It would not be an understatement to say Brandon Sanderson is prolific. The scope of his imagination is unbelievable but the thing that stands out for me is that however much the guy writes the quality level never seems to drop.
Arcanum Unbounded is a collection of short(ish) fiction set in his Cosmere and encapsulating several of his series.
'What is the Cosmere?' I hear you ask.
Well, the best I can explain it is that The Cosmere is a series of different worlds and settings in which BS sets his stories and series. Somewhere along the line these stories and series are all going to come together to link all his worlds, making it into one epic universe (this is what I mean about Brandon's imagination!)
Over the past few years BS has published several of the stories included here either as e-book only versions or through his website. They are all stories that can be read separate from the main series. There are stories from his Elantris, Mistborn and Stormlight Archives series and, as all the different series vary in setting there is enough here to keep it fresh from story to story. Everybody who reads Sanderson will, I guess, have a different favourite series (for me it is Elantris - and yes, I know it is a single novel but as there are stories from that world included here I'm counting it as a series).
As for the book itself - well, what can I say, it is a really nicely put together volume. The stories have notes, appendixes (appendices?) and star maps for each system making it all so much more than just a rehash of his back catalogue with an extra story and part of a graphic novel thrown in.
So, in short, if you are new to Brandon Sanderson or have been thinking about trying out his books this is a good place to start. If, like me, you are a long time fan you'll want to own this anyway.
Unsurprisingly this gets 5* from me
And then there's the cover art. The copy I own is the UK version and the cover art would have been enough for me to want to own this.
No comments:
Post a Comment