(Yes, I know that "Hello" is a singularly uncreative title, but I'm not sure it's even possible to be creative here, so I didn't even try.)
Hello! I am yet another new(ish) reader of the Cosmere. I first heard of Brandon Sanderson many years ago, but had always been reticent to read anything of his. I've been burned a few too many times by giant epic fantasy series that either stall out and don't see new entries or that carry on endlessly with no plan and an overall quality that trends inexorably downwards (you can probably think of examples of both). So why would I want to start reading a series that's... checks... how many books long and still ongoing? Well, I wouldn't, of course. Except that I kept on hearing more and more good things about it from more and more people, and eventually one friend was so sure that I would enjoy the (original) Mistborn trilogy, so I caved.
That was in late April, when I picked up The Final Empire for the first time. It's now mid October, and a few days ago, I finished Rhythm of War and, to the best of my knowledge, I am now up to date with all published Cosmere works except for White Sand (which I haven't been able to find a reasonably-priced copy of, so I'm waiting for the omnibus to come out). So I'd say that went well. My friend gets a little metaphorical "I was right" sticker from me for that recommendation.
There are a lot of things that I enjoy about the series, but my single favourite thing is that I actually feel as if I'm rewarded for paying attention. This is definitely not the sort of series that requires you to turn your brain off because all the logic will collapse if you think too hard about it. Instead I got to feel oh-so-smart and oh-so-smug for predicting things before they happened multiple times over.
Now that I no longer need to worry about spoilers, I think it's time for me to dip my toes into the fandom. My friend has been excellent about answering as many of my questions as he can, but there is a limit to what any one person can know. But with a whole fandom out there, that's so many more people I can annoy delight with questions about consequentialism in the Cosmere, entropy in the Cosmere, and "hey, did you notice that one cool thing?" in the Cosmere.
I also discovered today that I am very bad at yodeling with a shoe on my head.
