New here and looing for suggestions

[Realitytripp]

I've read the first three Mistborn novels and the first two Stormlight novels as well. Anyone have any suggestions on what else to pick up before Oathbringer comes out in November?

[Pagerunner he/him]

Welcome to the Shard!

In Arcanum Unbounded (a collection of all cosmere short stories and novellas Brandon has written), you will find a novella called Edgedancer, which is about Lift, set between WoR and OB. Most of the other stuff in there is fair game for what you've read: there are three standalone novellas (Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, Sixth of the Dusk, and The Emperor's Soul), and one Mistborn short story about Kelsier training with his old master, Gemmel (The Eleventh Metal). You could get away with reading the major Mistborn novella in the collection (Mistborn: Secret History), although Brandon recommends waiting until after you've read the next three Mistborn books. There's a Mistborn short story (Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania) and an Elantris short story (The Hope of Elantris) that won't really make any sense unless you've read the second era of Mistborn and Elantris, respectively. And there's a preview from White Sand; more on that below.

If you're looking for the other cosmere books to read, you can follow up on Mistborn with three novels (Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and Bands of Mourning) which jump forward about three hundred years into the future and are set in an early industrial world. There are two other cosmere novels out right now, Warbreaker and Elantris, which are both standalones. (Brandon has slipped characters from each of them, and from White Sand and from the original Mistborn trilogy, into the background in Stormlight. Keep an eye out for weird interlude characters. Warbreaker has had the most noticeable crossovers, by far.) White Sand is a graphic novel adaptation of an unpublished manuscript Brandon wrote; rather than revise it, he sent it straight out to be adapted. Part 1 of 3 is out right now, and Part 2 will come out about the same time as Oathbringer, I believe.

That should be enough to keep you busy. If Oathbringer is anything like the previous two Stormlight books, there will be lots of little tidbits that you can catch if you've read everything from the cosmere. But they won't be so obvious that it won't ruin the experience of Stormlight if you miss them. Stuff like the travelers in the Way of Kings interlude at the Purelake, or all the odd items Mraize has in his collection, or the identity of that strange Ardent who was following Bridge 4 around. For example, there's a House Venture spy in Mistborn named Felt. One of Dalinar's scouts is also named Felt. It's actually the same character! We don't know what he's up to or why he hopped between worlds, but there are a lot of little things like that, that you won't pick up on unless you're fully versed in the cosmere. (Or wait for those of us who are to point it out on the forums.)

[Realitytripp]

Thank you! I'm trying to read as much about the cosmere as possible to try and understand the universe Brandon has built. Started looking up who Wit is because he's one of my favorite characters right below Dalinar and that's when I realized all these series are tied together somehow and Hoid is his actual name (since Liar of Parthinel isn't canon apparently.) I'll have to pick up the next three Mistborn books and Elantris at some point but I heard Warbreaker is free off his website.

So if I understand you right I should start with the next three Mistborn novels then Elantris and Warbreaker and lastly Arcanium Unbounded?

[CaptainRyan he/him]

1 hour ago, Realitytripp said:

So if I understand you right I should start with the next three Mistborn novels then Elantris and Warbreaker and lastly Arcanium Unbounded?

I responded on the other thread but I wanted to stress that "Warbreaker" has tie-ins with the Stormlight Archive that, I think, add a bit of flavor to both stories. I highly suggest this next. Of course, the next Mistborn series, the Wax & Wayne novels, are amazing as well so you really cannot go wrong there (bit of a disclaimer - I did not like "Shadows of Self", one of the W&W Mistborn novels, nearly as much as the rest).

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I already made another post in the other thread, so you can go look at that there.

Welcome to the Shard!