Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed on 21st February 2026

It's taken me months and months to get through this book, despite the hype, and despite having bought one of the special editions. I have two contrasting views - one on the story, and one on the reading experience.

The story is great. It's a massively extended version of a short that I'd read before, and explores the Cosmere far into the timeline. As such, there's a lot of references to other worlds previously and not-yet explored, which is both great, but also a bit weird because I feel like I'd have prefered to watch those worlds grow more chronologically to understand them better.

The main characters are really interesting - a solid contrast between Sixth, a trapper, exploring a new place for the first time and seeing things with new eyes, bringing us along for the ride, and Starling, a dragon, trying to look after her really diverse crewmates despite having lost most of her abilities.

The problem I think I had the most though was the form of the special edition - and this is potentially a small silly spoiler if this is the version you've got and not read yet. There's a very clever artistic twist, where after starting out like a normal book, something in the plot triggers the pages to invert, and then for most of the book it's printed in silver ink on black paper. While this looks great at first, it quickly became a nuisance to actually read - the light has to hit the pages at exactly the right angle for the ink to be visible. I think that's the main reason it took me so many months to get to, just the awkwardness of holding such a big, heavy tome at the perfect angle for each page.

So, recommended in the regular edition (assuming it doesn't have the gimmick) for the story.

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Reviewed on 25th January 2025

Book five of the Stormlight Archive is enormous. It took me five weeks to read (although I did take breaks at the quarter and halfway marks to read other shorter books). The physical hardback became a bit unwieldy around the middle, but was seemingly better to handle nearer either end.

The plot is excellent. There are so many threads going on, wrapping things up while still setting up new avenues to explore in later books. It ties in well with the wider Cosmere series with a bunch of little Easter eggs, and still tells a compelling story.

The story takes place over 10 days, and that gives a really nice structure, and helps with following the passage of time, which sometimes I struggle with in novels. This also gives much more opportunity for chapters in the gaps between, and we explore some other characters and get to learn more about them and their motivations, which helps flesh out the world.

Despite it ultimately being a war story, Sanderson does excellently to have enough parallel storylines moving that this aspect never feels dominant in a way that I would hate to read. The battles are well described in a way that I could actually follow, which I often struggle with.

I found myself most invested in one strand though - following two characters on a quest which they didn’t really understand, and seeing them grow, and learn about themselves and their world along the way.

It’s an absolutely great way to wrap up the first half of this epic series, and leaves me waiting impatiently for more stories in the cosmere (although I’m also glad of a break after so many pages!).

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Reviewed on 22nd January 2024

The fourth and final main novel in the Skyward series see us join Spensa as the time comes for her civilisation and its new friends to take the battle to their oppressors.

It’s an action packed and fast moving adventure, which makes it feel to me much more like the first story than those in between, and that’s very positive.

There’s a lot of room still, while being aligned with Spensa, to witness a lot of character growth around the plot, and that’s a good touch to keep things interesting amid all the battle scenes.

As we reach the climax, there’s also a chance to see things from other characters’ perspectives, which we’ve had a little of before, and I loved how Sanderson took this to another level and we learnt new things about some of these characters even in the closing chapters.

A really great way to end the series.

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Reviewed on 3rd December 2023

The final secret project is the most serious and most cosmere-y of them all. Sanderson says that of the four, this is the one written for his fans.

Without wanting to spoil things, let’s just say that there are a bunch of references to previous Cosmere works, and that this is set later in the timeline.

It is a standalone adventure - we follow a lone traveller who is on the run, as he arrives at a planet with unique properties, and finds himself in the middle of a local war.

Sanderson’s abilities at world building naturally shine through, and I love how he can make so many different experiences based in the same connected universe.

I found the character an interesting one to follow, and learning more about how various aspects of the magic systems I’ve already encountered work and will develop.

Another really good Sanderson to cap off a really good year.

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Reviewed on 17th September 2023

I allowed myself to take this Cosmere story slowly, and only to read two chapters at a time, up until the traditional Sanderlanch ending kicked in and then I raced to the finish line.

It’s the story of two people with very different lives who are mysteriously thrown together, and into each others’ shoes, and have to work out who they are and what’s going on with them and their world.

The narrative alternates between the characters, although this format becomes more fluid as things proceed, and that follows the nature of the story and characters as well.

I really enjoyed this one. It’s nice to have a full-length stand-alone novel-length Cosmere story again, and to explore some totally new dynamics but with moments of familiarity.

The only weakness I think comes towards the end, where a lot of exposition ends up happening in a slightly clunky way, rather than smoothly through the narrative as I would have expected.

It’s a great trip to the Cosmere though, and another excellent bonus from Sanderson’s year of releasing secret projects.

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Reviewed on 29th July 2023

The second of Brandon Sanderson’s secret projects is a standalone story about a chap who wakes up, with no memory, in a field… in something resembling mediaeval England, and with only scraps of his guidebook still intact.

The narration reminds me of Sanderson’s early Alcatraz series, which I haven’t ever managed to get into, though much more polished. It’s a very casual telling, but doesn’t quite achieve the same level of charm experienced in reading Tress, the first secret project.

The book (well, the edition I’ve got) is illustrated throughout. I think the secondary story that plays out through line drawings on almost every page is actually my favourite part of the whole construction.

Normally, one of the things I love about Sanderson’s worlds is how they are built. This one seems to be solidly constructed, but we are visiting it too early to really learn about that - and so I feel a bit like I missed out on something there.

A good book, but not up there with Tress as the best of the best.

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Reviewed on 23rd April 2023

I finally found myself with a copy of Tress of the Emerald Sea, the first of Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Project novels (out of 4 being released throughout this year), and I savoured it.

I managed to mostly limit myself to three chapters each day, up until the end when the traditional Sanderson-style climax made me devour the final dozen or so chapters in one sitting as everything came together.

It’s a really lovely story, about a girl who lives on an island and would be quite happy staying there thank-you, if only she didn’t have to rescue someone she loved, and on doing so learn a lot more about the world, and the cosmere.

My copy is beautifully illustrated, and printed, in a way that feels extremely uncommon in novels and yet truly made this book feel worth waiting for. There are all sorts of delightful little things throughout which made the act of reading it a joy on top of the story.

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