The Cosmere

Three real reading orders that all disagree, and the one everybody gets wrong is where Warbreaker goes.

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Where to start with The Cosmere

Three reading orders genuinely exist and they genuinely differ. Publication order starts you on Elantris, his weakest novel, and drops Secret History where it spoils Mistborn. In-world chronological order opens with unfinished graphic novels. What is below is the order most readers and Sanderson himself point at, and the one thing to get right is where Warbreaker goes.

  1. 1
    Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages Mistborn: The Final Empire

    The cleanest entry into everything. A self-contained trilogy that does not need a single other book.

  2. 2
    The Emperor's Soul, then Elantris The Emperor's Soul

    This way round rather than the other. The Emperor's Soul is short and excellent and it buys Elantris the benefit of the doubt.

  3. 3
    Warbreaker Warbreaker

    This is the one. A sword from this book turns up in Words of Radiance and drives a large part of Oathbringer. Read it first and you get a payoff, read it after and you got a random magic sword.

  4. 4
    The Stormlight Archive, with the two novellas in place The Way of Kings

    Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Edgedancer, Oathbringer, Dawnshard, Rhythm of War, Wind and Truth. Edgedancer and Dawnshard are marketed as side material and are not.

  5. 5
    Mistborn Era Two, with Secret History after The Bands of Mourning Mistborn: The Alloy of Law

    Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, Bands of Mourning, then Secret History, then The Lost Metal. Secret History lands hardest in that slot and ruins Era One anywhere earlier.

  6. 6
    Tress, Yumi and The Fires of December Tress of the Emerald Sea

    Hoid's Travails, narrated by Hoid, unnumbered, and readable in any order among themselves.

  7. 7
    The Sunlit Man, last The Sunlit Man

    It is the furthest forward in the timeline and is full of late reveals. Last is where it goes.

Then what? Arcanum Unbounded is a reference volume rather than a reading step, since its contents belong at different points. White Sand is optional and the prose version does not exist yet. Note that The Frugal Wizard's Handbook, released alongside Tress, Yumi and The Sunlit Man, is not Cosmere at all, which a lot of lists get wrong.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.

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Mistborn, Era One

  • Mistborn: The Final Empire 2006
  • The Well of Ascension 2007
  • The Hero of Ages 2008

Elantris and Sel

  • The Emperor's Soul 2012
  • Elantris 2005
  • The Hope of Elantris 2006

Warbreaker

  • Warbreaker 2009

The Stormlight Archive, Arc One

  • The Way of Kings 2010
  • Words of Radiance 2014
  • Edgedancer 2016
  • Oathbringer 2017
  • Dawnshard 2020
  • Rhythm of War 2020
  • Wind and Truth 2024

Mistborn, Era Two

  • Mistborn: The Alloy of Law 2011
  • Shadows of Self 2015
  • The Bands of Mourning 2016
  • Mistborn: Secret History 2016
  • The Lost Metal 2022

Hoid's Travails

  • Tress of the Emerald Sea 2023
  • Yumi and the Nightmare Painter 2023
  • The Fires of December 2026

The Other Planets

  • Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell 2013
  • Sixth of the Dusk 2014
  • Isles of the Emberdark 2025
  • The Sunlit Man 2023

Collections and Comics

  • Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection 2016
  • White Sand, volumes one to three 2016

Not Written Yet

  • Mistborn Era Three, book one not out yet
  • The Stormlight Archive, book six not out yet

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