I'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but listening to Bookborn pronounce Jasnah's name wrong hurts my soul. It's like a knife to the heart EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! PS: Bookborn if you are reading this, never change haha XD Seriously, the moment you start saying her name correctly is the moment we'll all have to assume that the real you has been slain and replaced by a kandra

Dalinar and Navani are genuinely one of my favourite couples in all of fantasy. Romance doesn't need to be dramatic and flashy

Warbreaker isn't my favorite book, but of all of Brandon's books I actually would want it to become a movie the most (although Tress might take that spot instead). Warbreaker's focus on colors and such, just makes me want to be able to actually have the visual and I think the visual could be stunning. Mistborn feels so dark (setting wise, not in the hopeless sense) that I feel like it would be one of those movies where you can hardly see anything. Stormlight would be great, but I'm always hesitant about books to TV series adaptations. They just never seem to work for me, and Stormlight is too much for just movies.

I LOVELOVELOVE Warbreaker! The character development, the humor, and the magic system are all fantastic. It’s probably my favorite Sanderson novel, as well. I am definitely a fan of audiobooks, however, because I listen to them a lot on some of my longer drives each week.

So glad, you are so open about it. My favorite Sanderson book is also Warbreaker because of a couple of reasons First, Vivenna is my favorite character, and the way her character develops over time, the way she gets challenged about her beliefs was so relatable for me. Second, plot twists, specially the scene - in which we see the animals, I was terrified .

I hate people giving Sanderson cutesy nicknames. Brando Sando, Brandy Sandy… ugh… I’m sorry but please just stop.

I think Warbreaker is all about how much Lightsong works for you

Glad to see the Warbreaker love. I just read it a couple of weeks ago and while it's not my favorite Sanderson story I absolutely loved it and prefer it over Mistborn.

The comment you made about Audiobooks as a format is so very true. I find it strange - I can listen to music for hours. Subconciously I will end up learning the lyrics even if it's in another language (for example Russian or Ukranian even if my understanding of the lyrics is 50% or so) but, when it comes to audio books.... I listen. I zone out. It goes in one ear, out the other and nothing is retained. I have to really pay attention to retain or enjoy any audiobook whilst I will often multi-task whilst reading without a similar issue of not taking something in.

Audiobooks are essential if you work 12-hour shifts and don't have much spare time. I can understand why people would rather read than listen, it is sometimes frustratingly slow when listening compared to reading. However, they're great when doing mundane tasks for long periods and also for listening late at night as you drop off to sleep as most apps have a timer to shut off after the designated time span. PS Graphic audiobooks have the additional benefit of having many voice actors and sound effects which helps the immersion, also I'm now over 50 so reading my kindle late at night causes neck injuries and cramps. Thanks for the vid and I do agree with many of your other opinions.

I think a lot of the love for Michael Kramer and Kate Reading comes from the people that were introduced to Sanderson from Wheel of Time. They are the voices of WoT and after you spend hundreds of hours with them consuming a series you love continuing that through Sanderson's works feels good. I have listened to a lot of audiobooks over the past couple years and will say that they are good narrators, but other narrators out there are just as good.

Hey Bookborn! Just wanted to point it out in case anyone else had a hard time with it but the background music has this slight like sliding whistle sound and my brain kept fixating on it and not what you were saying. I know it’s quiet but it was just enough to distract my adhd brain haha

I love Warbreaker! I always recommend it as a starting point for Sanderson Edit: I commented too early and now I have more to say ROW is also my jam and the sciency bits are my favourite! Jasnah for life too!! (I also mispronounce Adolin… but that’s definitely because Spanish is my first language)

I completely agree about audiobooks (although I don't have an opinion about Michael Kramer specifically). For some reason I can listen to podcasts for hours, but 10 minutes in to an audiobook I'll realize I zoned out 5 minutes ago. I think it's because books tend to make me daydream, whether it's about the world, or it reminds me of something in real life, or a completely unrelated tangent. When I'm reading I can just stop for a few seconds while my mind chases that tangent and then pick up where I left off, whereas with audiobooks it just keeps going ahead without me.

I think the Cosmere has more in common with Marvel comics than the MCU, but the MCU is an apt comparison as well imo. I don't see it as a pejorative though. Peaks and valleys aside, the MCU is the most popular shared universe ever for a reason. It's good stuff.

I honestly agree that reading order isn't such a big deal. People on the internet especially, have a made big deal out of it and i fell like it might come off as gatekeeping to new readers or at least somewhat intimidating. (For example reading warbreaker before WoR or OB, or MB before SA, or BoM before Secret History). These are minor things that people can figure on their own by the time they are done with the whole thing.

Ok I definitely thought I was the only only one with Michael and Kate because people seem to go nuts for them. They're clearly talented and I get why people like them if not my personal taste, but I listened to a couple Wheel of time books by them and it drove me nuts that they often pronounced names and things differently. You're in the same house!! Sort it out!

As someone who liked Rhythm of War a lot less than the other Stormlight books (the overload of science stuff was not one of my main issues but did contribute a little to making the book drag), I honestly do agree with you that the specific thing you mentioned is one of my favorite parts. Two rival scientists forced to work together, becoming unlikely frenemies: it was great! One of my favorite female friendships that I've ever read.

Romance is my least favourite part of a story... Instant sub

Unpopular opinion: Flowery prose is overrated. Sanderson’s usual transparent prose is just fine and more accessible to less experienced readers in my opinion. That said, I think Sanderson totally succeeded at more elaborate prose in Tress and proved how versatile of an author he can truly be.

I did not read the cosmere books in the recommended order (I read Stormlight 1-3 first) and personally I didn't pick up on a lot of cosmere connections, but I think that picking up on them after the fact and having that aha moment later when you're rereading the book (or even if you are reading a different cosmere book that was published first) is still a lot of fun even if it's different than the path the fans who have been here since day 1 had. All I can say is there is a path for everybody, and that was the right one for me since I don't think I got to read all the other cosmere books through the lens of someone who was already a big fan of Stormlight.

I LOVED rhythm of war. But I don't know if I can choose a favourite from stormlight, they all satisfy something different in me

YAY for Warbreaker love!! It is a great book and in my top-5 for sure. *goes back to watch rest of video now*

I think his accessibility is both his strongest and weakest point. His simplistic prose(especially in his early works) allows a lot of people to get into his books very easily, but I think as a result it makes it also easier to dismiss the work he does. He's not my favorite author but I certainty respect his consistency and what he's done for the genre. Plus Warbreaker is 100% his best work and I wish he wrote more standalones like that. :)

Warbreaker is my husband's favorite Cosmere book. It's high on my list too, though I prefer Words of Radiance. I adore the science bits in Rhythm of War. I also don't want an animated storming adaptation. My unpopular Cosmere opinion: Shallan is the Cosmere character that I am the most invested in.

Warbreaker is on my 2023 TBR. I'll be reading it in September. Also, I hope your appearance on Sanderson's channel brings your more subscribers. Your channel is so good and you deserve a larger following.

I love you!!!!!! Warbreaker is my fave❤ I too pronounce Jasnah with a J😂 I hated Elantris🥱 I’m not fussed on reading order either📚 Kelsier is a meh character for me🫢

My unpopular opinion: I enjoyed Elantris more than Warbreaker (though it’s mostly driven by expectations going into each).

I haven't read it in awhile, but I seem to recall the issues with the Rhythm of War "science" scenes being mostly Sanderson's gratuitous overindulgence in dialogue and over-explanation of mechanics. Most of it probably could've been cut out with no big issues

Bro the audiobook narrator's voice for Tress made me want to quit the book multiple times. His other voices were fine it was Just Tress. So I agree.

Thanks for sharing your opinions! You definitely highlighted some things for me that I never really ever thought of, for example comparing Cosmere to MCU. I agree with you, I never would make that comparison. I also appreciate your ability to come out and say you don't like a narrative audiobook, or just audiobooks in general. I respect that, and am happy you're in a space where you can openly share it. :)

1. Love that you are part of the book club! I hoped you are but you mislead me on insta with your question who we think is involved 😅 2. Just bought warbreaker for a reread and I'm excited for it! 3. I also don't love audio books. I listened to tress for like two chapters and I thought it was quite hard to listen to... But I read the ebook two times already because I looove tress!! Greetings from Germany ✌️😊

Thank you for allowing us who have not yet read most or all of the Brando Sando books yet to hop on without spoilers! I have warbreaker paperback that I luckily got at local library sale for a few bucks in fine shape! I think it proves a great intro before dive into Way of Kings proper even with the epic prologue! Great encouraging list and thoughts to take in! MCU in itself with its varying individual quality is overall high quality popular film genre tops! It cheapens BOTH mediums to compare Stormlight to the MCU just because of its interconnectedness. But it's the go-to across genres understanding the production differences between them and between novels and graphic novel comic books medium and industry output. Many hands make light work but don't enlighten audiences too often. Different mediums.

I find the MCU comparison kind of funny, because I was recently re-reading Yumi (I devoured it in like a day or two when it came out, so I wanted to now go back and take my time with it), and it led to me trying to explain the Cosmere. His first reaction when I explained it as sort of a series of worlds in the same universe with their own different magic systems was "So, it's like a multiverse or the MCU?" And, to me, that just felt inaccurate. The answer I gave was it was kind of like Star Wars, prior to interplanetary travel (for the most part), except the Force is powered differently on each world and that allows its to do different things. Not the most accurate explanation, but this was to someone who doesn't really enjoy fantasy, beyond LOTR.

Yesssss love that you mentioned the MCU thing. I really like the MCU and its really fun when we get to the Avengers films and we see all these heroes team up. But I highly doubt the culmination of a lifetime of novels and series will simply be to say, "Hey look, Kaladin and Kelsier and Dalinar and Tress and everyone else are all fighting together in one book!" It's going to be way, way deeper than that. I feel ya with Jasnah. Pretty sure I pronounced Hermione wrong for like six years growing up until I saw the first HP movie.

Funny. I didn’t realize I held unpopular opinions, because I agree with you on all of these, except Warbreaker. That said, when I tried to think of my favorite, I couldn’t settle on one. Least favorite is probably second era Mistborn. Sanderson is one of my top authors. I am just blown away by the myriad different magic systems he has devised.

I agree. If Stormlight gets an animated adaptation I would definitely be watching with my nose in the air and my arms crossed. I want live action. Give me live action!

I've seen Sanderson's lectures on writing fantasy. At some point he says how he hates editing. For me that really came through when reading Way of Kings. There was a lot of information that might become relevant 2 books later, but not at that point. I think that if I read it when it came out, I might have enjoyed it, but stuff like that annoys me nowadays. It also didnt help that I could not care one bit for Kaladin.

For audiobooks I always listen on at least 1.5x speed, otherwise I definitely feel like I could be reading so much faster. I personally feel that Kramer and Reading are perfect at about 1.5x. I also only listen to the audiobooks for rereads since I do definitely sometimes zone out and sometimes fall asleep before the sleep timer if I listen in bed 😅 Some of the voices they choose for characters throw me off, but some of them I would also miss if they ever adapt it with difference voices! In regards to Lift and Wayne, I actually find them to be among Sanderson’s best characters. Particularly for Wayne, there’s so much subtext in everything he says. He’s so vocally positive and optimistic but as you’re reading you realize the hurt and trauma that he’s actually describing. I admit that the humor behind each of them is often childish and immature (although I think, for example, Shallan’s “humor” is a little more annoying). Lift is still a child, and I would be willing to bet you that Stormlight Era 2 is going to change your mind on her on rereads.

My unpopular Sanderson opinion is that I actually enjoy his humor. Also, I don’t get The Emperor’s Soul hype 🤷🏻‍♀️ I agree with a lot of your unpopular opinions…I didn’t expect your random hate for Spensa’s name though lmao 😂I think her name is cute!

So :) I love warbreaker but it isn't my favourite. I also think that Lyft especially is a fantastically fun character. Everything else I wholeheartedly agree with. Except... My favourite way to re-read stormlight is with the graphic audio unabridged productions, with a full cast of actors with music and sounds it's almost everything that i'd want from an adaption (animated or live action). Not for a first read but as A 2nd and viewing it as an adaption

I’m with you on Warbreaker! That and Emperor’s Soul are my favorites. My unpopular opinions: I didn’t care for Tress at all (though I do think it’s a good book), I found Mistborn era 1 to be hugely disappointing, and I thought The Rithmatist was really good (seriously, no one ever mentions that one). Also I don’t really care about cosmere connections personally - I agree with you that it’s not that big of a deal 🤷🏻‍♂️

Maybe not an unpopular opinion, but a lot of people say "I love Sanderson's books, but his prose isn't the best". And I really disagree with this. No, he doesn't write like Robin Hobb, but I find that his books flow really well and I'm never confused. I don't notice the prose for good or bad reasons, and that takes skill. But I also find his books are often thought-provoking and that isn't reliant on writing beautiful sentences. The only time I have issues with his prose is his humor doesn't always land for me (works about 80% of the time), but in general I really enjoy his writing style.

Yeeees! Warbreaker is great! Awakening is awesome. I need mooooore! 1000% agree! I also like romance the way it is in his books. Nothing more is needed. However "love" triangles shouldn't exist at all (like Vin Zane). I hate them. I like animation so I want SA in animated format, however I also want it live action so I understand you. Tbf I would want everything be animated so :P While I love science, I was a bit overwhelmed by it in RoW mainly because fabrials are still to "vage" for me - I need more details. I agree with the order of the cosmere books. I read all his books after WoR release and didn't pick up they are in the same universe, so it didn't really matter to me, but if you know they are, reading order can help you have a bit better experience. Jasnah is pronounced Jasna like jasna in Polish which mean bright! It hurts my ears to pronounce it differently - unsubscribe!!! (jk, never) With audiobooks, I didn't use them, I only "read words", but comparing narrators from US and Polish versions, I prefere so much more Polish version. I can't explain why, because I didn't listen to anything more than the WoK prologue. Well I'm not a fan of MCU, nor did I watch it, so yes, I agree :P My unpopular opinion - he's writing too slow. I want more :D

I feel I have a ton of unpopular opinions. The biggest one is that… and you’re gonna kill me for this… I don’t care about Jasnah. Like she has some 10/10 moments like the one with Renarin at the end of Oathbringer but overall I don’t get why she is so popular. She is sooo mean at times (specially to Shallan) and honestly I’m not fond of the “Jasnah’s always right” thing. Ok but so you don’t hate me I’ll say this: I do agree, the science parts in Rythm of War are all bangers. Not only do they tie exceptionally well into Navani’s character arc but they are also sooo cool (science nerd here obviously)

Michael Cramer with the accents in Era 2 is a delight. Too each their own I guess.

i was so scared to hear your warbreaker opinion cause warbreaker is also my favorite brandosando book! i always fear what people say about it (also i agree about the rhythm of war science stuff :3)

RoW is my 2nd favorite Stormlight book. I loved the science!

Warbreaker isn't necessarily my favorite but it's the one I recommend to people who want to get into Sanderson. It's also the one I got a leatherbound edition on. I also don't care about Cosmere reading order and actually I am disliking the trend of the more recent books (mostly Stormlight and Lost Metal) that seem to be making the cross-universe stuff more explicit. That might be an unpopular opinion in itself, haha.

1.) I also like Warbreaker the most, followed by The Final Empire and The Way of Kings. I think there's something to be said about a book that can stand alone. 2.) I also really like this romance. Relationship drama has always felt really cheap and trite to me. It's not really something I enjoy in almost anything, but Sanderson's like....High School romances are really refreshing and cute. Especially Susebron and Siri, which was just adorable. 3.) I don't mind Spensa's name either way, but I get it's kinda weird when you say it. (I'll say that being so exposed to it through the AudioBooks helps get used to it ;) ) 4.) Hard Disagree. I think Stormlight should be an animated series over any other format. I almost sit at a full 180 and think that I'd rather it be adapted to an animation or not at all. There's so much you can do with animation that you can "never" do with live action. And when done right the experience is superb. "Into the Spider-Verse" is a good example that stands above the live action versions because of how well it understands it's medium. Stormlight either has to wait until SFX catches up with them (and I have my doubts they can) or be led by a visionary of animation (which is likely equally rare) 5.) They're both among that archetype of Sanderson characters, along with Lopen that are comic relief for sure. And Lift has some backstory that I find interesting, but Wayne I think is potentially one of the best written characters in the series. There's a depth to him that Lopen and Lift don't have. One of Sanderson's best redemption characters imo. 6.) I love Rhythm of War. I don't get why people are so against it. I'm a big Adolin/Shallan fan and loved their bits. It was awesome to see more of Navani. The Science Lore was excellent. I love RoW. 7.) I definitely don't think people should "police" a reading order. But I am always always always an advocate for Order of Release. I think it's almost without exception the superior reading experience. Still, I know people who read Stormlight first because they just wanna dive into the "good stuff" and I support it if that's what they want. 8.) Yasnah for life. 9.) I love the Audiobooks, but yeah I get it. However, I love they make them because in some cases one may not have experienced these stories at all. It's VERY common for someone to just say "Eh, i don't have time to read" and when I suggest Audiobooks in the car there's this stigma around it like it's not "really" reading. 10. I've never thought about how "MCU" sounds in this context. Personally, that's how I see MCU movies: vapid, popcorn and formulaic. I just assume "most" people read it as shorthand for "Lots of Crossovers"

Tress was my first Sanderson book, loved it. May have missed some references but definitely didn’t notice it if I did.

I don't think anyone will agree with me,but I always felt that Jasnah should have died on the ship or the scene should have been changed. I really dislike fake out deaths and feel it undermined the stakes to just have her come back. People with Stormlight just feel too invincible to me and I think Jasnah coming "back" contributed to that a lot

Warbreaker and Firefight (The Reckoners #2) will provide the most colorful cinematic experience if they were to be adapted to big screen

The only audiobook I’ve ever found to improve the experience is Steven Pacey with the first law, worth a shot if you haven’t tried it!

probably not a hot take, but Adolin should never become a Knights Radiant. Him gaining magic powers would undercut his story, which is "you don't have to be a Radiant to be great/do good things in the world." At least that's how it seems to be evolving to me

Hard J for Jasnah for life. I also prefer neutral toned narrators. Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman audiobook is AMAZING.

Norse mythology read by Neil Gaiman audiobook was top tier! I'm finishing era 1 and starting warbreaker this week on a long flight - super excited!

I listen to audio books almost all day every day. My job requires me to spend a lot of time alone, without requiring a lot of my mental capacity. I found it difficult at first to listen to audio, but it didn't take too long to get over it when I could "read" all day while working, and then read actual text in the evening. There are some narrators that are more difficult than others. The narrator for "The Gunslinger". the first book in Stephen Kings Darktower series, sounds so much like Mel Brooks that I have a hard time not picturing Yogurt from Sapceballs. I recently had a friend ask for reading suggestions as he also has a job where he can listen to books all day. I set him up with Kingkiller first. I figured I would see how he liked a smaller fantasy series first. He loved them, so I introduced him to the Cosmere. He asked for the proper reading order so I gave him one. Mistborn, Wax and Wayne, Warbreaker, Elantris, Stormlight, Mistborn, Warbreaker, Stormlight, and Wax and Wayne. I figured no matter where he started he was going to have to re-read everything after finishing it all anyway. You get so much more out of the stories when you have the entire knowlege set than when you read it all new.

Agree: -Love Warbreaker, not my favorite but it's great -Brandon romances are fine -Wayne is meh Disagree: -I love Michael and Kate! I only rank Travis Baldree above them. ( But I love audio) -I've loved Lift since her first interlude -Reading order, I'm a publication order guy, but only because I think see sanderson grow as a writer was part of WHT I love about his books My own: I love Elantris! I picked up in the new fiction section of my college library and instantly had a new favorite author. Hrathen's redemption arch is still one of my favorite Sanderson character archs. -I'm not a huge WOT fan. I had DNF'd it years before Sanderson's announcement and only went back when he was finishing it. -I didn't love Skyward and have thought the series actually has gotten increasingly better with each entry, with Cytonic by far being my favorite

Warbreaker is so important to the cosmere, nightblood, vasher, breaths, the nalthian tech, etc. Mainly nightblood and azures blade. Super important. Lift will change in everyones opinion in back five when she's older, she's gonna be a huge player, because of the stuff with cultivation mainly. I personally don't care for her. She's young and immature right now, but once she matures it's gonna be a huge shift

The book club is what led me to your channel. I am glad it did, because I enjoy your perspective! We have a lot of overlap on what we have read and tend to like, and you have put a few books on my list to be read after my current Cosmere reread. You are, however, 100% wrong about Kramer. Lol. His action scene readings are iconic!

This is the first video I've watched on your channel. I learned about it from the Tress book club. I am actually pretty on board with most of these opinions. RoW is my favorite in the Stormlight Archive, and Warbreaker is SERIOUSLY underrated. I think I like Wayne and Lift a little more, but they do feel more like characters in a story rather than an actual person.

I’m not much of an audiobook person either and tried to listen to Era 2 to catch up before Lost Metal. I had to switch to the physical books halfway through because I wasn’t enjoying it 🤷🏻‍♂️ The audiobooks I’ve liked the most so far have been Joe Abercrombie. His narrator brought to life some characters I didn’t like as much in print and made me enjoy those books more

i agree with almost everything you said and i love it, but opinion 8 really made me laugh so much because YES HAHAHAHA brandon himself said that you can call the characters' names by anything you want. the pronunciation really doesn't matter. kelsier will forever be "kel-si-yer" for me as well as jasnah will forever be "jas-nah" for me

Oh you know I’m here for this -Christine

I never thought this day would come...

Completely unrelated to the topic of the video, but have you read any of John Bierce's Mage Errant series? If not, I highly recommend you check it out. It's one of my favourite fantasy series, and while certainly not perfect, it's still really enjoyable IMO.

Warbreaker is my favorite other than Stormlight, I do not want Stormlight to be animated either - live action or nothing, I LOVE Michael Kramer - he makes the feels come to life, I think MCU is a more playful comparison to Stormlight. SA has definitely changed my perspective in different ways of life!

Now I have to read Warbreaker. I started with Mistborn Era 1 and then jumped into Stormlight and Mistborn Era 2 but have never read any of his other books because a part of me is bothered by the fact I read them out of order. But now I think I'm sold!

As an Aussie if you name your kid Spencer they're still getting called Spensaaaa

I also have a hard time with audiobooks. It goes through one ear and out the other. Which is a shame, because I can listen to audiobooks at work, but I'm not good at it. I'll be able to read so many books if I could! Ah, well. I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggles with this.

people say its like the mcu to pitch it to people its obviously much deeper than that but when someone say "what's the cosmere" what are you gonna say to someone that only consumes mainstream media you'd probably say the mcu because its the only thing in the mainstream that's anywhere near the cosmere in concept

Half of these are like "yeah ok I get it", and the other half I'm like "HOW DARE YOU DONT LIKE LIFT". Lol

I guess I don't check reddit boards often because I didn't realize these were unpopular lol. 100% agree that Warbreaker is his best book. Love it from start to finish. Great protagonists? ✅Cool magic system? ✅Great twist? ✅Emotional character sacrifices? ✅ And I'm with you on Wayne. He's a character that I think if you cut out half of his dialogue, I would love him. The moments where he is vulnerable and introspective are great but they would slap more if I didn't get so many crude jokes and forced humor.

My only problem with Sanderson getting MIchael and Kate to do the audiobooks is that they're too old. They will likely be retired by the time the second half of Stormlight Archive comes out. If Sanderson had gotten someone younger to be the voices of the cosmere then that would not be an issue.

I think the MCU-Sanderson comparison is problematic because the MCU is adaptation of the Marvel Comics while Sanderson's works are original. Like many adaptations, the MCU jettisoned most of the depth, characterization, and plot points found in the comics and really should be thought of as 'inspired' by the comics. So if you take the MCU adaptations vs Sanderson, they would lose every time. By the way - if you compare Marvel Comics to Sanderson, IMHO Sanderson still wins :)

I'm an audiobook listener. Started by necessity, grew to love it. But this comment is about Warbreaker. It's not my favorite Cosmere book. It's pretty low in my ranking, in fact. Why? It may have to do with the narrator. There's a distinct quality to her voice (that I can't describe) that, in my opinion, alters the feel of the book. I wonder if I, and others, would feel differently about Warbreaker had we first read it via the traditional medium.

I’m relatively new to the Cosmere (have read Stormlight, Warbreaker, and starting Mistborn). RoW has been my favorite book so far because of all the science stuff! And Warbreaker is my #2 favorite at this point. I think if I ever go back and reread any Sanderson it will start with Warbreaker. Didn’t realize I was running into so many unpopular opinions!😂

Other than Michael Kramer opinion I agree with you! I often listen to audiobooks on long drives or while in traffic during my commute. Warbreaker has always been one of my favorite Sanderson books, though I really enjoy The Emperor's Soul as well.

I still have Warbreaker to look forward to! I keep hearing how amazing it is so hopefully I can squeeze it into a TBR soon. Completely agree with your reading order opinion. I have just been picking up whichever of his series intrigues me more in the moment and I have no complaints so far. I personally don't think easter eggs lose their enjoyment if you discover them in reverse (similar to what you were saying in your spoilers video about how spoilers don't affect enjoyment as much as we assume).

Love the audiobooks! But I’m a big fan of voice acting, so the nuances of their craft are fun for me. I do think it’s harder to listen to a book when you already read the characters, because you have the tone you chose in your head for that character before the narrator does their version. My unpopular opinion is that Shallan is being set up to have the best story arc of all the stormlight characters. I have a strong feeling that she is being written a certain way on purpose, not because she’s an annoying character.

Big Sanderson fan here and I agree with all the opinions except the pronunciation of Jasnah which doesn’t bother be either way LOL however. The audiobooks. I was a big Kramer fan until I met RC Bray. I audiobooked all 15 expeditionary force books in 3 months and it was the best experience 10/10

I love listening to audiobooks except when it comes to fantasy books. 💯 agree with your sentiments on Sanderson books. The narrators make the story feel dry imo

My number one unpopular opinion I think is that I hated Tress, it was a struggle to finish it. The humor was extremely not for me .I often dislike Sanderson's humor in general but it's okay in small amounts.

Stormlight archive done as a high fidelity anime would be miles better than anything live action could do Kramer brings me to tears You're actually out of your mind

Definitely agree on Lift and Wayne. And I love Warbreaker too - though not my favorite. I was sorely disappointed in the reunion of our two female leads in the end. They seemed to have very little love for each other. And made me realize that even though Sanderson is one of my favorite authors, I don’t recall any female characters having strong bonds/connection with each other. I love attack on titan and even though you don’t see Mikasa and our potato girl Sasha interacting too much - you know just by the few shots shown of them how much they love each other (Mikasa throwing Sasha under the bus then force feeding her bread, Sasha punching Mikasa’s boob when Mikasa tells Connie who is choking Sasha to take her out already before she eats all of the meat). There are no fun or loving or close interactions that I see between female characters in Sanderson’s books like I see in AoT. Makes me sad. I hope he improves on that.

The cosmere is closer to the Stephen King extended universe, then the MCU

at least you can call her spin

Huge tangent on audiobooks but I think I'd agree with you, I wouldn't like the ones with a lot of extra flourishes. I'm wary of audio in general because I don't like giving away so much control of the experience.

I completely agree with you about the Cosmere reading order, but my one caveat is reading Mistborn Secret History after the Bands of Mourning

I used to not fret about a reading order for the cosmere, but after Lost Metal... I feel like you really should read Stormlight Before jumping into Era 2 at this point. That or recommend a bunch of the short stories and the standalones in between Era 2 and starting stormlight. Anything to fade the memory of Ghostblood so that reveal can be a surprise.

This was fun and don't seem unpopular opinions at all. I love Warbreaker and while I don't have a favourite, I think it would be up there. Names are just names. How the characters look, sound, and speak are unique to every reader and that's one of my favourite things about reading. I now am wondering how many names among the books I've read are still mispronounced in my mind. Haha. The Wax and Wayne books are my least favourite of the Cosmere novels so far. They're the first I was content to own in digital format and didn't feel the need to purchase hardcopy (I do have the first one).

Not only I agree with the fact that there's no correct order to the Cosmere, I also think Era 2 could be adapted before Era 1 and then Era 1 could be that cool spinoff

Say no to romance!!! Haha! Also: Warbreaker is my fave. Also, the Science in Rhythm of war does slap.

I’m in the middle of book 7 of the wheel of time. I’ve never read Brandon Sanderson, where to start?

I mostly agree or don't really care so much with these, except (1) I actually like audiobooks with engaging narrators and (2) I am team soft J (=y) for Jasnah.

I think I agree with all of these. Michael Kramer doesn’t bother me, but he isn’t my favorite. RoW isn’t my favorite Stormlight book, but I fully agree, the science stuff slaps. And then yeah, it’s Jasnah. Not Yasnah. 👍🏼 -T

Lol I think the Wayne / Lift opinion might be the most unpopular! Everyone seems to have a polarizing opinion on them where they're either the best character ever or the worst. Wayne for a while was that meh but he did move up after Lost Metal. I enjoyed his humor, but couldn't quite get over how poorly he was treating various characters. And I do love Lift.

#1 Haven't read Warbreaker yet but own it and have heard great things about it, so I'm looking forward to it! #2 Hard agree. No more no less. #3 I laughed, just one of those words I guess? #4 Harder agree. Don't touch Stormlight. Don't. Touch. It. #5 I see where you're coming from but I love Lift for her childish antics and she's just a nice break in the bleak landscape that is Roshar. #6 Rhythm of War had me in as deep as Words of Radiance because of the science. Loved it. #7 I started with Stormlight as my first venture into the Cosmere and yeah, some things you miss but when you go through the rest of his works you have those ah-ha moments. #8 I've always said it as Yahznuh. Lol. #9 Don't have an opinion, audiobooks turn me into a squirrel 🐿️ so I don't listen to them. #10 Not an MCU fan but I kind of agree with you on how it seems hardcore MCU fans try to diminish the Cosmere. Sorry for the long comment love your channel!

omg finally someone said it!! I consume 90% of my books by audio, and I don't really like Michael Kramer's narration too!