The Taldain System

by Brandon Sanderson

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Audiobook

Paperback

About the author

I’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.

Reviews

[Sloane Deterding · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this story in novel form and wish we could have the full thing like this as well as a graphic novel

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of sand mastery presented as both a graphic novel and the printed word, excerpts included in the Arcanum Unbounded. Since my copy is mass-market, the graphic novel print was very tiny and difficult to read. Plus, the people looked too much alike. I much more enjoyed the same story told in regular print.

The Taldain system has a very interesting planet, one side light and one side dark, always. It doesn't rotate on an axis except to keep each side to it's assigned state of light. Each side fully supports life, somehow. On the light side of the planet, the sun always beats down. Plant life grows below the surface. The sands are white, and those who can perform a kind of magic with it turn it dark when the “magic” is used up. No problem, as the sand recharges in about 4 hours, and becomes white again.

Not a lot is spoken of the dark side, although it's not truly dark but a perpetual twilight due to a white dwarf far away and hidden within a kind of asteroid belt. No sand mastery there, as far as I know.

Kenton is born of parents from both sides of the planet; his mother from Darkside, his father from Dayside. None of the offspring can spin the sand except the youngest, Kenton, and his skill is not strong. This is his story. Sometimes one can do more with a little power than those with much bother to discover.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This takes the graphic novel and put it into a regular written novel following only The prologue and the first chapter of the actual graphic novel. Though it isn't finished I know that that is something that is coming by Brandon. As for just this small section I do think it has great potential I enjoy the graphic novel very much.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish the whole story could be written like this. The graphic novel was fine, but not my favorite medium, and the dramatized audio is better, but still hard for me to fully immerse myself in the world created. I would prefer a White Sand trilogy written more conventionally.

[Morgan Lindey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the Taladain System is really interesting, and I included the except of White Sand here as well. To be fair, its a bit unfair to judge it on so little for the moment. But I look forward to consuming more of it in the near future.

[Satur♄o · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me siento un poco engañado puesto que esperaba una historia adicional, no un calco del primer capítulo de la novela gráfica en otro formato. Me encantó el mundo de Arena Blanca y releerla de nuevo también, pero creo que Sanderson podría haber aprovechado para contarnos algo nuevo.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really want to read White Sand Graphic Novels now

[Lindsay Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely makes me want to read the graphic novel!

[Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked this story & now NEED to read WHITE SAND.

[Alex Borgen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice teaser, I'm excited to read white sands after this

[Lakin Glaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun short story and gets me excited to read the full graphic novel that this is part of!