Brandon Sanderson Cosmere Reading Order: The Complete Guide

Brandon Sanderson has been building the Cosmere for over twenty years, and the project is now large enough to be genuinely daunting for new readers. More than twenty novels, a handful of novellas, and a sprawling shared universe whose threads grow more entangled with each release — it raises an obvious question: where do you start, and does it matter?

The short answers are: start with Mistborn or Stormlight, and yes, order matters more as you go deeper. This guide covers everything you need to navigate the Cosmere, from your first book to the last page of the current published canon.

What Is the Cosmere?

The Cosmere is a shared universe — a single, internally consistent fictional reality — in which most of Sanderson’s fantasy novels are set. The individual series take place on different planets, separated by vast distances of space, and each one can be read as a standalone series without any awareness of the larger framework. But running underneath all of them is a single mythology: a god-like force called Adonalsium was shattered long ago, and its sixteen pieces — called Shards — were taken up by sixteen individuals who became god-like beings in their own right. Those Shards have shaped every world in the Cosmere, and their ongoing conflicts are the hidden engine of the entire universe.

Most readers won’t notice any of this on a first read. A character who appears to be a simple beggar in one book turns out to be a worldhopper — someone who travels between planets — once you’re deep enough into the Cosmere to recognize them. Crossover characters, recurring symbols, and subtle references accumulate over years of reading. None of it is required to enjoy any individual book. All of it rewards attentive readers who go wide.

Sanderson has indicated that the Cosmere will eventually culminate in a sequence of capstone novels — sometimes referred to as the back half of Stormlight and a final crossover series — in which the threads running through all the individual series converge. That endpoint is still years away. For now, the best approach is to read good books in a sensible order and trust that the connections will emerge.

Where to Start: Two Entry Points

Entry Point 1: The Final Empire (Mistborn Era 1, Book 1)

Best for readers who want: plot-first, self-contained, tightly constructed fantasy.

The Final Empire is the Cosmere’s most accessible starting point for most readers. The premise is immediately compelling: a crew of thieves in a dystopian empire plan the ultimate heist — the overthrow of the immortal god-king who has ruled for a thousand years. The magic system is among the most inventive in fantasy fiction: Allomancy, the ability to swallow and “burn” metals to produce supernatural effects. The prose is efficient, the plot is tightly structured, and the entire three-book arc reaches a satisfying conclusion with no dangling threads.

Mistborn Era 1 is also ideal for testing whether Sanderson’s sensibility works for you before committing to the Stormlight Archive’s enormous length.

Entry Point 2: The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive, Book 1)

Best for readers who want: world-first, immersive epic fantasy at maximum scale.

If you are the kind of reader who wants to live inside a world for months — who prefers density and scope over efficiency — start with The Way of Kings. At roughly 1,000 pages, it is Sanderson’s most ambitious novel, introducing the world of Roshar: a planet scoured by storms so powerful that its ecosystems evolved around them, where a ten-book epic is unfolding. The character work is deeper than Mistborn, the world is richer, and the rewards are proportionally greater.

The trade-off is that the Stormlight Archive is still in progress. If you want to start something you can finish before the series ends, Mistborn Era 1 is the better choice.

Full Cosmere Publication Order

This is the order in which the books were published — useful for understanding the context in which readers encountered them, and generally a sound reading order for newcomers.

1. Elantris (2005) — Sanderson’s debut novel. A prince is transformed into a living-dead being and cast into a city of the fallen. Lighter than his later work, but establishes the Cosmere’s foundational concepts.
2. The Final Empire (2006) — Mistborn Era 1, Book 1. The heist against the immortal Lord Ruler.
3. The Well of Ascension (2007) — Mistborn Era 1, Book 2. The aftermath of the heist, and what comes next for a world without its god.
4. The Hero of Ages (2008) — Mistborn Era 1, Book 3. The culmination of the original trilogy, with revelations that reframe everything that came before.
5. Warbreaker (2009) — A standalone Cosmere novel involving gods who return from death, a magic system built on color and Breath, and two sisters on opposite sides of a political conflict. Important later for its connections to Stormlight.
6. The Way of Kings (2010) — Stormlight Archive, Book 1. The beginning of Sanderson’s masterwork.
7. The Alloy of Law (2011) — Mistborn Era 2, Book 1. Set 300 years after Era 1, in an industrial-age city. A lawman comes out of retirement to investigate a series of robberies.
8. Words of Radiance (2014) — Stormlight Archive, Book 2. Arguably the series’ high point to date: longer than Book 1, even more ambitious, and culminating in one of the great climactic sequences in fantasy fiction.
9. Shadows of Self (2015) — Mistborn Era 2, Book 2.
10. The Bands of Mourning (2016) — Mistborn Era 2, Book 3.
11. Oathbringer (2017) — Stormlight Archive, Book 3. The longest book in the series; deepens the world’s history and mythology substantially.
12. Rhythm of War (2020) — Stormlight Archive, Book 4. The most interior book of the series, focused on trauma, mental health, and the mechanics of magic.
13. The Lost Metal (2022) — Mistborn Era 2, Book 4. The conclusion of the Era 2 storyline, with significant Cosmere-level revelations.
14. Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023) — Secret Project 1. A fairy-tale-structured adventure set on a world of poisonous spore seas.
15. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (2023) — Secret Project 2. Two characters on opposite ends of a world must work together across the boundary of death.
16. The Sunlit Man (2023) — Secret Project 3. A fugitive worldhopper on a world whose sun’s light is lethal. Best read after Stormlight 5.
17. Wind and Truth (2024) — Stormlight Archive, Book 5. The conclusion of the first Stormlight arc.

Recommended Cosmere Reading Order

Publication order is generally fine, but readers who want to optimize for Cosmere awareness can follow this sequence:

1. The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. The Hero of Ages
4. Elantris (can also be read first)
5. Warbreaker
6. The Way of Kings
7. Words of Radiance
8. The Alloy of Law
9. Shadows of Self
10. The Bands of Mourning
11. Oathbringer
12. Rhythm of War
13. The Lost Metal
14. Tress of the Emerald Sea
15. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
16. Wind and Truth
17. The Sunlit Man

Reading Warbreaker before Words of Radiance is particularly important — a major character from Warbreaker appears in Stormlight, and that appearance hits much harder if you know who they are.

The Stormlight Archive: Each Book in Detail

The Stormlight Archive is the centre of the Cosmere. Sanderson has planned ten books, divided into two five-book arcs. The first arc is now complete.

The Way of Kings — Book 1

Roshar is a world of highstorms: planet-spanning tempests that scour the landscape and shape all life. Three perspectives dominate: Kaladin, a soldier reduced to slavery who rediscovers his extraordinary abilities; Shallan, a scholar-artist attempting to steal a Soulcaster to save her family; and Dalinar Kholin, a highprince haunted by visions of an ancient war. The book establishes the world with unusual patience and depth. The payoff in its final section is considerable.

Words of Radiance — Book 2

The second book is the series at its most purely satisfying: the character foundations laid in Book 1 are tested and deepened, the magic system is dramatically expanded, and the climax is one of the most technically impressive sequences Sanderson has written. If you finish The Way of Kings unsure whether to continue, read the first hundred pages of Words of Radiance — most readers are committed by then.

Oathbringer — Book 3

The longest Stormlight book at roughly 1,250 pages. It shifts focus substantially toward Dalinar Kholin — his present leadership and his buried past — and expands the world beyond Roshar’s continent for the first time. The revelations about Dalinar’s history are among the most significant character moments in the series. Some readers find the midsection dense; persist through it.

Rhythm of War — Book 4

The most interior and psychologically focused book in the series. Kaladin’s struggles with depression are handled with unusual care and specificity. The book also contains the deepest exploration of the Cosmere’s underlying physics — its systems of Investiture — which some readers find fascinating and others find overwhelming. It is the most divisive Stormlight book; it is also, in places, the most emotionally honest.

Wind and Truth — Book 5

The conclusion of the first Stormlight arc. Sanderson described writing this as the most difficult task of his career. It resolves the major storylines of Books 1–5 while laying groundwork for the second arc, which will arrive years from now with a partly new cast.

Mistborn: Era 1 and Era 2

Era 1: The Original Trilogy

Mistborn Era 1 is among the most complete trilogies in epic fantasy. The three books — The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages — form a unified story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending that earns every page that precedes it. The magic system (Allomancy) is fully articulated, the world is fully explored, and the conclusion recontextualises events across all three books.

The Well of Ascension is the trilogy’s weakest link — it has the pacing problems typical of middle volumes — but The Hero of Ages is the strongest entry, and the payoff is exceptional.

Era 2: The Wax and Wayne Series

Set 300 years after the original trilogy, in a world that has undergone industrial revolution. The tone shifts significantly: Era 2 is lighter, faster, and often genuinely funny. Waxillium Ladrian is a lawman who has come out of retirement to take up a noble title; his partner Wayne is one of Sanderson’s best comic creations.

The four books — The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning, and The Lost Metal — are shorter and more plot-driven than Era 1. The Lost Metal contains significant Cosmere-level events and is best read after you have some Stormlight under your belt.

The Secret Projects

In 2022–2023, Sanderson ran a Kickstarter campaign for four “secret projects” he had written during the pandemic. Three of them are Cosmere novels:

Tress of the Emerald Sea

A deliberate homage to the fairy-tale adventure novel, narrated by a familiar Cosmere character. Tress is a young woman who sets out across a sea of poisonous spores to rescue the boy she loves. It is the lightest, most charming thing Sanderson has written — a useful counterpoint if the weight of Stormlight becomes heavy. Accessible after finishing Mistborn Era 1.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Two people on opposite ends of their world — Yumi, a summoner of spirits, and Painter, a painter of nightmares to keep monsters at bay — find their consciousnesses inexplicably linked. Structurally unusual and emotionally warm, it is among Sanderson’s most romantic novels.

The Sunlit Man

A worldhopper on the run lands on a planet whose sun is lethal — where the only safety is perpetual motion, staying ahead of the dawn. This one rewards readers who are already deep in the Cosmere and contains explicit revelations about the universe’s wider state. Read it last, after Wind and Truth.

Non-Cosmere Sanderson

Sanderson has also written several series set entirely outside the Cosmere.

The Reckoners trilogy — Steelheart, Firefight, Calamity — is set in a near-future America where humans have been given superpowers, most of them have become supervillains, and a resistance movement fights back. Fast, fun, and structurally clean; a good entry point for younger readers or those who want Sanderson without fantasy world-building overhead.

The Skyward series — Skyward, Starsight, Cytonic, Defiant — is young adult military science fiction. Spensa is a pilot cadet in a war against an alien threat that has humanity pinned on a planet. More emotionally direct than the Cosmere novels; the series gets more ambitious as it progresses.

The Wheel of Time completions — Sanderson wrote the final three volumes of Robert Jordan’s epic — The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light — after Jordan’s death in 2007. These are Wheel of Time novels, not Cosmere, but they demonstrate Sanderson’s ability to work at epic scale in someone else’s world.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read the Cosmere in order?

Within each series, yes — absolutely. Mistborn Era 1 must be read Books 1, 2, 3 in sequence. Stormlight must be read in order. Between series, there is more flexibility. You can read Elantris before or after Mistborn without losing anything. But the crossover content and Cosmere-level revelations — particularly in Era 2 and the Secret Projects — hit harder if you have read broadly first.

Can I read Stormlight without reading Mistborn first?

Yes. Stormlight is self-contained enough to begin with. But reading Mistborn first is still the standard recommendation because: (a) Mistborn is shorter and easier to use as a test of whether Sanderson’s style works for you, and (b) some Cosmere-aware moments in Stormlight will mean more if you recognise the references.

How long does it take to read the entire Cosmere?

The main Cosmere novels currently total somewhere north of five million words. At an average adult reading speed of 250 words per minute, that is roughly 333 hours of reading — well over a year of regular reading at one hour per day. Treat it as a long-term project, not a sprint.

Is the Cosmere finished?

No. Sanderson has stated his intent to complete the second Stormlight arc (Books 6–10), at least one more Mistborn era, additional standalones, and eventually the crossover capstone series. The Cosmere as currently published is roughly the first half of the overall project.

What to Read After You’ve Finished Everything

If you have worked through the entire current Cosmere and are looking for what comes next, the natural comparison points in epic fantasy are Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle (beginning with The Name of the Wind) for similar magic-system investment and a morally complicated protagonist, and Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen for comparable scope and ambition at even greater scale. Within Sanderson’s own career, keep your eye on The Way of Kings Prime — the original unpublished version of the novel — which he has discussed releasing, and on whatever announcements emerge about the second Stormlight arc’s progress.

The Cosmere rewards patience and re-reading. Most longtime fans report that returning to early books after reading later entries reveals layers of foreshadowing and connection that are invisible on a first pass. That depth is the project’s defining quality.

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