Tailored Realities

Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson

I've preferred Sanderson's science fiction work to his Cosmere mainstream. This collection does not disappoint. It contains many "short" works outside his typical universe. Many have been published in other areas. (After getting into the first one, I realized I had already read "Snapshot" before.) The length ranges from super-short flash fiction to long novella. The final work, "Moment Zero" is a new work that has Christopher Nolan vibes. A mad scientist has created a wormhole that has created a zombie apocalypse. The people that were at the scene of the wormhole creation were sent backwards and forwards in time. A couple detectives involved can somehow communicate across the timeline. They figure out what went wrong and work to push the "real" timeline to a peaceful ending.

Sanderson also includes notes for each story, often describing the genesis of the story and other important aspects. We learn that some of these stories were written as a pre-published starving author, while others were written well into his career. The "notes" are always one of my favorite parts of short story collections.

The collection includes:

1. Snapshot
2. Brain Dump
3. I Hate Dragons
4. Dreamer
5. Perfect State
6. Probability Approaching Zero
7. Defending Elysium
8. Firstborn
9. Mitosis
10. Moment Zero

Isles of the Emberdark: A Cosmere Novel Secret Projects, Book 5

Isles of the Emberdark: A Cosmere Novel Secret Projects, Book 5 by Brandon Sanderson

A young dragon leads a crew of misfits. She works to help encourage her crew to work together and be happy. She slowly learns how to be a good leader. There are significant areas of trust that need to be overcome. They have struggles as they encounter various other beings in space. The book is a bit long (but shorter than many other Cosmere books.) It stands along well and has some interesting stories that relies more on science fiction than fantasy.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson

There is a nightmare painter and a girl from another world. They discover what things are like on this world. One world is more "magical" while the one they are visiting is technology based. They discover some of the odd things like fashion in the tech world. It is an interesting fish out of water story. Then some of the Cosmere and shards parts get brought in. There is also discovery that the lead never made it to the school he wanted it. Book feels like it goes o a bit too long.

The Most Boring Book Ever

The Most Boring Book Ever by Brandon Sanderson and Kazu Kibuishi

A boy sits in a chair and does very boring things. The charm of this book is the disconnect between the text and the pictures. He is just doing boring things sitting and looking for birds. However, in the pictures, his chair has blasted up where he fights dragons and completes adventures.

Wind and Truth: Book Five of the Stormlight Archive

Wind and Truth: Book Five of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Wind and Truth is about as long as the Old Testament.  It also deals with religion and warfare. There are quotes from other "works" that are generally previous books in the series. The scope ranges from individual actors, to Cosmere level discussions. Most of the narrative takes place in a few days times. However, there are chapters that go back thousands of years. In this world, there are gods and people. The gods themselves are also "people" and have their foibles. Dalinar Kholin has challenged the god Odium to a duel. Odium used to be somebody else and we hear his history in some of the flashbacks. There are other characters like Jasnah and Szeth and Pattern. They are fighting battles, discussing slavery and other things. It is difficult to keep track of everything that is going on.

Defiant (The Skyward Series Book 4)

The fourth Skyward book brings things to a conclusion. The Superiority wants to continue to lord over "inferior" species, such as humans. They know what is best for the others and are doing things "for their good". However, they do this by extracting resources and monopolizing technology. This seems to be very similar to what goes on in our world with colonial empires. However, in the real world, the colonies ended up adopting modern technology rather than overcoming it.

In Skyward, Spensa learns to better control her abilities. She can communicate with the various beings (some who turn out to be rogue AIs.) She is competing with another person with similar powers who has aligned with the "bad" side. they have a fun teleportation fight after Spensa swipes an antidote. There is also a big space fight where an entire flight goes to blow up one key rebel ship - only to then realize they fell into a trap and were all destroyed. And of course, Spensa has a requisite romantic encounter that started out a little awkward due to teleportation.

In the end, the colonizers get a taste of their medicine. They are stuck on a planet with some food rations to help them survive. They are encouraged to now produce for themselves instead of extract from others.

The Sunlit Man: A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects Book 4)

The Sunlit Man is one of Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter books. I couldn't help but think of some 1950s science fiction movie with red-tinted colors set on a sand planet. That doesn't have much to do with the book, but I couldn't help thinking that. The book seemed to have big people fight, with one weighing down another. There are powers to take in sun and do things. It ties in with the Cosmere universe. 

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects Book 3)

this is another Sanderson "secret project" with audiobook available at the library, but not Audible. In this one, two people from different worlds. They are shocked to experience the other's world. One is more technologically advanced, while the other is more conservative. The values differ in each world. Even the understanding of art and science differ. The two people come together and come to a greater understanding, experiencing worlds through a different experience. It does suffer from the "length" problem of fantasy books. I got lost at times, but was able to keep going.

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (Secret Projects 2)

(Audiobook on Google Play) - Brandon Sanderson is not making his audiobooks available on Audible. I typically use Amazon for my links, but listen via the local library. I'd much rather have the audiobook available for listening at the library even if it means not being able to link to the Amazon version. It is nice to get some push on limiting the Audible exclusives.

As for the book, this one looked like it was a lot of fun to write, even if there are no talking bananas. The book centers around a person that does not know where he is or why he was there. However, he does have a handbook. He gradually remembers more about himself and works through his adventure.

He is in an "alternate time path". It is very similar to time travel, except it isn't really time travel. Companies sell the opportunity to travel to alternate dimensions that are similar to past periods of earth. This company focuses on sending people to places like Medieval England where people speak a language similar to modern English. The book contains many vary humorous bits of promotional materials and other guide information from this company.

As the man slowly learns more about himself, he is able to complete his journey and avoid catastrophe. He also discovers some of the challenges of living as a "modern person" in the a place like the past. He thought it be able to display the "magic" of modern science. Alas, without the internet, he is not able to demonstrate the details of modern science. However, when he draws an accurate drawing a person's face, the people are wowed. This perspective drawing is magical to them. (Writing is a different story, with some real magic implied.)

Brandon Sanderson says that he came up with the title first, and then wrote the book. He probably had a lot of fun doing it. The book was a lot of fun to listen to.

Dark One: Forgotten

Forgotten is told in the podcast format. It works great as an audiobook. (It is currently an audiobook only release - I only added some of the narrators to the tags) An NYU student tries to trace the case of a forgotten virtuoso musician that everybody forgot about. Even her own mother can't remember her. As they dig into the case, the discover other artists that have died in LA and been totally forgotten. Eventually they discover the killer and music box of forgetting. Alas, they become forgotten also, yet not dead. This actually gives them special abilities. (What could you do if people would not recall your existence as soon as you left their sight?) 

Tress of the Emerald Sea

Tress is one of Brandon Sanderson's "secret projects" books. It is set in his universe. However, it is very much stand alone. The book is very sassy in tone. Tess goes out with others on adventures. They battle some bad guys and complete the quest. Summarized, it feels like a fantasy book. The tone and actions make it much more accessible. The spores are also a fun part of it - especially with the one that allows creating a "spying" avatar.

I do need to find a better source for images. I'm using Amazon images, which tend to last a while. However, the audiobook is not available on audible, and amazon doesn't show other listings.

The Hope Of Elantris [Dramatized Adaptation]: Elantris

Hope of Elantris is a well done "dramatized adaption" of a Brandon Sanderson short story. There is a great battle with much destruction. Most people don't believe the silly superstitions about the power from writing symbols. However, the symbol writing of the faithful ends up being what saves the day.

The Lost Metal: A Mistborn Novel

The Lost Metal starts with some backstory for the key character. He had a rough life growing up and continues to have a rough life. He is also the regular jokester. It feels like the author had a lot of fun writing the character. There are plenty of "law enforcement" conflicts, that end up getting involved with politics. Technology is advancing in a world that still has "metal-born" power. The end reminded me of the end of Sledgehammer. Though here the world does actually get saved, but remains in a precarious state. Our jokester hero is smarter than he makes out to be.

Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, Book 6

The original "final book" of the Alcatraz series ended on a downer, but it ended. To work around the bad ending, this "final final book" switches the narrator to Alcatraz's protector, Bastille. We learn that Alcatraz was pretty much "out of it" near the end, and Bastille provides the narrative that gets us towards the fulfilling ending. It also allows for a co-author to take the reigns of story-writing. It is a different character narrating, so we would expect the style to be a little different.

The story continues in the style of the previous books. Alcatraz had broken the talents, seemingly dooming the Smedries and the world to the will of the librarians. Bastille helps the big fight, which includes out-punning a Yak, breaking gravity, flying sharks and an army of kittens battling librarians. Librarians now have Smedry talents, and Bastille gets her longtime desire of being able to battle against talents. The final destruction of the "villain" seems almost too simple. Almost everything ends nicely.

Defending Elysium: A Cytoverse Novella (The Skyward Series)

Defending Elysium was a work written by Brandon Sanderson before he was a well known writer. He is now publishing it as it fits into the Skyward universe. 

A phone company "accidentally" discovered faster than light travel. It wants to keep it secret and also keep itself "above the law." Other beings in the universe want to control humanity because they are viewed as "less civilized". The novella centers on Jason White, a phone company employee. He has cytonic abilities, including teleportation and mind blades. There a murder, an alien posing as a human, and another person with "mindblade" powers. The novella has a lot of fun exploring different science fiction tropes before finally revealing that the source of faster than light travel is not what we think it is.

Stephen Leeds: Death & Faxes: Legion

Brandon Sanderson has "leased out" some of his characters to other authors. He puts his name on the cover along with the co-authors that have done most of the writing in a universe that Sanderson created.

There are some mysterious stolen records from the IRS. After investigating it is determined that a sound from a fax machine can impair people. This eventually leads to an investigation of some Iranian scientists that follow the Manichaeism religion and the potential weaponization of sound.

The audiobook gets the style of the Legion books right and does an even better job than Sanderson's own books. Here Leeds fully acknowledges the fictional aspect of his Aspects, yet still must maintain the fiction to carry out his work.

Perfect State

In Perfect State, people live in a virtual world that is optimized for their experience. Many with leadership abilities serve as emperors of their domain. They know how people the roles that others are playing and must resort to some trickery to have differences. The protagonist has been ordered to go on a date in order to reproduce. He questions this as being silly in the virtual world. However, he goes about it and has some weird things happen.

The book has an interesting premise. It is something like knowing you are living in the world of Matrix, but not caring. It would be interesting to explore the world more. The story itself is a little dull, but leaves open lots of possiblities.

Legion: Lies of the Beholder: The Concluding Legion Novella

Stephen Leeds has a group of "experts" that are always able to help him out. These "aspects" are hallucinations that each have a unique skill set. He can be exposed to something and have his aspect be able to understand it in detail. In this book, he attempts to communicate with Sandra, the person that helped him understand his aspect. She had struggled with them also. He used his "past time periods" camera to find where she was - but also find there were other people. He finds himself involved with others wanting to help him, but also wanting to change him. There is a bit of adventure involved. He believes he is sane but that his hallucinations are crazy.  

Evershore: Skyward Flight: Novella 3

I read the second and third Skyward books before reading Evershore. This helped a lot in understanding what was going on. This novella is told from the point of view of Jorgen. The earth people go to the planet of the Kitsen (small rodent-like creatures.) They Kitsen are not too fond of humans and challenge them to a duel. But, luckily for the humans, the Kitsen get bogged down in bureaucracy. Meanwhile, the Superiority comes to attack the Kitsen planet. Suddenly a league with the humans is not all that baad. They do a lot to realize the strength of the cytonic powers to finally come to a conclusion. The novella moves at a quick pace with plenty of action, filling in some of the gaaps in the Skyward novels. It felt like something that could easily fit in a Star Wars movie.

Cytonic (The Skyward Series Book 3)

The third book in the Skyward series goes off into the "nowhere". She saved the galaxy, but got caught in the middle of a political feud. Her only way of escaping was to jump into the nowhere. The bulk of the book takes place as she explores this realm. This feels much more like fantasy quest than a science fiction adventure. She explores the unique terrain and teams up with various outcasts and misfits. There are various encounters with "pirate" crews that have banded together. She eventually finds out more secrets of the universe and the role that Artificial Intelligence has played. There is some action here, but it feels much more confined. There also seems to be a message to be careful about advancing too much technology.