So uh, we’re already falling a bit behind on our #WyrdAndWonder goals but oh well. We’re doing our best.

In any case, Day 10’s theme was “Bite-Sized Islands”, and I found a second nautical story by Brandon Sanderson (the first being Tress of the Emerald Sea) which I’ll review in response to this prompt. That story is Sixth of the Dusk which is only 54 pages (bite-sized indeed), and features a kind of hunter who makes his living sailing the dangerous waters of the archipelago known as Pantheon, and caring for the biggest island Patji . . . which would like nothing more than to kill him dead.

I wish Sanderson would write more stories around this page count. It was really refreshing to pick this one up and finish after only a night or two of reading. The relative brevity of the tale did nothing to diminish its impact. It is still jammed packed with worldbuilding, with action and adventure. And I’d say its thematic elements were that much more clear, for not having as much real estate to develop on.

The version I read was included in (to my knowledge) Sanderson’s only anthology, the Arcanum Unbounded, which features little bits and curiosities from nearly every part of his overarching story universe, the Cosmere. However, this time through, I only read the short story itself, and none of the other stories within the anthology, so I can’t really speak to how it sits within that work, but I can talk about how it reads on its own (because that’s how I read it).

Sixth of the Dusk is from the beginning, focused on man’s battle with nature, opening with the unnerving depth, and unknowable horror of the sea. Its first line reads:

“Death hunted beneath the waves.”

Our main character, called Dusk, feels not only small, but afraid as the shadow of some giant leviathan passes underneath his boat. He’s spent his entire life training to sail these waters and hunt on Patji, he is smart and skilled, and has several protections in place, yet he never loses sight of the fact that he is nothing compared to the powers of nature.

I’ll admit, I haven’t read a ton of person-vs-nature type stories (really only William Faulkner’s The Bear comes to mind) but it isn’t hard to imagine a theme of these stories involving the inevitable march of technology and modernity combining into a kind of manifest destiny which seeks to tame the wild frontier. Sanderson’s take is somewhat different in that even though it still sets up that dichotomy of person vs wild, at least some of the people — particularly the main character — are trying to save said wild and halt the march of “Progress”. And nature still just keeps trying to get in their way.

It’s perhaps only a shade different than other stories with nature as a primary antagonist, but it is still an interesting shade nonetheless.

Of course Sanderson brings his customary zeal for worldbuilding to this story. He writes in the postscript, that he has a fascination with Polynesian culture (which also influences the Alcatraz books, and the Horneater culture in Stormlight). I don’t know much about that culture, so I’m not really able to point out examples of how it came into the story; however, I trust that it did.

What I can say, is that the worldbuilding which goes on in the story is impressive, immersive, and detailed, and I hope we get to see some more stories set in this part of the Cosmere soon. My last note on worldbuilding (which is a slight spoiler) for any tracking such things, is that I believe this is our first time seeing tech in the Cosmere that looks somewhat like our own. “Sailing the stars” is mentioned which seems to point to some kind of space travel. It’s definitely got my interest piqued.

Finally, the story features heavily some parrot-like birds. I think Sanderson has a parrot himself so it was fun to see that come into his fiction.

Give ‘Sixth of the Dusk‘ a read?

Yes! Definitely check this one out. Whether you’re interested in ‘keeping up with the Cosmere‘ or just looking for some short and entertaining to read, Sixth of the Dusk is a great a choice. I enjoyed the story for its variation on the Person vs. Wild theme, its Polynesian inspired worldbuilding and cool birds.

Also, literally as I was finishing up this review I thought to check and see how/if this short story was related to Sanderson’s upcoming Isles of the Emberdark since I thought I remembered the cover featuring a parrot. Turns out Emberdark is an expansion of Dusk’s story! So I guess my timing is perfect and we’ll be seeing more of Dusk and this part of the Cosmere after all!

Anyway, that’s all I have for this post. Have any read this one before? What were your thoughts? Did you have any favorite critters on Patji? How do you think this story will relate to Isles of the Emberdark? Prequel? Beginning chapters? Complete rewrite?

Leave your answers in the comments, and happy #WyrdAndWonder!