The ULTIMATE Cosmere/Brandon Sanderson Reading Order

If you've been thinking about reading Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere novels, this is the ultimate guide on how to begin and continue your journey. I've read every entry point to the series and will walk you through the merits of my choices for each step in the reading process.

Of course, this is just one way to read all the books, so do whatever feels right to you! Hopefully this provides an excellent starting point, regardless of your next steps.

Credit to Reddit user u/jofwu for the amazing graphic!

@treedreads and @treedfl on all platforms

[LuzzyStef]

I’ve already finished the cosmere and seen at least five videos on what order to read it but for some reason I keep watching these every time they pop up

[ThatStickFromShadesmar]

I've read through all of the cosmere and I happen to enjoy watching people recommend their own reading order. I enjoyed the book summaries in this one. Keep up the good work!

[Buphido]

This is almost exactly my recommended reading order. The only thing I‘d change is, I‘d move Warbreaker to directly before Way of Kings, just so it’s more present in your mind and so that Elantris directly follows secret history while the memories of a certain group are still fresh. As for White Sand, I‘d recommend it either as the very first story, so you know about a certain character as you enter secret history, or at some point between Emperors Soul and Warbreaker, in the space where all other era 1 stories are situated. As for the solar system descriptions in Arcanum Unbounded, I‘d recommend them for after you are done with the corresponding series (for the Mistborn one, being done with era 1 is enough).

[rachelc]

I read Mistborn Secret History after The Bands of Mourning, but I can see an argument for reading it straight after Era 1. I would personally recommend reading Elantris before Secret History though - it enabled me to have some moments and see some comnections. I wish I had gone through White Sand beforehand too. I guess it depends on how much you want to be able to spot Cosmere Easter eggs!

[darrenarcenal]

I'm new to Cosmere (I started TWoK and just finished WoR). Most of Brandon Sanderson's Books are not available in my country so I have to order them (all except for secret project 4) overseas (online). So excited to venture more of his works but may need to take a break first of Stormlight Archive, then I'll start with Mistborn. Excited for this. Thanks for this guide! :) [I didn't know there's a whole big community of Cosmere fans here in YT, so every time I see Cosmere, I click. HAHA ]

[DanTheMeek]

Cool video, thanks for sharing. As some one whose read almost all the cosmere and gotten others into it (or unintentionally pushed them away do to reading order I suggested) I feel I have a different take then most.

First, I would strongly STRONGLY advise against starting anyone with Mistborn or Elantris UNLESS they are both very active readers AND committed to reading multiple books regardless of how much they're enjoying the initial one(s). I did not start with Mistborn, but after I got into the cosmere and my wife saw how much I was enjoying it she asked for a recommendation of where she should start. I looked online and saw multiple people recommend Mistborn, so I recommended that to her (I hadn't read it yet at that point so we read it together). She didn't HATE it, but she was extremely under whelmed by it, as was I having come from his most recent and more strongly written and editted books. I, however, having been convinced the cosmere was worth it by his other books I'd read, kept reading and overal still enjoyed mistborn era 1 by the end, but my wife gave up half way through book 2. She didn't hate the books, but Sanderson just came off to her as "another fantasy writer" and the books weren't very compelling to her. It took YEARS before I convinced her to give Sanderson another shot, and when she did, she ended up becoming as big if not a bigger Sanderson fan then I am, but it took a lot of effort to get her to give him another chance because of the bad taste Mistborn left in her mouth. I personally like Eltantris more then Mistborn, but it suffers from the same issues as Mistborn, its one of his earliest works and you can "feel" that in the writing.

In my experience, the best place to start is always Emperor's Soul. It's long enough that you get a taste of what Sanderson is like at his best, short enough that its not a big commitment if they don't like it, and it leaves the sort of positive impression that can push a person to keep reading through whatever book they chose for their second one even if it starts slow or is one of his older, weaker written, stories so that they get to the good stuff. They already know what Sanderson is capable of, so they're willing to give him a longer leash, and even if they do bounce off a book, they may still try something else of his.

I started with Stormlight, its what got me into Sanderson, so I'm proof its potentially a good starting place, but the beginning of that story is rough to get through, even if the pay off at the end is worth it so in general its not what I'd recommend as a first book UNLESS they are willing to commit to push through to the end. If they're willing to read it from beginning to end, I think its his second best starting place, but not everyones willing to make that commitment for such a long book.

Warbreaker gets an honorable mention just because its free. I don't think its his best work, but even if price wasn't involved do think its a stronger starting point then mistborn or elantris just because of how he grew as an author by the time he wrote it.

Tress also gets an honorable mention. I feel like its very different then the rest of his works, so its not the greatest example of who and what he is as an author, but it is a good book, and a relatively light read, that can be a fine introduction for some one who just wants to see "can this author write something I like to read". Its also the starting point I'd recommend to anyone who loves The Princess Bride, book or movie.

Needless to say, reading orders change tremendously based on where they start, but I think this video is a good example of the order to go once you read mistborn, at whichever point it is read. I waited until the third book of era 2 to go back and read Secret History, but having read it in that order, I wish I'd just read Secret History right after era 1 like your suggesting. I personally feel like SH wouldn't have spoiled ANYTHING for me in Era 2, but WOULD have added so much more context to some scenes through out era 2. It also just fits better right after Era 1 from a narrative flow perspective. Maybe I'm just dumb, but by the end of Era 2 I STILL didn't understand the things SH explained, and I feel like something is only a spoiler if its revealing a thing your not supposed to know until the end of the book, but if I was supposed to figure out what SH revealed by the end of Era 2, the books failed to educate me. I think if I'd read SH first I still wouldn't have immediately known what was happening, but probably WOULD have figured it out by the end instead of leaving the book confused and unsatisified.

Only other thing I'll note is I strongly disagree with you NEEDING to read war breaker before stormlight. I do think reading WB first does make sense, adds context, but I think if you read SL first it could work in reverse as well, with your appreciate of WB enhanced by having read SL first.

[ChaosActual]

I'm not as far in as you, but personally, I would bump Elantris up to just after Mistborn.

It is the weakest of his books that I've read, but it's still good, and I think if you're reading the Cosmere with the intent of understanding what's going on, Elantris should be as early as possible.

I was a bit daunted by the suggestion by some that it wasn't a great book, but it only fits that definition in comparison to his other books, I'd say it's still above average for the genre.

A couple stand alones you didn't mention are Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.

As it stands from my current knowledge, you should at least read Mistborn era 1 and the first book of Stormlight before Tress, and at least the first book in Stormlight before Yumi.

But I'll fully admit that it's possible that waiting til later might have revealed more Easter eggs in those.

[TriviumROKR]

Dude! Follow you on TikTok and insta and love you started a reading channel! I’ve been wanting to jump into the Cosmere for a bit now and thought about starting with Mistborn. This just reaffirmed that I want to start with that!

Looking forward to your future videos, ESPECIALLY the ACOTAR books. I think you’ll love the SJM universe.

[danielleoliver]

Elantris is still my favourite and I’m so excited for him to finally start working on it again along side mistborn era 3 once the first arc of stormlight is finished so maybe books in 2025

[LuisAlberolaTasso]

Have I missed something?
Mistborn 1
Mistborn 2
Mistborn 3
Arcanum Unbounded - 11th metal
Arcanum Unbounded Mistborn Secret History
Warbreaker (there will be a sequel but right now it is a stand alone novel)
Elantris
Arcanum Unbounded - The Hope of Elantris
Arcanum Unbounded - The Emperor Soul
White Sand
Arcanum Unbounded - Shadow’s for silence
Arcanum Unbounded - Sixth of the Dusk
Stormlight archive 1
Stormlight archive 2
Arcanum Unbounded - Edgedancer
Stormlight archive 3
Dawnshard
Stormlight archive 4
Stormlight archive 5
Mistborn 4
Arcanum Unbounded - Allomancer Jak
Mistborn 5
Mistborn 6
Mistborn 7

[ryancable]

Good list. This is pretty much the way I started. MB Era1, Warbreaker, Elantris, Hope of Elantris, Emperor's Soul. Now I'm leaning towards starting WoK next. Been a bit intimidated by the scale of SLA, but I think it's finally time. I will probably jump back and forth with SLA/MB Era2 to break up the beast that is SLA.

[ramspencer]

I read a secret history after mistborn era 1....b I thought that was a better reading order because I wanted more closure. I don't feel like the spoiler meant anything to me regarding era 2. I thought Warbreaker was just solid... Some of the the character work didn't do much for me... Never read Elantris...(probably time to read it) Pretty sure i met a character from there there in mistborn era 2

[akgn]

Is this spoiler free or should I hide?