Cosmere Reading Order: Where to Start with Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere

Not sure where to start with Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy universe? This Cosmere reading order will make it easy for you and ensure you don’t miss any important connections!

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Cosmere Reading Order

If you are just now getting into the high-fantasy reading world, a fantasy world consisting of numerous different books and series may seem intimidating.  Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere is definitely intimidating. Even seasoned fantasy readers may not know where to start with this world of fantasy books. That is okay though! There are actually a few different ways you can go about reading the Cosmere. Today I am going to tell you about a few different Cosmere reading orders and different places you can start with this amazing fantasy universe.

What is the Cosmere?

First off, let’s answer the question “What is the Cosmere?”. The Cosmere is a fantasy universe created by author Brandon Sanderson. This universe connects a large number of his different books and series.

Think, the MCU, but in book form. Sanderson has multiple book series including, Mistborn, the Stormlight Archives, Warbreaker, and Elantris, all within the Cosmere. These books CAN be read on their own just fine, but I find them even more enjoyable when you are able to see and understand all of the little references from other books and worlds. 

Imagine watching the Iron Man movies, but not watching anything else in the MCU. You can do it, but it isn’t really recommended. 

The only one I would say is not as good read alone without taking the Cosmere and other books into account is the Stormlight Archives. This series contains a TON of references in later books. 

The Four Ways to Read the Cosmere

Okay, so now that we have covered what the Cosmere is, we can dive into the Cosmere reading order. There are multiple ways to read this world, and none are wrong. Read the way you want to read. But there are four main recommended reading orders. We are going to cover all of them so that you can decide for yourself which way you want to approach this fantasy universe. 

Reading the Cosmere in Publication Order

First, you can start reading the Cosmere in publication order. This is a good way to go and makes sure you don’t miss out on anything as you go along. This will have you jumping between series though, so keep that in mind if you decide to go this route. Also, for almost all of the short stories and novellas, you can get a bind-up of the Arcanum Unbounded. That has all except the newest of the novellas and even has volume 1 of White Sands. 

1. Elantris (2006)
2. The Hope of Elantris – Short Story (2007)
3. The Final Empire (2006)
4. The Well of Ascension (2007)
5. Hero of Ages (2008)
6. Warbreaker (2009)
7. Way of Kings (2010)
8. The Alloy of Law (2011)
9. The Eleventh Metal – Short Story (2012)
10. The Emperor’s Soul – Novella (2012)
11. Words of Radiance (2014)
12. Six of the Dusk – Novella (2014)
13. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell- Novella (2015)
14. Shadows of Self (2015)
15. The Bands of Mourning (2016)
16. Mistborn a Secret History – Novella (2016)
17. Allomancer Jak – Short Story (2016)
18. White Sand, Volume 1 – Graphic Novel (2016)
19. Edgedancer – Novella (2016)
20. Oathbringer (2017)
21. White Sand, Volume 2 – Graphic Novel (2016)
22. White Sand, Volume 3 – Graphic Novel (2019)
23. Dawnshard – Novella (2020)
24. Rhythm of War (2020)
25. The Lost Metal (coming 2022)
26. Tress of the Emerald Sea (aka Secret Project Number 1)

Yeah, I know. It is a lot. There are a ton of books and stories in this world. Honestly, reading in publication order may be good for some but it is a bit daunting for me personally. I am not one to love jumping too much between series, so this isn’t my personal favorite reading order. 

Reading the Cosmere in Chronological Order

Another way to read the Cosmere is in chronological order. This universe is vast and spans a LONG period of time. Reading it in this order is great for a lot of people, though it is one of the least recommended orders I have seen. 

One of the reasons this isn’t recommended is much is that there could be some spoilers for other books if you read it this way. For example, reading Mistborn: a Secret history in this way is going to contain major spoilers for the Mistborn series as a whole.

Taladin- Graphic Novels

1. White Sands, Volume 1-3

Elantris

1. Elantris
2. The Hope of Elantris
3. The Emporer’s Soul

Mistborn Era 1

1. The Eleventh Metal
2. The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: a Secret History ( please don’t actually read this after the Final Empire)
4. Well of Ascension
5. Hero of Ages

Standalones

1. Warbreaker
2. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

Stormlight Archives

1. Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. Edgedancer
4. Oathbringer
5. Dawnshard
6. Rhythm of War

Mistborn Era 2

1. Allomancer Jak
2. The Alloy of Law
3. Shadows of Self
4. The Bands of Mourning
5. The Lost Metal (coming soon)
6. Six of the Dusk

Not a bad reading order, but still not a favorite of most Cosmere fans.

Reading the Cosmere in Series Order

One of the two most popular reading orders is the series reading order. This keeps all of the series together, in publication order. It includes all of the novellas and short stories as well.

This is a good option for people who don’t like jumping around in series too much. Honestly, this is one of my personal favorite ways to read in general. I like being able to start and finish a series in one go if I can. Now, not all of the books in all of these series are released yet. 

The last book in Mistborn Era 2 will be released around November of 2022. The Stormlight Archives is also not complete. And at some point, we will get a Mistborn Era 3. So, I will make sure to update these lists once more books come out to keep them up to date!

Elantris

1. Elantris
2. The Hope of Elantris
3. The Emporer’s Soul

Mistborn (Era 1 & 2)

1. The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. Hero of Ages
4. The Alloy of Law
5. The Eleventh Metal
6. Shadows of Self
7. The Bands of Mourning
8. Mistborn: A Secret History
9. The Lost Metal (late 2022)

Standalones

1. Warbreaker (highly recommend making sure you read this before Words of Radiance at least)
2. Sixth of the Dusk
3. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
4. Allomancer Jak

Stormlight Archives 

1. The Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. Edgedancer
4. Oathbringer
5. Dawnshard
6. Rhythm of War

Taladin- Graphic Novels

1. White Sands, Volume 1-3

This reading order is a good one to start with if you want to start reading the Cosmere. 

Reading the Cosmere the Brandon Sanderson Way

It is really hard to argue with the reading order that the author himself has recommended. Brandon Sanderson has put out his own recommended Cosmere reading order, and I have to say, it is probably the best one out there. 

A few things, Brandon has said that you can really start anywhere. His stories are self-contained within their series. Though, there are some characters and lore who will cross over! 

If you want to read the Cosmere the way the author recommends, then this is the way to go. 

*Edit to note, I have looked, but have not been able to find an updated Sanderson recommends cosmere list that includes Tress of the Emerald Sea*

Mistborn (Era 1 & 2)

1. The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. Hero of Ages
4. The Alloy of Law
5. The Eleventh Metal
6. Shadows of Self
7. The Bands of Mourning
8. Mistborn: A Secret History
9. The Lost Metal

Elantris

1. The Emporer’s Soul
2. Elantris
3. The Hope of Elantris

Warbreaker

1. Warbreaker

Stormlight Archives 

1. The Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. Edgedancer
4. Oathbringer
5. Dawnshard
6. Rhythm of War

Looking through his recommended reading, he doesn’t tend to include a lot of the aforementioned novellas or short stories, or the White Sand’s graphic novels. So you should be able to use  some of the other list to pop those into place. 

How I Read the Cosmere

Look, there is no right or wrong way to read the Cosmere. I honestly took a little of each reading order and did what felt right when I was reading it. 

When I started, I had no idea what the Cosmere was! I just picked up a cool-sounding series and dove in. Little did I know that two years later I would be fully pulled into this massive fantasy universe. 

So if you are curious, this is the order that I personally read the Cosmere in. Keep in mind, I have NOT read all of the novellas and short stories. I am only including the ones I have personally read here. Eventually, I will pick up the rest of them but I don’t feel pressed to do so right away. I have also only read Volume one of White Sands. While it does have a worldhopper character that pops up in other books, it really wasn’t my favorite. 

1. The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. Hero of Ages
4. The Allow of Law
5. Shadows of Self
6. Way of Kings
7. Warbreaker
8. Elantris
9. White Sands Volume 1
10. Words of Radiance
11. Bands of Mourning
12. Mistborn: A Secret History
13. Edgedancer
14. Oathbringer
15. Dawnshard
16. Rhythm of War
17. The Lost Metal
18. Tress of the Emerald Sea

So, there you have it! All of the ways to read the Cosmere, and my own personal Cosmere reading order. There is no right or wrong way to read this world. So, start with what interests you the most and go from there. 

For example, Warbreaker, Elantris, and Tress of the Emerald Sea are standalone novels, so those may be less intimidating for a newcomer than a larger series.

Tress of the Emerald Sea may have a LOT of world-hopping cosmere references, but it is okay if you want to read it first. You won’t get spoiled for anything significant in other books, and you will be able to re-read it to rediscover all of the little easter eggs. Though I wouldn’t recommend Tress be your first Cosmere book, for many people it has been.

Then there is The Way of Kings, a massive 1,000-page tome and the first book in an unfinished series. While it is fantastic, it isn’t probably the best starting point. 

Then there is the Mistborn series. Era 1 is fully completed! One of Sanderson’s only fully completed series actually. It is a great fantasy series and perfect for beginners to the genre. 

No matter where you start with the Cosmere, I am sure you are going to have an amazing time in this fantasy universe.