If you don’t already know, I am a huge Sanderson fan. Strangely, though, I haven’t managed to finish all of the Cosmere books that are out. I’ve put a good dent in the list, for sure, but not all of them. I’m starting to run into a problem, though: the books that are coming out now assume you’ve read all or many of the books that have come before.
Take The Sunlit Man, for example: I absolutely loved this book, but I felt like reading Dawnshard or the Mistborn books might have oriented me in the story a little better. Likewise, I haven’t read Edgedancer, which ties into Oathbringer from the Stormlight Archive. I didn’t need to have read it, but I felt like there was a lot missing from a certain character’s story who I know was featured in Edgedancer. A comment by a character in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter makes a lot more sense if you’ve read at least one book from each of the different planets.
Now, with the upcoming release of the Cosmere fourth Secret Novel and Wind and Truth, I figured I should probably catch up so I don’t get confused by those new books. To that end, I am posting a Cosmere reading order to help me and anyone else who’s interested in catching up.
Where to Begin?
You can really start reading at the beginning of any of these series, with Elantris, Mistborn: The Final Empire, Warbreaker, or The Way of Kings. As you go, though, people from one part of the Cosmere start popping up on other planets. You can think of them as Easter eggs for now, but I have a feeling that the more books Sanderson writes, the more interconnected some of these stories are going to become. It’s hard to say where exactly these Easter eggs begin, but I noticed them fairly early on in the Stormlight Archive, in Words of Radiance. The Sunlit Man is definitely tied to the Stromlight Archive and I wouldn’t recommend reading that one until you have finished Rhythm of War.
My Recommended Cosmere Reading Order
This is not the order that I have read the Cosmere books in, but rather the order in which I wish I’d read the available Cosmere books. (This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!)
Elantris Trilogy, Planet Sel
- Elantris
- The Hope of Elantris
- The Emperor’s Soul novella
Mistborn Era 1 : Planet Scadrial
Mistborn Era 2: Planet Scadrial
Mistborn Eras 3 & 4: Planet Scadrial
- Unreleased
Warbreaker: Planet Nalthis
The Stormlight Archive: Planet Roshar
- The Way of Kings
- Words of Radiance
- Edgedancer Novella
- Oathbringer
- Dawnshard Novella
- Rhythm of War
- Wind and Truth
Tress of the Emerald Sea: Planet Lumar
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: Planet Komashi
Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell short story: Planet Threnody
The Sunlit Man: Planet Canticle
Brandon Sanderson recommends reading this in between Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth.
Fourth Secret Novel: Unpublished
If you’d like the check out the video that Brandon Sanderson released on the subject, you can check it out below. I based some of my Cosmere reading order on his thoughts.
Here is a cool graphic that shows the chronological order of the Cosmere. I don’t think you need to read it in chronological order, but it is interesting to see.
