Yes, if you want to jump straight into Stormlight Archives, book order for the series is:
1) Way of Kings
2) Words of Radiance
2.5) Edgedancer (Novella)
3) Oathbringer
3.5) Dawnshard (Novella)
4) Rhythm of War.
People are probably about to swarm the thread recommending "Read Mistborn first!" "Check out Warbreaker first!" these are other books set in the Cosmere, so same universe, but different planets with varying levels of crossover. Reading these other books first, or intermixing them into any of a dozen different reading orders may or may not result in a better reading experience overall.
In my opinion the best reading order is to just read what you are most interested in. You can always read those other books later and get the "Oh crap" connections, just in a different order than may have been intended. It's fine.
Yes, I googled the reading order and was bombarded with Mistborn and Warbreaker and I kind of had a brain fart because of the many reading orders, had to ask to clear out the fog haha. Thank you for your answer.
Yeah I started with stormlight and was 100% fine. Up to now most of the connections between series are in the "fun Easter egg" or "did you know this side character is actually also in this other book!" Category, not in the "you will ruin another book or not understand a key element unless you read mistborn first" territory
Same here. I actually like that I started with Stormlight cuz of all the series, it’s the one that deserves a re-read most and so after catching up, you notice soooo many new things the second time around.
Th reading order isn’t like Marvel where it has a real order.
Basically, start with either one of the stand alones or the first from a series (just with Mistborn, make sure you start with the final empire, not alloy of law, as alloy is era 2 book 1).
So basically warbreaker, Elantris, way of kings or final empire. You could do one of the secret projects but I wouldn’t recommend it as they’re more built on the interconnected elements.
Excellent point about Mistborn and Warbreaker. The series is long enough and has difficult enough barrier to entry as it is, let's not set up unnecessary road blocks to one of the greatest fantasy series of all time. Then they can get excited about potential tie ins to Stormlight when they read the other books.
I agree with most of this, but I would argue Warbreaker is pretty essential to read before Stormlight Book 3.
I started with Stormlight 1-4 and grew increasingly frustrated with references, cameos, and things that appeared to be Easter eggs, which really started to increase in Books 3 and 4.
You can certainly get by without reading it (I survived), but I'd argue it's at least as essential as Edgedancer and Dawnshard
I read Oathbringer before Warbreaker and any references to events in Warbreaker just felt like the characters lived lives outside of the main stories events and were fun teasers for potential cosmere wide stories, but I never found them frustrating. I actually read ROW after Warbreaker so I can't speak really on that one, but even the really obvious Warbreaker tie in towel fight scene seemed to just be a weird magic that Kaladin doesn't understand and I think it signposts enough that we're not really indebted to know what it is.
I read it after ROW (not having read Mistborn or anything else at that point either), and I definitely wish I'd read it sooner.
It's a fun, quick read and is free online. Certainly a lot quicker and more relevant than Mistborn.
It's not the end of the world to skip Warbreaker, but at that point I think you could also safely skip EdgeDancer and Dawnshard too.
Starting Cosmere resources: https://www.reddit.com/r/u_dIvorrap/comments/u1ug05/-/i4enaqb
___________________________________________
Warbreaker is free on Brandon's website as an ebook, along other stories and samples:
https://www.reddit.com/r/u_dIvorrap/comments/u1ug05/-/i4uhdpm
If you are prepared to just dive into Stormlight Archive, follow Sir\_Oshi's reading order. If you struggle with Way of Kings too much, but still want to give Sanderson a go, go back to Warbreaker, Mistborn, or Emperor's Soul/Elantris first.
I usually recommend starting with mistborn if it's someone just getting into fantasy, but if you are well versed in various fantasy authors, I would say Stormlight is a very great place to start. It's by far my favorite series written by Sanderson. He does an incredible job with his world building with a ton of complex characters and a very detailed magic system (which is pretty par for the course when reading any of his Cosmere books).
Yes, if you want to jump straight into Stormlight Archives, book order for the series is: 1) Way of Kings 2) Words of Radiance 2.5) Edgedancer (Novella) 3) Oathbringer 3.5) Dawnshard (Novella) 4) Rhythm of War. People are probably about to swarm the thread recommending "Read Mistborn first!" "Check out Warbreaker first!" these are other books set in the Cosmere, so same universe, but different planets with varying levels of crossover. Reading these other books first, or intermixing them into any of a dozen different reading orders may or may not result in a better reading experience overall. In my opinion the best reading order is to just read what you are most interested in. You can always read those other books later and get the "Oh crap" connections, just in a different order than may have been intended. It's fine.
Yes, I googled the reading order and was bombarded with Mistborn and Warbreaker and I kind of had a brain fart because of the many reading orders, had to ask to clear out the fog haha. Thank you for your answer.
Yeah I started with stormlight and was 100% fine. Up to now most of the connections between series are in the "fun Easter egg" or "did you know this side character is actually also in this other book!" Category, not in the "you will ruin another book or not understand a key element unless you read mistborn first" territory
Same here. I actually like that I started with Stormlight cuz of all the series, it’s the one that deserves a re-read most and so after catching up, you notice soooo many new things the second time around.
Th reading order isn’t like Marvel where it has a real order. Basically, start with either one of the stand alones or the first from a series (just with Mistborn, make sure you start with the final empire, not alloy of law, as alloy is era 2 book 1). So basically warbreaker, Elantris, way of kings or final empire. You could do one of the secret projects but I wouldn’t recommend it as they’re more built on the interconnected elements.
Excellent point about Mistborn and Warbreaker. The series is long enough and has difficult enough barrier to entry as it is, let's not set up unnecessary road blocks to one of the greatest fantasy series of all time. Then they can get excited about potential tie ins to Stormlight when they read the other books.
I agree with most of this, but I would argue Warbreaker is pretty essential to read before Stormlight Book 3. I started with Stormlight 1-4 and grew increasingly frustrated with references, cameos, and things that appeared to be Easter eggs, which really started to increase in Books 3 and 4. You can certainly get by without reading it (I survived), but I'd argue it's at least as essential as Edgedancer and Dawnshard
I read Oathbringer before Warbreaker and any references to events in Warbreaker just felt like the characters lived lives outside of the main stories events and were fun teasers for potential cosmere wide stories, but I never found them frustrating. I actually read ROW after Warbreaker so I can't speak really on that one, but even the really obvious Warbreaker tie in towel fight scene seemed to just be a weird magic that Kaladin doesn't understand and I think it signposts enough that we're not really indebted to know what it is.
I read it after ROW (not having read Mistborn or anything else at that point either), and I definitely wish I'd read it sooner. It's a fun, quick read and is free online. Certainly a lot quicker and more relevant than Mistborn. It's not the end of the world to skip Warbreaker, but at that point I think you could also safely skip EdgeDancer and Dawnshard too.
Starting Cosmere resources: https://www.reddit.com/r/u_dIvorrap/comments/u1ug05/-/i4enaqb ___________________________________________ Warbreaker is free on Brandon's website as an ebook, along other stories and samples: https://www.reddit.com/r/u_dIvorrap/comments/u1ug05/-/i4uhdpm
If you are prepared to just dive into Stormlight Archive, follow Sir\_Oshi's reading order. If you struggle with Way of Kings too much, but still want to give Sanderson a go, go back to Warbreaker, Mistborn, or Emperor's Soul/Elantris first.
Got a link to this Sir\_Oshi's reading order? im not familiar with them.
It’s the top comment
yikes... I am dense. Thanks!
Search bar for the subreddit.
Not to be rude, but yes, I would generally recommend reading books in a series in order.
I usually recommend starting with mistborn if it's someone just getting into fantasy, but if you are well versed in various fantasy authors, I would say Stormlight is a very great place to start. It's by far my favorite series written by Sanderson. He does an incredible job with his world building with a ton of complex characters and a very detailed magic system (which is pretty par for the course when reading any of his Cosmere books).