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kaladin x happiness

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So I recently finished White Sand prose version and the ending mentioned that Kenton was goign to go visit Khriss. I couldn’t find a sequel so I turnd to the graphic novles and went straight to teh end of Volume III, which has the same ending as the prose one and doesn’t continue it. I noticed a lot of differences between the graphic noels and prose as well, so a few questions:

1. Is there something that continues those events?

2. Do I have to read the graphic novels - are there any differences that are importnat?

3. Is White Sand non-canon, then?


Thanks!

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There is currently no sequel to White Sand, but I believe one is (eventually) planned. I don't know all the differences between the graphic novel and the prose off the top of my head, but there are some fairly important ones, I believe. White Sand prose is non-canon, and the graphic novel is canon.

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Brandon initially planned White Sand as a trilogy, but didn't write the two sequels. That was the plan when he wrote White Sand Prose. At first he was unsure whether to do them as graphic novels:

Quote

Iceblade44

The original White Sand was the first of a trilogy so i was wondering what is your plan for the other two books? Writing them as books, graphic novels, or are you just to busy to actually do anything about it right now?

Brandon Sanderson

We'll decide when the graphic novel is done and out. Basically, we have to gauge fan response. If sales are good, and fans want more, we'll likely do them as graphic novels.

When I write more in Taldain, I intend to construct a new story, taking place after the events of the trilogy. (Whether or not we actually do graphic novels of the other two originals.)

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 29, 2016)

But since the graphic novels are generally unpopular, he doesn't want to go down that route. He wants to include some of these elements in a potential Khriss sequel story though:

Quote

Questioner

Are you gonna do more [White Sand Graphic Novels]

Brandon Sanderson

We're gonna do a full omnibus, and then we're talking about what to do with Darkside, 'cause there's a story there that I want to tell. I might involve Isaac in it; he's my art director who art directed this entire thing. There should be another story in the world. We're not sure if it'll be graphic or if it'll be print.

Questioner

I have a copy of Darkside, I just didn't bring it.

Brandon Sanderson

No, not Dark One. Darkside of White Sand, the other half of the planet. Dark One is a different thing. Khriss is from Darkside in this world, and she's really relevant to the Cosmere as a whole. She shows in up several of the other books. She shows up in Bands of Mourning, Khriss from this, and she's also in Secret History, and she shows up here and there. She's really relevant to the Cosmere, particularly some future stuff. And so we want to tell more of her story also.

FanX 2021 (Sept. 16, 2021)

And there's some more details about that story as well:

Quote

Questioner

How has Isaac’s writing been coming along?

Isaac Stewart

I have been doing worldbuilding for Darkside.

Brandon Sanderson

We’re thinking, Isaac has been very interested in doing some cosmere stories. So we are going to, at some point, have Isaac write in the cosmere. We’ve talked about Mistborn stuff, we’ve talked about Threnody stuff, we’ve talked about Taldain stuff. Something along those lines, Isaac’s gonna do that.

Isaac Stewart

The first thing you’ll get from me, aside from the Nicki Savage story and the Allomancer Jak that you’ve already gotten, is this new prologue to White Sand. There’s some scenes in there that don’t show up in the original manuscript that were put in there for reasons, just to help the book come together as a whole, that I hope people will like. So you’ll kinda get to see what my take is on cosmere-type things on that.

But that’s where I’m at right now. I’m really enjoying fleshing out the Darkside stuff. We’re thinking about calling it The Arcanist, relating to Khriss. This is her story. And that also gives us leeway to continue her stories under that title, The Arcanist.

Dark One Q&A (July 2, 2020)

... which make it sound like it will be more of its own thing and not that much of a White Sand sequel, but we'll see. Since that was in the middle of 2020 and we've not really heard of it since, the process seems to be a slow one. I wouldn't count on it in the nearest future.

All of that said, I think the ending of White Sand Prose is actually well-rounded, of course with a sequel hook (especially the unnecessary epilogue), but Kenton leaving Dayside seems like the typical Brandon way to end a story - instead of having all characters settle down, he likes to make people go on an adventure at the end, so the reader feels like their lives continue and they will still experience exciting stuff after the story is over (he also does this in Emperor's Soul and Warbreaker, to name some more examples within the Cosmere, both of which are not sure to get a sequel).

---

As for the question which one is canon: The changes made in the graphic novel are canon, but they are few. The most substantial (and still not really important) in the first two volumes is Ais being female in the graphic novels. All other important changes are in the last volume (for example one character surviving that dies in the prose version) and even those are few. So White Sand Prose is not strictly canon, but you should be fine having read that, you know the story, the world and all the important stuff, and the few changes are not worth the money and time (like I said, the graphic novels have a pretty bad reputation).

Edited by Elegy
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White Sand Graphic Novels are based on the White Sand Prose (Unreleased - noncanon - second attempt); which was based on White Sand Prime and Lord Mastrell (the first two books of the original planned trilogy). If you're just not a Graphic Novel fan, then you can probably just read the Coppermind and Arcanum entries to understand the differences.

Spoiler

 

1) White Sand Prime (My first Fantasy Novel)

2) Star's End (Short, alien-relations sf novel.)

3) Lord Mastrell (Sequel to White Sand Prime)

4) Knight Life (Fantasy comedy.)

5) The Sixth Incarnation of Pandora (Far future sf involving immortal warriors)

6) Elantris (You have to buy this one!)

7) Dragonsteel (My most standard epic fantasy)

8) White Sand (Complete rewrite of the first attempt)

9) Mythwalker (Unfinished at about 600 pages. Another more standard epic fantasy.)

10) Aether of Night (Stand-Alone fantasy. A little like Elantris.)

11) Mistborn Prime (Eventually stole this world.)

12) Final Empire Prime (Cannibalized for book 14 as well.)

13) The Way of Kings (Fantasy War epic. Coming in 2008 or 2009)

14) Mistborn: The Final Empire (Coming June 2006)

 

If you normally do like Graphic Novels, they will be re-releasing all three volumes as an Omnibus (since Scalpers bought out Vol 1 before Vol 3 released so they could overcharge on Amazon and EBay), they are worth reading.There is some world-building detail lost, but it is offset by details gained in the visuals.

 

Spoiler

 

Questioner

Are you gonna do more [White Sand Graphic Novels]

Brandon Sanderson

We're gonna do a full omnibus, and then we're talking about what to do with Darkside, 'cause there's a story there that I want to tell. I might involve Isaac in it; he's my art director who art directed this entire thing. There should be another story in the world. We're not sure if it'll be graphic or if it'll be print.

 

 

11 hours ago, Elegy said:

(like I said, the graphic novels have a pretty bad reputation).

From where do you get this? Or is it just your opinion (though reputation implies more than one opinion)?

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12 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

From where do you get this? Or is it just your opinion (though reputation implies more than one opinion)?

I'm just going to say that there's a reason why they are doing a massive clean-up for the omnibus edition. The art is a mess in a lot of places, the technological level of several things displayed in the background makes no sense to the point of having become a meme (the boombox being the best example). Those and the artist changes are things that Brandon and his team seem to have issues with themselves.

As for its reputation on this site, it's easy to just look at the number of replies to the topics and the generally lukewarm reaction to each of them (the most common reaction to the third one being something like "well, this one was actually okay!", which is a bad sign) on here and on the Discord server, also the reactions on Shardcast. It's not hated, of course, but it's easily Brandon's least liked work overall.

(As for my personal opinion on them, yes, I coincidentally dislike them and (as someone who likes the medium a lot) think they don't work as graphic novels at all. I think people can just skip them, read the Prose version (which I like) and then read about the changes made, and Brandon would do well to actually replace them with a revised prose version so they don't have to be canon anymore, which he still seems to consider actually doing. But that's just my two cents and they don't influence my point above at all.)

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@Elegy I'm sorry if I offended you, but the way you said "pretty bad reputation" seemed to take for granted that everybody thinks the same way. If you had said "reputation on this site" I might have had a better idea of what you meant.

So, for the record to the OP - many people (but not all) on this site are less than satisfied by the White Sand Graphic Novels; both for the reasons Elegy mentioned, as well as a few other quirks (most of which can be easily found and delineated on Coppermind or other threads in this forum). Amongst my friends that read Sanderson, but are not (yet) so invested in the Cosmere that they are aware of things like 17th Shard and Coppermind; White Sand was very popular (except the whole "buy out" nonsense - but that's a different story). My experience is that those who enjoy that medium have found it to be an acceptable "first attempt" (not horribly bad, not amazing) with a good story that is mostly well told in the adapted script. Amongst those who generally dislike the medium, the mistakes stick out more and general consensus is lower-than-average.

For my part, I would say it is better than the Ender's Game and Anita Blake adaptation Graphic Novels, but not as good as the Dresden Graphic Novels.

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7 hours ago, Treamayne said:

@Elegy I'm sorry if I offended you, but the way you said "pretty bad reputation" seemed to take for granted that everybody thinks the same way. If you had said "reputation on this site" I might have had a better idea of what you meant.

No, it's all good, I wasn't offended at all :) I do think that saying something has a "pretty bad reputation" does not mean that everyone dislikes it. It's just not been well-received in comparison to other Brandon works, so I still stand by that wording. If that makes it sound like I don't accept or realize that there are people who like them a lot, that was definitely not my intention.

To summarize, I wouldn't actively advise people to never ever read them, but considering that these graphic novels are expensive and kinda hard to get by (at the moment, we'll see how that'll change with thr omnibus), I think it's fair to suggest that they are not necessarily considered must-reads, especially when one has read the prose version and got almost all the important information. If you're a strict completist however (like I am), sure!

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