Brandon Sanderson is actually a comic book writer
No, really. I mean that title. Hear me out.
First of all, if you have no idea, who Brandon Sanderson is, here’s a quick primer:
He’s a delightful nerd living in Utah, writing an absurd number of very popular fantasy books that amassed a huge fandom across the globe. Sanderson’s work is the gold standard of modern high fantasy for a lot of people.
Reading his novels can also endlessly delight or deeply frustrate people. Sometimes at the same time.
To explain why, I first have to spoil something about almost all of his books. I think knowing this “spoiler” could actually enhance your experience of them and maybe even spare you some grief down the road, but if you want to get into his works totally blind, I recommend stopping here.
Okay. Ready?
Sanderson writes multiple series simultaneously, which are all very different from each other. They involve different magic systems, take place in different worlds, have different casts, etc.
Yet, the secret is that they actually exist in the same universe: the Cosmere.
This information is not served to you on a silver platter at any point. No, it’s something you need to slowly figure out from off-hand, throwaway lines and by closely analyzing the excerpts that open each chapter in every novel. These quotes are always from some in-universe correspondence, journal, or book. They are usually only tangentially related to the core plot at hand, but they always contain important clues for the overarching Cosmere narrative.
There are also certain characters who can somehow hop between the worlds of the different novels, often making short, blink-and-you-miss-it cameos in every story. How do they do that? Who are they? That’s another thing you need to figure out on your own.
All this leads to a dual reading experience: on the one hand, you’re following the actual story of any given novel, while on the other, you are on the watch for small Cosmere hints to add to your very own murder map.
And those hints are small. If you want to figure out everything by yourself, better set aside some time for re-reading, note-taking, theorizing, etc.
What’s the problem with this, you ask? This all sounds delightful! A good story and a meaty meta-narrative, full of easter eggs and hidden clues that reward rereads and careful attention. What’s not to love here?
Well, the problem is the size of the thing.
At the moment, the Cosmere “series” includes 23 books. The smaller ones clock in around 500 pages, while the big boys, the Stormlight Archive novels are well above 1000 pages each.
You want to read them all multiple times to catch every Cosmere clue? You better make Brandon Sanderson one of your hobbies.
But, to have my own Sandersonian twist, all of this is really just setup, so I can talk about what I really find interesting in all of this.
See, as we were having a debate around the accessibility of the Cosmere meta-plot with some friends, I realized I have seen the shape of this argument somewhere else before.
The delight of inter-connectedness. The hunt for clues. The slowly building meta-narrative that increasingly points to a cosmic-level conflict and has the potential to pull in all of the beloved heroes from every Cosmere book. But also the exhaustion felt when looking at the sheer amount of media to keep up with. And yes, the occasional anger, because all this feels just a bit too convoluted, a bit too demanding at times.
Does this sound familiar to you too? Perhaps… does it sound like… the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
I think it does. Now, to be clear, I don’t think Brandon copied the MCU, far from it—especially knowing that his first Cosmere novels well predate the 2008 Iron Man movie. I do think, however, that as a lifelong fan of fantasy, science-fiction, and storytelling, he is well aware of how Marvel and DC structured their own comic book multiverses that served as the blueprint for their respective cinematic universes.
And yes, I can totally imagine that he might have taken some clues from them.
The Cosmere definitely feels comic book-y if you look at it through this lens.
You have different flavors of fantasy, catering to different needs. The heroes are larger than life, but their magic is hard, bound by understandable rules. Just as Spider-Man falls out of the sky if he runs out of web fluid, Sanderson’s protagonists plummet if they run out of fuel, be it metal or stormlight. There are constant callbacks and foreshadowing. Characters from one series turn up in others in minor roles. The threat horizon ever widens, always hinting at a bigger evil just around the corner.
And most of all, just like comic books, the Cosmere rewards dedication.
If you buy all of the books, read Brandon’s every blog post, back the Kickstarters, and follow along with the fan theories, you will get a much deeper, richer experience than the folks who only pick up a few books and read them casually. Conversely, if you don’t, you will always experience at least some degree of FOMO.
Being a Cosmere fan demands a lot but offers tangible rewards. It also constantly reminds you that you’re missing out if you don’t go all in.
Just like comic books.
Anyway, this might all just be a case of apophenia, where I see connections and meaning where there is none. Maybe Brandon never thought of the Cosmere as another comic-book universe and maybe he never did take clues from Marvel and DC.
But if he did, that was a very, very clever move. In that case, well done, Mr. Sanderson!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to reading Rhythm of War. There are some clues I just simply cannot figure out where to fit on my corkboard… Yet.