Review: Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection by Brandon Sanderson

This is a collection of short stories in Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere Universe. In fact, the stories don’t just take place in the Cosmere Universe, they show you hints about how that entire Universe is interconnected. Apparently, there are connections between the Mistborn series, the Stormlight Archive, Elantra, and most of Sanderson’s other stories. It’s a cool concept, and impressive he’s trying to tie it all together, though don’t expect any massive revelations here. You’ll get a few ideas here and there, but there is still much to be explained.

Overall, it’s a great read. As with all of Sanderson’s books, the writing is superb, the plots are cleverly crafted, and the characters are wonderful. However, not all the short stories in this book are created equal:

• The Emperor’s Soul: Intriguing story about a world that includes magical forgery, where you can forge not only art, but almost anything, by subtly changing the history of any object. That allows a skilled forger to magically transform furniture, rooms, even entire people. I’d definitely be up for reading more.

• The Hope of Elantris: I read Elantris a few years ago, and to be honest, forgot most of the story. This short story flushes out a tiny, specific part of the larger Elantris story, and without remembering much of the context, I didn’t get much out of this.

• The Eleventh Metal: A wonderful short story that gives you a bit of the origin story for Kelsier, one of the main characters from the Mistborn series. The Mistborn series is my favorite of Sanderson’s work, and I would’ve gladly read much more of this short story, but alas, it is very, very short.

• Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, Episodes 28 through 30: A strange set of stories that take place in the Mistborn universe that are written in the style of a 50’s comic book or Adam West Batman adventure. Vaguely amusing, fills in a couple tiny pieces of lore in Mistborn, but otherwise, not too interesting.

• Mistborn: Secret History: A companion book to the Mistborn series that reveals many of the things happening behind the scenes in the original story, especially with Kelsier. This book only makes sense if you’ve read the original story and remember all the details; I’ve read the original, and loved it, but had to struggle a bit to recall where some of the Secret History details fit in. It was an interesting read, but focuses a bit too much on the magical and spiritual sides of the story, and while Kelsier is a superb character, I didn’t enjoy this story nearly as much as the original trilogy.

• White Sand: An interesting new world where people train to become “sand masters” who can use magic to control sand in various ways (e.g., use it as a weapon, use it to jump or fly, etc). I think this is an excerpt from a graphic novel series, which I’ve now added to my GoodReads list to read more.

• Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell: A short story about an innkeeper who is secretly a bounty hunter at night, and the creepy world she lives in, where evil beings called “shades” inhabit the forests. Entertaining, but didn’t stand out too much.

• Sixth of the Dusk: A short story about a trapper named Sixth who lives on a deadly island, and is able to survive in part through a deep knowledge of all the deadly plants and fauna on the island, and in part, due to aviar, which are gifted animals, such as a bird named Sak who can warn Sixth of danger before it happens by showing him visions of Sixth’s own corpse. The idea of walking along and seeing your own corpse, giving you seconds to react and change your corse before the vision becomes a reality, is creepy, but pretty cool. I’m not sure if the mechanic would work for a full-length novel, but it was fun in a shorty story.

• Edgedancer: This is a lovely short story in the Stormlight Archive focused on Lift, one of the more upbeat and fun characters in that series. I had read it before separately, as a standalone novella, but it’s good enough that I enjoyed re-reading it.

Rating: 4 stars