The Sunlit Man
Ratings280
Average rating4.3
4.5 stars!
It's been a few months since I've read a BrandoSando and this book is definitely a great way to reconnect with the cosmere. Lots of cosmere info here, I'm sooo curious about what the SA and MB characters are up to now. There's unexpected stuff about Threnody too. Fingers crossed that the Night Brigade is going to be dealt with sometime in the future to give Nomad some peace.
If you were to read one and only one Brandon Sanderson book it should be this one. He figured out his formula!
Another stellar standalone from the goat.
This book talks a lot about the nature of investiture and covers some of the logic of the magic system found all across the Cosmere. One of the great things about investiture is that it allows the reader to experience wonder and mystery about the “new” magic systems you encounter across Sanderson's work, while also being able to tie all of it back together in an explainable way.
Anyway, not a great starting point if you're new to Sanderson (try Mistborn), but a must read for a fan of the Cosmere.
Probably one of my least favorite Sanderson books, but still wonderful. I found myself a bit lost or uninterested at times, but it still had a satisfying ending.
Brilliant addition to the cosmere. A wonderful capstone to the secret projects and a thrilling look to what will come next.
This book feels like Mad Max on the Cosmere and it's absolutely amazing.
My new favorite Sanderson book. Cosmere-heads will be stoked at all the worldbuilding (as was I), but the narrative and characterization is some of the best stuff I've in a long time
Pues realmente está en 3.5 pero Yumi me gustó mucho más por lo que no quería darle la misma nota.
La historia en sí me gustó, correcta. No me sorprendió mucho más allá de las cosas del Cosmere y lo que más me penaliza es que no me van mucho los temas de ciencia ficción, avances tecnológicos, física, naves espaciales etc eso hace que no me guste tanto la ambientación o me cueste meterme. En general se lee bien y no es complejo.
This is probably my Favorite of Sanderson Secret Projects Novels
The premise is that Nomad is running from a mysterious group called the Night Brigade and he has been jumping from world to world in the cosmere trying to escape this group that is hunting him.
There is so much I want to say but don't want to spoil it for those who might read it at some point. What I can say is that if you are a cosmere fan or not I think you would enjoy this kind of sci/fan book. Its got its science fiction aspects as well as Cosmere magic system and investure within this book with several references to both Scardial from Mistborn and Roshar from Stormlight Archive
I love the connections, I love discovering more info about Wit/Hoid (cosmere fans know it, if you dont know it read more cosmere lol) and the shards of Andolnasium I am trying really hard not to spoil anything here and will be doing a video review on my channel
This is set on a unique world that is essentially melted and reformed daily from the intense energy and heat of its sun and the people of this world live on the run from the sun travelling the world trying to stay on the nightside of this world and imho this is a very unique setting for a cosmere world and one I really like reading about
not much more I can say about this without spoilers so I will leave it at that for now
Originally posted at www.youtube.com.
Esperaba que este libro también estuviera escrito desde la perspectiva de Sagaz. Al no estarlo, es cierto que el principio me costó más, conectar con la historia y poder disfrutarla. Creo que cuando Sagaz aparece a pedirle perdón mi visión de la historia cambió por completo. Quería saber más de Nómada, de que le había llevado a renunciar a sus juramentos y si sería capaz de volver a ellos.
Acabe llorando y sufriendo por Aux.
Creo que para mi ya es imposible no llorar cada vez que leo algo de este hombre... Me siento tan conectada con todos sus personajes y me identifico con todos que cuando les veo sufrir (porque siempre tienen que sufrir) solo quiero ir corriendo a abrazarles y decirles que les adoro.
Lo que más me entristece del final es imaginarme a Nómada por el resto del tiempo teninedo que huir sin Aux, como va a sobrevivir sin nadie a su lado, a nadie al que recurrir... Quiero abrazarle fuertemente.
Espero que en el futuro sea capaz de arreglar aquello que rompió junto a sus juramentos y puedo establecer de nuevo una conexión tan especial con otro Spren sin olvidarse jamás de Aux.
Si le pongo 4 estrellas es porque aunque he conectado muchísimo con Nómada, la trama en general del libro no me parecía tan interesante, ni los personajes secundarios me han preocupado demasiado.
"In a fight of one against many, chaos favored him."
I managed to squeeze in all four Sanderson secret project books before the end of the year, and that’s a big deal to me. Normally I don’t read authors/series back-to-back like this. I’m somewhat glad I did, because it lets me really compare the four books against each other in terms of my enjoyment and arrive at a (somewhat) legitimate review score. The tl;dr version is that it’s a decent book (particularly if you really sink your teeth into Cosmere stuff), but definitely not a stand-alone story, and be at least caught up with the Stormlight Archive through Rhythm of War before riding this ride.
Nomad, a key player in the Stormlight Archives, is on the run, and winds up on a murderous mudball of a planet. The sun is actively trying to kill everyone on its surface, forcing its residents to live in moving cities that travel just in the sun’s wake so as not to, y’know, fry. The Cinder King is the despot of this planet, trying to unify everyone under his singular rule (and thumb). The rebel faction on this planet are the ones Nomad falls in with, and the book follows his story of trying to escape this planet while also saving the people from the Cinder King’s rule.
From, basically, page 1 Sanderson throws you into the deep end of Nomad’s predicament, and from there it’s wall-to-wall action until the end. It’s a very fast paced book, which is somewhat uncharacteristic of Sanderson. It’s also rife with Cosmere spoilers for the unwary, so it’s important that you’re well-versed in your lore before tackling this one. I appreciate that the Cosmere exists, but I don’t do extensive Cosmere study, leaving me having to do some emergency cramming to understand some of the more intricate details. It’s definitely not a stand-alone read, which Sanderson owns in the afterword. This book is Sanderson’s gift to the fans, and it shows.
I ended up with a 4 star rating on this one, just because I definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as Tress or Yumi, but I did like it more than Frugal Wizard. It’s just really fast paced (have I said that enough?), and there’s a lot going on. It’s a must-read for anyone invested (hahahaha) in the Cosmere, though.
Contains spoilers
Loved it, so sad this is the last of the secret projects, it's been so much fun to look forward to and read these books this year!
Nomad was a really interesting character to follow very cool to see Sigzil again and learn what happened to him since the events of the stormlight archive and Auxiliary is great when he first mentioned the thing about giving his final bit of soul to Nomad to power him up I was already like 'oh no'... It was an epic moment in the end, but also a very sad one... And now Nomad has lost his only companion :(.
The story was fun, some great side characters, and it was interesting to see Nomad trying to figure out the way the planet and it's magic worked and I loved the ingenious ways he used Aux. I love a good story about someone discovering their powers, but it's also so much fun to see a smart character who knows exactly what he's capable of in action. And as always a very satisfying but painful ending.
2.50/5.00
And so, the cosmere expands into science fiction. This is something that I have been expecting for a while now, and the execution is good. Not perfect, not amazing, just good. Reading through this book, I can feel the familiar tone of Sanderson's fantasy novels. Just as I expected, this wade into sci-fi has not changed his tone. He writes as good as he has ever written, just shy of some exceptions. The Sunlit Man tells us another delightfully innovative cosmere story, packed with action and intrigue. The character work is in-line with what I have come to expect with Sanderson's secret project novels, which I think are below his earlier works. Solid fun and action!
But is this the future of the cosmere ? This slightly above average prose, with Investiture thrown around to technology work ? Are we moving away from the details, the exact mechanics of this hard magic system, and moving into soft sci-fi? This is not Mistborn, this is not the Stromlight Archive, this is a poor representation of the spectacular world building of those fantasy masterpieces.
Emotional Impact -> I am not enjoying the cosmere's version of sci-fi. Are we just going to forget that Investiture is just magic and treat it as science ? The Scadrians are being turned into asshole villains, no surprises there, but that is so boring. I enjoyed the fantasy of cosmere, the shards, the oaths, the push and the pull, the creation and destruction. Now spren are turning into AI assistants. The story is action packed, which is the main reason I kept reading. Characters -> I really like the Greater Good. I thought those characters brought a sense of cultural intrigue to the plot. I liked Sigzil as well, but why the Dawnshard? Why the highspren bond? When did he become a skybreaker ? Was this story really needed now ? Why not after Stromlight 5 where it would have been more linear? How the Scadrians have space travel so soon ? How long has Sigzil lived ?Plot -> Not a bad plot, but no big twist. Pretty predictable. Conversation with Wit was nice.Prose -> I really thing Sanderson needs to write better dialogue. This is really missing. I think he always does a great job of world building, but the dialogue is just not very good. World building -> Interesting, very cosmerian, but so shallow. Zero focus on history. The world building reads like a history book.
Un emocionante regreso al Cosmere con todas las de la ley en un mundo donde los rayos del sol son una sentencia de muerte, un antiguo conocido trata de proteger a sus habitantes mientras huye de unos cazadores y se llevan a cabo ciertas revelaciones del universo de Sanderson. Para mí, el mejor Proyecto Secreto.
Ahora falta volver a Roshar.
...
Y con esto terminan las publicaciones de los 4 libros que lanzó Brando Sando este año. Mi orden de favoritos fue:
1. El Hombre Iluminado (Proyecto Secreto 4) - 4.5/5
2. Trenza del Mar Esmeralda (Proyecto Secreto 1) 4/5
3. Yumi y el pintor de Pesadillas (Proyecto Secreto 3) 3/5
—
No he leído el Proyecto Secreto 2 (no hace parte del Cosmere y creo que le he dedicado mucha lectura a Brando Sando este año, hay que variar, hay que variar!), pero eventualmente lo haré.
Run run run as fast as you can...you can't catch me because I am the Sunlit Man!
Emotional Impact 6.75
Characters 7.75
Plot 8.5
Worldbuilding 8
Dialogue / Prose 7.5
Official Rating 7.66
Goodreads Rating 3.75
Forgot to include this back when I read it at the tail end of Japan trip - very cool how this is a glimpse into the ‘future' of the cosmere, lots of cool references again, nice and contained story and was overall enjoyable!
The Sunlit Man was a pleasant surprise for me. It took me a long time to realize Nomad was a character from the Stormlight Archives, and that I actually knew him! I ended up googling everything about Hoid and Nomad and etc etc. It was a wonderful time.
The book itself was well paced, engaging, interesting, and fun. I loved the clever world and how Brandon built it up, I loved the scientific explanations for all the weird and fantastical nonsense of the world, I loved that the setting was as much of a character as the characters were, and I loved the cathartic release I got from how beautifully everything was tied up. These four books (the secret ones) are probably my favorites of Sandersons even having read Stormlight Archive and Mistborn (first trilogy, my previous favorites of all time). Tress is still number one, but I also haven't read Yumi yet.
No complaints. 5 stars. Would read again.
Contains spoilers
Let’s say there are three items A, B, and C. You can combine A with B in five different ways, and B with C in six ways. And let’s say there are thousands of people who use items every day. It would be very unusual if these people would not go through all possible ways to combine these three items and figure out which of these ways are useful.
If you introduce these items in a fast-paced novel, a reader might not do this by themselves (they don’t have direct access to this universe to test their hypotheses), and they might accept that a discovery is surprising. But now, when you think about the state of the world before this discovery, something seems wrong about it. How come nobody bothered to check this? Isn’t it your main problem? Why is nobody really studying it?
(That is to say, somebody on Canticle would have discovered how to recharge sunhearts long ago without any outside help.)
I was unduly harsh on this book on the first attempt but that's only because I rate Sanderson at his best so highly. It's totally fine, if you want to turn the brain off and enjoy a very YA action story.
This book has highlighted something I hadn't considered though, and that is to be worried about the Cosmere mythos becoming too involved in the Stormlight Archive. I desperately hope Sanderson manages to keep the Stormlight Archive as its own semi-standalone series, full of connections to the wider universe but you don't need to know any of those other books to follow whats happening.
I don't even know if it's possible, but a boy can dream.