Cosmere Reading Order.

[tfwnoJasnahgf]

Okay I'm sure this is a common question on this forum so I apologize in advance. I've been searching for a definitive reading order of the cosmere online and have failed to find any sort of significant string of consistency among the lists and i've come away more confused than when I began. I have read the Mistborn Era 1 and Warbreaker. I read Elantris many years ago so I would be game for a re-read of it. What i'm looking for primarily is a list that is curated to reveal any easter eggs, sub plots, cross planet references etc in an order that is most satisfying for those a-ha moments. I dont know if this is too much to ask for but any help would be greatly appreciated. I really love this universe.

[Treamayne]

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1 hour ago, tfwnoJasnahgf said:

Okay I'm sure this is a common question on this forum so I apologize in advance. I've been searching for a definitive reading order of the cosmere online and have failed to find any sort of significant string of consistency among the lists and i've come away more confused than when I began. I have read the Mistborn Era 1 and Warbreaker. I read Elantris many years ago so I would be game for a re-read of it. What i'm looking for primarily is a list that is curated to reveal any easter eggs, sub plots, cross planet references etc in an order that is most satisfying for those a-ha moments. I dont know if this is too much to ask for but any help would be greatly appreciated. I really love this universe.

My Primary Reference indicates what books hold spoilers for other books (and explains my theory of "no correct reading order - the best reading order is giving enough information for each person to make an informed decision on their preferences).
I have an ePub Cosmere Guide I share that also has this information as well as Sanderson's Laws of Magic essays.

Here are also a few more links to similar threads:

• Cosmere References post/index
• Cosmere connection search
• Other Reading order post
  • With links to more post, but discusses pros and cons of various preferences. 

Hope that helps @Obeythelaw7 as well

Edited April 10, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[IcedOutPenguin He/Him]

My recomendation is the following order.

Spoiler

Mistborn era 1 +11th metal

Mistborn era 2 with secret history between 3 and 4

Elantris + Hope of Elantris

Emperors Soul

Warbreaker

(Optional Tress) 

Stormlight 1-4 +Edgedancer & Dawnshard

Arcanum unbounded

Tress (If you didn't before)

Yumi

Sunlit man

Reread stormlight 1-5

Reread The Lost Metal

White sand can go anywhere, it doesn't matter

Its really not the most popular, but this is the order I recommend to everyone. I feel It develops all the worldbuilding for you to get all the stormlight eater eggs which are everywhere.

But that is just my opinion. I'm sure others have different opinions.

[PanicPug]

I think for the cross references, hints and reveals etc I would maybe even suggest the publishing order then. Because all that stuff becomes more (and gets put more into the foreground) with each additional book published.

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

okay best reading order (For Cosmere) (But not what I did):

Spoiler

Section 1:[

Chronological Order (when he published)

Chronological Order (when he published) another time

Then look through all books/short stories and find the Canon Chronological Order (When they happened through time in canon)]

Section 2:[

Canon Chronological Order

Canon Chronological Order (again)

Then Unpublished Works (In published Chronological Order)

Then Unpublished Works (In published Chronological Order) again]

Section 3:[

Then repeat section 2 until you have memorized every book.]

That way you learn all the lore and possible lore!

When a new book comes out:

Section 4:[

Read the new book

Read the new book again

Figure out where it is in Canon Chronological Order

Read the Canon Chronological Order (With new book)

Read the Canon Chronological Order (With new book) over and over again until you have memorized the new book.]

Congrats! You now have all the lore... Again!

 (trust it'll only take a few centuries)

[Treamayne]

5 hours ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

okay best reading order (For Cosmere) (But not what I did):

  Hide contents

Section 1:[

Chronological Order (when he published)

Chronological Order (when he published) another time

Then look through all books/short stories and find the Canon Chronological Order (When they happened through time in canon)]

Section 2:[

Canon Chronological Order

Canon Chronological Order (again)

Then Unpublished Works (In published Chronological Order)

Then Unpublished Works (In published Chronological Order) again]

Section 3:[

Then repeat section 2 until you have memorized every book.]

That way you learn all the lore and possible lore!

When a new book comes out:

Section 4:[

Read the new book

Read the new book again

Figure out where it is in Canon Chronological Order

Read the Canon Chronological Order (With new book)

Read the Canon Chronological Order (With new book) over and over again until you have memorized the new book.]

Congrats! You now have all the lore... Again!

(trust it'll only take a few centuries)

You missed at least one step

Mistborn Era 1 Example

Spoiler

• Read the Trilogy
  • Add Eleventh Metal (after TFE if first reading)
• Read the Annotations
• Read the Trilogy with the Annotations after each chapter
• Read Secret History (after BoM for first reading)
• Read the trilogy with Secret History integrated

Relevant important annotations from Brandon's website:

• Elantris
• TFE
• WoA
• HoA
• Warbreaker

Edited April 10, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

1 minute ago, Treamayne said:

You missed at least one step

Mistborn Era 1 Example

  Hide contents

• Read the Trilogy
  • Add Eleventh Metal (after TFE if first reading)
• Read the Annotations
• Read the Trilogy with the Annotations after each chapter
• Read Secret History (after BoM for first reading)
• Read the trilogy with Secret History integrated

Relevant important annotations from Brandon's website:

• Elantris
• TFE
• WoA
• HoA
• Warbreaker

Major Whoopsie

Update:

okay best reading order (For Cosmere) (But not what I did):

Spoiler

Section 1:[

Chronological Order (when he published)

Annotations for every book (In same chronological order)

Chronological Order (when he published) another time (this time Annotations after each chapter)

Then look through all books/short stories and find the Canon Chronological Order (When they happened through time in canon)]

Section 2:[

Canon Chronological Order

Canon Chronological Order of Annotations

Canon Chronological Order (again) (this time with annotations after each chapter)

Then Unpublished Works (In published Chronological Order)

Then Unpublished Works (In published Chronological Order) again]

Section 3:[

Then repeat section 2 until you have memorized every book.]

That way you learn all the lore and possible lore!

When a new book comes out:

Section 4:[

Read the new book

Read the new book's annotations

Read the new book again (This time with Annotations after each chapter)

Figure out where it is in Canon Chronological Order

Read the Canon Chronological Order (With new book)

Read the Canon Chronological Order (With new book) (with Annotations after each chapter) over and over again until you have memorized the new book.]

Congrats! You now have all the lore... Again!

 (trust it'll only take a few centuries)

[+robardin he/him]

On 4/10/2025 at 12:05 PM, IcedOutPenguin said:

My recomendation is the following order.

  Hide contents

Mistborn era 1 +11th metal

Mistborn era 2 with secret history between 3 and 4

Elantris + Hope of Elantris

Emperors Soul

Warbreaker

(Optional Tress) 

Stormlight 1-4 +Edgedancer & Dawnshard

Arcanum unbounded

Tress (If you didn't before)

Yumi

Sunlit man

Reread stormlight 1-5

Reread The Lost Metal

White sand can go anywhere, it doesn't matter

Its really not the most popular, but this is the order I recommend to everyone. I feel It develops all the worldbuilding for you to get all the stormlight eater eggs which are everywhere.

But that is just my opinion. I'm sure others have different opinions.

I personally would strongly recommend NOT going straight from Mistborn Era 1 into Era 2, I feel like doing that ruined it for me because the setting and tone was so different. "This isn't Mistborn!!!", and "so what happened after Spook and Co. came out of the caverns, you're just not going to say?!"

Read stuff in between, Cosmere or otherwise, so when you read Alloy of Law you are doing so with a background memory of the World of Ash, more like what the POV characters have got, versus expecting "Mistborn Part 2". It is, and it isn't.

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, robardin said:

I personally would strongly recommend NOT going straight from Mistborn Era 1 into Era 2, I feel like doing that ruined it for me because the setting and tone was so different. "This isn't Mistborn!!!", and "so what happened after Spook and Co. came out of the caverns, you're just not going to say?!"

Read stuff in between, Cosmere or otherwise, so when you read Alloy of Law you are doing so with a background memory of the World of Ash, more like what the POV characters have got, versus expecting "Mistborn Part 2". It is, and it isn't.

Concur completely. I almost quit the Cosmere due to Alloy of Law (right after HoA) because, back in 12ish when I read them I did not realize it was a shared universe, and both the setting and tone was so different (discussed more here). If I had not found the Free Warbreaker on Sanderson's website, I may have never read another Sanderson book at all after AoL. 

[+robardin he/him]

3 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Concur completely. I almost quit the Cosmere due to Alloy of Law (right after HoA) because, back in 12ish when I read them I did not realize it was a shared universe, and both the setting and tone was so different (discussed more here). If I had not found the Free Warbreaker on Sanderson's website, I may have never read another Sanderson book at all after AoL. 

Wow, that parallels my experience as well! I was given the Mistborn trilogy as a gift, put it on a shelf for a long while, then "discovered I already had it" after reading the first Sanderson Wheel of Time book (The Gathering Storm) in 2009 and really liking the pacing and style of his writing, and learning that he'd been tapped for it by Harriet Jordan after reading Mistborn.

I tore through the Era 1 trilogy about two weeks before Alloy of Law got released (2011). I spent those two weeks re-reading Mistborn, and then re-re-reading parts of it, in anticipation of "More Mistborn!"

As I now know, that was a mistake and a half!

I didn't read another Sanderson work (other than the WoT books) until I decided to try the freebie Warbreaker, and really enjoyed that one. I then read Elantris and The Emperor's Soul, and then a few non-Sanderson works, such as the Assassin/Liveship books by Robin Hobb (that dovetailed with each other as The Realm of the Elderlings), before finally going back and giving AoL another chance, around 2013-2014.

This time I appreciated it, and also now noticed/learned that all of those books tied together -- Mistborn Era 1, AoL, Elantris, TES, Warbreaker -- in themes and ways (like Hoid).

So when Words of Radiance got published in 2014, I decided to embark on Stormlight Archive despite swearing never to start another huge-arc doorstop fantasy series until it was definitely going to be finished (looking at you, GRRM and Patrick Rothfuss), and that was... Well. It!

I would definitely recommend reading Warbreaker before Stormlight, especially WoR, for that very reason... Nothing like finishing WoR for the first time on a NYC subway at rush hour, and having people back away from you when

Spoiler

you suddenly cackle gleefully and shout out, "That's NIGHTBLOOD!!!"

on a crowded train. LOLOL.

Edited April 16, 2025 by robardin