Find out about Sanderson’s lesser known works that never got published.
Brandon Sanderson is a prolific writer. Not only does he have a vast universe of books known as the Cosmere, with multiple ongoing series, he also has time to write secret projects (unannounced standalone novels set in the Cosmere), other series (like the Skyward series) and is even writing scripts for the upcoming Mistborn movies. The man is busy!
But before he became one of the biggest writers in fantasy, Brandon had many failed attempts at getting published and early versions of Cosmere works that were never officially released. Some of these though, have since been released as non-canon stories in the Cosmere. Others have been kept carefully under lock and key for fear of the spoilers they might reveal for the future of the Cosmere. Here I’ll explain what all these books are and where you can access them if you happen to be a massive Sanderfan like me that wants to read everything he has to offer.
All of Sanderson’s unpublished books
Like many authors, Sanderson’s initial work was quite experimental. Not only was he developing his writing style, but he was also finding the genre he wanted to write as well. This meant that some of his early writing hopped genres while he experimented, shifting from science fiction to comedic fantasy before he finally landed on epic fantasy as his primary genre. He had many unfinished works, but below is the list of books he finished (or nearly finished) but were never formally published:
- White Sand Prime – A precursor to White Sand which later became a graphic novel
- Star’s End – A short, alien-relations sci-fi novel
- Lord Mastrell – Sequel to White Sand Prime
- Knight Life – Fantasy comedy
- The Sixth Incarnation of Pandora – Far future sci-fi involving immortal warriors
- Dragonsteel Prime – Epic fantasy novel dealing with the world of Yohan and the dragons there. Sanderson plans to return to this book, though intends to completely rewrite it.
- White Sand – Complete rewrite of the first attempt of White Sand Prime and Lord Mastrell. This was later adapted into the White Sand graphic novel.
- Mythwalker – A precursor to Warbreaker (sometimes known as Warbreaker Prime) with some shared concepts. It was never quite finished but is currently a 600 page manuscript
- Aether of Night – Standalone fantasy a little like Elantris
- Mistborn Prime – Elements of this later became Mistborn: The Final Empire, especially the world building he established
- The Final Empire Prime – The other book that was a precursor to Mistborn: The Final Empire (as you probably guessed)
- The Way of Kings Prime – The precursor to The Way of Kings. Some concepts in here were reused for the published version of the story, but this is a very different story and even characters than the version that was published
- Liar of Partinel/Lightweaver of Rens – Hoid’s Origin Story. Interestingly we see the idea of lightweavers reused as a concept in The Stormlight Archive
Are Sanderson’s unpublished works canon?
No, they’re not. But there are elements of lore and canon within them. In fact, Sanderson often took elements he liked from his unpublished works and included them in later books. For example, you’ll still read about Dalinar and Jasnah in The Way of Kings Prime. You’ll find the Shattered Plains and dawn shards in Dragonsteel Prime and there’s unsurprisingly things like mistborns and mistlings in Mistborn prime. Vivenna and Siri also feature in Mythwalker.
Can you read Sanderson’s unpublished works?
You can read some of them. Brandon has publicly released some of these. Dragonsteel Prime and The Way of Kings Prime even have hardback versions you can buy from the Dragonsteel store as “Sanderson Curiosities” (or you can grab a free ebook version). These are probably the most complete books that were never formally published.
Some of his other unpublished works are available too. Mythwalker can be found on Sanderson’s blog, Aether of the Night can be requested from the 17th Shard, an official fan site and Mistborn Prime can sometimes be received if requested from Sanderson’s team. I hear many aren’t successful at getting access to Mistborn Prime but I did find someone on Reddit who’d shared a PDF version they’d been granted access to.
Here’s where you can find all of the currently available unpublished works of Sanderson:
- Dragonsteel Prime Hardback
- Dragonsteel Prime ebook
- The Way of Kings Prime Hardback
- The Way of Kings Prime ebook
- Aether of the Night
- Mythwalker
- Mistborn Prime
The rest, for now, don’t seem to be available except on Brandon’s personal harddrive.
Are Sanderson’s unpublished works worth reading?
They’re certainly not essential reading as they are non-canon. I’ve only just started reading Dragonsteel Prime recently so I don’t yet have a strong opinion on this. From what I’ve heard, they vary in quality and certainly aren’t up to Sanderson’s usual standards. However, many people also say that they’re an interesting read and certainly give some insight into where Sanderson might take things with the lore (especially with Dragonsteel Prime).
I’d probably say that they could be worth a read for big Cosmere fans who are craving something else. But I’ll give you a better answer once I’ve read them all.
If you’ve read any of Brandon’s unpublished work, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.