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My entry into Brandon Sanderson's works is Mistborn Trilogy, I finished and loved it. Then I got to know that many of his series are connected and happen in the same universe - Cosmere. Next I started with the Way of Kings, but am now kind of worried if I might read the series in the wrong order. So what is the right order to read them? is it the publication order..?

• Elantris (2005)


• Mistborn Trilogy


• Warbreaker (2009)


• The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings (2010)


• Mistborn: The Alloy of Law (2011)


• The Emperor's Soul (2012, novella)


• Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (2013, short story published in Dangerous Women)


• The Stormlight Archive: Words of Radiance (2014)

or I have seen people suggest the following order too,

• Mistborn Trilogy


• Elantris and the Emperor's Soul


• The Way of Kings


• Warbreaker


• Words of Radiance


• The Alloy of Law


• Shadows of Self

I have also read posts where they say it doesn't matter which order you read it in. So am confused, since I have already started the Way Of Kings (Only a few chapters in), should I stop it and go back to Elantris, and follow an order, or should I just continue finish this and pick other books in an order.

This is a chart I created to give people a way to decide on what order to read Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books. It is current as of January 2016.

Some advice from Reddit here:

1. Elantris


2. Mistborn 1-3


3. Emperor's Soul


4. Warbreaker


5. Stormlight Archives 1-2


6. Mistborn 4

I posted this because, as many people don't know, Brandon Sanderson's works take place in a universe called the cosmere. Each series is on a different planet in the universe (Except for Emperor's Soul/Elantris). There also some characters called world hoppers who go from planet to planet, the most prevalent of these is one named Hoid who shows up in every book. While this reading order isn't necessary per se, I assert that it is better.

The reasons for the OP's assertion is subjective, but it seems to be a well-informed decision.

For a complete overview of Sanderson's plans with Cosmere, as well as some discussions about it, read here (warning, spoilers present on this blog):

The shape of Sanderson's cosmology and setting is much clearer now and we will certainly learn more about the Cosmere through future books. However, it sounds like we might have a very long (more than a decade?) wait before we get to The Liar of Partinel and the Dragonsteel books which will fully explain what is going on. In the meantime, we can theorise and assess.

I would suggest that the reading order does not matter as yet as Sanderson is planning to release many more novels in the Cosmere setting.

Mostly each series is almost completely separate from the others. So while you do have to make sure your read each series in its proper order (for example, mistborn 1 before mistborn 2) you don't have to worry about ordering your reading of the various serieses in relation to one another (for example, you could start with Stormlight 1 or Mistborn 1 but don't read stormlight 2 before stormlight 1 or mistborn 2 before mistborn 1).

Sanderson is using mini chapters in The Stormlight series to start tieing things together. but it is still so loosely connected that reading order won't mess you up.

As such, Stormlight 1 and 2 do contain some very minor characters that are more important characters in other serieses. However, they are very minor characters in Stormlight and you won't miss anything in the Stormlight plot if you don't know who the characters are.

Only other thing is that from what I hear "Mistborn: Secret History" contains some spoilers for "Bands of Mourning". So it sounds like Bands of morning should be read before Secret History.

While the graph is a good option, if you want to really feel the world growing bit by bit:

1. Mistborn Era 1.


2. Elantris & The Emperor's soul


3. Warbreaker


4. Stormlight 1-2 (WOK, WOR)


5. 
   Edgedancer (which is missing in the graph but it's actually important)


6. Oathbringer (Stormlight 3)


7. Mistborn era 2


8. Mistborn: A Secret History (Can be read before Era 2 or after Bands of Mourning, as it contains really small spoilers for it)

Notice that you can read Arcanum Unbounded after Edgedancer (which is a part of it) but not before Words of radiance and definitely only after you've read Elantris and Mistborn. You should try it after Era 2 if you can.

That's what I did. Without any spoilers, it made every bit of the Cosmere so much better, as things grew around me all the time and I learn stuff in a way that felt very natural.