So, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you have probably heard of Brandon Sanderson. If you haven’t, he’s one of (if not the) best-selling fantasy authors today, and he has an expansive fantastical universe called the Cosmere that is similar in many ways to the MCU.

It took me about a year after hearing of Sanderson to pick up one of his books because, frankly, I was daunted by the sheer size of the universe. Which book should I read first?

I want to lower the threshold for anyone who is afraid to plunge into the Sander-verse. Don’t feel like if you read one, you’re committing to all of them. Start with one, and if you like it, continue! (I will say, though, I have grown to appreciate them more as I’ve read all of them.)

 In depth reviews of these books to come! (If you’re eager for these reviews, let me know and I’ll probably get to them sooner than I would otherwise!)

Option 1: My Personally Selected Order

My philosophy is to read books in publication order whenever reasonable. Why? Because even if books don’t have clear “spoilers” for each other, they do reveal information in a certain order, and usually the author is intentional in the order they reveal information. Jumping around can lead to more confusion than was intended–or in some cases, reveal the answer to mysteries that was supposed to be unknown.

So if you don’t mind jumping around between series, here is the order I recommend! 

Most of these are in publication order, with a few exceptions. Warbreaker and Elantris are both standalones and are often people’s least favorite in the Cosmere. It’s not that they are bad books (Warbreaker is one of my personal favorites), but if you want to start out with the strongest the Cosmere has to offer–while still being a good entry point–the Mistborn Trilogy is likely the way to go. 

1. The Final Empire (Mistborn Original Trilogy, Era 1, Book 1, 2006)
2. The Well of Ascension (Mistborn Original Trilogy, Era 1, Book 2, 2007)
3. The Hero of Ages (Mistborn Original Trilogy, Era 1, Book 3, 2008)
4. Warbreaker (2009)
5. Elantris (2005)
6. The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1, 2010)
7. The Alloy of Law (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 1, 2011)
8. Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2, 2014)
9. Shadows of Self (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 2, 2015)
10. The Bands of Mourning (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 3, 2016)
11. Arcanum Unbounded (Cosmere short stories and novellas, 2016)
12. Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive novella #2.5, 2016)
13. Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3, 2017)
14. Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive novella #3.5, 2020)
15. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive #4, 2020)
16. The Lost Metal (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 4, 2022)
17. Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023)
18. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (2023)

Option 2: Reading by Series

1. The Final Empire (Mistborn Original Trilogy, Era 1, Book 1, 2006)
2. The Well of Ascension (Mistborn Original Trilogy, Era 1, Book 2, 2007)
3. The Hero of Ages (Mistborn Original Trilogy, Era 1, Book 3, 2008)
4. Elantris (2005)
5. Warbreaker (2009)
6. The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1, 2010)
7. Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2, 2014)
8. Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive novella #2.5, 2016)
9. Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3, 2017)
10. Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive novella #3.5, 2020)
11. Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive #4, 2020)
12. The Alloy of Law (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 1, 2011)
13. Shadows of Self (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 2, 2015)
14. The Bands of Mourning (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 3, 2016)
15. Arcanum Unbounded (Cosmere short stories and novellas, 2016)
16. The Lost Metal (Wax & Wayne Series, Mistborn Era 2, Book 4, 2022)
17. Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023)
18. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (2023)

Option 3: Start with a Standalone

1. Start with either: Warbreaker (2009) or Elantris (2005). If you want me to pick for you, I pick Warbreaker 😉
2. (Optional) Read the other one, if you still don’t want to commit to a series
3. Jump into one of the other two orders, and just skip the book(s) you’ve already read!

Choke points:

Really, you can read in whatever order you want. Sometimes it can be fun to fill out puzzles in a different order than they were intended. But here are a few guidelines for those of you who prefer to get information in its intended order. (They are intentionally vague to avoid spoilers):

• Mistborn Era 2 will obviously have spoilers for Mistborn Era 1. Proceed at your own risk.
• Read Warbreaker before Oathbringer (and (I think) before Edgedancer).
• Read Elantris before Rhythm of War.
• Read The Lost Metal after reading at least Stormlight 1-4. My ideal place for it is where I put it, but that isn’t essential.
• Arcanum Unbounded is optional, but I think it contains information that is helpful for The Lost Metal.
• The Stormlight Archive novellas are technically optional, but it’s probably best to read them in sequential order.
• The 2023 Standalones (Tress & Yumi) are standalones and can be read whenever, but they contain cross-references and will make more sense once you have read several books in the universe, especially The Stormlight Archive.