I finally got my physical copy of Fires of December, alongside the rest of my Kickstarter rewards. Like all of the books, I burned through the audio book in what felt like way too short of a time, but I found that Fires of December was the first book that I almost immediately went back and relistened to.
Spoiler check: No Spoilers, beyond what was released in the first two chapters.
You can watch me open the Kickstarter rewards over on YouTube, check out that video below. One of the most fun things about making this video was creating the soundtrack that goes along with it. I am not good at making music yet, but this is the first time I heard something in my head and managed to make FL Studio turn it in to something I could use. It was fun.
Fires of December is my favorite standalone Cosmere book
The boldest of claims, I know.
I love Fires of December for the same reason I love Andor. In Star Wars, the Jedi are the main heat of the story. All the big Star Wars movies and books feature wise and powerful Jedi, doing wise and powerful Jedi stuff. It’s great, don’t get me wrong, but there is something about the smaller stories in the Star Wars universe that capture me in ways that the more epic scale just can’t.
When you read the Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, or any of their direct offshoots, you get these grandiose sense of connection between the stories and plot lines, all that pull in to a story that we as fans don’t even truly understand the scope of… yet.
In Fires of December, the Cosmere is only really just hanging out in the background. Sure you have Hoid and some threads of Cosmere connections I won’t go in to in this spoiler free article, but it’s not in your face about it.
The story is well written, the characters memorable and layered, and the pacing (for my taste) is balanced.
Fires of December is replacing Tress of the Emerald Sea for the book that I recommend to those not yet Invested in the Cosmere who want to dip their toe in to before hitting a major series. It’s also come to replace Warbreaker has by favorite standalone Cosmere book, but to be honest, I feel like that’s a title that has the chance to change a lot.
The Kickstarter Rewards
Dragonsteel knows how to do merch.
The pins and stickers were fantastic this round, and I especially love the Fires of December campaign pin. I have to say, I’m not a huge pin collector, but all of the pins I’ve gotten through various Kickstarter campaigns and at Nexus have been really great. At some point I need to sit down, organize them, and start planning ways to complete my collection.
Speaking of collections, the Storybook collection of books are delightful. Thus far, I’ve read ‘The Chasmfriends Get A Pet’ and ‘The Dog and the Dragon’ to my daughter, and the both of us loved them. I was particularly proud that my eight year old was able to pick predict the hilarious ending to Chasmfriends. I won’t ruin it, but it’s great.
If you didn’t get the chance to get everything you wanted out of this Kickstarter, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. In my experience, almost all of the Kickstarter rewards eventually end up on the store, and so if there’s something you’ve got your eye on, a little patience will pay off.
Check out my unboxing of the Fires of December Kickstarter rewards, and I’ll catch you on the next on!
