Jofwu he/him Posted December 14, 2020 Posted December 14, 2020 Hey people, I'm interested in your Cosmere reading order opinions! Got a minute for a quick survey? https://forms.gle/xt6b9Vkus9tgqLFn9 Results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14rRUB9Kz3vhm2vC135KFaZX-Pc1vdG1VimINetVD7cQ/edit?usp=sharing 4
Honorless he/him Posted December 14, 2020 Posted December 14, 2020 (edited) 9 hours ago, Jofwu said: Cosmere reading order opinions! Got a minute for a quick survey? *insert Snape saying"always" meme* Hmm... I had some trouble selecting 3 under readings before Secret History for Shadows for Silence, which was fine because I didn't really want to select 3 but that might be a problem on the form? Or are Google services still a bit broken? Edited December 15, 2020 by Honorless
Frustration Posted December 14, 2020 Posted December 14, 2020 (edited) Personally, as I recommend it to people and excluding RoW SA Mistborn, Elantris, Arcanum Unbounded White Sand. Edited December 14, 2020 by Ookla The Frustrated
Chinkoln he/him Posted December 14, 2020 Posted December 14, 2020 Generally, I would be wary of links. Then I saw it was a Moderator and decided, if they wanted to cause me harm, they could probably do it without a link like this. My brother is reading Cosmere right now. The order I gave (For the major books, novellas and short stories are generally more flexible) was Elantris Mistborn Era 1 Secret History Warbreaker Stormlight Archive Mistborn Era 2
Necessary Eagle she/her Posted December 15, 2020 Posted December 15, 2020 I don't remember everything from my first read, I think I saw someone reccing Mistborn on a message board and I decided to check it out.
Knight of Iron she/they Posted December 15, 2020 Posted December 15, 2020 Right now my sister is on a reading order in which she will read Secret History after Bands of Mourning, which I feel could be an excellent reveal.
Knight Oblivion Posted December 15, 2020 Posted December 15, 2020 I recommend the Stormlight Archive last considering the references to everything else. Overall I recommend by series: - Elantris/The Emperor's Soul - Mistborn (Secret History after Bands of Mourning) - Warbreaker - White Sand - the rest of Arcanum Unbounded (after Words of Radiance or warning about Edgedancer needing to wait) -The Stormlight Archive I'm fairly flexible on Warbreaker, White Sand, Elantris, and Mistborn not mattering much for series order. Though I recommend Elantris first because it's a good introduction to Sanderson's writing. Though I am adamant about The Stormlight Archive being last. I read them that way inadvertently, but I would have been lost if I did otherwise after Oathbringer or Words of Radiance.
Karger he/him Posted December 15, 2020 Posted December 15, 2020 It really depends on the person. You have to make sure the first fix sticks otherwise they might be turned off. 2
StanLemon Posted December 15, 2020 Posted December 15, 2020 My list I would recommend is this. Though I might adjust it when making recommendations to someone new based on their interests. Mistborn Era 1 Warbreaker Mistborn Era 2 Secret History Stormlight 1 Stormlight 2 Edgedancer Stormlight 3 Dawnshard Stormlight 4 Elantris Rest of Arcanum Unbound White Sand
Liranil she/her Posted December 15, 2020 Posted December 15, 2020 I usually recommend Mistborn first just because it's not as huge and intimidating and it helps them get to know Sanderson's writing style while not having a ton of lore that you're suddenly thrown into.
Jofwu he/him Posted December 15, 2020 Author Posted December 15, 2020 Adding a link to the results at the top of the post. Results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14rRUB9Kz3vhm2vC135KFaZX-Pc1vdG1VimINetVD7cQ/edit?usp=sharing Some of it will need to be sorted out after I close the survey, but I've set up as much as I can. 1
+Child of Hodor Posted December 15, 2020 Posted December 15, 2020 Mistborn era 1 is my recommended entry point because SA can be overwhelming even though it’s by far my favorite.
Jofwu he/him Posted December 17, 2020 Author Posted December 17, 2020 Alright. Survey responses were slowing to a trickle so I've closed up the survey and cleaned up the results. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14rRUB9Kz3vhm2vC135KFaZX-Pc1vdG1VimINetVD7cQ/edit#gid=300905021 See the "Charts" tab to view results. Haven't had time to really process the results myself. If anyone makes a interesting observation feel free to share. 1
Kingsdaughter613 she/her Posted December 18, 2020 Posted December 18, 2020 6 hours ago, Jofwu said: Alright. Survey responses were slowing to a trickle so I've closed up the survey and cleaned up the results. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14rRUB9Kz3vhm2vC135KFaZX-Pc1vdG1VimINetVD7cQ/edit#gid=300905021 See the "Charts" tab to view results. Haven't had time to really process the results myself. If anyone makes a interesting observation feel free to share. Just a preliminary observation: The people who answered the first day of the survey had higher scores on Investment in the Cosmere. This would indicate that the people who initially noticed the survey were those who were already into the book fandom. The scores on the second day average between high and mid-range on that question. So it is possible that those less invested only noticed the survey on the second day. I think you should have given the survey an extra day.
Hoid the Former Drifter he/him Posted December 18, 2020 Posted December 18, 2020 mistborn era one, mistborn secret history, reread era one, warbreaker, mistborn era 2, elantris, sa first 2 books, edgedancer, sa last two books, elantris, white sand. never read dawnshard but i assume it goes between sa 3 and 4. last is rest of arcanum unbounded. the read ws prose and AoN.
Kingsdaughter613 she/her Posted December 18, 2020 Posted December 18, 2020 49 minutes ago, Hoid the Drifter said: mistborn era one, mistborn secret history, reread era one, warbreaker, mistborn era 2, elantris, sa first 2 books, edgedancer, sa last two books, elantris, white sand. never read dawnshard but i assume it goes between sa 3 and 4. last is rest of arcanum unbounded. the read ws prose and AoN. ? This is about a statistical survey that is now over, not about what reading order we think is best.
Hoid the Former Drifter he/him Posted December 18, 2020 Posted December 18, 2020 56 minutes ago, Kingsdaughter613 said: ? This is about a statistical survey that is now over, not about what reading order we think is best. sorry my bad. must be my age or lack thereof catching up to me. it gets really easy to let things blur together, and also it's almost 3 in the morning
Kingsdaughter613 she/her Posted December 18, 2020 Posted December 18, 2020 32 minutes ago, Hoid the Drifter said: sorry my bad. must be my age or lack thereof catching up to me. it gets really easy to let things blur together, and also it's almost 3 in the morning Lol! Get some sleep.
Hoid the Former Drifter he/him Posted December 18, 2020 Posted December 18, 2020 yeah. have a good night. ...morning?
Jofwu he/him Posted December 19, 2020 Author Posted December 19, 2020 22 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said: I think you should have given the survey an extra day. There were only 15 responses in the last 24 hours the survey was up, which is less than 3% of responses. Leaving it for another day would have yielded less. I don't think any additional data would have any significance. The investment question really just proves the expectation that the data is skewed I think. Only 2% marked less than 4 on investment. If we're interested in feedback from people who put 3 or less, the survey is pretty useless because two dozen answers isn't much more helpful than a dozen. If we're interested in feedback from people who put 4 or less, another dozen isn't going to change the results any meaningful amount. For example, 1-3's put 8 votes towards Mistborn as best starter, with 1 vote for all the others. Too few responses to have much statistical significance I think, and another day wouldn't have done anything to really help that. It IS really interesting to filter out the level 5 investment responses. Need to add filters for that on all the charts... For example, if you cut out the level 5 investment responses, "importance of minor connections" shifts from a peak at 4 to a peak at 3. "Importance of cosmere reading order" shifts lower as well, though not quite as strongly. 1
Kingsdaughter613 she/her Posted December 19, 2020 Posted December 19, 2020 19 hours ago, Jofwu said: There were only 15 responses in the last 24 hours the survey was up, which is less than 3% of responses. Leaving it for another day would have yielded less. I don't think any additional data would have any significance. The investment question really just proves the expectation that the data is skewed I think. Only 2% marked less than 4 on investment. If we're interested in feedback from people who put 3 or less, the survey is pretty useless because two dozen answers isn't much more helpful than a dozen. If we're interested in feedback from people who put 4 or less, another dozen isn't going to change the results any meaningful amount. For example, 1-3's put 8 votes towards Mistborn as best starter, with 1 vote for all the others. Too few responses to have much statistical significance I think, and another day wouldn't have done anything to really help that. It IS really interesting to filter out the level 5 investment responses. Need to add filters for that on all the charts... For example, if you cut out the level 5 investment responses, "importance of minor connections" shifts from a peak at 4 to a peak at 3. "Importance of cosmere reading order" shifts lower as well, though not quite as strongly. Interesting! Maybe you can put your full analysis up here eventually?
Jofwu he/him Posted December 21, 2020 Author Posted December 21, 2020 On 12/19/2020 at 5:57 PM, Kingsdaughter613 said: Interesting! Maybe you can put your full analysis up here eventually? Absolutely! Not sure when I'll get around to it, but I'll definitely share detailed thoughts when I get into it. 1
Frustration Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 On 12/20/2020 at 7:06 PM, Jofwu said: Absolutely! Not sure when I'll get around to it, but I'll definitely share detailed thoughts when I get into it. Anything?
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