Ranking Brandon Sanderson's Books (Best To Worst)

WHERE TO FIND ME:

[merphynapier]

World Building Spoilers (related to the tier list)








I'm a dummy, there are sixteen shards, the 17th shard is the organization 😪🤦‍♀

[samuelthompson]

I know Words of Radiance is spectacular but there is really nothing like The Way of Kings for me. The Kaladin story arc is just phenomenal

[ghstrdio]

I am flabbergasted at the placement of warbreaker. I've actually never watched any reviews or read anything about it, I just loved it. It's top tier for me. It's actually one of the books I consider having people read first of Brandon Sanderson.

[Connor_Crain]

Hot take, Warbreaker is one of my favorite books! My wife and I wrote our wedding vows in each other’s favorite books and hers are written in my copy of Warbreaker.

[The_Blazelighter]

The Emperor's Soul is such a tightly knit story, with even the magic system directly playing into the themes of the book. Easily my favorite of the novellas.

[fandomunites]

Warbreaker is one of the few stories where I love all of the main characters. Lightsong is my favorite character, his sass reminds me of Tyrion (ASoIaF). Susebron is so adorable. Vasher is cool and epic. And the two sisters are so opposite yet I see myself so much in them.

[nathnaeltsegaw]

The Way of Kings will always be my best Sanderson book. It's hard to describe how awesome it felt to read it for the first time. I think, as time goes by, it will be considered a fantasy classic.

[crisisanagram]

While I personally prefer oathbringer, Way of Kings holds a special place in my heart. The chapter called Droplets holds a special place in my heart because it was so, so beautifully written, causing me to cry and cheer for Syl finally starting to crack Kal's more deppressive persona. It's the beggining of Kaladinn becoming Stormblessed once more, and the first small win in Kal's tumultous journey. And all it took was a small spren naively carrying a poison leaf in hopes of brightening a man's world when said man is at their lowest point.

[edwardlayer]

Not only is Warbreaker a fantastic book, but it has Lightsong, Sanderson’s greatest character.

[brotato]

Emperor’s Soul is definitely S-tier for me! I love the magic system and the execution of storytelling is phenomenal. And it’s refreshing to read a Sanderson story that’s less than 600 pages 🙂

[laurenbeaupre]

I’ve only just started reading my first Sanderson book, The Final Empire. I’m only about 120 pages in, but really enjoying it so far! I’m excited to start getting into the Cosmere

[alphaomegagiant]

Elantris is getting two sequels; Brandon has said who the protag will be and what the premise is of the first sequel. In the past he has said that by necessity both sequels need to be released before Mistborn Era 3, so if that's still true, they'll be out after Stormlight 5.

[amaurygeiss]

I haven’t read a lot of Sanderson (Warbreaker and Mistborn only) but Hero of Ages made me cry like a baby. The only book in my life that made me cry so it’s a definite S-Tier for me

[hockey]

The Emperor's Soul is great because it's a self contained story that takes place on the same world of Elantris (different continent IIRC) with its own magic system apart from the continent that Elantris takes place on which I thought was just "cool"

[tymayo]

Honestly, Elantris is one of my favorite books of his. You can see the younger inexperienced version of his wringing for sure. It just has such good story telling and surprising moments that I can't help but love it. High B for me. Loved the video 😀

[matthewszasz]

I listened to Sanderson speaking at this year's dragonsteel conference. He stated that the core of the Cosmere is based on a trilogy of Elantris, the 3 era's of mistborn (~10 books) and Stormlight Archive (10 books). Other books are adding to the Cosmere.

[CitrusVirus]

Just finished the lost metal last night. I didn't really get all of the cosmere references since I'm newer to it, but it was a super fun book for me!

[ethansmith]

(Spoiler) I would say Rhythm of War is my favorite Sanderson book overall, only second to Words of Radiance, and that is because Kaladin’s arc was finally completed. His acceptance of his inability to save everyone and the Words that he spoke after failing at the gate in Oathbringer was the highest I have ever felt in a book. And then the scene IMMEDIATELY after he was basically granted the ability to protect everyone with his Shardplate. Absolutely phenomenal writing in my opinion. And the Taravangian/Odium scene was probably one of the most shocking and effective plot twists I’ve ever seen. Odium was really starting to feel like an ineffective force because of how many times his plans failed in the story, and now he is absolutely terrifying again.

[keravnos]

Hahahaha the rankings names are just next level nerd I love it 🤣. "Words of Radiance" is hands down adonalsium for me!

[emperorznb]

Great list! I definitely have some differences - huge RoW fan personally (only book to make me cry), and am currently reading Lost Metal but haven't finished yet

S: Rhythym of War, Word of Radiance, Mistborn, Warbreaker, Hero of Ages
A: Way of Kings, Skyward, Bands of Mourning, Dawnshard, Oathbringer, Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self
B: Edgedancer, Starsight, Well of Ascension, The Emperor's Soul
C: Cytonic, Elantris, Steelheart

Arcanum Unbounded has a lot of good stuff as well - I'd probably rank Shadows for Silence in the forests of hell as an A tier and Sixth of the Dusk as a C tier