The Sunlit Man

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.