The Cosmere Reading Order

A shared universe of epic fantasy series, created by Brandon Sanderson. One of the more ambitious literary projects of the modern age.

What’s in the Cosmere Reading Order?

This Cosmere reading order focuses on a series of books by Brandon Sanderson that act as a shared universe of sorts, like the Marvel or Star Wars universes.

The Cosmere consists of multiple series of books that take place on various planets, and each has a “god” that represents various aspects of creation. While all of these series link to each other, most tend to stand alone. These series include:

  • Elantris Series: The world of Sel.
  • Warbreaker Series: The world of Nalthis.
  • Mistborn Series: The world Scadrial.
  • The Stormlight Archive: The world of Roshar.
  • White Sand: The world of Taldain.
  • Other short stories and novellas set in the Cosmere universe.

Additionally, Brandon Sanderson still has a lot to write. For example, the Stormlight Archive series only has two of the ten books completed. And the Cosmere may end up being 30-40+ books total, so there’s still a lot of ground to cover.

This Cosmere reading order gives you all of the books currently out or announced in the best order we know, based on what little information we have. We hope you enjoy this chronological compendium as you read these excellent books.

Where do I start reading Brandon Sanderson’s books?

Each of Sanderson’s series can be read on their own, even though they connect to the larger Cosmere.

However, most would probably start with Elantris, since that is a single book, or the first Mistborn trilogy. We would recommend starting with the Mistborn trilogy, since those are some of Sanderson’s best work, and it’s not an intimidatingly long series.

If you want something very short to start with, we recommend The Emperor’s Soul.

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