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Rate: 4/5

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Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Action

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The Sunlit Man, the fourth and final book of Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Project, is an action-packed addition to the Cosmere that marks a beloved character’s return.

Overview

When Sanderson teased the first couple of chapters of his (then) newly announced Secret Projects in 2022, this book was the one I fell in love with the most. Despite only knowing a small, unedited portion of it, I remember being immediately captivated by the action and fighting he brought to the pages. The slight glimpse we got of Nomad, our protagonist, left me with some high expectations – when October finally came, I was not disappointed.

“Failed ideas lead to successful ones, Contemplation. They’re the only thing that does.”

The book starts us off with a blast: Nomad wakes up and finds himself on a planet burning with the Sun’s heat. Literally. Without a second to process it, he is suddenly attacked by creatures with burning, coal gems as hearts. With the help of his connected spirit Auxiliary, he combats them and is eventually pulled into the planet’s ongoing civil war, forcing him to face his past and broken morals in the process. Through Nomad’s eyes, the readers explore the vast planet Canticle, and experience the familiar word-building and characterization Sanderson is known for.

One thing that really stood out to me was Nomad’s journey of self-reflection during his time in Canticle. As he joins the rebels in their fight against the tyrant Cinder King, he is faced with the choice to either help the broken people or abandon them and simply go back to his life of fleeing. I was fascinated by how masterfully Sanderson characterized Nomad’s self-conflict over his abandoned morals, but also by the contrast between the person he was and the person he is now. It brings up a lot of interesting questions about what happened for him to change so much.

Auxiliary was a shapeshifting metal tool that, in this case, he could manifest physically as a crowbar.

This book doesn’t follow the typical format of a Brandon Sanderson book; if you’ve read any of his novels, you may realize that they tend to lead up to a massive climax fans call the Sanderlanche. It’s quite expected for a Sanderson novel to have one, and The Sunlit Man certainly does at the end, but instead of plots moving toward an epic moment, every page is a burst of action and movement. Sometimes, it feels like there’s no break to the plot. It’s an exhilarating but exhaustive journey that might be a deal breaker to some people.

Something of the person he’d once been. Words once spoken. In a moment of glorious radiance.

Spoilers

Another thing I wanted to touch on was the Cosmere relevance in this book. As most Cosmere-aware readers will know, our main protagonist Nomad is, in fact, Sigzil from the Stormlight Archives. Since Nomad’s monologue or conversations with Auxiliary contain bits and pieces mentioning Roshar and Kaladin, it raises intriguing questions for fans but might confuse new readers. This is one thing I disliked about The Sunlit Man: the crossovers occasionally felt disruptive to the plot and made enjoying the story on its own more difficult. It is the first time I truly felt that a Cosmere book is too complicated for casual readers.

“Kal?” he asked into the storm.