Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson (book review).

Titles of books are always tricky. An author wants something memorable, so readers who enjoy the book can easily recommend it to friends. Sometimes a title is chosen because it is unusual enough to stand out on the shelf. Other titles offer clues about the contents. Choosing a title for a collection can be easier. Often, the lead story lends its name to the entire volume, or there may be a theme running through many of the stories, as with Ana Sun’s ‘Futures To Live By’. In Brandon Sanderson’s ‘Tailored Realities’, there does not at first appear to be a story that naturally provides the title. That is, until the reader encounters ‘Perfect State’.

Kai is the supreme ruler of a fantasy world. He delights in fighting the battles that have unified the world under his rule. To stave off boredom, he has created a nemesis, Melhi, the ruler of a neighbouring State with whom he is perpetually at war. However, in this world, the leaders of each State are actually brains preserved in jars, while everyone else is computer-generated. Each real person therefore inhabits a reality specifically designed to suit their personality. The reality is tailored for them.

Taken a step further, all fiction is a kind of tailored reality, created by the author as the setting for the story they wish to tell.

Brandon Sanderson is best known for his large-scale novels set within various aspects of what he calls the Cosmere. With the exception of one story, none of the pieces in this volume have any direct connection to his other work. The exception is ‘Mitosis’, previously published as a standalone novella and part of ‘The Reckoners’ series. In this setting, certain individuals have become Epics, humans with superpowers. The group known as the Reckoners is dedicated to eliminating those Epics who abuse their abilities at the expense of ordinary people. Every Epic has a weakness, although discovering and exploiting it is the difficult part. Mitosis can create copies of himself. He has come for David, the man who killed the Epic Steelheart, and threatens to murder people at intervals until David reveals himself.

‘Defending Elysium’ has also previously appeared as a separate novella. It serves as a prequel to Sanderson’s ‘Skyward’ series. Humanity has expanded only as far as Saturn, establishing colonies on platforms orbiting beyond the planet. Aliens have arrived to judge whether humans are civilised or barbaric. If humanity passes the test, they will be granted faster-than-light travel technology. The catalyst for uncovering the truth behind this complex situation is the arrival of Jason Write at the platform Evensong to investigate the disappearance of an agent.

Two of the stories contain strong elements of crime investigation. In ‘Snapshot’, technology allows crimes to be reconstructed for twenty-four hours after they occur. Detectives are inserted into the Snapshot to observe events and gather evidence. What initially appears straightforward gradually unfolds into a complex tale of deception and duplicity.

‘Moment Zero’ begins as a police procedural. Lisa Sterling and Andrew Dane are following up a tip regarding the possible whereabouts of a missing scientist when a quantum explosion occurs. Lisa is thrown into the past while Dane is propelled into the future. These are only side effects of the catastrophe. The explosion also creates expanding dead zones within the city where people have become vampiric creatures that drain warmth from the living. Physical objects rapidly decay and the dead zones continue to spread. Because of the nature of the explosion, Lisa and Dane can still communicate by telephone and, with the assistance of Professor Yung, who exists in both timelines, they must prevent the explosion from happening. This is far from a straightforward SF thriller, as Sanderson continually throws unexpected twists into the plot like an over-caffeinated cosmic juggler.

In ‘Brain Dump’, a couple search for a designer brain for their future child. After all, who would not want their offspring to possess every possible advantage? As they come to realise, however, potential does not necessarily guarantee achievement.

‘I Hate Dragons’ is a fantasy piece written as an exercise in dialogue. It concerns a youth being used as bait to distract a dragon while the hunters creep into position. By Sanderson standards, it is a very short story. ‘Probability Approaching Zero’ is even shorter, a piece of flash fiction involving aliens ‘uplifting’ a human in order to learn more about culture and customs.

‘Dreamer’ is also relatively brief but packed with ideas. Rather than confining themselves to computer games, a group of youngsters use Manhattan itself as their playground, jumping from body to body during their pursuits and leaving chaos in their wake.

‘Firstborn’ ventures into space opera territory. Dennison Crestmar is the younger brother of Varion, a military genius whose campaigns are studied at the Academy. Dennison lacks his brother’s tactical brilliance and cannot understand why he has not been expelled long ago. When Varion turns traitor, however, the High Emperor puts Dennison in command of the mission to stop him.

Many of these stories are appearing in print for the first time, making this collection essential for Sanderson completists. They also include some of his earlier work, written before his career truly exploded into the literary equivalent of a hyperspace jump, yet they are by no means inferior to his more recent output. Sanderson has a gift for taking a simple premise and layering it with multiple concepts to create stories that feel rich, inventive and satisfyingly unpredictable.

Pauline Morgan

May 2026

Tailored Realities by Brandon Sanderson

(pub: Gollancz, 2025. 423-page hardback. Price: £25.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-3996-3322-2).

Check out the website: https://store.gollancz.co.uk/products/tailored-realities