Casual Brandon Sanderson readers may not have picked up on this yet, but all of his adult fantasy fiction novels, regardless of their apparent differences, share the same universe: the “Cosmere.” In his usual comprehensive manner, Adam Werthead of the Wertzone summarizes Sanderson’s planned 36 book mega-series in a helpful primer for those unfamiliar with the subject. This announcement will no doubt seem more than a bit remedial to the folks over at the 17th Shard.
The fact that all of Sanderson’s fantasy series share a universe is based on the existence of common characters, concepts, and statements by the author himself. Sanderson’s meticulous planning combined with the fact that his planned legendarium is far from finished has created a lot of fodder for the theorists.
If you’re a Sanderson devout and want to know more about the Cosmere, the Shardworlds, or the more esoteric shards, check out the Coppermind, the Sanderson wiki.
As much as I want to (finally) found out how the Wheel of Time ends, I’m more excited to see where Sanderson goes with his own work. He’s unmatched in secondary worldbuilding and the development of magic systems, and The Way of Kings was a good read.
