Brandon Sanderson is "worried" about fan reaction to Wind and Truth

This week, fantasy readers are going to be hit with one of the biggest releases the genre has seen in years: Wind and Truth, the fifth novel in Brandon Sanderson's epic fantasy series The Stormlight Archive. Sanderson is one of those authors who needs no introduction; he's taken the genre by storm over the past few decades with his ever-growing fantasy universe the Cosmere, his record-shattering campaigns on Kickstarter, and more. It's not an exaggeration to say that if the sci-fi and fantasy book world has a Marvel-level publishing phenomenon of the moment, it's Sanderson and the way he's built out his Cosmere.

To date, there have been four novels and two novellas set in his Stormlight Archive series. This series is Sanderson's magnum opus, immense and sprawling in the same way as other fantasy greats like Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Wheel of Time, or A Song of Ice and Fire. Any new Stormlight book is a big deal, but Wind and Truth is even more important than most, because it marks the end of the first arc of The Stormlight Archive — and Sanderson's Cosmere as a whole. Some fans are comparing it to an Avengers: Endgame-level event for fantasy books.

That's a comparison that makes Sanderson a little anxious, as he revealed in a new interview with Esquire's Adam Morgan. "I'm worried," he said. "If my career is going to crash and burn, this is the book that’ll do it.”

Sanderson also pushed back on the Endgame comparison. “Wind and Truth is definitely not my Endgame,” he explained. “Endgame was a culmination that wrapped everything up.Wind and Truth closes some brackets on some characters, but we’re going to open big questions as well.”

This is an important distinction and I think Sanderson is right to make it. No matter how awesome Wind and Truth ends up being, it's still only the end of the first half of the story. If we had never gotten another Marvel movie or show after Endgame, it would have felt like a true ending. I wouldn't expect Wind and Truth to feel the same, since Sanderson has said pretty explicitly that he plans to write five more books in The Stormlight Archive series, as well as sequels to Mistborn and Elantris.

“Moving between eras, changing things, and shifting lanes in a series can be a really dangerous thing,” Sanderson added. For anyone who's read Sanderson's novel The Stormlit Man or Mistborn, I think you can probably understand what he's talking about. Sanderson's Cosmere is moving away from its more traditional medieval fantasy trappings and into a tone closer to space opera. Mistborn has already jumped forward to a more advanced technological era, and while Stormlight isn't quite there yet, who knows where the series will be by the end of Wind and Truth? Asking readers to go along with a genre shift like that is a huge risk, but ultimately Sanderson is hopeful.

“If I don't do hard things, then am I actually pursuing art?” Sanderson mused. “I hope people are like, ‘Wow, Brandon's willing to do really interesting and exciting things with his fiction.’ But I don't get to decide that—the fans do.”

Brandon Sanderson is opening a Cosmere-themed fan destination

One pretty astute observation that Morgan makes in his profile of Sanderson is that the author very rarely uses the word "I" when talking about the writing process for his Stormlight books — it's always "we." Considering that Sanderson has a team of more than 60 people working for him at this point, the whole operation of releasing his novels is much more akin to a business endeavor than a typical novelist's experience, even though Sanderson still does all the actual Cosmere writing himself.

This is relevant both in his fictional worlds and in the real world. Something that sets The Stormlight Archive apart from many other fantasy stories is their wider focus on communities and inclusion. The first book in the series feels like it could be a typical Chosen One story, with Kaladin "Stormblessed" awakening his magic powers and becoming a hero that can save the day. But as the saga goes on, more and more people join the mythical Knights Radiant; at this point, there are dozens of named characters among their ranks, and many more besides. The focus has grown so that no one character is truly at the heart of the story, which kind of mirrors the way Sanderson's ever-growing company produces these books.

Morgan recalls an essay Sanderson wrote a few years ago where he reflected on how being bullied as a teenager instilled a keen sense of what it means to be an outsider in the author, which in turn has informed how inclusive he's tried to be with his novels. Along those lines, soon fans will be able to feel even closer to Sanderson's Cosmere, because he's opening a new "Cosmere-themed destination" called Dragonsteel Plaza after his publishing company.

According to Esquire, Sanderson purchased land near a former theme park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, which he plans to convert into this new arts venue. It will also include a bookstore and new offices for his employees.

“We don’t have a big general interest indie bookstore in Utah Valley right now, so the goal is a community bookstore, not just [my] books, that does all the outreach that great indie bookstores do,” Sanderson explained. “And then a plaza with a game store, an art store, and a cafe. I would love to have a ballroom wedding venue, and some sort of Brandon Sanderson equivalent to making your Harry Potter wand.”

So if you've ever wanted to get closer to the Cosmere, your options are only going to expand in the coming years. This is pretty exciting news for Sanderson fans...and with Wind and Truth coming out this week, I'd expect to hear more about the author's future plans before long.

Wind and Truth releases this Friday, December 6, which also coincides with Sanderson's annual Dragonsteel Nexus convention. We'll be covering the book here at Winter Is Coming, so make sure to check back for more Cosmere news in the coming weeks!

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