Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere series is one of the most expansive the author has produced, encompassing a collection of books that can be enjoyed in pretty much any way you want.
Some authors prefer to create a universe like The Cosmere that spans dozens of books, and must be read in a specific order. Brandon Sanderson moves away from this somewhat, because his series can be read in multiple orders, and the best one, according to fans, isn’t the order in which they were released. This vibrant collection of fantasy books is perfect for anyone hoping to pick up a meaty franchise they can lose themselves in, and I’ve got the definitive reading orders all worked out for you.
The definitive Cosmere reading order
Below is the definitive Cosmere reading order. It includes multiple sets within the series, including The Mistborn Trilogy and The Stormlight Archive. I thought it would get a little complicated laying all that out for newcomers, so this is the order you should read the books in, by book name only.
- Mistborn (The Final Empire)
- The Well Of Ascension
- The Hero Of Ages
- Warbreaker
- The Way Of Kings
- Words Of Radiance
- Elantris
- Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
- Oathbringer
- Dawnshard
- Rhythm Of War
- The Alloy Of Law
- Shadows Of Self
- The Bands Of Mourning
- The Lost Metal
- White Sand
- Tress Of The Emerald Sea
- Yumi And The Nightmare Painter
- The Sunlit Man
I completely understand that this is a lot of books, and the list looks pretty daunting. However, each book and mini-series within this reading order works individually, so you don’t necessarily have to read them in this order, if you can’t buy them all at once or have one or two from the list available right now.
The chronological Cosmere reading order
Fans on the Brandon Sanderson subreddit have constructed a slightly different reading order for the Cosmere series. It’s an order that follows the universe in chronological order. This is best for those re-reading the series, because you’ll know the story already and can better see how this order makes the books fit together with smaller gaps in time, so you can keep up the momentum.
- White Sand Vol. 1
- White Sand Vol. 2
- White Sand Vol. 3
- Elantris
- The Hope of Elantris – (Short story found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- The Emperor’s Soul – (Novella found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- The Eleventh Metal – (Short story found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- The Final Empire
- The Well of Ascension
- The Hero of Ages
- Mistborn: Secret History – (Novella found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- Warbreaker
- Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell – (Novella found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- The Way of Kings
- Words of Radiance
- Edgedancer – (Novella found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- Oathbringer
- Dawnshard – Novella
- Rhythm of War
- The Alloy of Law
- Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania – (Short story found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- Shadows of Self
- The Bands of Mourning
- The Lost Metal
- Sixth of the Dusk – (Novella found in Arcanum Unbounded)
- Tress of the Emerald Sea
For reference, Arcanum Unbounded is a collection of Cosmere short stories, but they fit within the wider series as they’ve been listed above.
What is The Cosmere?
The Cosmere is the fictional universe where author Brandon Sanderson has set many of his fantasy novels. It’s a shared universe, where characters from one book or series can world-hop and appear in the background of another. Readers will notice this as they read, especially if they read in the definitive order outlined above. A good way to tell if a book is not part of The Cosmere is if it features Earth, because our planet is very much not in it.
The heart of The Cosmere is its concept of magic, and the idea and theory behind magic are the same for all these interconnected worlds. An event called the Shattering of Adonalsium split the Adonalsium into 16 shards, each of which is a god. Magic in The Cosmere comes from the powers of these gods. Each book dives deeper into the concept of magic in The Cosmere, so I recommend you read through them to get a better idea of what this shared universe is about.
