How much knowledge is needed for Arcanum Unbound?

[galendo]

I just got my grubby little hands on a copy of Arcanum Unbound, and I'm tempted to dive right in.  But for a lot of the worlds I...don't quite remember the main stories very well.  For instance

(Elantris spoilers)

Spoiler

In Elantris, I remember the main guy (Raodin, I think) got sick with the curse and thrown into the corrupt city before his fiancee showed up (can't remember her name).  There was also an evil priest guy who went around causing trouble somehow (his name was Hrathin, maybe?).  I forget what trouble he caused, or how, or even who of importance was left outside the city, though I do remember that Hrathin was working for an evil emperor.  I guess since Raodin was a prince then there must have been a king or a queen?  And maybe there was an assassination attempt?  I kind of forget.

Anyway, somehow the fiancee ends up tossed in the city as well.  I think she's been poisoned to be made to look like an Elantrian (maybe the priest wanted to poison someone else, and she got poisoned instead or something...something like that).  So she gets tossed in the city, too, and meets up with Raodin, who's reforming it from within.  Then somehow they escape the city, though I forget why or how, and go talk to some people outside (Raodin's relatives, maybe?  Like his uncle or something?)

Then something something something (I think the evil priest whips up a mob to go kill the Elantrians, though I can't imagine why he'd bother), and Raodin saves the day by realizing that he needs to draw a line to fix the broken city-symbol, and all the Elantrians transform into super-Elantrians, and then they use teleportation magic to save the day again somehow, though I can't remember what the threat was or how they're able to avert it.  Maybe they stop an invasion somehow?

Then, let's see...I guess the main guy and main girl get married?  And the evil priest goes back to his evil emperor?  Or maybe he turns good or something instead?

Oh, and I remember there were glowing balls of light that followed them around and let them talk to each other from a distance, and there were even more evil priests who used human sacrifice to...grant themselves immunity to magic, or something?

Yeah, I kind of remember this, but not all that well.

So anyway, the point is that I remember the gist of the story, but I probably wouldn't recognize any names or specific events if they were mentioned in The Emperor's Soul.  So should I:

A) Just dive into the short story and trust that it'll be mostly comprehensible even though I only remember the broad strokes of the original story.

Read a summary of the original online somewhere to refresh my memory, then dive into the short story.

C) Reread the original, then immediately read the associated short story.

I'm thinking that A) is the best if, say, the short stories don't involve any of the original characters or events, would be best if a minimal familiarity with names and events is desirable, and C) would be best if the minutiae are important.  In most cases I remember the broad strokes well enough (see my description above), though particular details often elude me.

I've already read Shadows of Silence, so I know there isn't any prerequisite knowledge needed for that one, and I'm confident enough of my Stormlight Archive memory to probably be fine there (well, maybe.  I remember Lift from her interlude well enough, and her spren Windle, and Darkness/Nalan, but, for instance, I forget the name of the guy who became king.  Gax?  Grax?).

Anyway, if someone in the know could provide a quick summary of how much knowledge is required and/or desirable for each story, that'd be great.  I don't want to miss out, but I don't want to do a bunch of rereading for minimal payout, either.  I'll save that for if and when the sequel(s) arrive.

[+Extesian he/him]

Here goes J

 

Emperor’s Soul – won’t spoil anything, don’t need to know anything and it’s a thing of beauty

Hope of Elantris – big spoilers for Elantris, but it doesn’t mean you need to remember it well to get the story, just don’t read it if you want to go back to Elantris for a ‘fresh’ re-read

Eleventh metal – it’s slightly pre-Mistborn so you’re fine either way (though if someone had never read mistborn I’d recommend doing it first coz it would destroy some of the slow-release answers from the first joyous read)

Allomancer Jak – it’s set in the Wax and Wayne area so I wouldn’t read it before Mistborn, and it could have minor spoilers I guess for the Wax and Wayne series, but it won’t hurt if you’re simply not that fresh on those books

Mistborn Secret History – huge Mistborn spoilers of course, spoilers for a range of other things (mainly systems rather than plot), and you’d miss almost all of the wonderful reveals if you’re not very Cosmere-aware – I only recommend this to people who have read every Cosmere book and are pretty into the world

White Sand – standalone, can read any time (not as good as the prose in my mind, I would recommend reading the prose first if you have the time, but not necessary)

Shadows – no spoilers, no knowledge necessary and you’ve read anyway

Sixth of the Dusk – set a few hundred years after the recent books, no spoilers (well, not really), no knowledge needed (though you get more from it if you are Cosmere-aware) and just a wonderful story. This and Emperor’s Soul I hard recommend to everyone

Edgedancer – now this is the big question. I believe Peter or Brandon recommended it as a first book for new readers. I would not recommend that in a million years (and I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever disagreed with him), to me it has big spoilers for Stormlight Archive, mainly in how the magic systems work, but also plot points, and while it’s entertaining with no former knowledge you’d certainly miss a lot of the point of some of the big plot events. If you’re just a little hazy on Words of Radiance, it should be fine to read though, you’ll still get the point and you won’t spoil a re-read of Stormlight books. In the situation you described, I’d read it.

 

So as long as you’ve read all the Mistborn books (era 1 and 2), and you can basically remember major plot lines in Stormlight and Elantris, read it all without fear J

[galendo]

2 hours ago, Extesian said:

Here goes J

 

Emperor’s Soul – won’t spoil anything, don’t need to know anything and it’s a thing of beauty

Hope of Elantris – big spoilers for Elantris, but it doesn’t mean you need to remember it well to get the story, just don’t read it if you want to go back to Elantris for a ‘fresh’ re-read

Eleventh metal – it’s slightly pre-Mistborn so you’re fine either way (though if someone had never read mistborn I’d recommend doing it first coz it would destroy some of the slow-release answers from the first joyous read)

Allomancer Jak – it’s set in the Wax and Wayne area so I wouldn’t read it before Mistborn, and it could have minor spoilers I guess for the Wax and Wayne series, but it won’t hurt if you’re simply not that fresh on those books

Mistborn Secret History – huge Mistborn spoilers of course, spoilers for a range of other things (mainly systems rather than plot), and you’d miss almost all of the wonderful reveals if you’re not very Cosmere-aware – I only recommend this to people who have read every Cosmere book and are pretty into the world

White Sand – standalone, can read any time (not as good as the prose in my mind, I would recommend reading the prose first if you have the time, but not necessary)

Shadows – no spoilers, no knowledge necessary and you’ve read anyway

Sixth of the Dusk – set a few hundred years after the recent books, no spoilers (well, not really), no knowledge needed (though you get more from it if you are Cosmere-aware) and just a wonderful story. This and Emperor’s Soul I hard recommend to everyone

Edgedancer – now this is the big question. I believe Peter or Brandon recommended it as a first book for new readers. I would not recommend that in a million years (and I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever disagreed with him), to me it has big spoilers for Stormlight Archive, mainly in how the magic systems work, but also plot points, and while it’s entertaining with no former knowledge you’d certainly miss a lot of the point of some of the big plot events. If you’re just a little hazy on Words of Radiance, it should be fine to read though, you’ll still get the point and you won’t spoil a re-read of Stormlight books. In the situation you described, I’d read it.

 

So as long as you’ve read all the Mistborn books (era 1 and 2), and you can basically remember major plot lines in Stormlight and Elantris, read it all without fear J

Thanks, Extesian!  That's exactly what I was looking for!

[Pagerunner he/him]

8 hours ago, Extesian said:

Edgedancer – now this is the big question. I believe Peter or Brandon recommended it as a first book for new readers. I would not recommend that in a million years (and I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever disagreed with him), to me it has big spoilers for Stormlight Archive, mainly in how the magic systems work, but also plot points, and while it’s entertaining with no former knowledge you’d certainly miss a lot of the point of some of the big plot events. If you’re just a little hazy on Words of Radiance, it should be fine to read though, you’ll still get the point and you won’t spoil a re-read of Stormlight books. In the situation you described, I’d read it.

Great summary, but one thing to note about Edgedancer. Team Sanderson never recommended Edgedancer as a starting point; I believe it came from a Tor.com article which was later amended. It is very much Stormlight 2.5.

EDIT: What do you know, Peter was there in the comment section. The WoR Lift interlude will be included in the Edgedancer hardcover, so that particular format would work better as a standalone. For Arcanum Unbounded, though, you'd still need to have read Words of Radiance.

Edited May 11, 2017 by Pagerunner