When to read secret history?

[The_Milkgod]

More specifically, is a person all in the clear to read SH after finishing the first trilogy? I just finished the first trilogy recently and am not quite ready to move on to era 2 so I was curious if SH is alright to read. 

[Frustration he/him]

Brandon recommends reading at least up to Bands of Mourning before reading SH. And I agree.

[The_Milkgod]

35 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Brandon recommends reading at least up to Bands of Mourning before reading SH. And I agree.

Thanks. Is it big spoilers or something? 

[Frustration he/him]

Just now, The_Milkgod said:

Thanks. Is it big spoilers or something? 

Some people would say it's a huge spoiler, I say that it's just a better experience reading BoM first, but that's all down to what you care about and how you classify spoiler sizes 

[StormingTexan he/him]

10 minutes ago, The_Milkgod said:

Thanks. Is it big spoilers or something? 

I agree with @Frustration above. I think it mainly depends though on how long it will take you to read the first three books of Era 2. In my opinion MBSH is better when the events of the original trilogy are fresh in your mind. I had read the original trilogy years before MBSH and I think some of the stuff in it would have landed better if I had read the trilogy more recently. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by StormingTexan

[The_Milkgod]

1 minute ago, StormingTexan said:

I agree with @Frustration above. I think it mainly depends though on how long it will take you to read the first three books of Era 2 though. In my opinion MBSH is better when the events of the original trilogy are fresh in your mind. I had read the original trilogy years before MBSH and I think some of the stuff in it would have landed better if I had read the trilogy more recently. 

I gatcha. I probably won’t be reading era 2 for awhile since I’ve got a lot of books sitting on my shelf to get threw plus I want to read Elantris and Warbreaker before then. I thank y’all for these responses, very helpful.

[alder24]

It depends on what you already know about era 2 and certain stuff, and I can't really ask you about it because the question itself is a spoiler. The best experience of SH is after reading BoM, so I agree with @Frustration. But SH is mostly about events in the original trilogy, and it gives an interesting new perspective. So while you can read it right after finishing Hero of the Ages, it's better to read it after Bands of Mourning.

[AquaRegia he/him]

In my opinion, it's always best to read things in publication order.  You get exactly the experience the author intended that way.

And in this most particular case, I STRONGLY advise reading MBSH only after BoM.

[Returned]

I, personally, would prefer to have read it immediately after Hero of Ages. The "spoilers" people are referring to are indeed better after Bands of Mourning, but I don't think they're that much better that it's worth becoming less familiar with the relevant events from the first three books. Even if you do prefer to wait until after BoM you'll get more out of SH if you re-read the original trilogy immediately before anyways.

Cosmere interconnectivity between books being what it is, and the fandom being what it is, there is a real chance that the SH spoiler(s) will be less impactful than they would have been right after SH was published. I wouldn't say that there is a wrong way to read SH though (except maybe before reading era 1, I guess), so I wouldn't worry about it too much no matter what you decide.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Returned

[The_Milkgod]

4 minutes ago, Returned said:

I, personally, would prefer to have read it immediately after Hero of Ages. The "spoilers" people are referring to are indeed better after Bands of Mourning, but I don't think they're that much better that it's worth becoming less familiar with the relevant events from the first three books. Even if you do prefer to wait until after HoA you'll get more out of SH if you re-read the original trilogy immediately before anyways.

Cosmere interconnectivity between books being what it is, and the fandom being what it is, there is a real chance that the SH spoiler(s) will be less impactful than they would have been right after SH was published. I wouldn't say that there is a wrong way to read SH though (except maybe before reading era 1, I guess), so I wouldn't worry about it too much no matter what you decide.

That’s what I decided to do. I had bought a copy shortly before posting and was just thinking about it. But then I thought “I’ve read through the entirety of Stormlight before any other cosmere books and had HoA big time spoiled for me before finishing it so what’s the worst that could happen?” 

[offer]

1 hour ago, The_Milkgod said:

That’s what I decided to do. I had bought a copy shortly before posting and was just thinking about it. But then I thought “I’ve read through the entirety of Stormlight before any other cosmere books and had HoA big time spoiled for me before finishing it so what’s the worst that could happen?” 

I did the same (read SH right after era 1) and I strongly regret it. It spoils the final reveal of BoM. 

I also was slightly spoiled on the end of HoA but that doesn`t really mattered to me because the big part there is to how it got there and not what the ending is.

In the case of SH+BoM the spoiler just tells you the answer to the big mistery of BoM. Reading the ending of BoM after being spoiled is very anti-climatic.

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, Frustration said:

Some people would say it's a huge spoiler, I say that it's just a better experience reading BoM first, but that's all down to what you care about and how you classify spoiler sizes 

4 hours ago, The_Milkgod said:

I gatcha. I probably won’t be reading era 2 for awhile since I’ve got a lot of books sitting on my shelf to get threw plus I want to read Elantris and Warbreaker before then. I thank y’all for these responses, very helpful.

4 hours ago, alder24 said:

It depends on what you already know about era 2 and certain stuff, and I can't really ask you about it because the question itself is a spoiler. The best experience of SH is after reading BoM, so I agree with @Frustration. But SH is mostly about events in the original trilogy, and it gives an interesting new perspective. So while you can read it right after finishing Hero of the Ages, it's better to read it after Bands of Mourning.

This was also discussed here, if you want some more feedback/opinions. 

If you are the type who also likes to reread things, you can knock out Secret History now or after Bands of Mourning (based on your choice from the feedback so far), then later you can check out this thread that details how Secret History integrates into the timeline of Era 1 - that way you can experience MSH the first time normally, and use the re-read to refresh Era 1 at the same time.

My personal opinon matches @Frustration's. As I said in the other thread:

On 12/5/2022 at 9:13 PM, Treamayne said:

Mistborn: Secret History definitely has spoilers for Era 2 and the author recommends waiting until after Bands of Mourning to read it. Another factor is how much (if any) other Cosmere books/series has the individual read? If Mistborn is their first (or nearly first) work by Sanderson or in the Cosmere, then the ton of Cosmere references and information that will not make much sense and will have far less impact than it should.

For all of my friends that I have recommended Sanderson (and Cosmere) I have never recommended they read MSH after HoA. I just warn them that they could do so, but it is not recommend as it spoils things down the road and will make less sense unless they have read, at least, Warbreaker and Elantris after HoA and before Alloy of Law. I usually only recommend reading it with Era 1 during a re-read of the whole Era 1.

As always, YMMV.

Hope that helps.