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The Stormlight Archive #2.1
Elsecaller / King Lopen the First of Alethkar
Two high-stakes Stormlight stories. One collectible volume.
"Angerspren are!" Ivory pulled Jasnah forward. "Called by your light and drawn by your fury. Calm it now or their food will be us!"
In Elsecaller, Jasnah Kholin faces threats beyond the physical realm as she navigates the dangerous intersection of Radiant powers and raw emotion. Written by Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells for the 2024 Story Deck®.
Being assassinated wasn't as bad as Elhokar Kholin, king of Alethkar, had expected it to be. The thing that had kept him looking over his shoulder all these years had finally happened, and he'd lived through it.
In King Lopen: The First of Alethkar, survival is just the beginning when the impossible happens to one of Roshar's most unexpected rulers. Written by Brandon Sanderson and Isaac Stewart for the 2024 Story Deck®.
"Angerspren are!" Ivory pulled Jasnah forward. "Called by your light and drawn by your fury. Calm it now or their food will be us!"
In Elsecaller, Jasnah Kholin faces threats beyond the physical realm as she navigates the dangerous intersection of Radiant powers and raw emotion. Written by Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells for the 2024 Story Deck®.
Being assassinated wasn't as bad as Elhokar Kholin, king of Alethkar, had expected it to be. The thing that had kept him looking over his shoulder all these years had finally happened, and he'd lived through it.
In King Lopen: The First of Alethkar, survival is just the beginning when the impossible happens to one of Roshar's most unexpected rulers. Written by Brandon Sanderson and Isaac Stewart for the 2024 Story Deck®.
115 pages, Hardcover
Published December 4, 2025
9 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Brandon Sanderson
468 books279k followersI’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.
The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.
During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.
Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.
November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.
Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.
I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.
Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!
Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.
I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.
Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.
The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.
During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.
Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.
November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.
Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.
I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.
Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!
Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.
I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.
Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 16, 2025
A fun pair of stories.
King Lopen is lighter and fairly funny, following Lopen around for the afternoon that he was king of Alethkar.
Elsecaller, meanwhile, follows Jasnah as she falls into Shadesmar and journeys to get home.
King Lopen is lighter and fairly funny, following Lopen around for the afternoon that he was king of Alethkar.
Elsecaller, meanwhile, follows Jasnah as she falls into Shadesmar and journeys to get home.
December 17, 2025
According to the prefaces of both of these stories, these are canonical stories. Crazy. However, they’re both side stories that you don’t need to read to enjoy the Stormlight Archive but will provide fun extra details to those interested. This dual-story book also has some great full-color artwork in it that is worth looking at. Overall I would recommend reading this book if you’re a Stormlight Archive fan.
King Lopen the First of Alethkar—3/5 stars
Apparently Lopen was actually canonically king for a day, and this is the story of how that happened and what Lopen did as king. It was silly, as was to be expected whenever Lopen is involved. I enjoyed my time reading it, but I also don’t feel like it was important to the overall Stormlight narrative in any way.
Elsecaller—4.5/5 stars
This is the story of Jasnah after she goes away for a period of time in Words of Radiance. Definitely a story to be read after Words of Radiance if you don’t want to spoil a pivotal scene for yourself. I like Jasnah as a character, and thus I enjoyed this story a lot. It features references to other worlds in the Cosmere, including one I’ve not heard of before. I liked the two new characters we met too, and Brandon said in the preface to keep an eye out for one of them in future Cosmere novels, which piqued my interest. I felt like this story was more than just filler and was actually important to the overall Cosmere, but it is still not necessary to read to understand and enjoy the greater Stormlight books.
King Lopen the First of Alethkar—3/5 stars
Apparently Lopen was actually canonically king for a day, and this is the story of how that happened and what Lopen did as king. It was silly, as was to be expected whenever Lopen is involved. I enjoyed my time reading it, but I also don’t feel like it was important to the overall Stormlight narrative in any way.
Elsecaller—4.5/5 stars
This is the story of Jasnah after she goes away for a period of time in Words of Radiance. Definitely a story to be read after Words of Radiance if you don’t want to spoil a pivotal scene for yourself. I like Jasnah as a character, and thus I enjoyed this story a lot. It features references to other worlds in the Cosmere, including one I’ve not heard of before. I liked the two new characters we met too, and Brandon said in the preface to keep an eye out for one of them in future Cosmere novels, which piqued my interest. I felt like this story was more than just filler and was actually important to the overall Cosmere, but it is still not necessary to read to understand and enjoy the greater Stormlight books.
December 18, 2025
As much as I enjoyed Jasnah and her journey in Shadesmar, the highlight of this whole mini stories was Elhokar. His time spent with Mama making the food and becoming more comfortable with her is such a comforting perspective of him. Minor Spoilers!! but the end with him hand on hers claiming them to be his cousins was such a key point in his story from now on. Another fantastic read but such a good little snippet of time with the two siblings.
December 11, 2025
I really enjoyed Elsecaller, and seeing what Jasnah was up to in Shadesmar before returning to Roshar. King Lopen was a fun little adventure, but my favorite scenes ended up being the Elhokar ones. Some good lessons learned.
December 9, 2025
A fun couple of stories that take place off-screen during Words of Radiance.
December 13, 2025
Very wholesome, quick read :) loved it
December 16, 2025
Loved both of these, but I think King Lopen will become my comfort read.
December 19, 2025
Two fun stories that were a quick but enjoyable read
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews