Hero of Ages Paperback is out!

Brian Sanderson Blog entry Posted on 04.28.09

Hero of Ages Paperback is out!

As of today, you should be able to find Mistborn: The Hero of Ages in paperback in bookstores around the country.

Some people are wondering why the paperback is out so early. Usually it's a year between hardcover and paperback release. Well, this all has to do with the HERO hardcover delay. You see, HERO was originally going to come out in June of last year. But Tor decided to push it back for a couple of reasons. First, they wanted time to do a special promotional version of Mistborn One, to tie into the Wheel of Time announcement. Second, there were vibes that HERO would be one of their biggest books of the year, so they wanted to put it in the holiday season.

They shifted it back by four or five months--but Warbreaker and the Hero paperback both remained on the lists where they had been. So, we got the HERO hardcover late, but WARBREAKER is still scheduled for June 2009 and the HERO paperback for this month. Just a quirk of scheduling.

Anyway, perhaps it's also time to give WARBREAKER another mention. As many of you know, I'm (perhaps irrationally) paranoid about how this book will do. People were beating down the doors for HERO, since it was the third and final of a trilogy. I've long wanted to be someone who consistently writes stand-alone novels in new worlds, as I feel that's something the fantasy genre needs more of. It gives me a chance to try new things. But since it's not part of a series, I'm worried that people won't be as excited about it. Also, since I released it early on-line, I'm worried nobody will want to buy it.

Like I said, those are probably irrational fears. But I can't help feeling them. Tor has gotten behind Warbreaker in a big way, and the bookstores have ordered a lot of copies. And I'm sitting here, worried that none of them will move.

If you're on the fence about the book, perhaps this Publisher's Weekly review will help. It came in last week, to much celebration at Tor:

"Epic fantasy heavyweight Sanderson (the Mistborn series) pens a powerful stand-alone tale of unpredictable loyalties, dark intrigue and dangerous magic � Sanderson melds complex, believable characters, a marvelous world and thoughtful, ironic humor into an extraordinary and highly entertaining story."--Starred Review, Publisher's Weekly.