this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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Super small suggestion, but check out elantris and warbreaker also by brandy sandy before you drip into stormlight archive or secret history. They're not required by any means to enjoy any of the stories here, but they definitely clue you in to a few more Easter eggs than you'd notice otherwise. Iirc, both of those books are available through his website or by emailing his team at no charge. Could be old info but both the books are entirely worth their price anyways imo
This is a great suggestion. Elantris can take a second to get into but it’s great.
So my take in this is that yes, some parts of Secret History make more sense if you've read Elantris and Warbreaker, but; Elantris and Warbreaker are relatively hard sells for the more casual reader, kind of hard to get into, in my experience.
I've found that giving new readers Secret History first, pulling back the Cosmere curtain just a little, gives them a reason to want to read Elantris and Warbreaker.
As someone who started with elantris and then proceeded to warbreaker, id have to disagree. Elantris captured my interest with its relatively simple, defined magic system. Its a blast discovering it right along with the characters, who drive the story. Then warbeaker comes along and shows me how esoteric and subjective the magic system can be, which sets me up perfectly to wonder at the powers we get drip fed in the stormlight archive. While SH is great to get into right after finishing Era 1 of mistborn, I feel like it pulls back the curtain a little too much a little too quickly to properly allow for the reader to grasp most of the context of what happens.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to claim my way is the only or even the best way! A thousand debates have been had over the "correct" Cosmere reading order, and I personally think there is basically no "wrong" order.
I've just found that the people I know who started with Mistborn, often struggled to get into Elantris and/or Warbreaker. I don't think it's unfair to say that they are not as breezy a read as Mistborn. And that telling them "it's a shared universe! You just gotta read these two other 600-page books before that starts mattering" is kind of a hard sell.
Both sides obviously have their merrit. I can see how mistborn would appeal to a wider fantasy audience, but I came at the cosmere looking to explore magical systems. Elantris and Warbreaker scratch that itch very well, though they can definitely be overwhelming for someone new to fantasy in general. It's hard enough to sell anyone on long format books these days without having soft prerequisites on top of it all.