Kinda dissapointed by the Mistborn Trilogy. Should I continue with the Cosmere? What to try next?

!!!SPOILERS FOR MISTBORN TRILOGY!!!

I finally finished the Mistborn trilogy. It's the first book series I have finished in my adult life, and Mistborn was the first book I finished in my adult life (Kinda).

I loved Mistborn 1. However I was kinda underwhelmed by the climax, and I felt more let down by the climaxes/endings of each book. Book 1 ended up not having the heist that the whole book built to, and that was really dissapointing to me. And Kelsier's plan reveal felt too convienient to me. Other than that though, I quite liked the ending stuff of book 1. Book 2 I also didn't hate the ending, but the fakeout death and sacrifice twist really felt off to me. But I was still excited for 3 bc book 3 started strong and I heard it was amazing with an amazing ending.

But man... I haven't disliked an ending so much in a long time. Vin and Elend essentially sacrificed themselves in different ways, but I wasn't really emotionally invested in the sacrifice they made. I wasn't that connected to the characters still left alive. I like Spook, but not anywhere near Vin, Elend, or Kelsier. And the world, while saved from destruction, was left in an extremely bleak state. The book felt like it was telling me this was an optimistic (if bittersweet) outcome, but it felt like a pretty depressing outcome to me. Which would have worked better for me if the tone and theme of the books hadn't been so optimistic leading up to it. And the themes... That's what really killed this book for me. It was very overtly about religion. At least with Sazed's arc. Which is the arc the story ends on, and becomes what saves the world. As a non-religious person, I just never bought into Sazed losing his faith and finding it again. It just felt like a caricature of someone who lost their faith, rather than built on a genuine understanding of that perspective. It didn't necessarily feel malicious, but every time Sazed brought up his reasons for not believing, it didn't feel accurate to me or the other atheists I know. So when his arc essentially provided the answer to Sazed's doubts and problems, it fell completely flat because I never really felt like the perspective had been properly explored in the first place.

Anyway... I'm not here to hate on Sanderson or the cosmere. He seems like a really cool guy and I have loved Intentionally Blank for a long time. His writing lectures are fantastic. And I loved some aspects of Mistborn a lot. I genuinely loved this world. Kelsier might actually be one of my favorite fictional characters. And lastly, the way Sanderson reveals stuff just makes me baffled at his ability to plan ahead and provide all the clues without revealing it.

However, I am a bit less enthusiastic about continuining into The Cosmere for sure. Just with Mistborn being much more hit-or-miss for me than I expected. I love his approach to worldbuilding, so I am very interested in that aspect of it, but the "Sanderlanche" thing never seemed to happen for me, and the themes either hit hard or not at all for me. I have always been super interested in Stormlight, but I've heard Sanderson say to read that book when you trust him. And I don't quite have enough faith to commit to something of his quite so long. I am still very interested in the cosmere because of the aspects of Mistborn that did resonate with me very strongly (and bc a lot of the book concepts sound rly cool to me).

But I am not quite sure what to read to get me excited about The Cosmere like I was when I started Mistborn. Stormlight Archive is by far what I'm most interested in, but I am not gonna commit to that right now. Emperor's Soul on paper sounds like the perfect thing to give Sanderson another shot, because of it's length and how praised it is. But I am also not as interested in the premise of the book.

I tried Tress once, but I really bounced off the style of narration Sanderson does with Hoid. And a lot of his books are narrated by him. Isles of The Emberdark sounds like a rly cool world, but idk the consensus on its quality, and I get the impression it spoils wider cosmere stuff. Same with Sunlit Man.

Any recommendations? I like action, progression fantasy, and vast worlds. And hard magic, but it feels like they all have that.