How to Read All the Cosmere Books in Order
Over the last two decades, while working from his supervillain lair beneath the surface of Utah, Brandon Sanderson has published the largest interconnected fantasy universe in literary history: the Cosmere. “No one else is doing a project at this scale, ambition, quality—and most of all, pace,” says Sam Winkler, the narrative director of the video game Borderlands 4 and a huge Sanderson fan. “Where other connected universes might seem smaller for their nods and cameos, Sanderson only indulges when the connection ends up begging more questions, rather than answering them conveniently.”
Now spanning dozens of bestselling novels, novellas, and short stories, most books in the Cosmere fall into one of three franchises: the high fantasy Elantris stories set on the planet Sel, the pulp fantasy Mistborn series set on the planet Scadrial, and the epic fantasy Stormlight Archive set on the planet Roshar. With the publication of Wind and Truth in late 2024, Sanderson ostensibly reached the midpoint of the Cosmere’s overall story.
But where to begin? Sanderson has discouraged readers from tackling his books in chronological order, since some books set earlier in the timeline were published later, and thus contain spoilers for future-set books. Reading them in publication order is less than ideal, too, thanks to all the jumping around in space, time, and perspective.
For Esquire’s guide to the Cosmere, we prioritised narrative continuity to provide the smoothest possible reading experience. Instead of bouncing from planet to planet like a pinball, this reading list shepherds you through each arc of Sanderson’s cosmic story before moving on to another. We also included a preview of the next twenty books Sanderson has announced, if you’d like a glimpse at the Cosmere’s future.
Mistborn: The Final Empire
The first book in Sanderson’s Mistborn series is the best place to begin your journey in the larger Cosmere. “Mistborn is a triumph,” says Winkler. “It’s a fantasy heist flick wrapped around a Batman origin story wrapped around a sweet center of My Fair Lady.” Set on the planet Scadrial, The Final Empire imagines a fantasy world where the Dark Lord has already won. A thief named Kelsier gathers a magical Ocean’s 11 to pull a job that will destroy the empire’s economy. It’s relatively short, fast-paced, and highly rated by Sanderson fans. Plus, according to Martin Cahill, author of the upcoming fantasy novel Audition for the Fox, “The Final Empire gives you enough hints of the Cosmere’s greater narrative that you’ll want to find out more.”
Mistborn: The Well of Ascension
A year after the events of The Final Empire, Kelsier’s surviving heroes struggle to maintain a fragile hold on power in the capital city of Luthadel, where three conquering armies are planning a coup of their own. One of Sanderson’s most popular magic systems, Allomancy, is fully revealed here as the genetic ability to metabolise sixteen different metals by eating them and temporarily gaining their powers—tin for heightened senses, brass for dampened emotions, and cadmium to slow down time, for instance. “Much has been made about Sanderson’s approach to magic systems, but far more captivating is the detective work necessary to understand it—both by the reader and the novel’s cast,” says Winkler. “The question of how magic works—and why—is an active investigation.”
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages
The last novel in the first Mistborn era introduces key elements of the Cosmere that appear in nearly all of Sanderson’s following books, including Shards of Adonalsium—gods who are the shattered remnants of a dead god who created the universe. When two opposing Shards known as Ruin and Preservation take on human vessels to fight for control of Scadrial, the result changes the nature of reality and sets the stage for future stories in the Cosmere. “Sanderson lays out the clues expertly so that avid readers will come to a realisation moments before the cast does—a trick that never gets tiring and becomes more impressive each time,” Winkler says.
Elantris
Before jumping into another series, take a break from Mistborn with Sanderson’s debut novel. On another planet called Sel, a prince named Raoden is suddenly afflicted by a curse and exiled to the dead city of Elantris. Once a utopia filled with immortal beings that used a magic system based on sigils called Aons, the walled city is now a hellish purgatory where no one can die, but neither can they heal. Elantris has some slow chapters but a really clever conclusion, and it introduces readers to Hoid, a fan-favorite “worldhopper” who shows up everywhere in the Cosmere.
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law
Roughly 300 years have passed since the original Mistborn trilogy, and Scadrial’s cities have evolved into a pseudo-steampunk setting. This first book in Mistborn’s second era stars two detectives named Wax and Wayne who track down a supernatural serial killer. Sanderson loves making his magic systems more complex with each novel, and The Alloy of Law establishes “Twinborns” who can use both Allomancy and Ferochemy—the ability to store powers in metal as long as it touches their skin. “There’s no wizard academy, no old masters—only grounded characters holding a few puzzle pieces and trying to survive in a dangerous world,” Winkler says.
Mistborn: Shadows of Self
In this direct sequel to The Alloy of Law, Wax and Wayne investigate the murders of the most powerful crime bosses in the city of Elendel. When the trail runs cold, Wax is approached by another Shard of Adonalsium called Harmony, who points him in the direction of a magical spy named the Bleeder. Using their own powers, Wax and Wayne have to find and stop the Bleeder before she kills her next target: the governor.
Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning
We learn more about Wax’s history in this sixth book of the Mistborn franchise. Another magical spy turns up in the city of Elendel with evidence that a legendary pair of arm braces—the Bands of Mourning, which grant unique powers to anyone who wears them—may actually exist. When Wax and Wayne join an expedition to the outer city of New Seran to track the artifacts down, they discover a larger conspiracy that connects Scadrial’s past to the Cosmere’s future.
Mistborn: The Lost Metal
Surprise! Mistborn’s second era is actually a quadrilogy. Six years after The Bands of Mourning, Wax comes out of retirement when a terrorist smuggles a magic bomb into Elendel at the behest of another Shard. This novel is also crucial for following the rest of the Cosmere because it introduces the Ghostbloods: a secret society spanning multiple planets that’s dedicated to protecting Scadrial at all costs. It’s also the final Mistborn book—for now: Sanderson plans to write two more trilogies.
Warbreaker
It’s time for another series break with this standalone fantasy novel set on the all-new planet of Nalthis, where Sanderson’s characters use a color-based magic system called BioChromatic Breath. In the kingdom of Idris, the princess Vivenna has spent her entire life as the bride-in-waiting to a God King in the nearby country of Hallendran. But when her younger sister Siri is sent instead, Vivenna attempts to rescue her from their family’s political rivals. “It’s my favorite Sanderson novel,” Cahill says, thanks to its “deeply thought-out magic and worldbuilding.” Warbreaker also introduces the scholar Vasher and his awakened sword Nightblood to the Cosmere—both of which play a key role in The Stormlight Archive.
Arcanum Unbounded
This short story collection adds some interesting new lore to the Cosmere planets we’ve visited so far, while planting some narrative seeds for future books. In particular, you should read The Emperor’s Soul, which won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novella and is set in the same world as Elantris; another novella called Mistborn: Secret History about the fan-favorite Kelsier, who will be important in The Stormlight Archive; and Sixth of the Dusk, which is getting a sequel of sorts in 2025. For now, you should definitely skip Edgedancer, since it’s set after the first two Stormlight books (see below).
The Way of Kings
Finally, we’ve reached Sanderson’s magnum opus. The Stormlight Archive begins with this epic fantasy set on the planet Roshar, where magic-infused storms have shaped the world into an alien landscape. In an unforgettable opening flashback, we’re introduced to the ten heralds: immortal humans with godlike powers who serve yet another mysterious Shard of Adonalsium. We also meet two of Sanderson’s most popular characters—the spear-toting soldier Kaladin and the sword-wielding assassin Szeth—who find themselves on opposite sides of a war for control of the Cosmere.
Words of Radiance
Many Sanderson fans rank this second book in the Stormlight Archive as the best in the series so far. In Words of Radiance, Kaladin learns to harness his magical powers as a Windrunner while investigating an assassination attempt on the king. Meanwhile, the scholar Shallan journeys across the continent to the Shattered Plains, where she joins a secret organisation familiar to Cosmere readers and uncovers new mysteries about the history of Roshar. It all builds to Sanderson’s most dramatic climax yet, featuring two colliding storms and a duel between magical knights in the sky.
Edgedancer
This novella is essentially Stormlight 2.5, so once you’ve finished Words of Radiance, you can read Edgedancer as a standalone hardcover or in the Arcanum Unbounded collection mentioned above. It’s told from the perspective of Lift, a precocious teenage thief who can perform magic by ingesting food. “She can be a little annoying, but she always brings a smile to my face, so Edgedancer was a big shot of dopamine for me,” says Nathan Xie, a writer based in New York and a Stormlight fan. Whether you love Lift or not, she plays a large role in later Cosmere books—and she has an interesting relationship with one of the ten heralds.
Oathbringer
The third Stormlight book focuses on Dalinar, the warlord-turned-diplomat who tries to unite the kingdoms of Roshar against the forces of evil before a massive battle in the capital city of Kholinar. “Dalinar experiences a powerful revelation about forgiveness and its relationship to accountability that left a profound moral impact on me,” says Xie. “In a world where many men are beyond redemption yet feel no obligation to make amends, it was powerful and moving to see Dalinar refuse the blessing of magically removing his emotional turmoil.”
Dawnshard
Like Edgedancer, this novella is set between Stormlight books and focuses on a tertiary character. Three months after the events of Oathbringer, a young shipmaster named Rysn must use her vessel, the Wandersail, to find a hidden island city that may have fallen into the hands of Roshar’s enemies. It’s also the one place that could heal her new companion—a flying crustacean named Chiri-Chiri, one of the last remaining guardians of the Dawnshards used to create the Cosmere.
Rhythm of War
The fourth Stormlight novel may be the most polarizing. Between the battles of Oathbringer and the climax of Wind and Truth, Sanderson focuses on Eshonai and Venli, two members of Roshar’s native species. At the same time, Dalinar’s wife Navani conducts new experiments with fabrial technology that could turn the tides of the war against Odium—the Cosmere’s version of Darth Vader, the Emperor, and the dark side of the force all rolled into one. Some Sanderson fans find Rhythm of War the slowest book in the series thanks to the emphasis on Eshonai, Venli, and fabrial technology, but other readers rank it among their favorites. Either way, it’s an essential part of the story leading up to Wind and Truth.
Tress of the Emerald Sea
But wait! Before you read Wind and Truth, it’s time for a three-book break. During the worst months of the Covid pandemic, Sanderson wrote four “secret books,” three of which are set in the Cosmere at various different points in time. Since they were published before Wind and Truth, you don’t have to worry about spoilers, regardless of when each book is set, and reading them now will give you the fullest possible picture of the universe before Wind and Truth. Inspired by The Princess Bride and written as a gift to Sanderson’s wife, Tress of the Emerald Sea is a fantasy adventure narrated by the worldhopper Hoid, who also plays a role in the story. Set on a brand-new planet, Lumar, it’s about a woman named Tress who attempts to rescue a man she loves from the clutches of a powerful sorceress.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
In the next secret book, Sanderson moves the action to another new planet called Komashi, where Hoid has become trapped and a young man named Yumi has the power to render nightmare creatures harmless by painting them. Inspired by Japanese media like Final Fantasy X, it’s a fun and relatively short subgenre experiment for Sanderson with a few interesting ties to the broader Cosmere.
The Sunlit Man
If you only read one of the secret books, make it The Sunlit Man. On the surface, it’s about an immortal man who travels between planets in the Cosmere’s distant future. After holding a Dawnshard at some point in the past, he’s cursed with an affliction that makes it impossible for him to harm anyone—even when he suddenly finds himself in a fighting arena where losers are sentenced to death by sunlight. But beneath the surface, this standalone novel is more than it seems, and makes the next novel, Wind and Truth, even more rewarding.
Wind and Truth
“If my career is going to crash and burn, this is the book that’ll do it,” Sanderson told Esquire when Wind and Truth was published. The fifth Stormlight novel isn’t just another sequel—it’s a dramatic climax to the first half of the Cosmere’s overarching story. After Kaladin accompanies Szeth to the assassin’s ancestral homeland, Roshar’s heroes finally face off against Odium in a contest of champions. But they aren’t alone: characters from Sanderson’s other worlds, including Mistborn, Warbreaker, and Elantris, join the fight this time.
Future Books
In interviews and podcasts, Sanderson has expressed the desire to write at least twenty more novels set in the Cosmere. If you don’t want to know anything about his future books, including what Sanderson has said about their settings, focal characters, or potential release dates, consider this a spoiler alert.
Isles of the Emberdark (2026, a novella sequel to Sixth of the Dusk)
Ghostbloods 1 (2028, the first book in Mistborn era 3)
Elantris 2 (2029)
Ghostbloods 2 (2029, the second book in Mistborn era 3)
Elantris 3 (2030)
Ghostbloods 3 (2030, the third book in Mistborn era 3)
Stormlight Archive 6 (2031, with flashbacks focused on Lift)
White Sand (TBD, a prose adaptation of his early graphic novel)
A fourth Mistborn trilogy (TBD, set in the Cosmere’s space age)
Horneater (TBD, a novella set on Roshar)
Nightblood (TBD, a sequel to Warbreaker)
Stormlight Archive 7-10 (TBD, with flashbacks focused on Renarin, Shalash, Talenel, and Jasnah, respectively)
Dragonsteel series (TBD, but likely a trilogy, and published after the final Stormlight book)
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