If you only want the short answer: start with Mistborn: The Final Empire, then read the Cosmere books in publication order. That is the order Brandon Sanderson wrote them in, so the crossovers, cameos and late reveals land the way he planned. The rest of this guide covers every book, the best places to start if Mistborn is not your thing, and how the non-Cosmere series fit around it.
This list is current to October 2026, including Isles of the Emberdark and the December 2026 release The Fires of December.
Where to start: four good entry points
The Cosmere is one shared universe, but most of its books stand on their own. These four are the safest doors in.
- Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006). A heist story in a world where the bad guy already won. It has a self-contained ending, the magic system is easy to follow, and it opens straight into two more books if you want them. This is the most common recommendation for a reason.
- The Emperor’s Soul (2012). A short novella about a forger who has 100 days to rebuild an emperor’s soul. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella and takes an evening to read, which makes it the lowest-commitment way to find out whether Sanderson’s style works for you.
- Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023). A light, funny standalone told by a narrator who keeps interrupting himself. Pick this if you want something warm rather than epic.
- The Way of Kings (2010). The first book of The Stormlight Archive and the start of Sanderson’s biggest story. Only start here if you are happy committing to very long books: each Stormlight novel runs past 1,000 pages.
A fifth option, Elantris (2005), was his first published novel. It is a fine standalone, but it reads like an early work, so it makes a better second or third book than a first.
Cosmere books in publication order
This is the full list of Cosmere novels, novellas and collections in the order they were released. Reading in this order keeps every cross-book reference in the sequence Sanderson intended.
- Elantris (2005)
- Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)
- The Well of Ascension (2007)
- The Hero of Ages (2008)
- Warbreaker (2009)
- The Way of Kings (2010)
- The Alloy of Law (2011)
- The Emperor’s Soul (2012)
- Words of Radiance (2014)
- Shadows of Self (2015)
- The Bands of Mourning (2016)
- Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection (2016)
- Edgedancer (2016)
- Mistborn: Secret History (2016)
- White Sand, graphic novel (2016 to 2019, omnibus 2024)
- Oathbringer (2017)
- Dawnshard (2020)
- Rhythm of War (2020)
- The Lost Metal (2022)
- Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023)
- Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (2023)
- The Sunlit Man (2023)
- Wind and Truth (2024)
- Elsecaller, with Dan Wells (2025)
- King Lopen the First of Alethkar, with Isaac Stewart (2025)
- Isles of the Emberdark (backer edition 2025, general release February 2026)
- The Fires of December (scheduled for December 2026)
Arcanum Unbounded collects most of the shorter Cosmere stories, including The Emperor’s Soul, Mistborn: Secret History, Edgedancer and Sixth of the Dusk. If you buy it, you can skip the separate novella editions. Isles of the Emberdark is set on the same world as Sixth of the Dusk, and some editions reprint that story, so check your copy before buying the collection just for it.
Reading order by series
If you would rather finish one story before starting another, read each series in this order. The only timing that really matters is the Stormlight note below.
Mistborn, Era 1
- Mistborn: The Final Empire
- The Well of Ascension
- The Hero of Ages
- Mistborn: Secret History (read after The Hero of Ages, never before: it spoils the trilogy)
Mistborn, Era 2 (Wax and Wayne)
- The Alloy of Law
- Shadows of Self
- The Bands of Mourning
- The Lost Metal
Era 2 jumps about 300 years forward to a world of railways and revolvers. You can read it without Era 1, but you will miss a great deal of what makes The Lost Metal hit.
The Stormlight Archive
- The Way of Kings
- Words of Radiance
- Edgedancer (novella)
- Oathbringer
- Dawnshard (novella)
- Rhythm of War
- Wind and Truth
- Elsecaller and King Lopen the First of Alethkar (short stories, collected in 2025; both are set during Words of Radiance, so they work any time after it)
For where each novella fits and why, see the full Stormlight Archive reading order.
The one order that matters: read Warbreaker before Words of Radiance. A character and a very talkative sword from Warbreaker play a real part in Stormlight from the second book on, and Warbreaker spoils nothing in Stormlight, so it costs you nothing to read it early.
Standalones and the Secret Projects
- Elantris
- Warbreaker
- The Emperor’s Soul
- Tress of the Emerald Sea
- Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
- The Sunlit Man
- Isles of the Emberdark
- The Fires of December
Tress, Yumi, The Sunlit Man and Isles of the Emberdark started life as Sanderson’s crowdfunded “Secret Projects.” Each works alone, though The Sunlit Man rewards readers who know the wider Cosmere.
Do you have to read the Cosmere in order?
No. Every series has its own beginning, middle and end, and Sanderson writes each one so a new reader can follow it. What reading order changes is how many Easter eggs you notice. A recurring storyteller called Hoid turns up in almost every book, a handful of characters cross between worlds, and the later books, especially The Lost Metal, The Sunlit Man and Wind and Truth, start paying those threads off.
A practical rule: read the first book of any series whenever you like, but read the later books of Mistborn and Stormlight roughly in publication order. That keeps the big reveals in sequence without forcing you to read everything at once.
Brandon Sanderson books outside the Cosmere
Sanderson also writes several series in separate universes. None of them connect to the Cosmere, so you can read them at any point.
- Skyward: Skyward (2018), Starsight (2019), Cytonic (2021) and Defiant (2023), plus the Skyward Flight novellas. Young adult science fiction about a girl who wants to be a fighter pilot.
- The Reckoners: Steelheart (2013), the novella Mitosis (2013), Firefight (2015) and Calamity (2016). A world where everyone with superpowers turned evil.
- Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians: a six-book comedy series for younger readers.
- Legion: three novellas about a man whose hallucinations are experts in everything, collected as Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds.
- The Rithmatist (2013): a standalone about magic drawn in chalk.
- The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (2023): the second Secret Project and the only one set outside the Cosmere.
- The Wheel of Time: Sanderson finished Robert Jordan’s series with The Gathering Storm (2009), Towers of Midnight (2010) and A Memory of Light (2013), working from Jordan’s notes.
For another long fantasy shelf with its own starting-point debate, see the Discworld reading order.
Frequently asked questions
Should I read Mistborn or The Stormlight Archive first?
Mistborn. It is shorter, it finishes its story in three books, and it teaches you how Sanderson builds magic systems before you commit to Stormlight’s 1,000-page volumes.
Do I need to read Warbreaker before The Stormlight Archive?
Before the second book, yes, ideally. Warbreaker sets up a character who matters in Words of Radiance and later. It is not required, but you will understand far more of those scenes if you read it first.
Is Elantris a good first book?
It works, and it is a complete story, but Sanderson’s later books are tighter. Most readers enjoy it more after they already know they like his writing.
What is the newest Brandon Sanderson book?
As of October 2026 the newest Cosmere novel is Isles of the Emberdark, which reached general release in February 2026. The Fires of December is scheduled for December 2026.
How many Cosmere books are there?
More than two dozen once you count the novellas and the White Sand graphic novels, with more announced. The main reading list above has 27 entries, including the December 2026 release.
