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The Cosmere is a fictional universe created by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, serving as the setting for many of his stories. It is a star cluster of around 50 to 100 stars, with currently only ten planetary systems known to exist within it. In the Cosmere, magic is a physical force that shapes and impacts the lives of those living on the thirteen relevant planets. Each planet has its own unique characteristics and magic systems, called investiture forms.
There are currently 25 short stories, novels, and novellas, and 3 graphic novels that take place in the Cosmere. This adds up to more than 11,000 pages, and we are only halfway through what we know Sanderson has planned for the series.
There is no right way to read the Cosmere. You can read it in any order you prefer and you may disagree with this order. But after reading every story, and rereading many of them, I have developed my own personal preference for how to read the series. This challenge will be updated as more books are published and the order may change over time. But that's the purpose of this guide: to serve as an up-to-date reference for new readers, who may probably feel overwhelmed by the number of titles in the Cosmere.
There are currently 25 short stories, novels, and novellas, and 3 graphic novels that take place in the Cosmere. This adds up to more than 11,000 pages, and we are only halfway through what we know Sanderson has planned for the series.
There is no right way to read the Cosmere. You can read it in any order you prefer and you may disagree with this order. But after reading every story, and rereading many of them, I have developed my own personal preference for how to read the series. This challenge will be updated as more books are published and the order may change over time. But that's the purpose of this guide: to serve as an up-to-date reference for new readers, who may probably feel overwhelmed by the number of titles in the Cosmere.
KEY POINTS OF THIS READING ORDER
- Respect the unofficial Cosmere Phases order -link-: As I said earlier, there is no right order to read the Cosmere, but I do consider important to avoid hopping between phases.
- The Emperor's Soul as the starting point: it is a well-written, short novella that gives a good introduction to what to expect from the Cosmere. In addition, it explains some high level concepts on how the Cosmere work.
- Why The Stormlight Archive before Mistborn Era 2?: The Lost Metal is a very, VERY, Cosmere aware novel and some of the information in it can heavily impact how you look at some plots of The Stormlight Archive. It truly can help you better understand the events on The Archive but, in my opinion, it would completely Ruin -pun intended- the reading experience of both titles. That's probably why the The Lost Metal was published after Rhythm of War.
- Why Mistborn: Secret History after Bands of Mourning?: I know, I know, I know. This is a hot take on the community and breaks the Universe Awareness premise for this challenge, but I truly believe the experience of reading it after the Archive and Bands of Mourning, coming up with your own theories to then discover that, is much better than knowing it from the beginning... But, you can also decide to read it before the whole second era of Mistborn.
- Warbreaker before The Stormlight Archive: I don't want to spoil the story so I'll just say that it'd be nice to read Warbreaker before Words of Radiance.
- White Sand is a graphic novel: many of you may really appreciate this but some of us don't, unfortunately. It is important to read as it presents important information on a universe scale, specially before The Lost Metal.
READING ADVICES
- The Coppermind is a wiki with so much information about Sanderson's Books. Be extremely careful until you've read everything in this challenge. You WILL encounter spoilers on every single character, plot and Cosmere term. Even after you think you've finished a Series and are good to go. Note that the Coppermind has a time machine that allows you to browse the web in the state it was before a the release of any book. It's actively being translated to Spanish.
- Be extremely careful if you google anything, even a character's portrait. You will most probably see an spoiler. Even after you think you've finished a Series and are good to go.
- Many of the shorter Stories can be found in the Arcanum Unbounded. These are:
- The Emperor's Soul
- The Hope of Elantris
- The Eleventh Metal
- Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania
- Mistborn: Secret History
- An extract of White Sand Vol. I
- Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
- Sixth of the Dusk
- Edgedancer
Last updated: October 29th, 2023. Most recently published story: The Sunlit Man.
Challenge Prompts
6. Elantris
9. Warbreaker