A reading order (minimum spoilers)

[AlluminumMisting]

I saw several reading order suggestions, but none of them appealed to me. They were based mostly on the order of publication and personal preference, with little regard to how the stories work together. So I made one of my own.

 

I attach the order in form of an image. I would love to transcribe it but it is not very linear, so it would be difficult. I apologize for poor quality of some pictures, I am hopelessly unable to draw so I did my best with tracing and collaging pictures from the internet.

 

Now explanation (will avoid referencing specific plot events, as a reading order is mainly for those who have not read the books yet):

The stories are designed, on purpose, to work on their own, so making a strict, linear order is really not in place. Some of the stories, however, work better after having read others first.

• I put Warbreaker before Stormlight Archives for two reasons. One is that a character from Warbreaker appears in Words of Radiance. But the more important reason is that Warbreker provides the backstory for something else that appears near the end of Words of Radiance. I originally wanted to put Warbreaker between the two Stormlight books, but then I thought it would work better this way.
• I put Stormlight Archives before mostly everything because they reveal so much more about the common universe than any other series does. Many people read some of the books without even realising they are supposed to be set in one universe. Stormlight makes some very unsubtle references to the shards and the Cosmere and hopefully will get the people on the right track. It also focuses on Hoid's story more than any other series so far, so it will help people notice his importance and make it easier to spot his near-cameo appearances elsewhere.
• I put Emperor's Soul after Elantris even though there is no connection between them aside from being set in the same world. This is for minor reasons. Emperor's Soul contains some references and nods to Elantris and I think it feels better if the reader understands them.

Questions? Ideas?

Edited August 29, 2015 by AlluminumMisting

[Witborn]

There are also characters from Mistborn and Elantris in WoK and some of the epigraphs in WoR have Easter eggs for those books as well.

I would put SA as being read after Warbreaker, Mistborn and Elantris. If people are looking at your chart, they already know it's the same universe.

[spencer12347]

Stormlight archive only gives more easter eggs and slightly more information than the other series but I don't think that it puts someone on the right track. Most of the new info is in epigraphs that many forget unless they know the bigger story. I was confused on how everything tied together until I read storm light but seeing Ruin, Preservation, and the shardpool first gave me a type of basis for the bigger story. 

[Brightness Lightsong]

I personally disagree. Most people are encouraged to read Brandon's books in the general publication order because that's the way Brandon had intended them to be read. They are, for the most part, linear. Secondly, they are actually more user-friendly, for lack of better term, to be read that way. Whilst I love the Stormlight Archive, I don't think I would have gotten into it as I did if I wasn't already familiar with Brandon's works like Elantris, Warbreaker and Mistborn. For me SA was the natural accumulation of the knowledge and skill from his previous books.  

 

Plus each book is supposed to give you a little bit more information on the Cosmere as you go. Why would you want to spoil the surprise? One of the best feeling I got from these books was the dawning realisation that something was going on, some link was happening behind the scenes; this bigger picture. I could read each book and enjoy them for what they were, whilst at the same time the Stormlight Archive is slowly painting those things I learned and noticed in Brandon's first publications into a bigger picture. All this before the last Mistorn trilogy!

 

 

Honestly, If I read SA first I would probably find all this secret behind-the-scenes Cosmere stuff to be jarring. SA is complicated enough with intrigue and secret groups like the Diagram, Sons of Honor, Skybreakers etc without Hoid and the Cosmere adding its own drama to the mix.

 

In conclusion: If you are reading his books for the first time, don't read them in a particular order for the sake of figuring out the Cosmere (good luck!), but for the single enjoyment of each book/series. I guess if that's a different order than standard that's okay. I didn't read them exactly in standard order either.

 

If it's not your first time reading them.... do whatever... GO NUTS!

[Quiver]

For reading order:

 

I have always, always, always maintained that reading Warbreaker immediatly after the original Mistborn is the best way to do things. Warbreaker - in a lot of ways- echoes and plays with a lot of the themes and tropes of the Mistborn series, so I think reading them close to one another really make's both books look better by comparision.

 

And, of course, since you've just read Warbreaker, moving on to the Stormlight Archive after that makes sense... though I'd put a "buffer" (like Wax and Wayne) between Warbreaker and SA. For spoiler reasons. 

 

Basically, what I'm saying is the order I read the books in was the best. Even if it means I still haven't read Elantris...

[+Authweight]

I think new readers should start with Mistborn or Stormlight, mainly because I think those are his strongest works. The first Mistborn novel is good because it is relatively short, self-contained to a reasonable degree (it doesn't leave off with huge cliffhangers or anything like that if I recall correctly), and it shows off a lot of Brandon's signature style pretty early on.

For readers who like long works and are perfectly happy to start a big one, WoK is the best place to start. It has the best world building, the most interesting characters, and is just overall the best thing so far as long as you don't mind the length.

I think the stories are set up so that you don't really need cosmere stuff for them to make sense, and I don't think new readers need to care about the cosmere stuff at all. I just think they should hop in at the most compelling stories.

[kaellok]

I always suggest Warbreaker first, and then Mistborn, followed by Elantris or Way of Kings.

Warbreaker is relatively short, the story is entirely self contained, can be obtained for free on the Web (it still can, right?), and is really solid... while also introducing a lot of the basics of the Cosmere (even if the reader isn't really aware at the time.)

Mistborn original trilogy is done and complete, and quite good (it suffers on re read imo, but not being the best ever and only really good is still really good.) It also sets up the grand, epic scope of conflict.

Elantris is really good, but was his first published novel, and it shows. The writing is by far the weakest of the Cosmere novels.

Stormlight Archive i suggest to read last, even though they are my favorite, because the are LONG, and INCOMPLETE. Huge, massive blocks to people that want to get interested in the author's works as a whole, in my experience.

Assuming that the Front 5 books were complete, my opinion would change... but that's still half a decade away. Or more.

[Zathoth]

I read them Mistborn--->Elantris--->Warbreaker--->Stormlight.

 

Start with either Warbreak or Mistborn, then do Stormlight or Elantris. You could read Elantris last because by then you will understand all the Cosmere clues.

[Paragrin]

I always find it amusing that I read Mistborn, Elantris, Way of Kings, and was halfway through Words of Radiance when Hoid said his thing about perfect pitch. Now, I'd read the first chapter of Warbreaker in the back of one of the Mistborn books, and I recognized it. So, as I was reading WoR on my Kindle, I stopped in the middle, downloaded Warbreaker, read it, then went back to WoR. And was very glad of it when I finished.

[Renarin's Shadow]

Reading orders could also be designed to make sure that people are introduced to Cosmere in a way that makes them hungry for more. For example, I saw someone on a board who had struggled massively with WoK because they thought it was just GoT with over the top world building and a Gary Stu central character. Now, WoK can certainly appear that way at first, but people who are familiar with the Cosmere know that all this world building makes sense somewhere and somehow, and people who are familiar with Brandon's work know that he's very adept at taking a cliche and inverting it all of a sudden. Not to mention the slow burn, which leads up to the Sanderson Avalanche. For such readers, Warbreaker would be a good start (Elantris might be a bit too cliched), whereas people who like intricate world building, but need to experience an Avalanche to be persuaded, would do best starting with Elantris.

 

Just look at the arc of The Lord Ruler in Mistborn, who starts out as the archetypal evil tyrant, and ends up as somebody who strove to do good, but failed.

 

Edited September 4, 2015 by Renarin's Shadow

[killersquirrel59]

My reading order was Mistborn --> Elantris --> Warbreaker --> Stormlight, and I'm very glad I did it that way. If I'd started with Stormlight I wouldn't have caught a tenth of the wonderful easter eggs and Cosmere hints in it. I would never recommend Stormlight until you'd already read AT LEAST one other Cosmere thing. I think Mistborn is a wonderful start. The world is one of the most accessible and understandable, the story is very dynamic, and it sets up the idea of Shards really well before you ever get to series where you really need to know what they are.

[Renarin's Shadow]

 If I'd started with Stormlight I wouldn't have caught a tenth of the wonderful easter eggs and Cosmere hints in it. I would never recommend Stormlight until you'd already read AT LEAST one other Cosmere thing. I think Mistborn is a wonderful start. The world is one of the most accessible and understandable, the story is very dynamic, and it sets up the idea of Shards really well before you ever get to series where you really need to know what they are.

 

Yes. Absolutely.

 

Confession time: I only started reading Stormlight because the Coppermind said it had lots of information about Cosmere.

[cuimhne]

Mistborn series

Elantris

Warbreaker

Stormlight

(insert 2nd Mistborn series anywhere after Mistborn)

 

I like to suggest Mistborn or Elantris as introduction novels. I find Warbreaker a little slow at the beginning. It's pretty much the only Sanderson book I ever have a hard time finishing (unless I've read the same book twenty times in one week). Elantris has an great plot but the characters are kind of stagnant/flat. Mistborn is amazing (plot, world, and especially character development), and is much shorter and simpler than Stormlight. It introduces you to Sanderson's style without overwhelming you. Stormlight Archive is EPIC in every sense of the word, and reading it later decreases the amount of time that you have to wait for the next one. 

[Zaineph]

Hi all,

I've just had a couple of friends start getting into to cosmere books and was having the discussion of a reading order with a separate friend. As bands of mourning has come out recently (no spoilers here) I felt it worth revising the reading order. Also I noticed that the novellas haven't been accounted for in this thread either so I think it would be nice to fit them in as well. For the most part I agree with Mistborn (1st trilogy), Elantris, Warbreaker, Stormlight Archive order however I'm struggling on where to put alloy of law and the next wax and Wayne books, emperor's soul, sixth of dusk and silence of shadows in the forests of hell. I know that some people would say to read wax and Wayne right after the first mistborn trilogy but it just didn't feel right to me. Personally I would recommend wax and Wayne to go at the very end, after WoR. Of course we don't know where the SA is going to end up but considering Brandon said that Oathbringer needs to be finished before the lost metal, I suspect that I would change that recommendation until after the 5th book/1st arch of SA. Also putting them at least 7 novels after the 1st trilogy really makes it feel that time has passed.

As for the novellas, it feels wrong to group them up and read them all in one go. I think they would make good breaks between some of the novels. Obviously emperors soul shouldn't be before elantris but because it's such a different story I feel it would give the wrong impression going into it right after. As it can't go before, it seems the only sensible place it after warbreaker and before SA. I also think that putting sixth of dusk right after mistborn 1st trilogy is slightly wrong as well. I think it's too early in the reading order to reveal the fact that space travel is possible. Maybe it might slot in between Elantris and Warbreaker but I'm inclined to leave it until after the wax and Wayne series, as I feel that it fits now. This just leaves Silence. Personally after reading and epic trilogy I think it would be good to leap into something small and light hearted so I would slot it in between mistborn and elantris. For the time being this makes my suggested reading order:

Mistborn 1st trilogy

Silence of shadows I'm the forests of hell

Elantris

Warbreaker

Emperors Soul

Stormlight Archive

Wax and Wayne Series

Sixth of Dusk

Some of thoughts I had where of slotting a novella between alloy of law and shadows of self to give the sense of time passing though not sure which one. Still feels a bit too early for sixth and to late for emperors soul. Although it might be worth reading shadows of silence before the the Wax and Wayne trilogy.

I also toyed with the idea of breaking WoK and WoR up with Warbreaker and both are huge books so some readers might appreciate the break, however I don't think the story would flow as well, forcing the reader to spent days away from the action on roshar, so I decided against it.

One issue that I forsee in the future is after SA 5 comes out, I suspect Wax and Wayne would be best read after this, however it might mean going straight into the 2nd mistborn trilogy with no breaks which could seem odd given that about 100 years is supposed to have passed. Maybe elantris 2 will have come out which might slot in nicely before the 2nd trilogy but who knows.

Anyway I appreciate your thoughts. If you think there's a better way or I've over looked something please let me know.

[Treamayne]

I'm not convinced there is one good answer.

 

I think a recommended reading order really needs to take the preferences of the person to whom you are recommending into account. Amongst a few friends, to one who preferred more cerebral fiction, I recommended starting with Elantris and Warbreaker (first two, in either order, depending on which synopsis sounded more enticing). Another friend that I know gets bored without an action driven plot (until hooked) I recommended starting with the Mistborn Trilogy.

 

Another consideration is that Alloy (and the Scadrial second Trilogy) should be far enough after Mistborn that they are ready for the huge amount of change. A few years back (2013) a coworker read Mistborn first (and loved it) but went straight into Alloy of Law. He gave up half-way through and never finished the book or continued with other Brandon books.The change from the Final Empire setting was too drastic and he wasn't invested in the Cosmere enough to keep his interest.

[Pechvarry]

OP, I think one thing needs clarified:

 

Is this a reading order for introducing people to the Cosmere, or an ideal read-through for optimal cosmeric enjoyment?

 

If the latter, I think this is good.

 

If the prior, I wholeheartedly disagree.  I posted on this in that other thread recently, but the core of the argument is 2-fold:

1) The Way of Kings is really hard to get into when you don't have the certainty (as we, the fans, do) that it will be worth the thousand page investment.  

2) Warbreaker is important in that it's a reaction to his other works.  Its impact isn't nearly as large if you haven't already read Elantris and Mistborn 1.

 

Again, to reiterate, if this is "an order for optimal cosmeric enjoyment" for a re-read, I think you have a great order set up here.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Pechvarry

[navybrandt]

This is my recommended reading order chart.