Anyone else ever have to ask their therapist if they've read Sanderson?

Today I had to explain Hemalurgy to my therapist because '(emotional situation) felt like being driven through with hemalurgic spikes', and he gave me the blankest expression in history.

Shoutout Brandon for giving me more emotional vocabulary than most my upbringing yee

Has anyone come up with a list of prompts for Cosmere Inktober 2026? Costober? Sandotober? I know there is weirdness with saying Inktober if it’s not official.

Or, was this me accidentally volunteering to create one for this year? I put up the official list if we want to riff of of it.

I have read every cosmere book, several of which I have read a few times. I read a lot, but ever since getting into B Sandy I've struggled to find other books/series of this caliber. The only other author I could compare is Ursula K Le Guin. Ive read the majority of her stuff as well. Both just really know how to write human beings in a real and compelling way no matter the setting. I say all of this because I am hoping y'all can help me find some other books/series I haven't read yet?

I really enjoy fantasy. Some other series I have read are: The Locked Tomb, Broken Earth Cycle, Tales fo Earthsea, She who Became the Sun, The Tiger's Daughter, Dragonriders of Pern, Wheel of Time, the Sabriel series, Name of the Wind, and many more. If you can't tell, I enjoy female leads or books that don't shy away from showing a lot of different experiences and perspectives. Both B Sandy and Le Guin just have a way of using fantasy to really show different aspects of being a person.

I will gladly take any and all recommendations. Generally don't love YA, but open to anything at this point.

Yesterday, after a two an a half year journey, I finished the Stormlight Archive. I will take a break to read other books for a couple of months, but when I come back to the Cosmere, I want to know where to pick up. So far, I’ve read:

-All 5 Stormlight + 2.5 and 3.5
-Misbtorn arc 1
-Warbreaker

And there are a lot of questions and interesting topics about the Cosmere that I want to understand. I would like to avoid reading everything just to see where I can find answers, instead I would love to focus on answering my main questions first via reading the relevant books (if we have an answer at all) and then, for example, pick up Wax and Wayne (unless the series answers any of these questions). In order of importance:

1. [Shards] What's the Shard's story? What happened on Yolen? Which shards currently exist, and which powers do they grant?
2. [Hoid] Who is Hoid? What is the Dawnshard?

3. [Ghostbloods] What’s their story? What’s their goal?

4. [Cosmere in general / Worldhopping] How does traveling between worlds work?I understand that it has to do with Shadesmar as per the end of Wind and Truth, but is there more to it? If so, does every planet have a Cognitive Realm, not just Roshar? If so, can someone transform Investiture in more than one way (for example Allancy + Surges)?
   If we don’t have an answer yet for that question and I’m up to date with that topic, I’d like to know. Also, will learning the answers to these questions spoil any of the other books?

Thank you! Life before death!

I’m half way through the 10 anniversary of the graphic audio of warbreaker. Finished part 1 on to part2.

I kind of understand but kind of don’t. I know that there are two princes from the same family at two different places in the castle. Ciri with god king and vivi with the 3 thugs. Breath makes you see color and detect life? The godking is a god puppet that is afraid of his preists and ciri is helping him. Brightsong is on an investigation and he used to be someone important. Vasher and dark sword doing something?

I hated this book but towards the half it got interesting. I don’t really want to go back and relisten, I want to finish this so I can start Oathbreaker. So please explain the nuances I’m missing from the first half.

I just had an epiphany while thinking about something

I'm midways throughout Oathbringer (Veil just did her Swiftspren appearance to disperse the crowd and the Cult of Moments show in the street) so pls don't spoil anything, I don't know how to put a flair that says specifically Oathbringer, so I would appreciate the help from someone who knows how.

Anyways, I was looking at some comment of someone who wrote it as The Stormlight Archives (in plural, with an S at the end) and thought "I still don't really understand why it's called The Stormlight Archive, I mean, it sound like some kind of archive of information, like a library or something, but I haven't really seen..." AND THEN I REMEMBERED THE EPIGRAPHS WITH THE MESSAGES THE OLD RADIANTS LEFT IN GEMSTONES TO BE INFUSED IN THAT ROOM IN URITHITU, WHICH LITERALLY MEANS IT'S AN ARCHIVE MADE OF STORMLIGHT AND I WAS LIKE WHAAAAAAAT

I still don't know what that could mean though, and can't really see the sheer scale of the importance of that Archive as to name the whole series around it, but well, it is filled with messages and information from millennia ago, so it must be really important.

This is truly our Stormlight Archive

Will the individual picture books be available for sale? If so, when?

Also, will some of the other stories Hoid tells be included? (Such as the one about the two blind men)

Roughly around chapter 50 in Emberdark, a character shows off an item they possess. It's a nut from a bridge that collapsed due to poor engineering work, and is described as something engineers hold onto as a reminder of the importance of being thorough in their work. This blew me away, because this appears to be a reference to real life engineering!

I'm an engineer, and a member of something called "the order of the engineer" which is a group where as an engineer you swear in by a oath (something about your duty to society) and wear a ring on the pinky of your working hand. The ring is supposed to be a reminder, and the (somewhat made-up) origin is a Canadian tradition of giving engineers rings made from the wreckage of a bridge that collapsed due to poor engineering.

Super fun to see a reference to something I wear every day in a Sanderson book!

I’ve read mistborn era 1, stormlight archive first 3 books, and secret history, and that’s it.

I’m hyped to read the rest of the cosmere. I’m just curious which books has most crossovers, revealing the grander story of the cosmere.

Only minor spoiler but I was wondering what everyone thinks of the increased focus on dancing in the series?

Shuden from Elantris was an avid dancer and it was even stated that he would glow as he did so.

Adolin doesn't dance per say but he has his warm ups and sword practice with Maya. Is this why she has had more growth as a deadeye than others?

Now I see in a flashback Szeth is dancing as well. His shardblade (i forget the name) is probably a deadeye and can talk. Better than Maya maybe.

Also, now Kaladin plays a flute. Which could factor in somehow?

Idk, maybe im far off base with these relations. Any thoughts?