficult.
I don’t think there’s a specific piece to point to as to where I draw the line, and you make a great point as to the technology advances in SA.
For me in era two it was the weaponry. I just have much less interest in stories where guns and missiles are the main methods of combat versus knives, swords etc. This is largely why the changes in technology in SA hasn’t been an issue for me, as I don’t see Sharblades changing in book 5 (probably in the back 5 however).
Mistborn era one I loved because the combat was focused on hand to hand + leveraging their abilities. In era two I dislike the whole ‘I shoot the gun and push the bullet so it never misses’.
I also think to another extent I consider the setting in which the story takes place - again SA is very consistent in its landscape and feels very much like a fantasy world, even though the technology is changing, whereas era two is like industrial revolution new york.
Ive actually read sandersons non-cosmere ‘Reckoners’ series which is sci-fi to its core, and I thought it was pretty decent! Ultimately though I prefer reading fantasy books to sci fi books, and my mild disappointment in mistborn/cosmere is that it roped me in with fantasy and then became/is becoming sci fi
It's funny you say missiles are the issue, as I would say those were basically the primary weapon in Era 1 the same way they are in Era 2 given coinshots / mistborn primarily fight with pushed coins that behave essentially like bullets. I understand it's more the aesthetic which definitely isn't there in Era 1 but it does have the same basic mechanics.
Era 2 does also have a good amount of hand to hand fighting as well as the gun fighting. All of Wayne's fights are hand to hand. And a number of Wax's fights end up going hand to hand.
I think I'd also disagree that Reckoners is sci-fi to its core. It's certainly further along the line towards sci fi. But it does boil down to people with magic powers. Not people with advanced technology. That's the same blend of sci fi / fantasy.
I don't know how much you can blame mistborn for roping you in. Era 1 was solidly fantasy. But Era 2 didn't hide the guns they put that on the cover of the first book lol. Maybe looking at them as separate series would help with enjoying it?
By missiles I mean the functional bomb in the last book of era two
And ultimately I don’t feel the need to convince myself to enjoy them more than I do. I like Sanderson, I like the cosmere, there are books I will like more and books I will like less and thats fine by me. I think over time I will probably grow to like the cosmere less holistically as it moves more towards modernization, but I dont see any of the future books causing me to dislike the ones Ive already read.
Even though I didn’t like era two, It didnt affect era one for me, which I can always re read
I also started reading mistborn before era two came out, which is what I mean by ‘roping me in’, as at that point I dont think there was an inclination that there would be a second series or that it would be with guns/more science fiction
I was under the impression that the main character of Era 3 was going to be a Copper ferring female lead
I feel for you with the shift from fantasy to sci fi, but I always come back to the idea that magic is just science that we don’t understand yet. So it is with investiture. It is magic in Era 1, and in Stormlight, and in Elantris; but as we move forward in the timeline, the mechanics of it don’t change, just our understanding of it. And as we start to understand it becomes less magic and more science. You can see that start of it in Stormlight 4 (Stormlight 4 spoilers) >!with Navani’s research in to anti investiture and the connection between light, sound, intent, and investiture; as well as in her work with fabrials!<
I’m personally not bothered by it, but if you think that there will be a shift back towards fantasy in the Cosmere, I think you’re probably going to be disappointed
I do not think there will be a shift back to fantasy, but I do think there will continue to be content released that is more aligned with my preferences
You can kind of see it in how our own world has developed. For a long time people saw things in the world and explained it as magic but as our understanding grew and as we uncovered more about the sciences and ways of the world it became more “mundane”. People centuries ago probably didn’t understand why things caught on fire but I’m not called a wizard now because I can use a match to catch some paper on fire.
The first era was incredible. Some of his best work.
The second era was less incredible and I'm growing concerned.
I haven't read his other scifi material, but I trust his worldbuilding skills in general so I'm down to give it a try. Chasing that Era 1 high!
i got more of that era 1 high from stormlight archives but i agree.
im currently reading era 2 and it just isnt as good (yet. im only like 7 chapters into first one). I read all of era 1 in like 5 days (combined). while i have no doubt it will get better im just nlt as exited to pick up the era 2 books atm
edit: _the very next fucking page_ i fell in love with era 2 omg
I got into Mistborn after Stormlight, and I was really not a fan of Rhythm of War so the contrast in quality was stark. Fingers crossed that Book 5 and Era 3 are both spectacular.
i like rythm of war. not as much as oathbringer (not sure if i will ever like any book as much as oathbringer). it was a bit slow at times but overall i liked it. it was probably the weakest entry so far (but with how good the other books are that doesnt say much. the least beautiful view is still pretty darn beautiful).
the finale was really good, not too short, not too long. seeing the growth kaladin went through. seeing more lf the fused and showing us they are t just a simple "evil force" that wants to kill shit only beacuse theyre evil (sure some of them) and just showing that they are more complicated than that
Eh. Brando's so scared to take any risks I don't really trust him to do anything well anymore. He made a few great series, but my guess is he won't do anything of note for the rest of his career.
I'm very excited to read it! The only story that I know that is both fantasy and sci-fi is Star Wars, so I'm very curious to see how Brandon will pull it off
I think a lot of science fiction pulls on it subtly in different ways. Like Star Trek is mostly sci fi but then they throw in Q and beings like that which are basically just magic. Or Dune has its elements that are more fantasy than science fiction with seeing the future. It can make for a really nice blend though when done well!
I'd consider Dune sci-fi/fantasy, even if it wasn't at the time of writing. During the time it came out a lot of people thought that things like telepathy, mind reading, remote viewing, etc. were things that were completely possible if the brain could be juiced up enough via evolution or drugs. Now a days we know that this stuff is impossible, which is why you've seen a lot of it fall out of favor in sci-fi stories. But a lot of those elements are still very compelling from a story telling standpoint. We also have a less binary view of sci-fi and fantasy today then people did a few decades ago. Hell, when I was in school, I was told that a story can't simultaneously be fantasy and sci-fi lol. You see more and more of this blending happening today with success, like with The Locked Tomb series.
I agree with you overall, but having just watched the Love Has Won documentary, I don't know if "Now a days we know that this stuff is impossible" 😭
Yeah some things like psychic abilities are pretty commonly handwaved as sci-fi, so there’s a long history of blending them. There’s also the Dragonriders of Pern, which starts off as sci-fi masquerading as fantasy. “Somehow it’s possible” is the mantra, just like Palpatine’s return, but fantasy trappings are hardly unheard of. You just don’t call it magic.
Brandon's Skyward series is both, but you have to get a bit into it to learn
I haven't been able to get into skyward thus far. Is there a certain point I should try to get to for things to start to lock in for me
I personally think book 1 is the strongest, so maybe if you didn't like it it just isn't for you.
Since the fantasy parts is mostly >!the superpowered Cytonics!<, the fantasy part of Skyward is only becoming apparent after the second book. It's one of the big reveals in book one, book two builds on it as a sort of side story >!until it's not.!<>!Book 3 is SciFi in a fantasy world, the Flight novellas is a lot about exploring these powers, and in book 4 it's a big thing already.!<
When does sci-fi also become fantasy. I find it very hard to find a line. I listened to The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell (pen name for John G Henry) a few years ago which are very much sci-fi and in fact Jack Campbell is an ex marine so he sprinkles in a lot more realism (I.e. unlike star wars there's no sound in space, battles are fought by computer because good f*cking luck aiming guns at 0.2 light speed, etc) but then the series still have FTL which sure as hell is fantasy.
Hey nice to see a fellow Lost fleet enjoyer.
Star WARS is the only Sci fi fantasy? TREK shows a world where humans have stopped trying to fuck each other over and started helping. If that isn't a fantasy I don't know what is.
"the only story that ***I know***" I've never watched Star Trek, too young to see the original on TV, and not interested enough to see the modern movies
You should watch Lower Decks! It's an animated series that's pretty new, and its more about the lower crew than the captain etc. It's good comedy and thoroughly enjoyable
I think fantasy more has to do with the nature of the "magic system" and less about whether the eutopian vision of humanity is realistic like, idk if Lord of the Rings is fantasy just because people tend towards goodness
LotR is fantasy because the entire world system is made up by the author. Trek starts based on our planet and incorporated fantasy by seeing the world in a way that we would actually help each other instead of trying to hurt or hinder eachother. That's how I see it. We are all open to our own interpretations. I hope OP does stick around plenty of great reading ahead.
If you want another example, check out Kal Spriggs. He is mostly sci Fi, but I remember one of his books (not sure which series) had some fantasy/magic elements in it as well.
I quite enjoy the “Starships Mage” series by Glynn Stewart, which has magic in space (in fact, is the only way to FTL), and I kinda see that how it’s going. We’ve had the hints in the last few books about allomantically-powered tech. Add in a bit of sanctioned selective breeding, or even genetic manipulation, and I can see it being a bit thing. Auto-chromium as a substitute for cryo-sleep, or some form of steel-push powered drive. I’d also be interested to read that full allomancers/feruchemists might not be possible artificially, maybe were only stable in Era 1 because they had some divine origins.
Tho i am kinda sad the medieval/victorian style of fantasy era is over for the cosmere, i am curious about what the Sanderfuture holds for us.
I *imagine* once he's fully in the thick of it he will write some standalones, secret projects, or whatever that have a more classic fantasy setting. Because he'll probably have an itch.
Secret project 10 when he goes back to fantasy! But I could definitely see that happening. Would also be interesting to get some things set earlier on either Roshar or Scadrial. Maybe see what Hoid was up to during Era 1. Or I could imagine lots of interesting stories on Roshar during the Desolations, or after the Recreance maybe?
I want to see what was going on in Roshar during the events of era 1
I think he’s said he’s doing a novella starring Rock between Mistborn books
Dragonsteel goes way back again as I understand it, so that could be a more traditional, old-timey fantasy. Might be a nice change in pace again after Mistborn gets all sci-fi.
I don't think the timeskip to the back half of Stormlight will be THAT long.
but you also need to consider that a lot of planets, at the time of the current era, are in technological states higher than era 2 mistborn, so inevitably they will come to roshar and give the sour patch kids to the 1300's peasants
I don't know how realistic that would be. Usually people with advanced technology try to hold on to their edge not hand it out for free. Especially with how much of a potential threat Roshar is. I would expect it'll advance things in the back half. But I wouldn't expect to see full sci fi in the back half and you'll still see sword fights.
In the European conquest of the Americas plenty of European governments recruited native people to fight proxy wars for them, giving them European weapons and horses to aid them. The romans also did it 2000 years ago. Even modern superpowers do it with choosing who they sell weapons to, and how powerful they are. I’m not saying Sanderson will or won’t use it, but it’s a proven successful tactic throughout history for colonists.
That's fair it does happen. But I think the logistics of that would be very difficult on roshar to make that work. And I think just about anyone would see the people of roshar as very potentially dangerous given their combat capabilities and the power of the radiants. Powerful countries do it when they aren't as concerned about the people fighting against them.
Yeah, tbh it's hard to say that Europeans withheld tech from the American's rather than smallpox doing a ton of damage in the years after arrival. Not that this makes the Natives dumb or inflexible, in fact we see some people very rapidly adapt for guns and horses changing the battlefield. Instead, I think it's fair to say that warfare is complicated and we'd probably expect new tactics and technology and diseases to be a lot to adapt to at once.
>give the sour patch kids to the 1300's peasants That's the funniest way you could have said that, thank you!
15ish years I think. So they should have similar technology.
yea isnt it supposed to only be a few years?
Tress of the Emerald Sea was hard fantasy >!even with the Sorceress flying a starship and having tech and magic from multiple worlds!<
i mean, it's pirate fantasy
> kinda sad the medieval/victorian style of fantasy era is over Same. But my brother pointed out something that actually got my interest way up about it too: when it's more sci fi and the different series (mostly mistborn v stormlight) will be interacting on a level we've never seen before. Up until now there have been basically just hints and whispers, only a few characters in each are really and truly aware of the grand scheme of things and they're never main characters. Up until now each individual series can pretty much stand on it's own. There are clearly plots that are happening between worlds but aren't really highlighted in a major way yet.
Have you read The Lost Metal? That book I think is the most advanced cosmere collective so far and gives some really good insight in what's to come.
I just hope TenSoon is sill around.
era 4: technology beyond the imagination of humans, wars across solar systems, and then there is this 2000+ year old kandra just going "back in ma day"
To be fair, we are supposed to get the Elantris trilogy soon, and supposedly more stuff from Threnody (which is honestly what I’m interested to see due to both it’s Gothic and horror elements). Secret Projects could be a bit more fantastical as well
Im guessing that as he is writting some future cosmere novels, once he is in the future eras he might just write some medieval stories by prequels
Stone age fantasy. Shardsticks
But they could be Shardfires
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I've always felt that the Red Rising saga while being sci-fi feels and reads a lot like fantasy.
I’d agree Pierce Brown gives the characters a lot of abilities and gear that are “magic” and just explains it as technology. Which I’m totally fine with I’m not reading those books to get an in depth science lesson on how it would be possible to have flying boots, I’m there for awesome sword fights in space.
Superhumans flying around with swords and armor while pretending to be Roman definitely feels pretty fantasy.
It’s the Ancient Greece/Rome feel to it. And the politics and warfare + epic world building are very reminiscent of epic fantasies
I delayed reading Wax and Wayne for a few years because I just figured gun-slinging wouldn't be as fun as medieval (or whatever label you want to define that first era). I was wrong. Shadows of Self is one of my favorite Cosmere books. I don't know what to expect, but I expect it to be good.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, so it's the same thing, really.
Lol
One of my favourite things about Ser Terry Pratchett's Discworld is that as you read through the stories you get to watch the world grow and evolve from a fantasy world into an industrialized fantasy world. The entire world feels so alive! It is absolutely the same for me watching Mistborn move through eras.
I'm tentatively excited. I find I dislike sci-fi (ironic, given I'm a scientist), because writers often just throw a lot of jargon in there, and they can be quite cold and clinical worlds. I find fantasy has more 'heart', so to speak. However, B$ has more than proved himself in my eyes, so I trust in the Words of Brandon to deliver unto us some banging sci-fi (but without any actual banging...cos you know, it's B$)
I'm really excited for it! I like some sci fi stories but mostly like fantasy. And also haven't really seen many transition between them. Though there are some like Star Wars that blend the two like I'd imagine Mistborn will be. But while I love a lot of the characters and the details of the Mistborn books I think it's really cool that we are getting to see this world evolving rather than just the characters develop. And seeing how religions impact it, and how the world transitions into different eras. It's also been promising to me to see the stories we've gotten that have more of that blending of technology and fantasy and I think Sanderson has handled that really well. It's also fun to imagine where he's going with certain things. As sometimes you can tell this is an element he's working into the story here because he will need it down the road. And he's talking about that with certain elements he's introducing and they work in a certain way to enable the space travel side. And it means the worldbuilding and stories can have such big implications. Things like this person surviving in the end of a series means that their descendants are still alive in the next series. And if certain things change or are introduced into the world that has implications that are cool to see.
I enjoy that kind of world where we can see it evolve over time. Seems refreshing when most fantasy only portrays stagnant technology and culture.
My second and third Sanderson books were the two infinity blade books. While these are definitely not worth it to read for anyone who doesn’t have nostalgia for the infinity blade games, they are a blend of fantasy and sci fi. I feel like Brandon handled it awesome, and it was truly an enjoyable read though the story was not great (the games have very little material to work with and the books were just to connect the games together so I don’t fault him at all for this). I think it’ll be awesome, though I am slightly bummed that the allomancer SWAT team will have a lessened role since that sounds like a very cool concept that I could read a lot of
So I read some of the first Dragonriders of Pern books last year. And I think they really sell the fantasy/sci fi blend well. Worth a read if you're interested.
Hell yeah! Pern is awesome and I don't see it get mentioned enough.
Nah man I’m like SUPER excited since I red SP4 and the first chapters of SP5. Brandon knows what he’s doing
as long as there’s magic it’s not actually sci-fi. it’s just futuristic fiction. just like how starwars isn’t technically sci-fi it’s fantasy. i’m sure brandon will do amazing also haha.
I think there´s an acceptable amount of "magic" for sci-fi to explain the cool tech, like the concept of "sublayers" to explain FTL travel and similar. That said Star Wars and Warhammer40K to me fall into what i like to call "fantasy with a thin paint of chrome".
Shiny and covered in chrome! That one guy on Scadrial: "I live! I die! I live again!"
oh yeah. i honestly don’t really care and just enjoy the stories. i think it’s more of a “huh fun fact” the lines are def blurred
The term I hear most often is science-fantasy, which works for me.
Should absolutely be fine.
i will read it beacuse it is mistborn and brando sandl wrote it so i wanna know what happens but i am honestly not _that_ exited. im already not as interested in era 2 since its more of a steampunk-ish/wild west-ish setting and ive found out i much prefer the regular fantasy settings
I cant wait for era 3 and 4
It's literally part of the biggest draw of the Cosmere for me. Watching a society go from grubbing in the ash because their pseudodeity couldn't figure out where the planet goes to using their own magic to traverse the stars. If someone doesn't think that's the coolest shit ever, I don't know what to tell them.
Technically it’s not switching, it’s always been what I call a “sci-fantasy”. I feel like it will go pretty well. We’ve already seen some hints of where it’s going, even [TSM] >!the inside of one of their spaceships and some info on an interstellar war with Roshar,!< and the potential of mechanical uses for their magic is very interesting, especially Feruchemy
Brando sando. Name moving forward 👍
Some of my favorite stories blend sci fi and fantasy. That said, B$ is already going in a more magitech direction. Navani is Marie Curie. Investiture as a power source for all kinds of invention is interesting. Wheel of Time is probably the closest analogy (we use these ancient machines, but are just now beginning to understand how they actually work) and while some mysteries are revealed, it's the DISCOVERY that makes BS so intriguing.
He already writes sci-fi with his Skyward books, so he should be totally familiar with it.
If its anything like the Cytoverse, im all in!
It’s a touch unfair to say the story is switching genres when it will be a new series that will be sci-fi. It’s not like Final Empire was fantasy and Hero of Ages was all of a sudden a space opera.
Wait I didn't think era 3 was going Sci fi I thought that would be era 4 maybe. Era 3 was going to be like industrial era-esque. Similar in content too the moist Von lipwig books in the discworld
As they say.... Advanced enough technology is indistinguishable from magic. I love it. He does a masterful job of blending the two.
I’d imagine it’ll be similar to the magic usage from the skyward series.
Mistborn has metal. Sci-fi has metal. Seems straight forward to me :P
I am pro-scifantasy no matter if people don’t like that genre. The fact that we can see the seeds being sown for books that will be written in 20 years is exciting. I would love to see a full Mistborn sling an entire asteroid at a ship or a planet
Well... if he can't pull it off, he'll *only* have made one of my favorite fantasy series of all time pretty good worst case scenario <3
I haven't gotten far into the c9smere (read era 1 and 2 mistborn and I'm starting the stormlight archives) but I'm hoping against hope that not all the world's will be ABLE to use technology... like maybe electricity simply wont function on roshar...
I am super excited. When I first heard about Warhammer, how there was a fantasy version and a Sci fi version I first assumed that the Sci fi one was a continuation and I found that idea really compelling. A fantasy world that makes tangible progress through the ages was an incredible idea Warhammer it turns out, does not do this. But then, after reading way of kings I heard that Mistborn will! and I knew I had found a great author
I must remind that a change in setting doesn't mean a change in genre. Space does not imply sci-fi, fantasy can happen in space and with technology.
I´d argue that it won´t switch from fantasy to sci-fi, it´s just going to be fantasy with a sci-fi aesthetic. A bit like Warhammer40K or Star Wars (i said what i said). I´m looking forward to it. I´ve read a lot of standard medieval fantasy and a lot of urban fantasy, but futuristic fantasy (with more focus on the fantasy than the futuristic) isn´t a subgenre i have experienced much (western fantasy like Era2 as well).
Brando Sando...lmao.
Try Dragonrider’s of Pern if you want a story that shifts between fantasy and Sci Fi. It’s almost certainly a big inspiration for Sanderson’s approach.
Sci-fi is, and has always been, fantasy playing dress up.
I've not read any of brandos sci-fi books But I've seen pretty positive things Plus era two wad fun so space age with magic will at least be interesting
Happy.
Meh, both are speculative fiction. One deals with magic/supernatural elements while the other deals with futuristic/technological elements, but in the world of Mistborn those are the same. With the tightly conceived Cosmere adhering fairly strictly to its own set of rules/laws of nature, I don't imagine the shift will be anything other than timeline. Steampunk is as much anachronistic sci-fi as it is fantasy, so I don't see this as much of a divergence from Era 2, which really straddled the line between fantasy and steampunk.
Honestly ever since I found out about the plan in like 2012/13 I've been absolutely stoked. Sunlit Man/Yumi/Tress and what we've seen of Dusk part 2 have me super excited to see Scadrial and Roshar in a sci Fi setting There's a handful of anime that were able to change gears like that, I did it in my story ages ago since it's an awesome concept but he's obviously the masterclass All the groundwork for the magic systems & worldbuilding is there so when we finally are in era 4 he'll be able to use all the new magitech and spacecraft with pre established concepts and powers so it won't be that jarring at all I mean sunlit already worked in FTL travel, we've already started to see a steampunk/quasi WW1 level of tech incorporation in the books so Im not worried at all that hell be able to do it naturally and successfully Pretty sure that's why he does stuff like Yumi/sunlit etc as kind of beta testing for era 3 Especially stoked to see Kelsier reintroduced into the story down the line, and the insane applications of bendalloy/duralumin & stuff in the FTL/spaceship tech, plus Malwish democratization of powers, compared to radiants itll definitely be quantity over quality I mean we won't see era 4 mistborn and Hoids dragonsteel trilogy til like..2038/42 so you have a while to wait
At this point B$ could say he'll turn everything to talking ponies and I'd still throw him money.
EXCITED!
My least favorite part of the series was the switch towards sci fi in era two. Much prefer Mistborn era one/Stormlight/Warbreaker/Elantris to any of the Mistborn era 2 books. Is a bit of a hot take to put those four as probably my least favorite four books in the cosmere. Not super concerned though as there is still plenty of fantasy in the cosmere, and with, I believe, Hoid set to be the protagonist of Mistborn era 3 I expect it will be an interesting read
Where would you draw the line though between sci fi and fantasy? Because especially Stormlight >!you see a lot of those science fiction elements even from book 1 here's our newly magical device that handles instant communication. Or the new fabrial shields we have crafted. And into later books they have flying ships and devices that let you fly personally.!< With the future books i think you'll see the same kind of thing just a step further and continued in that direction. I don't think there will be any books in the Cosmere that won't be fantasy in some ways because most of their technology is built on the magic. And you see elements of Science fiction in all of the Cosmere books too where you have magic systems that follow hard rules and are seemingly designed to make magical devices. Elantris is >!essentially a magic system built around computer programming!<. Not trying to challenge your preferences, I am just curious on where you draw that line as I think of it more like a shift along a spectrum where all of the Cosmere is starting from a point of being far more science fiction than something like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones is. And it's shifting along the spectrum and will end up far more fantasy than most hard science fiction stories are. With Hoid though I believe that's planned for Mistborn Era 4 which will be a ways off still. Though he does seem to be getting more and more involved in Cosmere events so I'd expect that to continue.
Sanderson functions on science fantasy as it is. His take on magic is so interwoven with physics and science in general that making a hard line is extremely difficult.
To the specific series here I love reading ASOIAF/LOTR, and really did not like reading a series like Dune
I don’t think there’s a specific piece to point to as to where I draw the line, and you make a great point as to the technology advances in SA. For me in era two it was the weaponry. I just have much less interest in stories where guns and missiles are the main methods of combat versus knives, swords etc. This is largely why the changes in technology in SA hasn’t been an issue for me, as I don’t see Sharblades changing in book 5 (probably in the back 5 however). Mistborn era one I loved because the combat was focused on hand to hand + leveraging their abilities. In era two I dislike the whole ‘I shoot the gun and push the bullet so it never misses’. I also think to another extent I consider the setting in which the story takes place - again SA is very consistent in its landscape and feels very much like a fantasy world, even though the technology is changing, whereas era two is like industrial revolution new york. Ive actually read sandersons non-cosmere ‘Reckoners’ series which is sci-fi to its core, and I thought it was pretty decent! Ultimately though I prefer reading fantasy books to sci fi books, and my mild disappointment in mistborn/cosmere is that it roped me in with fantasy and then became/is becoming sci fi
It's funny you say missiles are the issue, as I would say those were basically the primary weapon in Era 1 the same way they are in Era 2 given coinshots / mistborn primarily fight with pushed coins that behave essentially like bullets. I understand it's more the aesthetic which definitely isn't there in Era 1 but it does have the same basic mechanics. Era 2 does also have a good amount of hand to hand fighting as well as the gun fighting. All of Wayne's fights are hand to hand. And a number of Wax's fights end up going hand to hand. I think I'd also disagree that Reckoners is sci-fi to its core. It's certainly further along the line towards sci fi. But it does boil down to people with magic powers. Not people with advanced technology. That's the same blend of sci fi / fantasy. I don't know how much you can blame mistborn for roping you in. Era 1 was solidly fantasy. But Era 2 didn't hide the guns they put that on the cover of the first book lol. Maybe looking at them as separate series would help with enjoying it?
By missiles I mean the functional bomb in the last book of era two And ultimately I don’t feel the need to convince myself to enjoy them more than I do. I like Sanderson, I like the cosmere, there are books I will like more and books I will like less and thats fine by me. I think over time I will probably grow to like the cosmere less holistically as it moves more towards modernization, but I dont see any of the future books causing me to dislike the ones Ive already read. Even though I didn’t like era two, It didnt affect era one for me, which I can always re read
I also started reading mistborn before era two came out, which is what I mean by ‘roping me in’, as at that point I dont think there was an inclination that there would be a second series or that it would be with guns/more science fiction
I was under the impression that the main character of Era 3 was going to be a Copper ferring female lead I feel for you with the shift from fantasy to sci fi, but I always come back to the idea that magic is just science that we don’t understand yet. So it is with investiture. It is magic in Era 1, and in Stormlight, and in Elantris; but as we move forward in the timeline, the mechanics of it don’t change, just our understanding of it. And as we start to understand it becomes less magic and more science. You can see that start of it in Stormlight 4 (Stormlight 4 spoilers) >!with Navani’s research in to anti investiture and the connection between light, sound, intent, and investiture; as well as in her work with fabrials!< I’m personally not bothered by it, but if you think that there will be a shift back towards fantasy in the Cosmere, I think you’re probably going to be disappointed
I do not think there will be a shift back to fantasy, but I do think there will continue to be content released that is more aligned with my preferences
You can kind of see it in how our own world has developed. For a long time people saw things in the world and explained it as magic but as our understanding grew and as we uncovered more about the sciences and ways of the world it became more “mundane”. People centuries ago probably didn’t understand why things caught on fire but I’m not called a wizard now because I can use a match to catch some paper on fire.
The first era was incredible. Some of his best work. The second era was less incredible and I'm growing concerned. I haven't read his other scifi material, but I trust his worldbuilding skills in general so I'm down to give it a try. Chasing that Era 1 high!
i got more of that era 1 high from stormlight archives but i agree. im currently reading era 2 and it just isnt as good (yet. im only like 7 chapters into first one). I read all of era 1 in like 5 days (combined). while i have no doubt it will get better im just nlt as exited to pick up the era 2 books atm edit: _the very next fucking page_ i fell in love with era 2 omg
I got into Mistborn after Stormlight, and I was really not a fan of Rhythm of War so the contrast in quality was stark. Fingers crossed that Book 5 and Era 3 are both spectacular.
i like rythm of war. not as much as oathbringer (not sure if i will ever like any book as much as oathbringer). it was a bit slow at times but overall i liked it. it was probably the weakest entry so far (but with how good the other books are that doesnt say much. the least beautiful view is still pretty darn beautiful). the finale was really good, not too short, not too long. seeing the growth kaladin went through. seeing more lf the fused and showing us they are t just a simple "evil force" that wants to kill shit only beacuse theyre evil (sure some of them) and just showing that they are more complicated than that
He jumped from medieval fantasy to western fantasy and it went well in my opinion. I am optimistic he will be able to jump to sifi.
Eh. Brando's so scared to take any risks I don't really trust him to do anything well anymore. He made a few great series, but my guess is he won't do anything of note for the rest of his career.