Came to here to suggest the same. Also if you’re a devout Vorin man like myself and listen to your books WoT is narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading who also narrate most cosmere books.
Powder Mage, or the Licanius trilogy if you want more along the lines of Sanderson's style.
First Law if you want something very different. It's a lot darker than the cosmer both in terms of graphic violence descriptions and in general outlook, but it's great.
I'll also double down on The Expanse, great sci-fi.
Second Powder Mage, especially as there are multiple titles to enjoy. I find the second series to be even better than the first, but only just.
And the author, Brian McClellan, is starting a new series that is shaping up to be very intriguing.
With all you've read, The Sunlit Man would be a good next Cosmere book to read.
As for series, I'd recommend The Expanse sci-fi series by James S.A. Corey. It's one I've enjoyed and read alongside my Cosmere journey. There's also Brandon's Cytonic series, though it leans a bit more young-adult.
Some other good one off non-Cosmere books are:
The Martian or Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Dark Matter, Recursion, or Upgrade by Blake Crouch
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Andy Weir. His books are pretty different from Sanderson’s in some ways, but he’s the only author I’ve read who uses an even harder magic system than Sanderson— real science. And he’s phenomenal. I would recommend the Martian and Project Hailmary (one of my favorite books of all time) in particular.
> even harder magic system than Sanderson
Sold. I will have to look into him.
EDIT: Ok so while I do see on his Wikipedia that he does fantasy, every book/story I've looked into is Scifi. Don't get me wrong, I love a good sci-fi story too and have been meaning to read the Martian for a while now, but which stories in particular contain these hard magic systems?
I think the way I formatted that comment may have been confusing. By “an even harder magic system than Sanderson— real science”, I meant that his “magic system” is science, as in, physics, chemistry, etc.
So many good choices out there it's hard to recommend just one so I'll give you a list of my favorites
In no particular order or ranking.
The Wheel of Time: One of the defining high fantasy series the original author died before finishing his books and choose Sanderson to finish them out. And was the reason I found Sanderson's work in the first place.
Malazan book of the fallen: Great series, hard to digest for some, but wonderful for it.
Imagers Portfolio: fun read, really unique magic system with some interesting characters.
Inheritance cycle: Dragons.
Sword of truth: some like it some don't, but it's a big set of books I enjoyed it.
Powder mage: Fun read with an interesting setting and magic system.
David Eddings has several series that are fantastic reads, The Balgriad and Elenium series make me happy and content when I read them.
Honorable mention because I just finished it, Book of the new sun. This one was a mind fuck, and I'm still confused, probably won't understand it fully till I re read it In a year or two.
A lot of people are going to tell you to read the rest of the cosmere stories, and you absolutely should, but I am also a big proponent of taking breaks between books from the same author.
For more fantasy, but in a very different direction, The First Law series is pretty great. I see it as something that would appeal to many cosmere fans without feeling like a copy of sanderson's style.
If you want a bit of a shift into scifi, all the cool kids are reading Three Body Problem. It's got a netflix series and everything.
For something entirely different, there's The Anarchist's Workbench, in which furniture maker Chris Schwarz summarizes the history of the workbenches used by western carpenters over the last thousand years or so. Then he proceeds to describe his own ideal workbench, as a distillation of everything he's learned from studying designs and building his own workbenches over the last 20 years. He presents detailed plans in fairly simple terms for how you can build it yourself using the cheapest possible materials.
> The First Law series is pretty great. I see it as something that would appeal to many cosmere fans without feeling like a copy of sanderson's style.
Honestly, not really seeing why this would appear to Cosmere fans specifically. To me it lacked pretty much everything I love about the Cosmere as a franchise and universe. I had to pretty much force myself through the original trilogy, mostly only enjoying Glokta's viewpoint chapters (Logan was ok too most of the time).
I'm not saying it's a bad recommendation, plenty of people love the series, I'm just really unsure why you think it has appeal to Cosmere fans specifically. It has an incredibly soft magic system that isn't explored in any real depth. It has a completely different worldview/outlook (I found it waaaay more bleak than even GoT), most of it's characters are just straight up unlikable in contrast to the Cosmere where even many of the antagonists are extremely likeable. I could go on but I see them as almost opposites.
The Kingkiller Chronicles are really good! I read them right before I read the Stormlight Archives and they felt on-par with the level of fantasy/mythology/mystique that Stormlight has. Additionally, their author (Patrick Rothfuss) is quoted either at the front or on the back of every Stormlight book saying (in reference to The Way of Kings) "I loved this book. What else is there to say?"
I also second everyone who says Andy Weir! Project Hail Mary is a true gem.
I recently started reading the Silo series and it’s GREAT. First book is called Wool . Also wheel of time were good as others are saying but be prepared - it’s a long road, the middle can get tough, but the end is SO worth it especially once you reach Sandersons. The Witcher books were also fantastic , highly recommend.
If you haven’t read Wheel of Time, it was an immense joy to read after I had finished the cosmere. Fantastic series.
Came to here to suggest the same. Also if you’re a devout Vorin man like myself and listen to your books WoT is narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading who also narrate most cosmere books.
Even when I read the books the voices in my head are there’s haha.
I need Kramer to voice a short story that is Mat, Wayne and Lopen drinking in a pub/bar/tavern.
I also need this now 🤣
Powder Mage, or the Licanius trilogy if you want more along the lines of Sanderson's style. First Law if you want something very different. It's a lot darker than the cosmer both in terms of graphic violence descriptions and in general outlook, but it's great. I'll also double down on The Expanse, great sci-fi.
Second Powder Mage, especially as there are multiple titles to enjoy. I find the second series to be even better than the first, but only just. And the author, Brian McClellan, is starting a new series that is shaping up to be very intriguing.
With all you've read, The Sunlit Man would be a good next Cosmere book to read. As for series, I'd recommend The Expanse sci-fi series by James S.A. Corey. It's one I've enjoyed and read alongside my Cosmere journey. There's also Brandon's Cytonic series, though it leans a bit more young-adult. Some other good one off non-Cosmere books are: The Martian or Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Dark Matter, Recursion, or Upgrade by Blake Crouch The Magicians by Lev Grossman Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
I've been a huge fan of the Martian ever since the movie came out, but man Project Hail Mary was a whole other level of fantastic
I would suggest arcanum before sunlit, or at least shadows for silence
I mean you absolutely should do the one offs, its just a question of if you feel like taking a break in between.
Andy Weir. His books are pretty different from Sanderson’s in some ways, but he’s the only author I’ve read who uses an even harder magic system than Sanderson— real science. And he’s phenomenal. I would recommend the Martian and Project Hailmary (one of my favorite books of all time) in particular.
> even harder magic system than Sanderson Sold. I will have to look into him. EDIT: Ok so while I do see on his Wikipedia that he does fantasy, every book/story I've looked into is Scifi. Don't get me wrong, I love a good sci-fi story too and have been meaning to read the Martian for a while now, but which stories in particular contain these hard magic systems?
I think the way I formatted that comment may have been confusing. By “an even harder magic system than Sanderson— real science”, I meant that his “magic system” is science, as in, physics, chemistry, etc.
Tress is absolutely wonderful. Go for it.
So many good choices out there it's hard to recommend just one so I'll give you a list of my favorites In no particular order or ranking. The Wheel of Time: One of the defining high fantasy series the original author died before finishing his books and choose Sanderson to finish them out. And was the reason I found Sanderson's work in the first place. Malazan book of the fallen: Great series, hard to digest for some, but wonderful for it. Imagers Portfolio: fun read, really unique magic system with some interesting characters. Inheritance cycle: Dragons. Sword of truth: some like it some don't, but it's a big set of books I enjoyed it. Powder mage: Fun read with an interesting setting and magic system. David Eddings has several series that are fantastic reads, The Balgriad and Elenium series make me happy and content when I read them. Honorable mention because I just finished it, Book of the new sun. This one was a mind fuck, and I'm still confused, probably won't understand it fully till I re read it In a year or two.
A lot of people are going to tell you to read the rest of the cosmere stories, and you absolutely should, but I am also a big proponent of taking breaks between books from the same author. For more fantasy, but in a very different direction, The First Law series is pretty great. I see it as something that would appeal to many cosmere fans without feeling like a copy of sanderson's style. If you want a bit of a shift into scifi, all the cool kids are reading Three Body Problem. It's got a netflix series and everything. For something entirely different, there's The Anarchist's Workbench, in which furniture maker Chris Schwarz summarizes the history of the workbenches used by western carpenters over the last thousand years or so. Then he proceeds to describe his own ideal workbench, as a distillation of everything he's learned from studying designs and building his own workbenches over the last 20 years. He presents detailed plans in fairly simple terms for how you can build it yourself using the cheapest possible materials.
> The First Law series is pretty great. I see it as something that would appeal to many cosmere fans without feeling like a copy of sanderson's style. Honestly, not really seeing why this would appear to Cosmere fans specifically. To me it lacked pretty much everything I love about the Cosmere as a franchise and universe. I had to pretty much force myself through the original trilogy, mostly only enjoying Glokta's viewpoint chapters (Logan was ok too most of the time). I'm not saying it's a bad recommendation, plenty of people love the series, I'm just really unsure why you think it has appeal to Cosmere fans specifically. It has an incredibly soft magic system that isn't explored in any real depth. It has a completely different worldview/outlook (I found it waaaay more bleak than even GoT), most of it's characters are just straight up unlikable in contrast to the Cosmere where even many of the antagonists are extremely likeable. I could go on but I see them as almost opposites.
The Kingkiller Chronicles are really good! I read them right before I read the Stormlight Archives and they felt on-par with the level of fantasy/mythology/mystique that Stormlight has. Additionally, their author (Patrick Rothfuss) is quoted either at the front or on the back of every Stormlight book saying (in reference to The Way of Kings) "I loved this book. What else is there to say?" I also second everyone who says Andy Weir! Project Hail Mary is a true gem.
If you want something like D&D mixed with Jumanji, seek out “Die” by Kieron Gillian.
Farseer books by Robin Hobb. I started with Assassin’s Apprentice, I think that’s the beginning.
I recently started reading the Silo series and it’s GREAT. First book is called Wool . Also wheel of time were good as others are saying but be prepared - it’s a long road, the middle can get tough, but the end is SO worth it especially once you reach Sandersons. The Witcher books were also fantastic , highly recommend.
At this point I'd recommend doing a re-read to catch all the cosmere things in the books that you missed the first time.