Brandon Sanderson Books in Order

Where to Start: Choose Your Entry Point

Brandon Sanderson does not mandate a single strict reading path. Instead, the best starting point depends on your reading preferences and history with the fantasy genre:

• For Fantasy Enthusiasts (The Gold Standard): Start with Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006). This book introduces Sanderson's famous hard magic systems, detailed world-building, and high-stakes heist elements. It serves as the most popular gateway to his wider universe.
• For Massive Epic Fantasy Fans: If you are already a fan of doorstopper epics like Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, you can jump straight into Sanderson's magnum opus with The Way of Kings (2010), the first volume of The Stormlight Archive. Note that this series is highly complex and has a slow-burn introduction.
• For Standalone & Romance Lovers: Start with Warbreaker (2009). It is a colorful, politically charged standalone novel with a strong romantic core, and it is frequently available to read for free on Sanderson's official website.
• The "Sanderson Starter Set": The author officially recommends a starter trio for new readers consisting of Mistborn: The Final Empire, Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023), and the Hugo Award-winning novella The Emperor's Soul (2012).

The Interconnected Universe: Understanding the Cosmere

Many of Sanderson's major series take place in a shared universe known as the Cosmere. While each planet has its own distinct magic system, culture, and storyline, they share an underlying mythology, cosmic rules, and a recurring cast of world-hopping characters (most notably the mysterious storyteller named Hoid).

You do not need to read every Cosmere book to understand individual series. However, as the timeline progresses, the connections become increasingly overt. By the time you reach late-stage novels like The Lost Metal (2022) or The Sunlit Man (2023), having a broader understanding of the Cosmere significantly enhances the experience.

The Mistborn Reading Order

The Mistborn series is split into distinct eras, representing different chronological periods on the planet Scadrial:

Mistborn Era 1 (The Classic Trilogy)

This is a complete, self-contained story following a rebellion against a thousand-year empire:

1. Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)
2. The Well of Ascension (2007)
3. The Hero of Ages (2008)

Mistborn Era 2 (Wax & Wayne)

Set roughly 300 years after Era 1, this subseries blends fantasy, industrial revolution, and western detective fiction:

1. The Alloy of Law (2011)
2. Shadows of Self (2015)
3. The Bands of Mourning (2016)
4. The Lost Metal (2022)

The Secret History Debate: The companion novella Secret History (2022 in local data, originally released in 2016's Arcanum Unbounded) runs parallel to the events of Era 1. While some fans recommend reading it right after The Hero of Ages while those events are fresh, Brandon Sanderson and the broader community advise reading it after The Bands of Mourning to preserve a major plot twist.

The Stormlight Archive Reading Order

The Stormlight Archive is a massive, ongoing ten-book cycle divided into two five-book halves. To get the full experience, readers must integrate critical novellas that bridge the gaps between the main installments:

1. The Way of Kings (2010)
2. Words of Radiance (2014)
3. Edgedancer (2016) - Novella (Book 2.5) focusing on the character Lift; crucial before Book 3.
4. Oathbringer (2017)
5. Dawnshard (2020) - Novella (Book 3.5) covering vital world-hopping and lore elements.
6. Rhythm of War (2020)
7. Wind and Truth (2024)

Crossover Warning: Readers are highly encouraged to read Warbreaker before diving into Words of Radiance, as major characters and items from that standalone cross over directly into the Stormlight narrative.

Elantris & Standalone Cosmere Works

Sanderson's debut novel Elantris (2005) is set on the planet Sel. It can be read standalone, but is accompanied by two shorter works:

• The Hope of Elantris (2006) - A short story that must be read after the main novel.
• The Emperor's Soul (2012) - A standalone Hugo Award-winning novella set on the same planet but with a different magic system.

For readers who want to explore graphic novels, the White Sand trilogy (Volumes 1-3, published 2016-2019) is also a canon part of the Cosmere, adapting Sanderson's unpublished 1998 draft.

To find most of Sanderson's shorter Cosmere fiction, pick up the compilation anthology Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection (2016), which includes The Emperor's Soul, Edgedancer, Secret History, and atmospheric standalones like Sixth of the Dusk (2014) and Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (2015).

The Secret Projects (2023)

Written in secret during the pandemic and launched via a historic Kickstarter, these standalone novels offer unique entry points and style experiments:

• Tress of the Emerald Sea (Secret Project 1 / 2023) - Cosmere standalone. A whimsical seafaring fairy tale.
• The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (Secret Project 2 / 2023) - Non-Cosmere standalone. A sci-fi dimension-travel survival story.
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (Secret Project 3 / 2023) - Cosmere standalone. A romantic fantasy inspired by East Asian culture.
• The Sunlit Man (Secret Project 4 / 2023) - Cosmere standalone. Heavily connected to Stormlight Archive lore; best read after starting that series.

Sanderson's Non-Cosmere Series

If you want to step away from the shared fantasy universe, Sanderson has written several acclaimed sci-fi, thriller, and young-adult series:

The Skyward Series (Sci-Fi Space Opera)

Follows a young pilot named Spensa in a fight for humanity's survival against alien threats:

1. Skyward (2018)
2. Starsight (2019)
3. Cytonic (2021)
4. Defiant (2023)

The Skyward Flight novellas (Sunreach, ReDawn, and Evershore) should be read alongside Cytonic or via the 2022 collected edition.

The Reckoners (Dystopian Superhero Fiction)

Set in a world where ordinary humans fight back against corrupt, super-powered tyrants:

1. Steelheart (2013)
2. Mitosis (2013) - Short story (Book 1.5).
3. Firefight (2015)
4. Calamity (2016)

The series expands with the audio-first spin-off Lux (2021) under the Texas Reckoners label.

Other Notable Non-Cosmere Projects

• Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (2007-2022) - A six-book humorous middle-grade fantasy series.
• Legion / Stephen Leeds (2012-2018) - A series of mystery-thriller novellas about a man whose mental hallucinations possess unique skills, collected in The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds.
• Infinity Blade (2011-2013) - Awakening and Redemption, tying into the action video game franchise.
• Magic: The Gathering - Sanderson contributed the novella Children of the Nameless (2018) to the card game's lore.

Completing Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

Following the passing of author Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson was chosen to complete his legendary high fantasy series. Working from Jordan's extensive notes and audio dictations, Sanderson penned the final three novels of the 15-book epic:

1. The Gathering Storm (2009)
2. Towers of Midnight (2010)
3. A Memory of Light (2012)

These books belong strictly to Robert Jordan's universe and should only be read after completing the first eleven books in The Wheel of Time starting with The Eye of the World (1990).