Sanderson teases faster Stormlight Archive release schedule starting 2031
Fantasy author suggests two or three books could release consecutively every two years after the series resumes.
What to know
- Sanderson outlined an accelerated release plan for Stormlight Archive books 6-10, suggesting two or three books could release consecutively every two years rather than one every three years starting in 2031.
- The author expressed confidence he can write quickly once he returns to the series, having just completed book five (Wind and Truth) two years ago.
- Reader sentiment in comments is mixed: some are skeptical of recent book pacing and quality, while others defend his character work and writing style.
The dispute Whether Sanderson's recent books maintain quality given faster editorial turnarounds, with defenders citing strong characterization while critics point to pacing and structure problems in books 4-5. · positions read across 35 posts and comments
Sanderson's recent books have suffered from rushed editing and slower pacing, harming their quality.
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“I am still stalled out halfway through book 4 of Stormlight and I bought it when it first released. Something about the last couple of his books I've read have just really dragged for me.”
Polygon commenter · Polygon ↗
Sanderson remains a skilled writer with strong character work, and his prolific output is a genuine achievement.
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“Dalinar is one of the best written characters in any book i've ever read and you're truly lying to yourself if you think otherwise. Kaladin is also an amazingly well written depiction of depression”
TheNibbaNator · Reddit ↗
Readers concerned the Cosmere's growing interconnectedness may alienate casual fans unfamiliar with other series.
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“I feel like the multiverse aspect is what might be bad for casual readers. What do you mean I'm in book 4 of a series and all of a sudden a character from another series shows up and I need to know their whole deal?”
chamberk107 · Reddit ↗
“Honestly at this point I'm way more hopeful about the Ghostbloods books we are supposed to be getting the next three years. I am still stalled out halfway through book 4 of Stormlight and I bought it when it first released.”
Polygon commenter, Reader · Polygon ↗
Brandon Sanderson Fantasy author, Stormlight Archive creator
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlespostscomments
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Polygon reports Sanderson's accelerated Stormlight schedule
Polygon published coverage of Sanderson's Halloween stream comments, detailing his plans to potentially release multiple Stormlight Archive books in quick succession starting around 2031, with the author expressing confidence he can work quickly once he returns to the series.
“once he starts he thinks he'll "rip through the first few of them pretty quickly."”
— Brandon Sanderson -
first by Polygon, 9d ago
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Ok, yes, but that's a little unfair because shallan is basically completely redesigned as a character between books one and two. Shallan in book one is a exposition vessel in a court drama C plot unrelated to the main series. Shallan in books 2-5 is a completely unreliable narrator with hologram magic and a spy thriller C plot that is secret from…
2 more of the top 3 · 35 posts in this stretch
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Oh yeah that’s definitely a thing, but it’s really limited to the Honor shard for now. The point of that stuff was just to say that enough investiture will always become sentient when completely on its own. It’s implied that this is how the Wind, Stone, and Night formed, though not strongly. But the Honor shard was alone for so long that it’s…
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This is only part of the story. Sanderson talked about it during one of his updates post Wind and Truth. As he has gotten more popular the publisher wants to get his books out faster because it means more money, but that also means less time in the oven for editing. He said when he first started writing he had about two years between the first…
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background
Sanderson discusses Stormlight release timeline on Halloween stream — During a Halloween stream wearing a Shrek costume, fantasy author Brandon Sanderson revealed his plans for releasing the remaining five books of The Stormlight Archive. When asked if a three-year interval starting in 2031 was realistic, he agreed but immediately outlined a faster alternative schedule.
What people are saying 21 voices from 1 site · best of 35 · verbatim
- Nov 3
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Yeah exactly, I think this might change in the future, mostly because of how big the cosmere has become, he won't keep the isolation thing going for the later books, but for now you're not really missing on anything by doing your own order, I'd say only sunlit man and isles of the emberdark would be too "advanced" for someone new to the books and…
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To be honest, from the way it is done right now, save for some very few specific books like sunlit man, I'd say you don't really need to have read anything to be able to read anything. That might change in the future, in the space stage of the cosmere we will likely get more crossover, but right now I think you can easily enjoy everything without…
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Yes it is. It's some of the finest fanatsy literature. There is a reason george is called the American tolkien. I'll give you how good he is, people are discovering new things even after decades reading his books.
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Yes, my comment shall be studied, pondered and written about by many a master's student writing their literature dissertation on Rhythm of War. Hopefully it will be as bloated and pointless as the book itself.
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guys, you've all given me a to-read-schedule for my entire life haha. thank youuu so much! tbf, I'm not really new to reading in general, been reading translated wuxia slop since i was 14 n learning english, but now u've all introduced me to proper fiction. ill be perusing your list u/Werthead for the next decade probably :D let's see if any of…
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Look I get it, you are stuck in a circlejerk so you are projecting now. Go ahead, try and explain how your comment makes any sense in regards to what I said. Meanwhile you are using the most parroted circlejerked argument about the book possible like it was actually your own unique idea?
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It’s funny, the first time I read RoW it was my least favorite in the series. When I did a reread for WaT, it actually jumped to my 2nd favorite! I absolutely adored the Navani and Raboniel sections.
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I feel like the multiverse aspect is what might be bad for casual readers. What do you mean I'm in book 4 of a series and all of a sudden a character from another series shows up and I need to know their whole deal? I hear Sarah J Maas is also taking this tack, which pissed some readers of her latest book off. Did they learn nothing from the…
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Ya man, I was really waiting for the release of wind and truth but in the end I dropped it without even reading 1/10 of the book. Its so damn slow and the world building there just feels like throw words at building nothing
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He doesn't use a lot of flowery language and describes things in more straightforward terms instead of relying heavily on analogies every other sentence. It's refreshing, especially when these books are 1000+ pages long each. It makes them great page-turners, which is exactly what you need in a series so long. The emphasis is on the story and…
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The Catholic Church is actually on the moderate side of organized religion. I wonder what Martin Luther would think of the army of lunatics that you see on some Protestant branches if he could see them. Keep in mind that I don’t like the Catholic church, I don’t like the pope, and I think it should disappear. But as Jesus said, to Caesar what it…
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This is a wild claim given how insanely slowly paced the first book is. Like, it was one of the biggest criticisms of the book at the time, because it spends so much time just introducing the characters, world, concepts and of course the beginnings of the story, all of which cover a LOT of ground.
- Nov 2
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Yep. I judge them, but I don’t proselytize to them. I don’t tell them in a fake sweet voice that science believes in them even if they don’t believe in science. I don’t throw a shit fit when I find out that they’re not atheists and try to convince them to see The Truth.
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That's fair, hate is a strong word. It was just that the comment I replied to seemed to be insinuating that people only dislike him for invalid reasons when there are plenty of people who just think he's not a good author.
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I mean, personally, I loved all of the Mistborn stuff, including The Lost Metal. YMMV and different people have different tastes, but I enjoyed the whole thing and thought where each character ended up made sense (even if some stuff was bittersweet).
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People nornally say his writing started to drop off in stormlight 3 and went down after that. You have mostly read the books fans agree on being good. The split in the fandom comes as the cosmere becomes more of the focus, instead of background.
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I didn't even try it I dropped Sanderson after Lost Medal. A lot of issues I had with RoW were also in Lost Medal so I've dropped Sanderson for the time being,possibly forever unless he gets an editor who will "stand up" to him
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Sanderson doesn't really get openly political but I can gather that I think he is pretty liberal generally. His books are probably always going to have straight protagonists, but gay named characters do exist in the worlds. I've watched a bit of his podcast and if you listen a bit, you can get a glimpses of how he feels about some political stuff.
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How would you rate Winds compared to Rythm? I thought Rythm was good, but man I couldn't get far into Winds(like maybe 70 pages). Something about a certain character becoming a therapist just... didn't make any sense
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The books were talked about as 2 5-book long arcs. Thats more like saying Return of the Jedi couldn't be satisfying without the other triliogies. Having several book arcs in much longer series is normal, as is expecting a conclusion to that arc in them. Compare it to something like the dragonlance books, which have sets of triliogies that both…
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I generally think it speaks more to his work ethic and consistency than his talent. Being able to hammer out nonstop 6 or 7/10 books at the pace he does is a skill, even if it doesn't exactly make him the greatest author to ever live.