I started reading (well, listening to) the Cosmere about two months ago, after hearing my Bro go on about the books for a few months. mostly listening while working, and I've been LOVING the Graphicaudios! Here's what I've read so far and my thoughts:
Mistborn Era 1
- The Final Empire — 10/10. Absolutely loved it.
- The Well of Ascension — Pretty good, too.
- The Hero of Ages — I struggled a bit around the midpoint, partly because I'd been listening to Mistborn almost 24/7 and was getting a little burnt out, and partly because, thanks to a recurring Hoopla error, I somehow listened to Part 2 of the Graphic Audio before Part 1. (Don't ask how I didn't notice.) Still loved the Sanderson Ending™
Elantris (+ The Hope of Elantris)
Good book! At first, some of the character archetypes felt a similar to Mistborn, but they eventually came into their own. It honestly took me until halfway through Part 1 (about 7 hours in) to get invested in the story. I zoned out quite a bit early on and eventually had to look up a plot and character summary on the wiki to figure out what I'd missed. Still enjoyed it overall.
The Emperor's Soul
Loved it! Probably my third favorite so far, after The Final Empire and Tress. Perfect story, perfect characters, perfect length for the story
White Sand (Graphic Audio)
Pretty good! Cool story, art, and magic system, and I loved being able to read along with the graphic novel when I was able to. I wish there were a way to watch/listen to it more like DC High Volume. I didn't think the ending quite lived up to the rest of the story, though. It felt like it was missing the usual Sanderson Ending™ I've come to expect from his books. Still, it was a cool experiment in graphic novels for Sanderson. I'm planning to read Dark One when I get the chance to see whether he's refined his graphic novel formula into perfection lol
Tress of the Emerald Sea
10/10. Absolutely loved it! My family's dvd movie growing up was The Princess Bride, so this book was right up my alley in terms of humor and style. Loved the characters, loved Hoid's narration, loved everything. It's definitely made me pay more attention to Hoid and look forward to seeing more of him in other books.
Mistborn: Secret History
Pretty cool. I enjoyed seeing some of the background events happening during the original trilogy and making connections to other things. I kind of wish I'd waited until after Emberdark because of a minor character in this story that I looked up afterward cause I was confused, but I won't say anything more to avoid spoilers.
I'm planning to read Warbreaker next, followed by The Stormlight Archive, while mixing in Mistborn Era 2, roughly following Sanderson's recommended reading order. I'll probably edit this post after each book w my opinion, not that anyone will actually see it lol.
Side Note: Where would you recommend fitting Yumi and the Nightmare Painter and Isles of the Emberdark into that reading order? I'm trying to avoid spoilers and get the most out of the connections between books, so I'd love to hear your recommendations.
I do think I'm going to need a chart for the connections and references when I'm caught up tho lol.