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.

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.

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.

Rhythm of War: Book Four of The Stormlight Archive

Rhythm of War is long. the audiobook clocks in at over 57 hours. (Thank goodness for 3x listening speed!) There are a lot of characters and a lot of things happening. It is also filled with increasing conflict among values. The honorspren are bound to honor. But what honor? My favorite part was the trial. It was filled with twists and turns as each side did something that was beneficial for the other. In the end, the "star" from one side ended up destroying the whole case after discussing their willingness.

The different beings continue to struggle to come to their own identity. They are challenged when they see negative things happen at the expense of others. Yet, without the others they cannot achieve their true potential. There are many corollaries to our current life. (Sanderson has even mentioned that Fantasy and Science Fiction are just ways of expressing today's concerns in different environments.) Some of the beings also are very parochial in their skills, not believing that any outsiders are capable. And there is also the researcher that makes potentially world-breaking discoveries. Plenty of things are going on, though it can be hard to keep track of the overall narrative.

The Emperor's Soul

The Emperor's Soul sounded familiar when I started reading it. It turned out that I had read it before in Brandon Sanderson's Arcanum Unbounded story collection. However, I had not written about the interesting thought behind it. In this exploits, we follow the exploits of a master forger. She uses "soul stamps" to help forge things (both living and inanimate) into something else. The target appearance must be somewhere in the realm of plausibility. A rock could be another type of rock if that type could have logically been mined instead of this one. Works of art tend to be fairly easy. A simple painting could have easily be painted as a master work of art. However, the forger would have to have an intimate understanding of the work of art to properly forge it. These can be extended further to change people. A possible fork in a life can be used to create a "soul stone" that gives a person an alternate life. It poses interesting chances to relive "missed opportunities".

Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive

Oathbringer is a long book, even by Brandon Sanderson standards. The story centers around the arrival of the voidbringers, and the negative implications on society. The world consists of humans as well as other living beings with different attributes. In this universe, eye color determines social class. Even after a great upheaval that would negate any previous social standings, people would still revert back to their old ways.
I was confused with the various characters in the story. There seemed to be a few different groups that were fighting against each other, along with a few competing religions, with some magical deities. Despite being in some fantasy world, many concerns of modern society are displayed. Some people discover that a woman may in fact be the best leader. People eventually find out that their homeland was actually taken from another people. There are questions over what is right and ethical based on the their current situation. (There is a ton of violence, ranging form the destruction of a town to the "end of the world".)

Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

Arcanum Unbound is a collection of short stories in Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe. It is presented as a double abstraction, with an in-universe historian providing the background of the planet and the situation, as well as the author providing commentary on the story. Being fantasy, some of the stories are novella length on their own. There are some that focus on characters familiar to readers of other books he has written, while other stories are minor or new characters that have not had any significant appearances. Some served to add background to characters and events in his other novels. Others, were more random ditties. It felt like a fun dumping ground for interesting thoughts and stories that did not fit into the primary novel sequence.

The different titles (from Sanderson's website
“The Hope of Elantris” (Elantris)
“The Eleventh Metal” (Mistborn)
“The Emperor’s Soul” (Elantris)
“Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, Episodes 28 through 30” (Mistborn)
“White Sand” (excerpt; Taldain)
“Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell” (Threnody)
“Sixth of Dusk” (First of the Sun)
“Mistborn: Secret History” (Mistborn)