Lesser spren Posted January 24 Posted January 24 There is a lot of discussion on the reading order that creates the most satisfaction and excitement, while minimizing spoilers and possible misunderstandings. But what reading order could do the opposite: Maximising confusion and spoilers while mimizing character arcs and story impact?
Treamayne Posted January 24 Posted January 24 (edited) 44 minutes ago, Lesser spren said: There is a lot of discussion on the reading order that creates the most satisfaction and excitement, while minimizing spoilers and possible misunderstandings. But what reading order could do the opposite: Maximising confusion and spoilers while mimizing character arcs and story impact? Based solely on observed qustions on the Shard, the most confusion seems to come from those that start with Stormlight Archive only (books 1-5, skipping Edgedancer and Dawnshard). Edited January 24 by Treamayne SPAG
Dunkum he/him Posted January 24 Posted January 24 1 hour ago, Treamayne said: Based solely on observed qustions on the Shard, the most confusion seems to come from those that start with Stormlight Archive only (books 1-5, skipping Edgedancer and Dawnshard). gotta get more creative than that. my gut says to do something like Stormlight 4, Mistborn 7, Tress, Edgedancer, Mistborn 2, Elantris, Stormlight 2, Sunlit Man, Dawnshard, Yumi, White Sand, Stormlight 5, Mistborn 6, Secret History, Warbreaker, First of the Sun, Edgedancer, Mistborn 4, Shadows for Silence, Stormlight 1, Mistborn 3, Emperor's soul, Mistborn 5, Stormlight 3, Mistborn 1 I havent read Isles of the Emberdark yet, so not sure where to slot that in for maximum chaos. my gut says near the beginning. and you could also break up White Sand into the 3 separate volumes too, and scatter it around a bit more in random order. I think i covered just about everything in that list.
Treamayne Posted January 24 Posted January 24 1 hour ago, Dunkum said: gotta get more creative than that. my gut says to do something like I'm sorry. I took it to mean an actual reading order that somebody might accidentally encounter. Why would you ever hurt a potential fan by recommending splitting series to read parts out of order?
Lesser spren Posted January 24 Author Posted January 24 22 minutes ago, Treamayne said: I'm sorry. I took it to mean an actual reading order that somebody might accidentally encounter. Why would you ever hurt a potential fan by recommending splitting series to read parts out of order? I meant it to be just a silly hypothetical, nothing serious. That said, for the worst reading orde,r you have to start with Stormlight 5. It's the end of the series, contains huge spoilers both for Stormlight and for the cosmere as a whole and has complex lore that would utterly baffle the reader without proper context. 1
Treamayne Posted January 24 Posted January 24 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Lesser spren said: I meant it to be just a silly hypothetical, nothing serious. Then why is it in Q&A (which is meant to help new readers find answers to common questions)? Hypothetical and joke threads are probably better in a Discussion forum. Edited January 24 by Treamayne SPAG
Lesser spren Posted January 24 Author Posted January 24 (edited) my mistake, sorry. is there any way for me to more this to the discussion forum? Edited January 24 by Lesser spren 1
Immortal Platypus Posted January 25 Posted January 25 (edited) 2 hours ago, Lesser spren said: my mistake, sorry. is there any way for me to more this to the discussion forum? yes. I believe it the method is to report your own post (you can do so by clicking the three dots in the top right of the post) and in the "reason for report" box, ask the mods to move it to the relevant forum (in this case, the cosmere discussion forum). You could also edit your original post to add in tags like "joke" Edited January 25 by Immortal Platypus 2
Hmmm lies she/her Posted January 25 Posted January 25 (edited) First, read The Eleventh Metal. Then read it again. Then read it again. Then read it again. Then read it again. Then read it again. Then read it again. Then read it again. Continue ad infinitum. Edit: But maybe it must have every book to count as complete. In this case, take every single page, put them in a list, then randomize them. Edited January 25 by Hmmm lies 1
CoderDrag0n8 He/Him Posted January 25 Posted January 25 10 hours ago, Lesser spren said: There is a lot of discussion on the reading order that creates the most satisfaction and excitement, while minimizing spoilers and possible misunderstandings. But what reading order could do the opposite: Maximising confusion and spoilers while mimizing character arcs and story impact? TSM, WaT, SH, tLM, IotE, SA 1-4, Eleventh Metal, MB Book 3, MB 1-2, Era 2 1-3. 1
Ink and Embers Any pronouns Posted January 25 Posted January 25 I read the first 3 Mistborn books, then the Sunlit Man, then the next 4 Mistborn books including TLM. Needless to say, I barely understood what was happening and have had to reread most of them... 1
KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him Posted January 25 Posted January 25 You've got to start with IotE, then SH, then Story Deck (I haven't read 'em, though, so I don't know for sure), TSM, then WaT, then TLM, then the other SPs, HoA, All Stormlight epigraphs combined, Eleventh Metal, Edgancer, SoS, Dawnshard, WoA, OB, WoR, RoW, Allomancer Jak, TWoK, BoM, Warbreaker, TFE, AoL, Shadows for Silence, Elantris, White Sand I think that's all 1
Oranjejuicemonki He/Him Posted January 26 Posted January 26 On 1/24/2026 at 11:27 AM, Lesser spren said: There is a lot of discussion on the reading order that creates the most satisfaction and excitement, while minimizing spoilers and possible misunderstandings. But what reading order could do the opposite: Maximizing confusion and spoilers while minimizing character arcs and story impact? The worst Cosmere order is to read era 2 of Mistborn with first TLM, then BoM, AoL, and then finally SoS. 4,3,1,2. My friend (used to be friend I guess I should say, I disowned him) actually did this and I HATE him now. It's disgusting. (Nah, he just made a terrible mistake, and hey at least he read the read normally.)
CoderDrag0n8 He/Him Posted January 27 Posted January 27 2 hours ago, Oranjejuicemonki said: My friend (used to be friend I guess I should say, I disowned him) 2 hours ago, Oranjejuicemonki said: Nah, he just made a terrible mistake, and hey at least he read the read normally.) If this wasn't why you disowned him, WHY??? I smell DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMA
Oranjejuicemonki He/Him Posted January 27 Posted January 27 1 minute ago, CoderDrag0n8 said: If this wasn't why you disowned him, WHY??? I smell DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMA That was why I disowned him! I'm terrible at counting but even I know you don't go 4312!
CoderDrag0n8 He/Him Posted January 27 Posted January 27 6 minutes ago, Oranjejuicemonki said: That was why I disowned him! I'm terrible at counting but even I know you don't go 4312! Well, counting goes like this: 1, 5, 9, 2, Tiger, blue, 3, 19190, qwerty, 5 It never even gets to 4 before it repeats!
Oranjejuicemonki He/Him Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Huh. I really thought four was in there right after jello frog? Four is a number... right?
CoderDrag0n8 He/Him Posted January 27 Posted January 27 3 minutes ago, Oranjejuicemonki said: Huh. I really thought four was in there right after jello frog? Ohhhhhhh yeah I forgot about the jello frog sequence after the 19.65th recursion. 1
coco.pudding she/they Posted January 28 Posted January 28 I have thought long and hard but I now present my terrible reading order, optimized for maximum spoilerage, confusion, lack of context, and annoyance. (Now with explanations!) I’ll put in a spoiler box bc this is a long one Hopefully I didn’t miss anything, but if I did lmk so I can add it Spoiler Sunlit Man - because you need to read this before wind and truth for best spoilering. Also this book would be so confusing with no context whatsoever for the cosmere. Wind and Truth - has so many spoilers for the general cosmere as well as the entire rest of Stormlight and also a massive cliffhanger. Would also be very confusing with no context. Most of Arcanum Unbounded - do not include Emperor’s Soul, the Dusk story (I forgot the title, oops), or Shadows for Silence. Secret History must come before the rest of Mistborn for maximum spoilers Bands of Mourning - the Kelsier reveal now has no impact, yay! Plus random entry point into the series Alloy of Law - to spoil the ending of Hero of Ages Hero of Ages - immediately after so we can’t forget in the intervening time Tress - randomly inserted here for no reason Oathbringer - we need all of Dalinar’s backstory before the rest of Stormlight Emberdark - idk man I just need to put it somewhere The Dusk short story from AU - now fully redundant! But also slightly confusing bc some slight changes were made! Yumi - we need the Design lore Words of Radiance - randomly plopped in here for uh reasons okay Well of Ascension - yes, we’re doing era 1 in reverse order White Sand Vol. 2 - so I haven’t actually finished all of it but I’d assume it’s confusing starting here Dawnshard - because why not Dragonsteel prime - I’m including this purely because I think it’d be funny to read that first and then WoK The Way of Kings - hey speaking of, let’s read that now and be thoroughly confused by all the similarities! White Sand Vol. 1 Emperor’s Soul - congrats, a temporary break from the insanity Shadows of Self - nope, we’re back to reading Mistborn in a weird order Elantris - a nice long while after getting some large portions of it spoiled by reading Hope of Elantris Final Empire - yay, we’re finally done with era 1! We’ve known this whole time that Kelsier was gonna die! Lost Metal - let’s just finish Mistborn while we’re at it, shall we? Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell - we learned about Threnody right at the beginning, now let’s learn some more! White Sand Vol. 3 Warbreaker - the Nightblood lore is essential now that we’ve already been introduced. Plus, now we can be confused about how he got there! Rhythm of War - because now we have context for everything that happened in Wind and Truth! 5
Frustration Posted January 28 Posted January 28 9 hours ago, coco.pudding said: I have thought long and hard but I now present my terrible reading order, optimized for maximum spoilerage, confusion, lack of context, and annoyance. (Now with explanations!) I’ll put in a spoiler box bc this is a long one Hopefully I didn’t miss anything, but if I did lmk so I can add it Reveal hidden contents Sunlit Man - because you need to read this before wind and truth for best spoilering. Also this book would be so confusing with no context whatsoever for the cosmere. Wind and Truth - has so many spoilers for the general cosmere as well as the entire rest of Stormlight and also a massive cliffhanger. Would also be very confusing with no context. Most of Arcanum Unbounded - do not include Emperor’s Soul, the Dusk story (I forgot the title, oops), or Shadows for Silence. Secret History must come before the rest of Mistborn for maximum spoilers Bands of Mourning - the Kelsier reveal now has no impact, yay! Plus random entry point into the series Alloy of Law - to spoil the ending of Hero of Ages Hero of Ages - immediately after so we can’t forget in the intervening time Tress - randomly inserted here for no reason Oathbringer - we need all of Dalinar’s backstory before the rest of Stormlight Emberdark - idk man I just need to put it somewhere The Dusk short story from AU - now fully redundant! But also slightly confusing bc some slight changes were made! Yumi - we need the Design lore Words of Radiance - randomly plopped in here for uh reasons okay Well of Ascension - yes, we’re doing era 1 in reverse order White Sand Vol. 2 - so I haven’t actually finished all of it but I’d assume it’s confusing starting here Dawnshard - because why not Dragonsteel prime - I’m including this purely because I think it’d be funny to read that first and then WoK The Way of Kings - hey speaking of, let’s read that now and be thoroughly confused by all the similarities! White Sand Vol. 1 Emperor’s Soul - congrats, a temporary break from the insanity Shadows of Self - nope, we’re back to reading Mistborn in a weird order Elantris - a nice long while after getting some large portions of it spoiled by reading Hope of Elantris Final Empire - yay, we’re finally done with era 1! We’ve known this whole time that Kelsier was gonna die! Lost Metal - let’s just finish Mistborn while we’re at it, shall we? Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell - we learned about Threnody right at the beginning, now let’s learn some more! White Sand Vol. 3 Warbreaker - the Nightblood lore is essential now that we’ve already been introduced. Plus, now we can be confused about how he got there! Rhythm of War - because now we have context for everything that happened in Wind and Truth! Wow Spoiler
Qianweilian He/him Posted January 28 Posted January 28 My order Spoiler IoTE - Can’t go fully in depth here, it would be stupidly confusing Yumi - Complete shift of setting, sets up Design for Hoid. (reader prob thinks Hoid is main character after this) TSM - Complete shift of setting. Reader has no idea what anything is. SfSitFoH - Luckily we learned about Threnody and the Night Brigade from the previous book WaT except Gavilar’s party- The readers reaction will be “Wat.” Also, the reader probably thought this was a sci fi series before this. Subverts the expectations of timeline, makes Yumi seem earlier than WaT due to loss of Stormlight. Elsecaller - What! Someone tried to assassinate Jasnah!? M:SH - Who is this Kelsier dude? Sets up spoilers for pretty much all of Mistborn TLM - Kelsier appears, so Secret History must be a prequel to TLM! TFE - Kelsier gots his powers back! That’s character development, so this must be after TLM! All Stormlight prologues (gavilar from 5 viewpoints) - Reader gets confused why Dalinar came back to life and is now a drunkard. Also why Szeth is on a murderous rampage. Warbreaker - The party/court stuff makes the reader wonder if this is part of Stormlight after Gavilar’s party. King Lopen the First of Alethkar - Enjoy utter confusion and having no idea what is going on. AoL - Wax resurrected! Refreshes what happens after HoA HoA - Maximum Chaos. Reader recognizes TFE as after TLM, so what’s the ash doing here? Reader has only TFE knowledge of Vin and Elend. TotES - What is this doing here? What’s an “aether”? WS 2 - Is that more Aether stuff? It seems similar… Also first comic book Dawnshard - Reintroduction to Roshar. Stormlight’s back, nothing makes sense anymore. O - Dalinar’s a monster. Also, reader probably won’t remember WaT very well, so essentially rewrites the character WoR - Going back in time. Dalinar tries to do his “honor stuff” despite memories of Oathbringer Rithmatist - (I know it’s not Cosmere, but it would be so fun) Similar to light weaving/Shallan, makes them think Rithmatist is Cosmere WoK Prime - What? WoK - What? Dragonsteel Prime - What? Crossroads of Twilight - (Not Cosmere, but…if it has to be written by Brandon, sub with A Memory of Light) WoA - Is the reader still alive? Vin and Elend alive again? Weird love triangle Arcanum Unbounded (Everything unread) - Random, a break from madness SoS - We have seen Wax for over 10 books. No context for Lessie/Bleeder other than what is remembered from Alloy of Law over 10 books ago. Elantris - Had to put it somewhere. Spoiled by HoE in Arcanum Unbounded Edgedancer - We finally learn about Lift. Steelheart - (also not Cosmere, but same reason as Rithmatist) Confusion with remembered fragments from Rithmatist. No context for this. WS 1 - Hey, I remember that Sand Mastery…stuff! RoW - We have so much context due to almost everything else in the Cosmere. TBoM - If they remember anything about the Bands, we get the backstory here. Full story for Wax! The Chasmfriends Get a Pet! - Yes, I spelled that right If the reader makes it through all of that, they deserve to be on this forum! 1
CoderDrag0n8 He/Him Posted January 29 Posted January 29 8 hours ago, Qianweilian said: My order Hide contents IoTE - Can’t go fully in depth here, it would be stupidly confusing Yumi - Complete shift of setting, sets up Design for Hoid. (reader prob thinks Hoid is main character after this) TSM - Complete shift of setting. Reader has no idea what anything is. SfSitFoH - Luckily we learned about Threnody and the Night Brigade from the previous book WaT except Gavilar’s party- The readers reaction will be “Wat.” Also, the reader probably thought this was a sci fi series before this. Subverts the expectations of timeline, makes Yumi seem earlier than WaT due to loss of Stormlight. Elsecaller - What! Someone tried to assassinate Jasnah!? M:SH - Who is this Kelsier dude? Sets up spoilers for pretty much all of Mistborn TLM - Kelsier appears, so Secret History must be a prequel to TLM! TFE - Kelsier gots his powers back! That’s character development, so this must be after TLM! All Stormlight prologues (gavilar from 5 viewpoints) - Reader gets confused why Dalinar came back to life and is now a drunkard. Also why Szeth is on a murderous rampage. Warbreaker - The party/court stuff makes the reader wonder if this is part of Stormlight after Gavilar’s party. King Lopen the First of Alethkar - Enjoy utter confusion and having no idea what is going on. AoL - Wax resurrected! Refreshes what happens after HoA HoA - Maximum Chaos. Reader recognizes TFE as after TLM, so what’s the ash doing here? Reader has only TFE knowledge of Vin and Elend. TotES - What is this doing here? What’s an “aether”? WS 2 - Is that more Aether stuff? It seems similar… Also first comic book Dawnshard - Reintroduction to Roshar. Stormlight’s back, nothing makes sense anymore. O - Dalinar’s a monster. Also, reader probably won’t remember WaT very well, so essentially rewrites the character WoR - Going back in time. Dalinar tries to do his “honor stuff” despite memories of Oathbringer Rithmatist - (I know it’s not Cosmere, but it would be so fun) Similar to light weaving/Shallan, makes them think Rithmatist is Cosmere WoK Prime - What? WoK - What? Dragonsteel Prime - What? Crossroads of Twilight - (Not Cosmere, but…if it has to be written by Brandon, sub with A Memory of Light) WoA - Is the reader still alive? Vin and Elend alive again? Weird love triangle Arcanum Unbounded (Everything unread) - Random, a break from madness SoS - We have seen Wax for over 10 books. No context for Lessie/Bleeder other than what is remembered from Alloy of Law over 10 books ago. Elantris - Had to put it somewhere. Spoiled by HoE in Arcanum Unbounded Edgedancer - We finally learn about Lift. Steelheart - (also not Cosmere, but same reason as Rithmatist) Confusion with remembered fragments from Rithmatist. No context for this. WS 1 - Hey, I remember that Sand Mastery…stuff! RoW - We have so much context due to almost everything else in the Cosmere. TBoM - If they remember anything about the Bands, we get the backstory here. Full story for Wax! The Chasmfriends Get a Pet! - Yes, I spelled that right If the reader makes it through all of that, they deserve to be on this forum! then WS 3 - why is this at the end?
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