Prerequisites Lists for Cosmere Books

[WeakenedWorrier]

Should there be a "Suggested Prerequisites" or "References" list for each Cosmere book?

Two thoughts led me to this:

1) The latest books seem have more and more tie-ins to other Cosmere worlds and magics. More and more, one needs to have read some previous books in order to understand all the references. I'm guessing this trend will only increase as the entire Cosmere is woven into one large saga.

2) I was thinking of recommending the books to a friend of mine, but realized I wasn't sure what I should recommend that they read first. Elantris, Warbreaker, and the start of the first Mistborn trilogy seem like good starting points (unless there are references that I missed - which is quite likely).

I think it might be beneficial to new readers to have a list of "before you read that, you might want to read this". It can be just "suggested" because it's still possible to enjoy the main story without getting all the references.

"References" might be better name for it - i.e. "This book references these other books". That would be able to handle the cases where two books take place at the same time and reference each other, as in the latest Cytoverse books.

How a new reader accesses the list of references without being exposed to spoilers will be another challenge.

Edited May 2, 2023 by WeakenedWorrier
Added a thought about references

[Tea Leaf]

Elantris is a good start, or Mistborn. Obviously read the groupings one by one. I didn't know where to put White Sand since I know almost nothing about it.

Mistborn Era 1 -> Elantris -> Warbreaker -> SA -> Mistborn Secret History -> Tress of the Emerald Sea -> Mistborn Era 2

Oh, also welcome to the shard!

Edited May 2, 2023 by The Last Fæ