Same universe -- the Cosmere. But we really are talking about "universe" here. Different planets (galaxies?) that know nothing about each other, just happen to share some laws of nature (and some mysterious characters that seem to travel around). I don't even pick up on most of the connections without having them pointed out to me.

Stormlight Archive is 10 books in two 5 book arcs. 4th book is out now, 5th book will be out in 3 years. So probably a decent time to get into Stormlight. (Sanderson makes a schedule for each of his projects and has an incredible talent for hitting his targets.)

Different solar systems. And they definitely know about each other. Or at least, there are factions and individuals present in each system who do.

>Is it worth reading them already or does it feel unfinished?

Mistborn is a complete trilogy although he continues to publish other novels set in the same world.

Way of Kings is ongoing. It's on book four now. Each book is over a thousand pages so there's a lot there. I don't think it's a problem to start. Books 1-3 are great and stand alone pretty well. It's started to drag with book 4 in my opinion. Like so many other huge epic fantasies, it has too many characters, too many plotlines, too huge of a world, and it's difficult to maintain the epic feel with all that sprawl. I'm worried for book 5.

> Mistborn and The Way of Kings take place in the same universe?

They take place in the same universe (literally) but they are on different worlds. So they don't have anything (much?) to do with each other (yet?)

There's another Sanderson Cosmere book called Warbreaker which crosses over with Stormlight pretty heavily from book 2 onwards (it's also very possibly there are references in book 1 which totally passed me by). You'll definitely have a better handle on why a particular object which shows up in the Stormlight books is so scary if you read Warbreaker first.

Book 4 of Stormlight does have some pretty big references to the original Mistborn trilogy, too.

On the whole I try to read books in the order I bought them (ish), but Sanderson is one of the authors I'll just drop everything for when a new book comes out. Disclaimer: he does have some bad habits (mainly inserting "wise ass" characters who don't fit the tone or setting, and who I strongly suspect carry the author's voice a little _too_ directly). But he does epic world building incredibly well, and very different to just about any other author I've read. He also writes action exceptionally well.

Warbreaker is a very amateurish effort though - I think a lot of people would bounce off it. I'd definitely suggest starting with Way of Kings, if that grabs a new reader then they can delve into the Cosmere before continuing on to Words of Radiance.

Thanks for the details! Mistborn is going on my list to read next.

I'd say it's worth it to start now. Sanderson is writing at a blistering pace right now and doesn't seem to be slowing down.

Mistborn and Way of Kings are in the same universe but separate worlds. I don't want to spoil too much but there is some crossover involved.

Makes sense, thanks! I appreciate the non-spoiler. These days I don't even read the description on the back of books anymore to try and experience it openly. It just makes it a bit hard to work out where to start sometimes.

His first book Elantris is also very good and well worth your time. A good starting point for his work and a self-contained novel (although he had mentioned writing two more Elantris books in the distant future).

The Emperor's Soul is set on the same world as Elantris, though is more or less completely unconnected to it.

FYI - Robin Hobb is a lady.

Since GP is talking about Elantris it's safe to say the "he" in this case is Brandon Sanderson and not Robin Hobb.

quite correct, I was referring to Brandon, not Robin

Ah sorry, my bad.

I see, noted as well. Thanks!