Brandon Sanderson Cosmere Reading Order
Journey before destination
Almost six years ago, I published a Medium post1 with my recommended reading order of sci-fi/fantasy author Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere works. I continued to update it over the next three years as Brandon published more books, but now that I have a Substack—and I am eagerly awaiting the upcoming Stormlight Archive tome Wind and Truth—I want to write a revised, up-to-date, chattier version. While there is no “wrong” way to read and enjoy books, my own experience of reading works set in the Cosmere has been significantly enhanced by my knowledge of the greater story that is unfolding, which helps me spot easter eggs and cameos, draw connections, and theorize with others in the fandom.
I started reading Brandon Sanderon’s books back in college, over ten years ago, when Frances lent me the Mistborn trilogy. Since then, I’ve been passionate about Brandon’s magic systems, world-building, and realistic characters. I have been fortunate to have attended multiple of his book tour stops in Houston, which were all held at Murder By The Book, an independent bookstore near Rice. The first one I went to was for Words of Radiance in 2014. I was in grad school at the time, but the event took place during Spring Break2, so I drove down to Houston and dragged Erik to it with me3. I underestimated how many people would be there though, so we stood in the very back of a room whose fire safety capacity was surely exceeded, and I got a fuzzy, zoomed-in photo on my iPhone 5.
Brandon Sanderson’s number of published Cosmere works has almost doubled since then, and I think the list can seem intimidating to a newcomer. There are multiple manageable places to start though, so let’s get to it. It’s never too late to jump into the Cosmere!
If you are new to the epic fantasy genre or don’t want to commit too much yet, I recommend you start with either Warbreaker or Elantris. Both are standalone novels, though Brandon plans on writing sequels for both in the future. Warbreaker is one of my personal favorites. It has compelling characters and just a little bit of romance. But perhaps what is most persuasive to the uncommitted is that it is available in its entirety for free on Brandon’s website.
Elantris was Brandon Sanderson’s first published novel. I recommend reading it pretty early on, since while it is good, you can tell it is his earlier work. After Elantris, read the short story “The Hope of Elantris” (available on his website and in Arcanum Unbounded) and the Hugo Award-winning novella The Emperor’s Soul (available as a standalone and in Arcanum Unbounded), set on the same planet. Arcanum Unbounded is a collection of every piece of Cosmere short fiction released up to 2016. We’ll revisit it later.
If you would rather start with a series, I recommend the Mistborn Era 1 trilogy: Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. The Mistborn trilogy was my own introduction to Brandon Sanderson, and while it is darker and grungier than Warbreaker or Elantris, it shows off a fascinating and deep magic system. This trilogy is referred to as “Era 1” because there will be a total of four (maybe five!) installments set in different time periods, a sort of through-line for the Cosmere. After The Final Empire, read the short story “The Eleventh Metal” (available on Brandon’s website and in Arcanum Unbounded, originally sold with the Mistborn Adventure Game).
Now let’s bring out the big guns. The Stormlight Archive is Brandon’s epic ten-book opus. There are four books published so far with the fifth coming out in December. The Way of Kings is the first entry, and the world-building is immersive, the lore is deep, and the payoff is totally worth it. I experienced a steep learning curve with this book though, since I wasn’t yet used to reading epic fantasies. Had I not already read the Mistborn trilogy and Warbreaker, I might have given up. But the climax in The Way of Kings is a passage that I still revisit from time to time because it is so grand and emotional.
A slight tangent: early on in Brandon’s career, before he completed The Wheel of Time series on behalf of the late Robert Jordan, became a New York Times best-selling author, ran a company, and gained mainstream popularity, he had the time to write commentaries for all the chapters of his books. These annotations provide interesting behind-the-scenes notes about Brandon’s writing process, ideas, and characters, and I enjoyed reading them either after I finished a book or after every chapter or two. They are available on Brandon’s website for all the novels mentioned so far: Elantris, Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages, Warbreaker, and The Way of Kings (through chapter 11).
Continue with the second book in The Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance. So thick that the publisher had to invent new binding technology to fit everything into one volume, this book is my favorite Stormlight installment so far. After Words of Radiance, read Edgedancer, a novella that takes place between Stormlight #2 and #3. It was written for and published in Arcanum Unbounded.
Let’s go back to Mistborn with the Era 2 tetralogy: The Allow of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning, and The Lost Metal. This series was actually unplanned; Brandon wanted to take a break between writing The Wheel of Time and The Stormlight Archive tomes, so he did a creative writing exercise that somehow turned into a surprise book, The Alloy of Law (the last book to have accompanying annotations). Four years later, Brandon published Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning pretty much back-to-back, after which there was another six-year gap until The Lost Metal. Also called the “Wax and Wayne” series, Mistborn Era 2 takes place 300 years after the events of Era 1 in a Wild West-slash-steampunk setting, and it’s really cool to see how the magic system mixes with guns and similar technologies.
For a break between long books, read the cheeky short story “Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania” (originally published as part of The Alloy of Law extension to the Mistborn Adventure Game) and the novella Mistborn: Secret History. Secret History is a companion book to Mistborn Era 1 but includes spoilers for Era 2, so I recommend reading it after The Bands of Mourning. Both can be found in Arcanum Unbounded.
Speaking of Arcanum Unbounded, now is a good time to read the remaining pieces of short fiction in it, all of which are set on planets not yet explored in full-length novels: Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (originally published in the Dangerous Women anthology, which boasts George R. R. Martin as one of its editors) and the White Sand excerpt. White Sand is actually a trilogy of graphic novels adapted from an unpublished draft. The excerpt in Arcanum Unbounded includes pages from the first graphic novel along with the prologue and first chapter of the prose draft. I don’t actually recommend reading the White Sand graphic novels though, as Brandon plans to write a definitive prose version soon. You can skip Sixth of the Dusk, originally published in the Shadows Beneath anthology, as it is being extended into a full-length novel, Isles of the Emberdark, releasing next year. Lastly, Arcanum Unbounded also boasts short essays on different planets in the Cosmere written by an in-world character—actually the person who stars in White Sand.
Next, we return to The Stormlight Archive with its third book, Oathbringer. When Brandon came to Houston for the book tour, Erik and I arrived at Murder By The Book two hours early to grab seats. In the past, we had attended these events to listen to Brandon give a talk related to the new release, do a reading from an unpublished work, and hold a Q&A, and we would leave when it was time for the book signing. But for Oathbringer, we decided to stay for the signing. Brandon was becoming more famous and it was getting harder for his team to find venues for his book tours that could accommodate the number of people who wanted to attend. There were talks about renting school auditoriums. So, we waited in line for three hours and were able to get all our hardcovers autographed. Oathbringer turned out to be Brandon’s final major Cosmere release before Covid. Since then, he has stopped travelling for book tours and has instead launched his own annual convention, Dragonsteel Nexus, in Salt Lake City4. Unfortunately, I don’t see myself attending the con anytime soon, so I am especially glad I was able to have these experiences.
After Oathbringer, read Dawnshard, a novella set between Stormlight #3 and #4. And then, read Rhythm of War, the aforementioned fourth Stormlight entry. The Stormlight Archive is designed as ten books split into two five-book arcs with a time jump in between. Thus, Rhythm of War inevitably spends some time preparing for the big climax of the first arc, but it still has its own share of reveals, conclusions, and Cosmere tidbit drops.
In 2022, Brandon launched a surprise Kickstarter campaign for four books he wrote in secret during the pandemic, to be released in 20235. Three of the four Secret Projects, as they came to be known, are standalone Cosmere works: Tress of the Emerald Sea, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. Brandon himself recommends Tress of the Emerald Sea as a good first Cosmere book, and while it is one of my favorites, I think it contains too many juicy references and will be enjoyed even more if read after one is familiar with the Cosmere. The other two Secret Projects have major spoilers and I think will actually be confusing if read first, so I think they definitely should be read later on.
There you have it—my Cosmere recommended reading order. And the best part is there much more to look forward to! As I said before, The Stormlight Archive #5, Wind and Truth, is coming out this December, and it’ll be a big one as it wraps up the epic series’ first arc. Next year, a fifth surprise Secret Project, Isles of the Emberdark, an extension of Sixth of the Dusk, will ship as part of the Words of Radiance 10th anniversary leatherbound crowdfunding campaign. The following major project will be the Mistborn Era 3 trilogy, which Brandon plans to write all in one go. That, along with secondary projects of Elantris sequels and the previously mentioned White Sand novel, will keep Brandon busy for a while. And knowing him, there may be some surprises thrown in as well. So, as always, I wish Brandon superb health—as well as good health for us, the readers, so we can all eventually experience the conclusion of the epic story that is the Cosmere.
Hannah’s Brandon Sanderson Cosmere Reading Order*
*As of July 2025
Warbreaker
Elantris
“The Hope of Elantris”
The Emperor’s Soul
Mistborn Era 1 #1: Mistborn: The Final Empire
“The Eleventh Metal”
Mistborn Era 1 #2: The Well of Ascension
Mistborn Era 1 #3: The Hero of Ages
The Stormlight Archive #1: The Way of Kings
The Stormlight Archive #2: Words of Radiance
Edgedancer
Mistborn Era 2 #1: The Alloy of Law
Mistborn Era 2 #2: Shadows of Self
Mistborn Era 2 #3: The Bands of Mourning
Mistborn: Secret History
Mistborn Era 2 #4: The Lost Metal
“Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania”
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
The Stormlight Archive #3: Oathbringer
Dawnshard
The Stormlight Archive #4: Rhythm of War
Secret Project #1: Tress of the Emerald Sea
Secret Project #36: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
Secret Project #4: The Sunlit Man
The Stormlight Archive #5: Wind and Truth
Secret Project #5: Isles of the Emberdark
If you google “Cosmere reading order,” the post shows up on page 3 of results! It has garnered 17k 21k views since its publication as of January 2026.
That was also the week Alison and I got our ears pierced together!
I regularly remind Erik that he may not have been introduced to Brandon Sanderson if it hadn’t been for me.
I have conflicting feelings about this. On one hand, by no longer traveling the world for book tours, Brandon frees up a significant amount of time for writing. He is well-known enough that he can hold his own cons and customize the experience for fans. However, I can imagine it hurts the independent bookstores that used to host him, and it is also much harder for fans abroad to meet him. Brandon does make the effort to attend at least one major con a year though.
The Kickstarter ended up breaking the record for the most funded campaign of all time, raising $41.7 million dollars, more than double the previous record holder.
Secret Project #2, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, is not a Cosmere novel.