Hands-on Impressions of Hoid's Storybook Collection by Brandon Sanderson

Cosmere fans rejoice! The latest Brandon Sanderson Cosmere book, as a part of Hoid’s Storybook Collection, has started arriving for BackerKit backers. I had backed at the Storyteller tier when the campaign first launched and received my ebooks, PDFs, and audiobook all at once on Sept. 15. Then on Oct. 5 I received my physical books, stickers, pins, and more.

Here are my initial impressions on the latest BackerKit campaign from Dragonsteel.

The Fires of December Premium Book, eBook, and Audiobook

The Fires of December is the third book in what Sanderson is calling Hoid’s Travails. Fans of Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (the other two stories in Hoid’s Travails) will want to get their hands on December right away. It is a standalone Cosmere book in a sense. December, the protagonist, is on a new planet in the Cosmere with her own plot and storyline. Where it connects to the Tress and Yumi is the narrator of the book is everyone’s favorite Worldhopper, Hoid.

The presentation of the premium hardcover book is stunning. The cover features custom art with gold trim that is much prettier in person than it was in pictures. Backers will remember that there were two options for the cover art for December. I went with the close-up one, and am really happy with how it turned out. The book also contains colored text and beautiful illustrations throughout. Artist Tran Nguyen did an excellent job of bringing the story to life. The way the golds, reds, blues, and purples work together to make this world leap off the page is very well done, making this book a worthy addition to any Sandershelf collection.

I have only read the first handful of chapters so far, but my initial impression has me hooked. The first chapter of the book reminded me of one of my favorite PS5 games, Returnal. I won’t say more to avoid spoilers, but you can listen to the first few chapters on Sanderson’s YouTube channel if you want to see for yourself.

Details

If you didn’t get a chance to join the BackerKit, you can still get the standard edition ebook, audiobook, and physical book (though not the premium hardcovers). The digital versions became available on October 6 and the physical edition will be released on December 8, 2026.

Hoid’s Storybook Collection Picture Books

For fans of the Stormlight Archive, it has long been clear that the chapters where Hoid tells stories to teach Kaladin and Shallan were a perfect fit for their own storybooks. To see these stories illustrated and published is a dream come true for me.

"It's amazing to have a fully illustrated version I can share with my family and friends without making them read through thousands of pages of Stormlight.

The Dog and the Dragon, The Girl Who Looked Up, and Wandersail are the three stories brought to our world from the pages of the Stormilight Archive. The fourth illustrated book in the collection, The ChasmFriends Get a Pet, is an original story written by Sanderson’s friend and podcast co-host Dan Wells.

The books themselves are illustrated by a few different talented artists. Howard Lyon did The Dog and the Dragon, Alexis and Justin Hernandez did The Girl Who Looked Up, Steve Argyle did Wandersail, and Anna Early on The Chasm Friends Get a Pet. Each book has its own unique style that feels like it fits the story that it is attached to. The art in The Dog and the Dragon and Chasm Friends is whimsical and playful, while the Wandersail and the Girl Who Looked Up are both epic fantasy illustrations worthy of the world of Roshar.

The story of The Dog and the Dragon in Rhythm of War is one of my favorite chapters I’ve read in any book. It's amazing to have a fully illustrated version I can share with my family and friends without making them read through thousands of pages of Stormlight first.

Overall, I’m happy with what I received in the Hoid’s Storybook Collection campaign. The premium hardcover of The Fires of December is truly a work of art worthy of any shelf. I can’t wait to dive into the full story, see all of the illustrations, and go on a journey with December to wherever her destination may lead to. The four picture books are exactly what Stormlight Archive fans have imagined them to be as well, and I am looking forward to sharing these stories with my children in the coming days. The artwork is amazing and the stories are each meaningful to me in their own ways.