Dragonsteel Is Available... Sort of.

[blad3mast3r he/him]

So, As I was looking through the BYu library I came across Brandon's Thesis. 

 

It said: "Dragonsteel"

 

I flipped through it a bit, and it looks pretty legit.... But I  am not sure if i should read it. Will it spoil everything? Can I really stand to leave a Sanderson book unread?

 

Anybody else read it / aware of it?

[Blightsong he/him]

So, As I was looking through the BYu library I came across Brandon's Thesis. 

 

It said: "Dragonsteel"

 

I flipped through it a bit, and it looks pretty legit.... But I  am not sure if i should read it. Will it spoil everything? Can I really stand to leave a Sanderson book unread?

 

Anybody else read it / aware of it?

It's not a secret that you can get it from BYU. Half of it was scrapped for WoK and is considered not canon anymore but some of it might give you some insight into the cosmere. If I were you I would read it, but it's supposed to not be very good.

[Argent he/him]

You can bet money it's going to be spoilery. How much, we can't tell. But in many ways it's the first Cosmere story, so while much will change, I expect much - the core - will remain the same.

[Titan Arum]

If you do want to read it, I've heard that usually there is a mile long wait list for it...so if it's available now for some reason, check it out if you're inclined to!

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Yeah as Blightsong mentioned, we've known that Dragonsteel is there and readable (also available through inter-library loan) for years.  I think in general Brandon would prefer if people didn't read it but won't hate you if you do.
 

Q: Is Hoid a dragon?
B: Oh I will give you a RAFO card.  Have you read Dragonsteel?
Q: I have not but--
B: Don’t read it, it’s bad.

 
(source)
 
And a more in-depth explanation:
 

Questioner
 
So I have a copy of your Dragonsteel master thesis, I haven’t read it though.  And I was wondering how you’ve grown as an author do you like people to read that or [would you rather they wait for the better version?]
 
Brandon Sanderson
 
I… I’m… That one I don’t really like people reading that much because it has an inferior version of Bridge 4 that I don’t want people to meet…  Like the Bridge 4 team--
 
Questioner
 
[And when you re-write it it will be better?]
 
Brandon Sanderson
 
Well Bridge 4 won’t even be in that book anymore I moved them to Roshar.  So you go back and you find the version of Rock that is not quite the right version and you’ll find--  Teft is basically the same dude but a lot of the other ones have changed and morphed and they basically won’t feel right anymore…  Feel free to read it, don’t feel bad reading it but that’s the part that I’m--
 
Questioner
 
Is that the only part you are worried about?  And the rest you are like “It’s not my best writing” but--
 
Brandon Sanderson

The rest is not my best writing but whatever. But the Bridge 4 stuff, I’m like I did it so much better that it’s not even going back and seeing it in rough sketches, it’s like if da Vinci had painted a Mona Lisa that was ugly and a different person? You don’t want it cemented in people’s minds that that is what the piece of art is. The rest of it I don’t mind so much, I mean the main character his conflict will change dramatically because I pulled that out and gave it to another character in the books. So basically the only thing remaining that is still going to be canon is Hoid and his story, the story what he’s doing there is still stuff he would have done...

[Zas678 he/him]

I've read it before- there's some interesting things in there, and I enjoyed reading it. Hoid's a PoV character, but this is the cosmere still in its infancy of being developed so some things have changed. I honestly didn't make the Bridge 4 connection till just now. The Shattered Plains is still there, but the resolution is different than the resolution in WoK/WoR.

 

A good test for you might be Mythwalker. It was a story that wasn't really working out, so Brandon just stopped halfway through. He put it online though, so you can read it. If you enjoyed reading it, than I think you'll enjoy Dragonsteel. If not, you probably will not like to read Dragonsteel either. There's some things that got cannibalized, but others that weren't. Same with Dragonsteel.