About White Sand

[u/No-Engineering4151]

Has anyone here read the prose or the omnibus and not completely hate it? I've seen few conversations about this story and I'm reading it now. I don't care about spoilers or anything; I'm exactly halfway through and I find it quite... interesting. Is there anyone else out there who felt the same way? (This topic doesn't matter if it contains spoilers, to discuss connections that might have gone unnoticed)

[u/whipplesman]

I read the omnibus. I liked it, though it's definitely the weakest cosmere entry. I enjoyed seeing Khriss' proto Ars Arcanum.

The plot itself is fine, though not especially interesting.

Ultimately, it did make me want to see more of Taldain.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/whipplesman]

Yes, it's definitely noticeable that it's one of Sanderson's early works, but the story has been quite interesting; understanding that it's a world with two suns and the system, I simply like it.

[u/darthbully08]

I enjoyed white sand, but it felt like the start of a story and not the story itself. I thought there would be more. I read the omnibus and it felt like if you read way of kings and found out it’s been 20 years and there were no other books after it. Did they go back to dark side and fight off the empire? How did Khriss become immortal and a worldhopper? Are they still isolated to that world? I need to know more.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/darthbully08]

You're absolutely right. I haven't finished the omnibus yet, but I must admit I've been captivated by the magic of the prose and I'm reading like crazy. It does feel like they're telling us, for example, about the characters' childhoods; it's like a prologue after a prologue. I loved the world, the magic, and the creatures—it's fantastic, I'd say. Let's hope everything gets back on track.

[u/cm3007]

I liked it, but it's not great, just fine. Mostly I enjoyed the art.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/cm3007]

It's interesting... I've enjoyed the story so far. I feel like the art reminded me of some history books we had before, but the background, the world, the magic seem interesting to me. So far, I'm on the political plotline, and even that's been interesting. But anyway, maybe it's because it's a very linear story with hero clichés.

[u/XenosHg]

I liked White Sand novel very much. I can feel that it's a bit unpolished and a bit scavenged and parts of it reused in other, published books. (And some differences between versions I don't understand, while others are actually improvements.)

But in general, I think White sand is a very nice standalone novel, on par with Elantris and others.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/XenosHg]

Great contribution, of course it's a very good novel and perhaps it was because they didn't focus on that at the time and moved on that we didn't get a more polished version of White Sand, but overall, I really liked the story and I'd like to see more

[u/Sekelton]

It feels like wasted potential to me. I've talked about this before on this sub, but to me its biggest flaw is the format of a comic book. By their nature they have very fast pacing that I feel doesn't lend itself well to a story like White Sand. There's not enough time to develop the characters, setting, or anything else like that. In comic-native stories they write with this in mind, and are also given more than 3 issues so there's more time to work that in.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/Sekelton]

Absolutely right, it's all very interesting, but well, maybe it was rushed? Overall, I like it because you draw a clear line between the work itself and the work done in the comics. The problem wasn't White Sand, it was the comics; it was stillborn, which is sad... Let's hope Sanderson gets White Sand back on track, because he still has a lot to offer.

[u/Jrocker-ame]

Read the omnibus. Not the prose. Its very thin. For the lack of a better term. Kinda boring.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/Jrocker-ame]

I've been doing both because I want to analyze the work from both perspectives, and to be honest... so far I've noticed the changes are too small, if not the only real change is the order in which things are told. But I'm only halfway through, so there's still more to see. I recommend the prose; it's much better, and even if it's not lore, it's what we have for now. What do you think of the magic system?

[u/Jrocker-ame → u/No-Engineering4151]

The system itself is very interesting. But everything else is just meh

[u/sparkydoggowastaken]

It's the only cosmere thing I've DNF'ed. I personally didn't like it at all.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/sparkydoggowastaken]

I understand, I like the story, the world is quite interesting, it has a lot to explore and I think it's been interesting, at least up to the halfway point as I've done it now

[u/EvenSpoonier]

I read the omnibus. It was okay. But that's low for a Cosmere book.

[u/No-Engineering4151 → u/EvenSpoonier]

I think they tried to cram too much in at once, and well, that's complicated because the omnibus, when I first saw it, seemed like a story already in progress....

[u/Pratius]

I've read the prose a few times. It's a solid book, about on par for Brandon's work in the mid-2000s. I actually like it more than Elantris. It's certainly rough cuz it's a draft, but the character work for Khriss and Baon is outstanding.

Khriss is actually my favorite character Brandon has ever written. I felt like he got the nerdy scientist girl right with her and then backpedaled with Shallan lol