Brandon Sanderson is one of the biggest names in modern fantasy—and one of the most prolific. If you’re new to his interconnected universe, you may be wondering about the best Cosmere reading order.
There are three main ways to approach reading the Cosmere books in order—by recommendation, publication, and chronological order.
Want the quick version? Download my free printable checklist.
Jump to:
- Best Cosmere Reading Order
- Cosmere Books in Publication Order
- The Cosmere in Chronological Order
- About the Cosmere
- Cosmere FAQ
Best Cosmere Reading Order (Recommended)
There’s no single “right” Cosmere reading order. As long as you start with Book 1 of a series, you’ll be fine.
That said, some starting points land better than others, and a lot of readers (including me) think Elantris is one of the best places to begin.
Elantris & Sel
- Elantris
The Hope of Elantris (Short Story)
The Emperor’s Soul (Novella)
Mistborn
- The Final Empire
- The Well of Ascension
- The Hero of Ages
- The Alloy of Law
The Eleventh Metal (Short Story)
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (Short Story) - Shadows of Self
- The Bands of Mourning
Mistborn: Secret History (Novella) - The Lost Metal
- Ghostbloods (TBA)
Quick heads-up: Mistborn is split into three eras. Books 1–3 are Era 1, Books 4-7 are Era 2 and jumps ahead about 300 years with a new main cast (and a more advanced world), and Book 8 begins Era 3. That makes Book 3 and Book 7 good places to pause.
Standalones
- Warbreaker
- Sixth of the Dusk (Novella)
- Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell (Novella)
The Stormlight Archive
- The Way of Kings
- Words of Radiance
Edgedancer (Novella) - Oathbringer
Dawnshard (Novella) - Rhythm of War
- Wind and Truth
Taldain – Graphic Novels
Sanderson Kickstarter Secret Projects
Why I Recommend This Cosmere Reading Order
As I said earlier, you can start just about anywhere, and that’s true. But if you want the smoothest on-ramp, I think starting with a standalone is the smartest move—either Elantris or Warbreaker. I lean Elantris first because it’s early Sanderson, so his style only gets stronger from there, and it gives you a clean, complete story before you commit to the bigger series.
From there, I recommend reading Mistborn straight through. Sanderson loves big, layered epics, and it’s easier to stay immersed when you don’t break momentum.
The case can be made to split Mistborn Era 1 and Era 2, reading other books in between. But if too much time passes, some of the finer details get fuzzy—and that’s when people start reaching for refreshers and wikis instead of just enjoying the story.
Finally, I’d read Warbreaker before The Stormlight Archive. It’s still a great standalone on its own, but it also pays off later in subtle ways—especially if you like spotting familiar faces and connections without having anything spelled out for you.
After that, the supplemental novellas and short stories are totally flexible, but I wouldn’t start digging into them until you’ve finished at least Elantris, Mistborn, and Warbreaker.
Cosmere Books in Publication Order
Publication order is the most straightforward Cosmere reading order—and it’s how millions of fans experienced the books for the first time.
If you want the full ride and to see Brandon Sanderson’s growth from his debut onward, this is the way to do it. Just know it can feel a little disjointed, since publication order jumps between series (and worlds).
- Elantris (2005)
- The Hope of Elantris (2006) (Short Story)
- The Final Empire (2006)
- The Well of Ascension (2007)
- The Hero of Ages (2008)
- Warbreaker (2009)
- The Way of Kings (2010)
- The Alloy of Law (2011)
- The Eleventh Metal (2012) (Short Story)
- The Emperor’s Soul (2012) (Novella)
- Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell (2013) (Novella)
- Words of Radiance (2014)
- Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (2014) (Short Story)
- Sixth of the Dusk (2014) (Novella)
- Shadows of Self (2015)
- The Bands of Mourning (2016)
- Mistborn: Secret History (2016) (Novella)
- White Sand, Vol. 1 (2016) (Graphic Novel)
- Edgedancer (2016) (Novella)
- Oathbringer (2017)
- White Sand, Vol. 2 (2017) (Graphic Novel)
- White Sand, Vol. 3 (2019) (Graphic Novel)
- Dawnshard (2020) (Novella)
- Rhythm of War (2020)
- The Lost Metal (2022)
- Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023)
- Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (2023)
- The Sunlit Man (2023)
- White Sand Omnibus (2024) (Graphic Novel)
- Wind and Truth (2024)
- Isles of the Emberdark (2025)
- Ghostbloods (TBA)
The Cosmere in Chronological Order
This is the Cosmere reading order I would least recommend for newcomers, because it will contain spoilers.
The clearest example is Mistborn: Secret History. Chronologically, it starts right after The Final Empire and runs alongside major events throughout the original trilogy—so reading it “in timeline order” can ruin reveals that are meant to land later.
Taldain – Graphic Novels
Elantris & Sel
- Elantris
- The Hope of Elantris (Short Story)
- The Emperor’s Soul (Novella)
Mistborn: First Era
- The Eleventh Metal (Short Story)
- The Final Empire
- Mistborn: Secret History (Novella)
- The Well of Ascension
- The Hero of Ages
The Stormlight Archive
- The Way of Kings
- Words of Radiance
- Edgedancer (Novella)
- Oathbringer
- Dawnshard (Novella)
- Rhythm of War
- Wind and Truth
Mistborn: Second Era
- The Alloy of Law
- Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (Short Story)
- Shadows of Self
- The Bands of Mourning
- The Lost Metal
Mistborn: Third Era
- Ghostbloods (TBA)
Late Cosmere (Space-Age Era)
- Tress of the Emerald Sea
- The Sunlit Man
- Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
- Sixth of the Dusk (Novella)
- Isles of the Emberdark
One thing to note: The far-future part of the Cosmere timeline is still being nailed down. What is confirmed is that Yumi takes place after The Sunlit Man, and Isles of the Emberdark takes place after both.
Get the printable checklist
Want the quick, printable version?
You can grab my free Cosmere reading order checklist (PDF) and check off each book as you read. It’s the same list from this guide—just condensed into an easy tracker.
About the Cosmere
If you’ve seen Brandon Sanderson dominating bestseller lists—or heard about his record-breaking Kickstarter—but you haven’t picked up a book yet, the Cosmere can sound overwhelming. It’s not.
Massive fans of Sanderson and the Cosmere can turn into Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia with the conspiracy board of theories and Easter eggs. And yeah—the connections between series are real, and they’re getting more obvious. Don’t let that intimidate you. You can jump in without memorizing a wiki.
The Cosmere is the shared universe behind most of Sanderson’s fantasy, spread across different worlds. Each series has its own tone, which makes it easier to pick a starting point based on what you actually like. The Stormlight Archive is epic fantasy—huge cast, big battles, multiple POVs. Mistborn starts with a tighter, twistier, heist-like feel in Era 1, then shifts into a more western vibe in the Wax and Wayne era on the same planet.
To round it out, Elantris leans more political, while Warbreaker has a stronger romance thread. The shorter stories, novellas, and Secret Projects explore other corners of the universe—and once you’ve read a few, you’ll start noticing familiar faces and connections popping up in places you didn’t expect.
These descriptions are oversimplified on purpose. The deeper stuff will still be there when you’re ready for it.
Cosmere FAQ
Which Brandon Sanderson books are not part of the Cosmere?
Quite a few of his popular series are completely separate universes, including Skyward, The Reckoners, The Rithmatist, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, Legion (Stephen Leeds), and his work on The Wheel of Time. If you’re specifically here for Cosmere connections, those won’t tie in.
What is Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection, and when should I read it?
It’s a collection of Cosmere novellas/short stories (plus some in-world essays), and the nice thing is it warns you about spoilers before each story. The safest approach is simple: read each story only after you’ve read the book/series it’s connected to. The one “gotcha” is Mistborn: Secret History, which most readers save until after The Bands of Mourning.
Do I have to read the Cosmere novellas and short stories?
No. If you stick to the main novels/series, you’ll still get complete stories with satisfying endings. The shorter works are more like “bonus content”: extra character context, extra worldbuilding, and (sometimes) extra Cosmere connective tissue.
Should I read White Sand, and should I get the Omnibus?
If you like graphic novels (or you’re trying to be a completionist), it’s worth reading. If you don’t vibe with comics, it’s also one of the easiest Cosmere entries to skip without feeling lost. If you do read it, the Omnibus is usually the cleanest way to do it because it’s the whole story in one place.
Are the Secret Project Cosmere novels required, and do they spoil anything?
They’re written to work as standalones, so you don’t need them to understand the core series. That said, they’re more fun once you’ve already read some Cosmere, because they assume you’re comfortable with the “rules of the universe” and they like to wink at other books. If you’re extremely spoiler-averse, save them until you’re at least a few books deep.
Final note: I didn’t read the Cosmere in any clean “official” order, and that’s kind of the point—there isn’t a single right way to do it. I started with Mistborn and Stormlight, then circled back to Elantris and Warbreaker, and filled in the novellas and short stories along the way.
If your first Cosmere reading order looked nothing like mine (or the ones above), you’re in good company. What order did you start with?
Looking for more books in order?
If you want more fantasy authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Fantasy Books in Order index.
6 thoughts on “Cosmere Reading Order: 3 Ways to Read Brandon Sanderson’s Books”
I’ve just started out with Elantris and I look forward to this mammoth universe. Your books look interesting as well; I shall make sure I check them out next! Thank you for this list.
That’s how I would do it as well! For me, I read the first three Mistborns, then read all of Stormlight, then read the last three Mistborns, and then went back and did the standalones.
If I were doing it again, I’d probably still read the Mistborn trilogy first, then I’d probably read the standalones. Because I felt like Stormlight was the best of all of them and I’d probably would have liked to have saved that for last.
Plus, there’s a character in Stormlight that you’ll first meet in Warbreaker. It doesn’t hurt to read them the way I did. You wouldn’t even know that character was important, but it would have been nice to read Warbreaker first.
I started with Alloy of Law 😆 My mom likes the 2nd seeies best so she said I could just start there. But it made me curious about the lore of the 1st one and I found it really interesting reading the 1st series with the little hints I’d had from Alloy of Law. I then went back and reread Alloy of Law and the next 2 and a half books. I stopped to wait for my husband to catch up so we could read rhe 4th together and listened to the WHOLE Stormlight archive in the mean time and then gave up on waiting and just finished the 4th. While reading The Lost Metal I realized that the 2 series were connected and was curious about the other Cosmere lore and just started Elantris yesterday. It has been an adventure.
Thank you for this informative article! The Elantris series (dramatized on Audible) was amazing and I just finished listening to Warbreaker the 2nd time through. Due to your expertise, I’ve decided that Mistborn is next. Happy reading/listening!
Thank you for the list. I went with “#2 – Cosmere Reading Order by Series” when I tried to do Cosmere In A Year last year [2024]. I started “Elantris” late New Year’s Eve 2023. I was a little behind when summer came, but started “The Stormlight Archive” in mid-July and was still hoping to be done by the time “Wind and Truth” came out in December. Instead I was as still plugging away. I finally made it through “Rhythm of War” in early March 2025 and there deviated for a long weekend reading “The White Sands” series since I was still in lin for Stormlight #5 at the library. I finally finished it this week and ran through the three Secret Project books. I know they weren’t out at the time this list was made, but I’d recommend doing “The Sunlit Man” immediately after “The Stormlight Archive”, but beyond that I enjoyed the order. In the end it took me 525 days (75 weeks), but I’m glad to have stuck with it and done it all of the way through. Thanks again!