Synopsis:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson-creator of the Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn saga, and countless bestselling works of science fiction and fantasy-comes Tailored Realities, a new short fiction collection including the never-before-published novella Moment Zero.
Spanning the genres of fantasy and science fiction, this collection features stories from beyond the bounds of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe.
Along with the never-before-seen novella “Moment Zero,” Tailored Realities will include “Snapshot,” “Perfect State,” “Defending Elysium” (a novella set within the world of Skyward), and five other stories that were originally published individually elsewhere-never before collected into one volume, and many never before available in print.
Review:
Wait a second…you’re telling me that Brandon Sanderson writes things that aren’t set in his Cosmere? Of course, I knew that already, but between his Stormlight tomes, his Mistborn trilogy of trilogies, and secret novels that explore the range of his interconnected universe, it seems sometimes that Sanderson not only writes exclusively in the Cosmere, but may also, in fact, live there.
So it was a delight for fans of Sanderson’s non-Cosmere work when he put together some of his shorter fantasy and sci-fi works that take place outside of the Cosmere in the new collection, Tailored Realities. And if you are a Sanderson fan, then of course you’ll love this book, but non-Sanderson fans may want to give this volume a spin, particularly since it isn’t tied in with the larger fictional Cosmere universe.
I won’t deny being a fan of Sanderson’s work and in fact had already read a few of the stories contained in Tailored Realities. The book starts with the novella Snapshot, which I had previously read via audiobook a few years back. I re-read it here, and was reminded how much I loved the twisty sci-fi premise that shares a fair bit of DNA with the Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report.
We get a little taste of early Sanderson writing with the stories Firstborn and Defending Elysium (which eventually became the inspiration for the Skyward book series). Of the two, I actually really enjoyed Firstborn. Although it was set in the far future of a space-faring civilization, I found some enjoyable connections with historical figures like Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar in the main characters and their actions.
The big kicker to the collection is the final story, Moment Zero. Frankly, this is either a long novella, or a short novel, clocking in at over 50,000 words. In fact, it eats up roughly 40% of the entire length of Tailored Realities. The story itself is your standard detectives who have been romantic partners investigating a missing person case which turns into time travel and alternate realities with some great zombie/vampire/revenant action scenes peppered in all along the way for fun. I had a great time with Lisa and Dane as they had to navigate an earthbound wormhole to get back to one another and possibly save all of humanity in the process.
BUT…I think the real treat to the entire collection is the postscripts to each story. After each installation, Sanderson adds his thoughts — sometimes including thoughts from 2025, but also thoughts from when the story was originally published decades before. Those thoughts at times take us down a fun path that takes us a little bit behind the curtain with the wizard for why he deletes an epilogue from one story (only to add it back in later), his concerns about why certain things didn’t work until they did, and just general writing process minutiae.
Even with a few of these stories already rattling around in my noggin, I still had fun with Brandon Sanderson’s Tailored Realities, and definitely recommend it for fantasy and sci-fi readers. And don’t worry — you don’t have to read 15 Cosmere-related books before you pick this collection up.
Tailored Realities releases on December 9, 2025.
Thank you to Tor Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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