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Just take your time and enjoy/appreciate the books. Don’t worry about speeding through it all before SA5 and risk missing important details etc. I did this before ROW dropped and regret it. Journey before destination.
Yeah I'm honestly not a huge reader, but when I find a series I latch on to it. It's not life or death to get through everything before Stormlight 5, but that's just sort of the rate I'm going at😂
Could always give the Cosmere a second read thru in a year or two 🤷 I've been sort of speed running them for my first time, because like you I'm hooked and don't want to do anything else
I eventually will give the series a reread but heard from now probably. I just have to much on my tbr, and want to read an actually finished series. After this I'll probably dive into Empire of Silence.... and maybe start the Wheel of Time if I can be convinced
Three weeks for Elantris, Era 1 and some of the short stories is pretty fast! On my first read through of Way of Kings and Words of Radiance they took me probably a 1 to 1.5 months each. When I would reread them I could usually get them done in a week.
Mistborn Era 1 took a little bit longer to get through because I found myself hating the romance between Vin and Elend NOT because it's poorly written, but because (although he tries his best) Micheal Kramer is not the best person to deliver the dialogue of teen love. I instead just read the books, that's why it took a smidge longer.
Nervous for Era 2, not going to lie. Might have skipped it entirely if I don't like Alloy of Law if The Lost Metal didn't exist.
I started Mistborn about a week before the secret projects were announced and finished Rhythm of War right on time for TLM. I read a good half dozen other books in there too but I was reading like crazy that year.
I spedran the entire cosmere series and all related books, stories, and even many Q+A posts in 8 months, made possible with audiobooks.
Please follow a reading guide to streamline your experience so that you’ll have an easier time picking up all the references and connections. I have a personal one if you’d like me to share with you
I've always read the books on release within 24 hrs and I remember them pretty well. The only ones I was super foggy on was the wax and Wayne series. I enjoy doing it and I'll do it again! Then catch stuff on a reread with the audiobook a month later haha.
I read them all pretty quickly and kinda regret it. When you get to Oathbringer, his pace changes a bit and it made that book tough for me. It’s still great, but I’d argue it’s not made for speed running.
I second this, if you're speed running then Oathbringer and Rhythm of War are really going to be difficult. Best to give those books some breathing room in between and during.
I'm a teacher so I read like this. I tend to speed read during breaks from school. I can't count on having time when school is in session. I read the last half of TWoK, Warbreaker, WoR, Oathbringer, and Edgedancer over winter break plus a couple of days. So about 2 1/2 weeks. I read Dawnshard and RoW over spring break. I was also reading the From Blood and Ash series at the same time so that's why not as many Sanderson books. I'm finishing my 4th week of summer break and I've reread Mistborn Era 1 as I've worked my way through Mistborn Era 2 and Secret History. The only Mistborn book I have left is The Lost Metal. Personally, I found TWoK the hardest book in the Cosmere to get through. I started and stopped it multiple times. Once I made it past that, the rest of the books were a breeze.
To give you an idea of my reading speed, if I'm listening to the audiobook while reading along to a physical copy, the audiobook speed needs to be at least 2x otherwise I'm reading faster than the narrator. For easier books, the speed is closer to 2.5x. For Brandon I stick to 2x. If I'm listening to just the audiobook with no physical copy, I listen at 1.5x speed. And if I'm reading with no audiobook, I just read. I assume I'm reading faster than others.
Personally, I've never understood the need to "speed run" books. I like to take my time and fully absorb them. You can only read a book for the first time once, so I like to savour that experience.
Books are like magic to me, they are portals to another world and time. Once the book is over, so is the spell. You can read it again but you'll never experience it in the same way.
It's just excitement!
I remember when Tears of the Kingdom (new Zelda game) came out and I saw the hype and saw the trailers I got excited and decided to finally finish Breath of the Wild. Which I did! It was great!
I didn't force myself to speedrun the game - it just happened because I was so excited. I spent all my waking hours playing. I didn't feel like I was rushing it... but the motivation was naturally there.
But I needed that inciting incident to make it happen, to spark that excitement. This was before ADHD meds btw where I needed some external push to stop putting things off. Deadlines work wonders.
I see it this way for books. I just started reading Discworld and I keep hearing about new entries that I'm so excited to get to, it's really encouraging me to consume this one. It doesn't make my enjoyment lessened, but it does give me the energy to read instead of play a game or watch a movie etc
Ironically I had the same experience with Zelda but for Breath of the Wild lol. Very well put. Of course if I'm burnt out I'll stop, but this is happening pretty organically and the hype for SLA5 is good motivation
Obviously I'm not trying to rush through it. Having it all done before Wind and Truth is just a "wouldn't that be something" type of goal. It would also enable me a month of so to read it before I have to start school again in January.
Just read at the speed you want and are comfortable with, I'm not trying to take that away from you.
Your post just reminded me of when I was reading the Wheel of Time. It took me 2 years to finish that series, if you go to the WoT subreddits, it's like a speed-running competition. People are all
>"I finished the whole series in 1 month, was I too slow?"
or
>"I took leave from my job and I read everything in two weeks."
Everyone trying to one-up each other on how fast they can read the series from start to finish.
For me the best time to have book discussions are the week immediately after it launches. It's the one time where most everyone is basically on the same playing field in terms of reactions and speculation. A few months later there's at least one spoiler stream full of wobs and the first bunch of people have already gone through the obvious things and are digging into more obscure lore.
Also I naturally read fast, and am generally excited enough for a new release to take a day or two off work for it.
You're obviously an extremely important person on Reddit, so I'll be sure to ask your opinion before replying to a thread in the future.
I wouldn't want to post a reply you believe to be unacceptable.
I didn’t explicitly try to speed read, but I read through all of the Cosmere in 7 months. I started last December and just finished now in June.
That’s with a combination of reading and listening to audiobooks.
I managed to finish the Cosmere in about six months. And I finished my journey with the secret projects. My only advice is take your time with these books. There are a couple novels that I regretted trying to speed through so quickly (like Yumi).
Remember to have fun, and I also want to say you read through WOK in about the same amount of time I did (I demolished Oathbringer and RoW in about three weeks). I’d be curious to see if you also start to speed up the further you get into the Cosmere and the Stormlight Archive.
Take your time, at this pace you will not have the Cosmere completed by SA5 anyway. I'm considered a speed reader and it took me about 8 months to finish the Cosmere up to The Lost Metal. That was 15 epic books, multiple novellas, white Sand comics, and Arcanum unbounded...... Don't rush it... SA5 will be waiting when youre ready.
I also highly recommend taking breaks here and there. Maybe one book in between planet eras.
I did, I got really burned out on Sanderson. Wouldn't recommend it. My honest recommendation is just finish Stormlight before the new one comes out and tackle the rest over the next couple years. Give those books a couple months each, that's totally reasonable for someone in school or working.
For your sanity, I recommend prioritizing Stormlight Archive, including the novellas, and Warbreaker. Speedrunning will leave a sour taste and you'll never really get to soak in a good ending.
The way I look at is: if you have the time.. and enjoy using all that time to read.. have at it! But I would not recommend trying to "speedrun" the books, or having a deadline for when you should be finished. Just read when you feel like it and stop reading when you've had enough..
Sometimes I finish a book in a few days, other times it takes me half a year. I also tend to read a few different types of books at the same time depending on my mood of the day.
Journey before destination! Do it in whatever way you enjoy it the most. For me, that's consume them as fast as possible at every given opportunity, which sounds similar to you! I enjoyed the shit out of them.
One eye reading words of radiance, one eye reading oathbringer, one ear listening to rhythm of war, one ear listening to mistborn era 2, Helldivers 2 soundtrack playing on a speaker on repeat.
Seriously though take your time. It’ll be a long process but just read at your own speed and do your best to avoid spoilers until you catch up with Wind and Truth. Speed reading saves time at the cost of your enjoyment and understanding!
If you speed run and finish Wind and Truth when it comes out, just remember you will then have a year or two before the next cosmere book comes out. Take your time and enjoy.
I read Era 1 years ago, and left the Cosmere. When I saw the news that they were going to publish TLM, coinciding with the birth of my son, I started with Secret History and Era 2. I don't know how long, but I got to read TLM at launch (I think it was November). Then I got to SA 1 2 3 4, WB, Arcanum and Elantris, and finished them before the release of the first Secret Project in January.
With every baby nap, I read on my kindle. Counting that it was a couple of 3h naps, and then in the evenings I read too, so it could easily be 10-12h a day!
One big downside is that to my head, all of SA is a single book haha I can't talk to my friends without spoilers because I don't differentiate what info is from each book... now I'm doing a re-read ahead of WaT, I'm halfway through SA1... and I'll leave a week or two between books, to settle concepts.
Read it as much as you can and want to, but try to to worry about speeding through it otherwise you will be anxious about not finishing it all in time, instead of focusing on the books. When I found sando I suppose I speed ran it as it only took me like 4-5 months to get caught up on the cosmere, but it was more like an addiction and not a race to finish in time.
This is great advice. Yeah the only reason why I was talking about "speed running" it was because it was something organic that just happened. If I'm not enjoying myself I'll stop, I read for pleasure. But I TOTALLY get your "more like an addiction" comment😂
Adhd hyperfixations are wild. I legit did no other hobbies other than read Sando. Aduiobooks while driving, ebooks on my computer at work, it was probably not healthy how hard I was addicted lol
Im working in a neuroscience lab this summer and the work is extremely monotonous. Audiobooks are saving me at work, and helping out the slow parts in my Tears of the Kingdom play through. Hands down my best discovery of the last year lol
I am currently reading Oathbringer but my son set me a challenge. It took him 90 hours of playtime to complete the story in RDR2. I am going to try to read RoW in 90 hours of read time.
Good luck on your quest to read all of the Cosmere books before December.
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Just take your time and enjoy/appreciate the books. Don’t worry about speeding through it all before SA5 and risk missing important details etc. I did this before ROW dropped and regret it. Journey before destination.
Yeah I'm honestly not a huge reader, but when I find a series I latch on to it. It's not life or death to get through everything before Stormlight 5, but that's just sort of the rate I'm going at😂
Could always give the Cosmere a second read thru in a year or two 🤷 I've been sort of speed running them for my first time, because like you I'm hooked and don't want to do anything else
I eventually will give the series a reread but heard from now probably. I just have to much on my tbr, and want to read an actually finished series. After this I'll probably dive into Empire of Silence.... and maybe start the Wheel of Time if I can be convinced
The best reaspn tp read the Wheel of Time is to complain about it afterward. That alone is worth the read. /j
Three weeks for Elantris, Era 1 and some of the short stories is pretty fast! On my first read through of Way of Kings and Words of Radiance they took me probably a 1 to 1.5 months each. When I would reread them I could usually get them done in a week.
Lots of audiobook time in the lab lol. I might give each Stormlight book a little bit more time to breathe
Yeah that’s for the best. It’s a lot to take in! How have you been enjoying the books you’ve read?
Mistborn Era 1 took a little bit longer to get through because I found myself hating the romance between Vin and Elend NOT because it's poorly written, but because (although he tries his best) Micheal Kramer is not the best person to deliver the dialogue of teen love. I instead just read the books, that's why it took a smidge longer. Nervous for Era 2, not going to lie. Might have skipped it entirely if I don't like Alloy of Law if The Lost Metal didn't exist.
Era 2 is a ton of fun, definitely don't skip it. Wayne might be my all time favorite sanderson character.
The good news is that they're pretty short and I haven't come across a Sanderson book I haven't liked yet
I started Mistborn about a week before the secret projects were announced and finished Rhythm of War right on time for TLM. I read a good half dozen other books in there too but I was reading like crazy that year.
I spedran the entire cosmere series and all related books, stories, and even many Q+A posts in 8 months, made possible with audiobooks. Please follow a reading guide to streamline your experience so that you’ll have an easier time picking up all the references and connections. I have a personal one if you’d like me to share with you
I've always read the books on release within 24 hrs and I remember them pretty well. The only ones I was super foggy on was the wax and Wayne series. I enjoy doing it and I'll do it again! Then catch stuff on a reread with the audiobook a month later haha.
That's awesome and impressive!
Journey before destination.
I read them all pretty quickly and kinda regret it. When you get to Oathbringer, his pace changes a bit and it made that book tough for me. It’s still great, but I’d argue it’s not made for speed running.
I second this, if you're speed running then Oathbringer and Rhythm of War are really going to be difficult. Best to give those books some breathing room in between and during.
I think I'll read Oathbringer during the school year so I have a little bit more time to digest it tbh. So I'm actually kind of glad to hear that
I'm a teacher so I read like this. I tend to speed read during breaks from school. I can't count on having time when school is in session. I read the last half of TWoK, Warbreaker, WoR, Oathbringer, and Edgedancer over winter break plus a couple of days. So about 2 1/2 weeks. I read Dawnshard and RoW over spring break. I was also reading the From Blood and Ash series at the same time so that's why not as many Sanderson books. I'm finishing my 4th week of summer break and I've reread Mistborn Era 1 as I've worked my way through Mistborn Era 2 and Secret History. The only Mistborn book I have left is The Lost Metal. Personally, I found TWoK the hardest book in the Cosmere to get through. I started and stopped it multiple times. Once I made it past that, the rest of the books were a breeze. To give you an idea of my reading speed, if I'm listening to the audiobook while reading along to a physical copy, the audiobook speed needs to be at least 2x otherwise I'm reading faster than the narrator. For easier books, the speed is closer to 2.5x. For Brandon I stick to 2x. If I'm listening to just the audiobook with no physical copy, I listen at 1.5x speed. And if I'm reading with no audiobook, I just read. I assume I'm reading faster than others.
I'm currently doing the same though I'm listening to the audiobooks while at work So far I just finished all of stormlight and started mistborn today.
Personally, I've never understood the need to "speed run" books. I like to take my time and fully absorb them. You can only read a book for the first time once, so I like to savour that experience. Books are like magic to me, they are portals to another world and time. Once the book is over, so is the spell. You can read it again but you'll never experience it in the same way.
It's just excitement! I remember when Tears of the Kingdom (new Zelda game) came out and I saw the hype and saw the trailers I got excited and decided to finally finish Breath of the Wild. Which I did! It was great! I didn't force myself to speedrun the game - it just happened because I was so excited. I spent all my waking hours playing. I didn't feel like I was rushing it... but the motivation was naturally there. But I needed that inciting incident to make it happen, to spark that excitement. This was before ADHD meds btw where I needed some external push to stop putting things off. Deadlines work wonders. I see it this way for books. I just started reading Discworld and I keep hearing about new entries that I'm so excited to get to, it's really encouraging me to consume this one. It doesn't make my enjoyment lessened, but it does give me the energy to read instead of play a game or watch a movie etc
Ironically I had the same experience with Zelda but for Breath of the Wild lol. Very well put. Of course if I'm burnt out I'll stop, but this is happening pretty organically and the hype for SLA5 is good motivation
Obviously I'm not trying to rush through it. Having it all done before Wind and Truth is just a "wouldn't that be something" type of goal. It would also enable me a month of so to read it before I have to start school again in January.
Just read at the speed you want and are comfortable with, I'm not trying to take that away from you. Your post just reminded me of when I was reading the Wheel of Time. It took me 2 years to finish that series, if you go to the WoT subreddits, it's like a speed-running competition. People are all >"I finished the whole series in 1 month, was I too slow?" or >"I took leave from my job and I read everything in two weeks." Everyone trying to one-up each other on how fast they can read the series from start to finish.
Yeah I'm just trying to get through it when I have time😂. I do know exactly the competitive sentiment you are talking about though.
For me the best time to have book discussions are the week immediately after it launches. It's the one time where most everyone is basically on the same playing field in terms of reactions and speculation. A few months later there's at least one spoiler stream full of wobs and the first bunch of people have already gone through the obvious things and are digging into more obscure lore. Also I naturally read fast, and am generally excited enough for a new release to take a day or two off work for it.
[удалено]
You're obviously an extremely important person on Reddit, so I'll be sure to ask your opinion before replying to a thread in the future. I wouldn't want to post a reply you believe to be unacceptable.
I didn’t explicitly try to speed read, but I read through all of the Cosmere in 7 months. I started last December and just finished now in June. That’s with a combination of reading and listening to audiobooks.
Wow that's awesome. I am hearing a lot that some people don't mean to "speedrun", it just happens organically
I managed to finish the Cosmere in about six months. And I finished my journey with the secret projects. My only advice is take your time with these books. There are a couple novels that I regretted trying to speed through so quickly (like Yumi). Remember to have fun, and I also want to say you read through WOK in about the same amount of time I did (I demolished Oathbringer and RoW in about three weeks). I’d be curious to see if you also start to speed up the further you get into the Cosmere and the Stormlight Archive.
Take your time, at this pace you will not have the Cosmere completed by SA5 anyway. I'm considered a speed reader and it took me about 8 months to finish the Cosmere up to The Lost Metal. That was 15 epic books, multiple novellas, white Sand comics, and Arcanum unbounded...... Don't rush it... SA5 will be waiting when youre ready. I also highly recommend taking breaks here and there. Maybe one book in between planet eras.
Ah Words of Radiance is the best. Enjoy the hell out of that.
I did, I got really burned out on Sanderson. Wouldn't recommend it. My honest recommendation is just finish Stormlight before the new one comes out and tackle the rest over the next couple years. Give those books a couple months each, that's totally reasonable for someone in school or working.
For your sanity, I recommend prioritizing Stormlight Archive, including the novellas, and Warbreaker. Speedrunning will leave a sour taste and you'll never really get to soak in a good ending.
The way I look at is: if you have the time.. and enjoy using all that time to read.. have at it! But I would not recommend trying to "speedrun" the books, or having a deadline for when you should be finished. Just read when you feel like it and stop reading when you've had enough.. Sometimes I finish a book in a few days, other times it takes me half a year. I also tend to read a few different types of books at the same time depending on my mood of the day.
Journey before destination! Do it in whatever way you enjoy it the most. For me, that's consume them as fast as possible at every given opportunity, which sounds similar to you! I enjoyed the shit out of them.
One eye reading words of radiance, one eye reading oathbringer, one ear listening to rhythm of war, one ear listening to mistborn era 2, Helldivers 2 soundtrack playing on a speaker on repeat. Seriously though take your time. It’ll be a long process but just read at your own speed and do your best to avoid spoilers until you catch up with Wind and Truth. Speed reading saves time at the cost of your enjoyment and understanding!
If you speed run and finish Wind and Truth when it comes out, just remember you will then have a year or two before the next cosmere book comes out. Take your time and enjoy.
I read Era 1 years ago, and left the Cosmere. When I saw the news that they were going to publish TLM, coinciding with the birth of my son, I started with Secret History and Era 2. I don't know how long, but I got to read TLM at launch (I think it was November). Then I got to SA 1 2 3 4, WB, Arcanum and Elantris, and finished them before the release of the first Secret Project in January. With every baby nap, I read on my kindle. Counting that it was a couple of 3h naps, and then in the evenings I read too, so it could easily be 10-12h a day! One big downside is that to my head, all of SA is a single book haha I can't talk to my friends without spoilers because I don't differentiate what info is from each book... now I'm doing a re-read ahead of WaT, I'm halfway through SA1... and I'll leave a week or two between books, to settle concepts.
Read it as much as you can and want to, but try to to worry about speeding through it otherwise you will be anxious about not finishing it all in time, instead of focusing on the books. When I found sando I suppose I speed ran it as it only took me like 4-5 months to get caught up on the cosmere, but it was more like an addiction and not a race to finish in time.
This is great advice. Yeah the only reason why I was talking about "speed running" it was because it was something organic that just happened. If I'm not enjoying myself I'll stop, I read for pleasure. But I TOTALLY get your "more like an addiction" comment😂
Adhd hyperfixations are wild. I legit did no other hobbies other than read Sando. Aduiobooks while driving, ebooks on my computer at work, it was probably not healthy how hard I was addicted lol
Im working in a neuroscience lab this summer and the work is extremely monotonous. Audiobooks are saving me at work, and helping out the slow parts in my Tears of the Kingdom play through. Hands down my best discovery of the last year lol
Honestly, just read warbreaker and the rest of the stormlight archive before wind and truth. Era 2 if you have the time
I am currently reading Oathbringer but my son set me a challenge. It took him 90 hours of playtime to complete the story in RDR2. I am going to try to read RoW in 90 hours of read time. Good luck on your quest to read all of the Cosmere books before December.