The Cosmere Without Context

Cosmere quotes and other Cosmere rambles. Spoilers for all Cosmere books

[emrystheedgedancer]

Hot Take: I am over Sanderson Kickstarters

Dragonsteel is undoubtedly making millions. It has to be. Surely at this point they could just like… publish the books? Why does everything have to be in tiers? Why are they continuing to ask fans to fund them in this way for projects they could do themselves?

Maybe I am missing something major. Idk how it all works and surely have no idea how complicated these processes are. But from where I, a rather poor Cosmere fan, am standing it just feels like every single new release has become an entire commercial enterprise designed to wring as much money as possible from fans and tbh I’m tired.

[emrystheedgedancer]

Hot take: Brando did Marasi dirty

I have a lot of uncharitable thoughts about The Lost Metal (spoilers ahead). But this is the one that I hate the most.

Marasi deserved better. In the first two books she was used as the pining girl for Wax. Which was not taken seriously. Then in Bands of Mourning we see her struggle and begin to form her own identity separate from being in Wax’s shadow. We see her meet a new man.

I went into The Lost Metal expecting more development of that. I wanted her to finally get her own story and her own moment to shine and her own love.

AND IT HAPPENED OFF SCREEN. We get into The Lost Metal years and years later and now she has a partner (who we see once and has three lines). And the rest of the book is devoted to cosmere crossover characters and a new magic system.

I feel like The Lost Metal shafted all of the original era 2 characters but none more than Marasi. We didn’t get to see her romance. We didn’t get to see her come into her own. I don’t even remember anything else about her from that book because she was so in distinct. It’s been a while since I read it, granted, but I was so very disappointed by it that I don’t want to read it again.

Marasi deserved better. She was a woman character who was intelligent and interesting and had so much going for her and Brandon dropped her like a hot potato to get his crossovers in. And I will never not be mad about it.

[brothermouse-skeleton]

Waxillium Ladrian carries marked bills in case he gets robbed, mixes stuff into his water so it looks like booze in case he needs to fake being drunk, and makes sure he always has a metal button on his shirt in case he needs to kill someone with it.

Is it any wonder that he's a perfect match for Steris "I got nervous last night so to calm myself down I accidentally planned for every conceivable apocalypse scenario" Harms

[virtualtear00]

Third butch from my mini series: Eshonai

[jennydolfen]

Stormblessed. Happy first anniversary to me for falling head over heels in love with these books!

Detail shots: an assortment of shirts and no shirts. 😅

Etsy Procreate brushes Patreon Tip jar Prints

[botanicaxu]

I don't think I've ever done a proper piece for Shallan, so here it is!

[emrystheedgedancer]

Dragonsteel was hands down the most enjoyable con I’ve ever been to

I FINALLY got to go to both Dragonsteel and the Worldhopper Ball this year!!

I have never been to such a pleasant con before. Everyone was so nice and it wasn’t shoulder to shoulder crowded. The cosplays were creative and clever.

I loved that it was mostly book focused (I don’t know why that surprised me but it did). As someone who isn’t really an anime fan I get really tired of every other con being SO heavily anime focused. It was nice to go to something different and more aligned with my interests.

The Worldhopper Ball was INCREDIBLE! I cried. It was a magical experience that ended far too soon. I get why they have to keep them short but I could have stayed another three hours and been happy.

All in all I think Dragonsteel will become an annual tradition for me. It was a chill, relaxed, nerdy and book centered con with a lot of really cool things to be found.

I also now know that I need to bring so much more spending money because I definitely exceeded my budget…

[cam-pteryx]

day nine goes crazy

[duckngk]

everybody wants complicated female characters until she makes cringey jokes

[dealunart]

Portrait of Veil for the Cosmere RPG

AD: Johnny O'Neal

[emrystheedgedancer]

STOP DOING THIS IT IS WEIRD

Hey.... I am still seeing posts about how "you can see Brandon Sanderson deconstructing in his work" and "it wouldn't surprise me if he leaves the LDS church soon".

Once again, THIS IS BIZARRE BEHAVIOR.

Religious authors can write criticisms about religion in their work and still be religious.

Religious authors can create fantasy worlds that are in no way based on their own religious experiences.

Non-religious authors can write deeply religious characters and still be non-religious.

Non-religious authors can also write critiques about atheism and still be non-religious.

Authors can explore view points other than their own through their characters. In fact, I would argue that that's like.... the entire point.

This current belief I keep seeing that authors agree with everything their characters do is not just bizarre it is deeply rooted in a kind of anti-intellectualism and lack of media literacy that I find troubling. To be surprised that a religious author can write a good critique of religion is to ignore literal centuries of people doing just that. It's ahistorical and also smacks of the "religious people are stupider than me" condescension that many non-religious struggle with when that is far, far from the truth.

You do not know these authors. You do not know their deeply held beliefs. You do not get to speculate about that.

When people do this all they're doing is revealing their own misinformed biases and it's WEIRD.

STOP IT.

[momentov1vere]

✧ I Will Seek Truth ✧

[anatoly-kun]

your son's wife falls at you from the sky holding this huge sword, wyd??

[laughterspren-abound]

the stormlight archive is so funny to me bc roshar is MASSIVE and everything is so detailed, down to a science.

but one of the standout dishes is Fantasy Hot Pockets

[hollowmoon-art]

hoid literally every book:

[emrystheedgedancer]

What do you think of Throne of Glass???

I am almost done with the second book and my thoughts are mixed.

I like a lot of things about it. I think the world building is interesting and I like a lot of the characters. I think Dorian is the most interesting character in the series so far. And, apparently, I am in the minority that likes Chaol? (Watch me eat my words when he turns out to be the villain or something). Celaena isn't my favorite of protagonists but I don't hate her (and the "big twist" for her is super obvious to me so that's not going to be a surprise when I get to it). Overall I like it.

Buuut you can definitely tell this series was conceptualized by a teenager. The first book was so very tropey and I have struggled to get through the second one. I've been told it only gets better so I'm committed to continuing on but I have not been sucked in.

[emrystheedgedancer]

I have taken a huge step back from Sanderson stuff recently. Idk, I just got Sanderon'd out after Wind and Truth. I still haven't read the secret projects lol. I've been reading other things and recently started the Throne of Glass series.

BUT I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to Dragonsteel! I'm still here, I still check in every now and then, but I just don't really have anything new to say about Cosmere/Sanderson content so I haven't been posting as much.