White Sand: Volume 1 [Dramatized Adaptation]

White Sand [Dramatized Adaptation] #1

by Brandon Sanderson, Terence Aselford (Narrator), Alexander Strain (Narrator)

For the first time ever in audio! GraphicAudio and Brandon Sanderson are proud to present White Sand produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music.

On the planet of Taldain, the legendary Sand Masters harness arcane powers to manipulate sand in spectacular ways. But when they are slaughtered in a sinister conspiracy, the weakest of their number, Kenton, believes himself to be the only survivor. With enemies closing in on all sides, Kenton forges an unlikely partnership with Khriss - a mysterious Darksider who hides secrets of her own.

White Sand brings to life a crucial, unpublished part of Brandon Sanderson’s sprawling Cosmere universe. Employing Sanderson’s celebrated approach to magical systems, White Sand is a spectacular new saga for lovers of fantasy and adventure!

Performed by Terence Aselford, Alexander Strain, Dawn Ursula, Jason B McIntosh, Frank Britton, Yasmin Tuazon, Holly Vagley, Peter Holdway, Paul Reisman, KenYatta Rogers, Bradley Smith, Eric Messner, Duyen Washington, Jacob Yeh, Michael Glenn, Zeke Alton, Lawrence Redmond, Tim Carlin, Joe Mallon, Jonathon Church, Matthew Pauli, Ken Jackson, Nanette Savard, Richard Rohan, Chris Genebach, Joy Jones, Tony Nam, Scott McCormick, Thomas Keegan, Nick DePinto, Rose Elizabeth Supan, Mort Shelby, Steve Wannall, Chris Stinson, Alyssa Wilmoth, Nora Achrati, Ren Casey, David Fernandez, David Zitney, Tia Shearer, Andy Brownstein, Michael John Casey, Chris Davenport.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Graphic Novels, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure

6 pages, Audiobook

Published August 13, 2019

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

[Avinash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the review of only this volume of audiobook. My views about the entire series and graphic novel volume 1 is here.

The story is based around Sand Mastrell - A group which practices the sand magic. They can control sands and use them in various forms, including ribbons which can lift them above ground. The story follows a young man Kenton, who is the youngest son of the group leader - The Lord Mastrell. After some unexpected and unfortunate set of events he finds himself fighting for the survival of the sand mastrell community. During this journey he met a dark sider princess Khrissalla, who has sailed halfway through the world to find some answers of unsolved mysteries. His path also crosses with the senior trackt (police) Ais. She is one of the most respected and honest trackt in the city and is trying to capture the crime lord Sharezen.

The story is gripping and it never lacks pace. Infact as I mentioned at places it felt a bit rushed. There were a few additional sequences in the audio book, which were altogether removed in graphic novel. For example the introduction sequence of darksiders. I enjoyed it quite a bit in the audiobook and was a little disappointed not to find that in the graphic novel. Similarly the entry sequence of Ais and the conversation between Lady Judge and Kenton were cut short. That didn't create any confusion or difference in the story still I would have liked that in Graphic Novel. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story. It didn't end on a cliffhanger but on a point which was crucial. This signifies that the story will definitely take a turn in the next issue.

So overall - a good start of series and well done! Looking forward to second issue.

4.25 Stars for the audiobook and 3.75 stars for the graphic novel.

[Rumyana Bumbarova (WELCOME TO MY MIND) · Rating 3 out of 5]

По-скоро 2,5 ⭐️ Аудиото е супер, няма грешка. Героите са симпатични, но не се открояват кой знае колко. Историята също, като дори на моменти е доста предсказуема.

[Dhanush · Rating 4 out of 5]

I might go a bit of a tangent here, so skip ahead if you want to read the review. I love Brandon Sanderson there is no doubt about it. I love his books every one of them I have read so far. Every once in a while I lose touch with reading and completely stop for extended amounts of time and for times like that when I want to get back into I always knew it would have to be one of Brandon's books. But when I tried reading Way of Kings a few months ago and couldn’t keep up for some reason I was a bit concerned if this was it. So I decided I would reread The Final Empire before I move on to newer titles and oh boy was it the best decision I made. I love the book as much as I had the first time I read it all those years ago and fell in love with Brandon's books I decided to keep the steak going and I stumbled upon this one.

Okay, let's get to the book itself. When I read it was one of the drafts Brandon had started his writing with I wondered how it would be and I was not disappointed at all. As usual, he has such unique magic systems and concepts that are so original. I loved listening to this book in fact I ended up staying up some nights just to see what happens next and what's to come. For his first book, this was a little too good. Of course, I loved Mistborn or Elantris a lot more but this is definitely up there and far better than most fantasy stories. The pacing did feel a bit dragged on at a few points but it wasn’t bad at all. Since it's interesting and intriguing you will be excited to find out what's to come no doubt. I would recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy or Brandon's other works. Though it's one of his firsts it shines through regardless and I wish there was a sequel just like I did with Elantris.

I wish I heard more about Darkside and how things are over there. Maybe a sequel from Khirs' perspective would be great. Especially when they were talking about and hinting at this immortal powerful ruler and what powers he might have. I also wanted to know more about Darksider and their culture which seems to be our reality in some ways. But yeah would love to find out especially the tease with Baon using sand mastery. I can only wonder what could have been. Maybe we will be surprised with a sequel who knows? One can only dream

Overall to wrap it up. I loved it and I think people should read it and would gladly recommend it.

[Afra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 for the first volume. Like always, Brandon Sanderson has the best fantasy world building

[viih · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não sou muito fã de HQ's e não tenho nenhuma grande história para comparar com essa, visto que só lia quadrinhos da turma da Monica quando era menor, mas como era do Brandon Sanderson, resolvi me arriscar. Então aqui vai uma resenha de uma pessoa que é totalmente leiga no assunto HQ's e Graphic Novels.

Brandon sempre nos cativa com suas histórias, e com essa não foi diferente, logo no início, já ficamos bastante intrigados sobre os personagens e seus poderes. Mas é válido dizer que existe um abismo de diferença entre o Brandon Sanderson autor de livros e o Brandon Sanderson autor de quadrinhos.

Acredito que esse livro deva ser o mais lento dessa história, já que é muito introdutório e explicativo, Brandon tem todo o cuidado para explicar cada situação que os personagens se encontram e seus motivos, e ao final do livro, isso tudo nos deixa mais curiosos sobre o que vai acontecer no futuro.

Os desenhos são bem detalhistas e muito bonitos, e quando tudo isso se mistura, a trama nos cativa de tal maneira que tudo se torna rápido demais, principalmente devido as magias e o mundo em si.


"May the sand lord protect you, young Kenton."

"Sand masters should flow and dance, soaring through the air in clouds of radiant sand."

"May the sand lord protect you, young Kenton."

[Queen KB · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to rate 1/3 of a book but this is setting up to be a great story like the rest of Sanderson’s work.

[Madison C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the Audible audiobook for this book... they have a special version where they get individual actors to narrate every single character AND they include a plethora of sound effects. I found the audiobook to be okay, but some narrators were louder than others and it hurt my ears. The sound effects were fine, but often dragged on too long (ex: there was clomping as the characters walked throughout an entire chapter which made it hard to focus). I think normal audiobooks are fine; no need for these extra-produced editions.

I really enjoy Sanderson's works. I've been slowly working my way through the entire Cosmere universe and listened to this because it was next in my reading order. I found the White Sand planet to be intriguing, but I felt the writing fell a little flat. As far as I know, Brandon Sanderson wrote the dialogue used in the graphic novel, which was then interpreted by another writer to be used for the audiobook... so clearly not everything here came from Sanderson himself. I'm trying to keep that in mind during this review.

Everything was just too fast-paced (which is weird for Sanderson, I know). I didn't really understand any of the characters' perspectives or care about them. Everyone was just included with no development and no reason for me to like them. I found the Darkside to be way more interesting than the Dayside, so it was sad that little time was actually given to Darkside. The magic was interesting (no surprise if you've read anything by Sanderson before), but was not very developed... instead they spent way more time on a bunch of side characters and describing all the sand on Dayside. So much sand.

This isn't horrible; it's a five hour audiobook with interesting concepts. I'm certain it could be worse. I just never felt compelled to listen to it and would have preferred to listen to my backlog of podcasts over this. I do accept that this was Sanderson's first work (and the version I listened to was probably very different from the graphic novel he published), but I still didn't enjoy it. I'll keep listening to the next two because I want to understand how this world fits into the Cosmere universe, but I can't say I'm excited about having to listen to 10 more hours in this world.

2 stars.

[Jj · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[J. Griff · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the planet of Taldain, the legendary Sand Masters harness arcane powers to manipulate sand in spectacular ways. But when they are slaughtered in a sinister conspiracy, the weakest of their number, Kenton, believes himself to be the only survivor. With enemies closing in on all sides, Kenton forges an unlikely partnership with Khriss -- a mysterious Darksider who hides secrets of her own.

Graphic Audio did a great job taking this comic book graphic novel & making it a audio book, but I didn't find this story as well written as some of Sanderson's other stories. I struggled to find a character that interesting or engaging. It seemed that there was just too much going on & felt rushed with all the character introductions. I did get the 2nd volume in this story & will see where this goes.

[Deeksha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good but not Stormlight level of good. I listened to this as an audiobook (don't have the physical copy of graphic novel), which was still amazing though because of Graphic Audio which adds background noises and that was completely awesome.

Just the sound of characters walking on sand was a little grating on the nerves 😂 The sound effect of the sand ribbons was cool though. Khriss' narrator sounded hilariously confused and surprised all the time.

My only question is, when does Hoid show up in white sand? 😋

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
Review for all three volumes:
I listened to the Graphic Audio version. While not Sanderson's strongest work, I still enjoyed this series. It's a fun and quick fantasy story with action and political intrigue. The unique nature of the planet Taldain being tidally locked made for some fascinating world-building. Overall, it's a good read if you're looking to explore more stories in the Cosmere.

[Twila · Rating 3 out of 5]

My ratings for this and the rest of the series is based solely on my experience listening to the GraphicAudio production which is very different from the graphic novel. Take everything I ever say about this series with a grain of salt 🤷‍♀️

[Chris McGrath · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the Graphic Audio production quite a bit more than the graphic novel.

[Liutauras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, and why this book has not been published? Sure it is quite unfinished, but still - such nice treat. And Graphic Audio does incredible job bringing it to life. Thanks

[Leticia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is of the dramatized audiobook, not the graphic novel. The GraphicAudio version of this is very interesting. Let's see where this story will go.

[Evie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

the sound effects were cool though

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid audio production of a graphic novel, which sounds strange, but I was able to follow the story, which made me think of the old radio stories way back in the day. Occasionally, the sound effects overwhelmed the narrative, but overall, it was well done and I enjoyed it, even though I also read the graphic novel. I would NOT recommend listening and reading as the order of the audio is different from the book and by necessity needs to include more narration to describe what is going on. I enjoyed both versions, and I feel that I got something out of it. I will probably listen to the audiobooks as they come out but read the graphic novels separately. I already have the second audio, but have a long wait for the graphic novel.

I really liked Sanderson's story about how this all came to be, and I'm glad he was open to bringing this story to the public using this format. I appreciate his willingness to try new things and I personally feel this was a successful experiment. I look forward to reading the rest of the volumes!

[Kyla Sixkiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kenton, the protagonist, is an interesting character with a unique blend of skill and stubbornness. However, the lack of internal perspective and character development makes it difficult to connect with him on a deeper level. Khriss, while intriguing, remains somewhat mysterious at this stage.

The series' potential is evident, and I'm eager to see how Sanderson develops the story and characters in future installments. With a focus on character depth and a more cohesive narrative.

[Evan Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version of White Sand: Volume 1, since that’s what my library had, and ended up really enjoying this first part. The story is clearly structured as the first third of a larger narrative, but even on its own it delivers engaging worldbuilding and a cast that’s easy to invest in. The worldbuilding and magic systems are always a strong point for Sanderson and this one wrapped me in.

[Michael’s Fantasy and Scifi Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sanderson is probably one of the most creative fantasy writers to ever live. You can expect the same from this as you do from any of his other novels.
Creative magic system
Solid characterization
Good worldbuilding and political framework
Fun to read(listen to in this case)

The voice actors for the graphic audio were good for the most part, though some of them weren’t my favorite per se.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since there's no audiobook available, I chose to listen to this graphic audio since it's more complete and 'correct' than the graphic novel and as a result I found it more emotionally engaging. I used the graphic novel for the illustrations.
As with the author's other works, it has imaginative and original worldbuilding and magic system as well as some interesting characters - I find the admiral to be the most memorable.
The graphic audio is all right. Although the sound effects and background noise were too exaggerated and often didn't match the situation.

[Eric Sullenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid adaptation and an interesting magic system. Another creative world in the Cosmere. Since it is short, the pace is way faster than a standard Sanderson novel. The world is in peril almost immediately and so the plot exists immediately and easy to follow.

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worst Sanderson I've read so far, even the lavish GraphicAudio production can't save that. 1.5 stars but I don't want to rank at the same level as the things I actually put on that tier. DNF @ about 70% [volume 1 of 3].

[Vulca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy a good full cast audiobook, however the sound effects added to this were atrocious. Why am I listening to someone walking on sand for 5+ minutes straight, we get it. Otherwise an enjoyable experience and yet another interesting system of magic and culture in the Cosmere!

[Emma Knights · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interestingly narrated story, very descriptive and an intruiging world. Looking forward to listening to the next one!

[Peter Stonecipher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost skipped over this in my Cosmere read through, but I'm so glad I didn't. Another engaging world from Brandon Sanderson and more engaging characters. I can't wait for volumes two and three!

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Justin Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun.

[Sofia Rossi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not usually an audiobook person, but having all the music and sound effects, along with a full voice acting cast is sooo fun! Very excited to continue this :)

[Lakin Glaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this dramatization. This is based on a graphic novel and it was nice to hear this all acted out.