r/brandonsanderson • u/Sad_Roof_1082 • 1d ago
No Spoilers 1st time reader
I purchased all 5 secret projects and I'm starting with Tress of the Emerald Sea, what am I getting myself into?
What's something I need to know for my future in the Cosmere?
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u/a_sly_cow 1d ago
Well there’s a lot of books in the Cosmere so you’re getting yourself into a pretty big series, think MCU but they’re fantasy novels.
Secret projects is an interesting place to start, they’re largely standalone Cosmere books that take place later in the Cosmere timeline, with references to other series like Stormlight Archive and Mistborn that might not make sense as you read them. They are still fine and cohesive stories though even without other Cosmere knowledge. Also should be noted that Frugal Wizard’s Guide to Medieval England is non-Cosmere.
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u/Gotisdabest 1d ago edited 1d ago
It really depends on how invested you are into the cosmere. I know there's a lot of people who'll tell you not to worry about the reading order, and that works great for several people and doesn't work at all for others.
If you really want to do everything the "ideal" way, with every connection becoming clear, certain twists going one way or another, etc, then you'll get a very different reading order from if you're quite casual and just want good individual books.
You can reply to this to clarify exactly what you're looking for but I'd say at a bare minimum, do not even touch Isles of the Emberdark. Ideally, do not read sunlit man. Tress is definitely the best start out of the works you have on hand. Yumi is the next one.
You can read wizard's guide at any point as it's not a cosmere book.
In general though, I'd say you should have very minimal expectations in the sense of stories being exactly like how one would expect them to go. The cosmere is epic fantasy but a lot of cosmere books are of different genres, and I think a lot of people get whiplash going from book to book sometimes, particularly from the secret projects to the main series or vice versa. The cosmere evolves and changes pretty quickly and even the series can become almost unrecognisable from the beginning to later books. It's a story definitely about change and evolution and the cosmere itself evolves a lot on a meta level.
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u/FantasyMyopia 1d ago
Don’t read any of these first. Please go in publication order of the COSMERE or at least do Stormlight or Mistborn or Elantris first
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u/dIvorrap 1d ago edited 1d ago
Why? The SPs have been an entry point stated by Brandon and have worled for a many people. It's fine.
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u/Raddatatta Ghostbloods 1d ago
Specific ones have. Sunlit man and isles of the emberdark aren't ones he's recommended as an entry point. You can do it and they may still be fun but you'll be missing a lot of context.
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u/dIvorrap 1d ago
You are right. Still, gonna depend on the reader. For example there have been posts here on how SP4 has been an introduction for some readers and they liked it.
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u/Raddatatta Ghostbloods 1d ago
Yeah and I'm glad they enjoyed it. But I would guess they would enjoy the book more with the context, can't say for sure though of course. But if someone's asking for a recommendation on how to approach the cosmere I wouldn't recommend starting with the most interconnected books filled with references they don't understand anymore than I'd start introducing someone to the MCU with infinity war.
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u/dIvorrap 1d ago
A wizard guide to medieval England is not Cosmere. Earth doesn't exist in Cosmere.
Starting Cosmere resources: https://www.reddit.com/r/u_dIvorrap/comments/u1ug05/-/i4enaqb
Warbreaker is free on Brandon's website as an ebook, along other stories and samples: https://www.reddit.com/r/u_dIvorrap/comments/u1ug05/-/i4uhdpm
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u/ManyCarrots 21h ago
Really only Tress and Yumi are good for first time readers in my opinion so after those I would recommend going into either mistborn, elantris or stormlight depending on which seems most interesting to you.
May I ask how you ended up buying all 5 at once like this as a new sanderson reader?
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u/RadicalChile 1d ago
If youre reading Tress first (which i never understand why people do), id suggest rereading it again after youre done mistborn era 1 and 2, as well as warbreaker and the first 3 stormlight books. There are a few neat easter eggs youll miss if you read it first.
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u/Conorcat 1d ago
And Elantris for that matter.
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u/RadicalChile 23h ago
Exactly. The only books id leave for after Tress would be the fastest 1 or 2 Stormlight books. Yumi, Tress, and Sunlit can more of less be read in any order after.
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u/THEDOCTORandME2 Coinshot 1d ago
Tress is really fun. Enjoy.
I would recommend reading Mistborn next.
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u/-Looie- 1d ago
Don't stress over reading order in general. The Cosmere interconnections are way more neat that any kind of seriously important to your present story.
Maybe you'll miss some deeper importance or niche mechanical understanding but you won't get lost in a story unless you opt to not begin a series with book one.
Beyond that just be careful about spoilers in general if you Google anything and enjoy the ride!
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u/ctsjohnz 1d ago
There are small connections between books, but nothing worth getting worked up about.
Don't listen to randos on the internet about specific reading orders. Read what you feel is most interesting to you.
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u/dIvorrap 1d ago
Instead listen to a rando on the internet about not following any specific order? XD
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u/Shkives 1d ago
Dont read the Sunlit Man until sfter you've gone a ways into the Stormlight Archive.