Publication order with two evidence-backed changes below — but the tracker doesn't enforce it. Tick a book to mark it read, star one as your current book, and reorder freely if you're going your own way. Unlocks always follow what you've actually read, never the list position.
This sequences books by in-universe timeline, not by what's safe to read first. Community sources that publish it explicitly warn against it for a first read. Several placements below are genuinely disputed between fan lists — flagged inline rather than presented as settled.
Reference only — if you've switched to "My order" above, treat this as a rough guide rather than a rule.
Four places first-time readers get burned. None of these spoil anything by themselves.
Counterintuitive, because Sunlit Man published in 2023 and Wind and Truth in 2024 — publication order gets this one wrong. The damage runs backwards: reading it first drains a Wind and Truth subplot of its tension entirely. One long-time reader described spending every relevant segment already knowing how it ends.
Verdict: Wind and Truth first, always. Read that way, Sunlit Man becomes a retroactive payoff instead.
Short, novella-length, tempting to knock out early. It carries extensive spoilers for the entirety of Mistborn Era 1, plus part of The Bands of Mourning. Sanderson's own recommendation: read it after The Bands of Mourning; anywhere after The Hero of Ages works; it must come before The Lost Metal.
The 2016 hardcover binds together nine previously-scattered pieces — this tracker lists all nine on their own, not as one lump. Two you already know: Secret History and Edgedancer, placed above per trap 2. Of the remaining five, three are real traps if read out of turn — The Hope of Elantris (right after Elantris, or it spoils the ending), The Eleventh Metal (after Era 1 closes, not before), and Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (after The Lost Metal) — while two carry zero dependency and are yours whenever: Sixth of the Dusk (its content was later folded into Isles of the Emberdark's flashbacks, so some read it standalone first and some just skip straight to the novel) and the White Sand prose excerpt (pairs with the graphic novels, no spoiler risk either way).
Early introduces Khriss and Nazh, who annotate books you'll read for the next twenty entries — meeting your narrators after six volumes of narration is backwards. Last respects that it's a graphic novel series and prose readers often bounce. Both sides have serious defenders on 17th Shard; neither won. Your format tolerance decides it.
The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England was one of the four 2023 Secret Projects and gets swept into Cosmere lists constantly. It isn't one.
Those short quoted passages at chapter heads carry real freight. Mistborn Era 2's in particular read completely differently once you've done Oathbringer and Rhythm of War.
A beggar, a storyteller, a king's fool — someone who tells a story too pointed for the scene he's in. He appears in nearly every book, usually in disguise, usually under a different name. You're not supposed to know who he is yet. Notice him anyway; the noticing is the game.
Every world in play, bright where you've landed, dim where you haven't arrived yet. Tap a bright one to jump to its books.
One planet, one Shard-tie, one magic system. An orientation map — confirm mechanical detail against the books before it matters at a table.
The worlds your current reading order actually takes you through, in sequence — not every world, just the ones on your path, in the order you'll reach them.
Worlds you've already been to — with a stamp for the day you first finished a book there.
Naming a magic system isn't much of a spoiler, but the reveal of how a world works often is. Unlock per world.
Lumar — aether spores, twelve moons, Tress of the Emerald Sea. First of the Sun — Aviar, Sixth of the Dusk and Isles of the Emberdark. Completely separate planets, unrelated Investiture. Half the reference material online merges them.
Likewise Sel hosts Elantris and The Emperor's Soul. Warbreaker is Nalthis.
Sixteen people Shattered Adonalsium and became Vessels of its fragments. Current status is among the heaviest spoiler material in the Cosmere — most of this table is sealed in Reader mode.
Brotherwise Games × Dragonsteel, on the Plotweaver™ system. Nothing here spoils the novels — the RPG's Stormlight setting is pitched at a reader who has finished nothing. This tab stays at the concept level; for character sheets, Heroic Paths, and full rules, see the dedicated RPG section elsewhere on the site.
Paraphrased at a high level from Brotherwise's own quickstart materials — not a rules reproduction.
Plotweaver™ is built around narrative stakes as much as success or failure. An extra die enters play whenever the story's stakes get raised, and it can turn even a failed roll into something eventful or a success into something costly — win or lose, the story keeps moving. Characters lean on three linked pools — Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual — rather than a single hit-point track, and play isn't limited to combat: scenes can just as easily be a tense conversation or a race against a ticking problem, each with its own way of raising and resolving stakes. Growth comes from choosing a Heroic Path — and, for Radiants, a matching Radiant Path — rather than picking a fixed class, so a character's abilities can flex as the story does.
Verified against Brotherwise's own announcements and trade coverage (ICv2, TTRPG Insider, Wikipedia's Cosmere RPG page) as of 2026-09-17. Where a setting's novels are already in your reading tracker, jump straight to them.
| Setting | Status | Detail | Novels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stormlight (Roshar) | Released | Digital 2024, hardcovers Sept 2025. Handbook, World Guide, Welcome to Roshar, Stonewalkers. | |
| Mistborn (Scadrial) | Nov 16, 2026 | Handbook (405pp), World Guide (285pp), Mistborn Legacy campaign book (265pp, levels 1–6 across two of Scadrial's eras), Welcome to Scadrial, Starter Set, GM Screen, deluxe metal dice. | |
| Warbreaker (Nalthis) | In development | Confirmed in development per a 2026 Brotherwise interview, alongside Elantris and Worldhopper — no release window yet. Sanderson decides which gets built next. | |
| Elantris (Sel) | In development | Tied to the upcoming Elantris sequel novels; in development alongside Warbreaker and Worldhopper. | |
| Worldhopper™ | Announced | Cross-world setting, named and trademarked on Brotherwise's own site — by design, not tied to one world. | spans multiple worlds |
Per a 2026 Brotherwise interview, the Plotweaver ruleset that powers the Cosmere RPG is being spun out into its own standalone system so third-party creators can build content outside the Sanderson universe entirely — separate from any specific setting above. Details are expected later in 2026; nothing further is confirmed yet.
The 1–20 level track and Tier grouping could not be confirmed from any accessible official or community source. Brotherwise doesn't publish it; Demiplane's rules pages are login-gated. Mistborn Legacy's campaign is confirmed to span levels 1–6, which at least anchors the low end — but your Stormlight Handbook is the only authority for the full track. Never quote a Tier mapping from memory or from this page.
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