Should I read Dragonsteel Prime?

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

I am really intrigued by it, but I have heard things about early brandon. Should I read it?

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

I am really intrigued by it, but I have heard things about early brandon. Should I read it?

It is in the category of old storis that Brandon feels comfortable enough to share..

Spoiler

LewsTherinTelescope

Something I've been curious about: will Liar of Partinel be released as a Sanderson Curiosity eventually? I noticed that in the stream a while back where you listed your unpublished books, you didn't list it among them.

Also, you gave four approximate sort of "quality tiers", of

1. Decent but not great: White Sand, Aether, WoKP, Dragonsteel Prime
2. Readable but not good: Final Empire Prime, Mistborn Prime
3. Bad but not horrible: Knight Life, Star's End, Sixth Incarnation of Pandora
4. Just plain terrible: White Sand Prime/Lord Mastrell, Mythwalker

Which tier would Liar be in?

Brandon Sanderson

Liar would be #2, I'd think. Problem is, it's close enough to continuity (having been written after I'd outlined the cosmere) that I wouldn't want to actually release it until after I've done the actual Hoid backstory book. I've changed some dramatic things about how I want to present the story, so it would be bad to release this one.

Rhythm of War Preview Q&As (Oct. 8, 2020)

That said, it i not a bad story, It is . . . interesting to see previous versions of Characters you already know. If you have read WaT, there are now References to this story in that book. The magic system is not very fleshed out (which feels very weird for a Cosmere book) and it's obvious this was a very early draft.

I would say if you have not read any of the non-canon books, I would suggest both Prose White Sand and Aether of Night before Dragonsteel Prime - but I would recommend Dragonsteel Prime over Way of Kings Prime. 

In the end it comes down to what interests you, and if you can live with knowing there are cliffhanger questions that will never be answered. . . 

Edited April 20, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

43 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

It is in the category of old storis that Brandon feels comfortable enough to share..

  Hide contents

LewsTherinTelescope

Something I've been curious about: will Liar of Partinel be released as a Sanderson Curiosity eventually? I noticed that in the stream a while back where you listed your unpublished books, you didn't list it among them.

Also, you gave four approximate sort of "quality tiers", of

1. Decent but not great: White Sand, Aether, WoKP, Dragonsteel Prime
2. Readable but not good: Final Empire Prime, Mistborn Prime
3. Bad but not horrible: Knight Life, Star's End, Sixth Incarnation of Pandora
4. Just plain terrible: White Sand Prime/Lord Mastrell, Mythwalker

Which tier would Liar be in?

Brandon Sanderson

Liar would be #2, I'd think. Problem is, it's close enough to continuity (having been written after I'd outlined the cosmere) that I wouldn't want to actually release it until after I've done the actual Hoid backstory book. I've changed some dramatic things about how I want to present the story, so it would be bad to release this one.

Rhythm of War Preview Q&As (Oct. 8, 2020)

That said, it i not a bad story, It is . . . interesting to see previous versions of Characters you already know. If you have read WaT, there are now References to this story in that book. The magic system is not very fleshed out (which feels very weird for a Cosmere book) and it's obvious this was a very early draft.

I would say if you have not read any of the non-canon books, I would suggest both Prose White Sand and Aether of Night before Dragonsteel Prime - but I would recommend Dragonsteel Prime over Way of Kings Prime. 

In the end it comes down to what interests you, and if you can live with knowing there are cliffhanger questions that will never be answered. . . 

Thank you! And no, I cannot. What is White Sand Prose?

[Treamayne]

29 minutes ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

What is White Sand Prose?

Please see White Sand Versions.

[Amanthyr]

This was the first of his books that I read all the way through. Not that I didn't like the others, but life and such got in the way and I finally forced myself to sit down and actually read through a book.
I thought it was quite enjoyable. However, I don't think I would recommend it to someone to read simply due to the fact that it was clearly being written with more story in mind, yet that story will not be told, which I find to be pretty frustrating.

I've just read through a bunch of issues people have with his older works and, honestly, a good 80% of them just feel like someone was mad that everything wasn't written exactly as they'd have written it.

It's a nice book with a lot of fun/interesting elements, and I hope to encounter similarly exciting elements in his other stories.

[Nitpicking]

I read Dragonsteel Prime (actually, listened to the audiobook) and I'm glad I did. My reaction was:

1. Read "really published" Cosmere works first, probably.
2. Be ready for some extra-clunky prose. This was never beta read and never edited, and never even actually got a second draft as far as I know. It's rough in spots. Not terrible, but not polished at all.
3. Brandon wasn't very good at humor in those days. He's better now.

Like I said in the topic I started here, it's more interesting than entertaining. I liked it better than either Aether of Night or Way of Kings Prime, but that can easily be just me. I put it below Prose White Sand. Then again, I put Rhythm of War and White Sand Graphic below White Sand Prose.