The Sunlit Man
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 Cover art for the Tor Books edition of "The Sunlit Man" | |
| Author | Brandon Sanderson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Cosmere |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Set in | Canticle (planet) |
| Published | October 1, 2023 |
| Publisher | Dragonsteel Entertainment |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 400 (Hardcover) |
| ISBN | 978-1250899712 |
The Sunlit Man is a 2023 fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, set in his Cosmere universe. The novel was the fourth of Sanderson's "secret projects", a result of his record-breaking 2022 Kickstarter campaign.
A man called Nomad[a] is being pursued by the Night Brigade. Nomad and his spren companion Auxiliary[b] arrive on the planet Canticle. Canticle is a very small, inhospitable planet. The heat of the sun kills anyone who is exposed to daylight; the planet's inhabitants live on floating cities, always fleeing from the dawn.
Nomad is immediately captured by the Cinder King, a local warlord. The Cinder King controls his subjects with objects called cinderhearts, which burn away their personalities and turn them into creatures called Charred. Nomad escapes the Cinder King with a woman named Rebeke and her sister Elegy, who has been turned into a Charred.
Nomad reaches the floating city of Beacon.[c] He befriends the citizens there as they flee from the Cinder King. On Canticle, deceased humans who are left to burn in the sunlight leave behind a sunheart. These sunhearts serve as power sources for the Beaconites’ cities. The Beaconites believe in a mythical refuge that will be safe from the sunlight. Nomad promises to bring them there, but in reality this shelter is a small research station from Scadrial,[d] which cannot support the population of Beacon.
The Scadrians offer to hire Nomad as a mercenary. He decides to stay with the Beaconites, who rename him Zellion. Eventually, he teaches Elegy to regain part of her humanity. Zellion and Rebeke discover a way to power their cities more efficiently, preventing the need for more sacrifices to create sunhearts. Zellion kills the Cinder King and leaves Canticle behind.
Publication
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanderson wrote four secret novels. In 2022, he announced a campaign on Kickstarter to fund the self-publishing of these novels. This campaign became the most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time.[1][2] The Sunlit Man became the fourth novel released as a part of this campaign.[3] The four novels were initially distributed as special hardcover editions to Kickstarter backers. Later, the novels were acquired and hardcover editions were published by Tor Books. The Tor Books editions were released three months after each special edition was released.[4]
