My Complicated Reading list

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

I have an even more complicated IRL reading list, but this is not IRL. This is digital stuff. Sometimes I'm looking through the cosmere forums (Ive read all the published works) and someones like "TEKINETICS" (or whatever they call that stuff) or "OTHER UNPUBLISHED WORKS REFRENCE" and Im like... "I wanna read that stuff" but I don't know where to start.

I have read all published cosmere works (including White Sand) and am currently trying to find time for both Aether of Night and Dragonsteel Prime. Is there any recommended reading order for this?

[Treamayne]

On 5/8/2025 at 10:23 PM, CoderDrag0n8 said:

I have an even more complicated IRL reading list, but this is not IRL. This is digital stuff. Sometimes I'm looking through the cosmere forums (Ive read all the published works) and someones like "TEKINETICS" (or whatever they call that stuff) or "OTHER UNPUBLISHED WORKS REFRENCE" and Im like... "I wanna read that stuff" but I don't know where to start.

I have read all published cosmere works (including White Sand) and am currently trying to find time for both Aether of Night and Dragonsteel Prime. Is there any recommended reading order for this?

Please see The Unpublished Content List for details on what, where and how.

As for Aether of Night, Way of Kings Prime and Dragonsteel Prime - There's no real recommended reading order other than, possibly what to not read them before.

• AoN: Elements of the story were reused (and changed) in Mistborn Era 1, so I would recommend it not be read before Mistborn
  • Aethers here are very different than Tress or TLM - so maybe not before Tress either.
• WoK Prime obviously has a lot of elements from Stormlight Archive and I would not recommend somebody read this before Oathbringer(ish)
  • Cognitive Dissonance is a thing and anybody reading this should be warned that many characters are very different - if you are the kind of person that would get these details muddled, it's probably better to skip this
• Dragonsteel Prime was not available until recently, because it was close enough to canon and could have spoilers for a few things, so probably not recommended before Rhythm of War
  • An element of DS!Prime was used in WaT - so it may be beneficial to have read this before WaT to get more "Oomph" from that reference - but absolutely not required at all.
  • Many elements of DS!Prime were recycled and changed for Stormlight Archive, so expect to see areas and names you recognize (but done very differently)

Hope that helps

Edited May 10, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

16 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Please see The Unpublished Content List for details on what, where and how.

As for Aether of Night, Way of Kings Prime and Dragonsteel Prime - There's no real recommended reading order other than, possibly what to not read them before.

• AoN: Elements of the story were reused (and changed) in Mistborn Era 1, so I would recommend it not be read before Mistborn
  • Aethers here are very different than Tress or TLM - so maybe not before Tress either.
• WoK Prime obviously has a lot of elements from Stormlight Archive and I would not recommend somebody read this before Oathbringer(ish)
  • Cognitive Dissonance is a thing and anybody reading this should be warned that many characters are very different - if you are the kind of person that would get these details muddled, it;s probably better to skip this
• Dragonsteel Prime was not available until recently, because it was close enough to canon and could have spoilers for a few things, so probably not recommended before Rhythm of War
  • An element of DS!Prime was used in WaT - so it may be beneficial to have read this before WaT to get more "Oomph" from that reference - but absolutely not required at all.
  • Many elements of DS!Prime were recycled and changed for Stormlight Archive, so expect to see areas and names you recognize (but done very differently)

Hope that helps

Thanks! That's really helpful! But... what's cognitive dissonance?

[Treamayne]

2 minutes ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

Thanks! That's really helpful! But... what's cognitive dissonance?

From TOW:

Spoiler

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as a mental phenomenon in which people unknowingly hold fundamentally conflicting cognitions. Being confronted by situations that challenge this dissonance may ultimately result in some change in their cognitions or actions to cause greater alignment between them so as to reduce this dissonance.

Relevant items of cognition include peoples' actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance exists without signs but surfaces through psychological stress when persons participate in an action that goes against one or more of conflicting things. According to this theory, when an action or idea is psychologically inconsistent with the other, people automatically try to resolve the conflict, usually by reframing a side to make the combination congruent. Discomfort is triggered by beliefs clashing with new information or by having to conceptually resolve a matter that involves conflicting sides, whereby the individual tries to find a way to reconcile contradictions to reduce their discomfort.

Spoiler-free example - Some fundamental traits of Proto-Kaladin (Merin in WoK!P) and Jasnah are opposite the characters you already know - it can cause. . . distress in some readers (expecting one thing and getting something very different).

I can point out a spoilered example in the WoK!P forums, if you want spoiler-without-context examples of some of the things that really bothered some readers.

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

15 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

From TOW:

  Hide contents

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as a mental phenomenon in which people unknowingly hold fundamentally conflicting cognitions. Being confronted by situations that challenge this dissonance may ultimately result in some change in their cognitions or actions to cause greater alignment between them so as to reduce this dissonance.

Relevant items of cognition include peoples' actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance exists without signs but surfaces through psychological stress when persons participate in an action that goes against one or more of conflicting things. According to this theory, when an action or idea is psychologically inconsistent with the other, people automatically try to resolve the conflict, usually by reframing a side to make the combination congruent. Discomfort is triggered by beliefs clashing with new information or by having to conceptually resolve a matter that involves conflicting sides, whereby the individual tries to find a way to reconcile contradictions to reduce their discomfort.

Spoiler-free example - Some fundamental traits of Proto-Kaladin (Merin in WoK!P) and Jasnah are opposite the characters you already know - it can cause. . . distress in some readers (expecting one thing and getting something very different).

I can point out a spoilered example in the WoK!P forums, if you want spoiler-without-context examples of some of the things that really bothered some readers.

No, its fine. Thanks for the help!