Cosmere

#44.46 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking

Books 18 books Status Ongoing 2005–present Reading commitment High Brandon Sanderson Last reviewed 2026-08-05

Overview

The Cosmere is Brandon Sanderson's interconnected epic-fantasy universe: nearly all of his adult fantasy novels take place on different worlds of a single dwarf galaxy, whose magic systems derive from the 16 Shards of the shattered power Adonalsium. Sanderson writes each series to stand alone; the connections reward attentive readers without being required. The first Cosmere book, Elantris, appeared in 2005; the universe is very much in progress (The Stormlight Archive is planned as 10 novels, 5 published; a third Mistborn era is planned); the whole family of series is treated as a single universe entry.

Epic fantasy · For Adult

Core Canon: Reading Order (18 works) counts toward ranking

Mistborn Era 1 Brandon Sanderson

	Work	Year	Canon	Rating
	Mistborn: The Final Empire	2006	core	4.48 (1,063,129 ratings)
	The Well of Ascension	2007	core	4.38 (696,643 ratings)
	The Hero of Ages	2008	core	4.56 (642,795 ratings)

Mistborn Era 2 (Wax and Wayne) Brandon Sanderson

	Work	Year	Canon	Rating
	The Alloy of Law	2011	core	4.19 (304,920 ratings)
	Shadows of Self	2015	core	4.26 (224,054 ratings)
	The Bands of Mourning	2016	core	4.40 (204,849 ratings)
	The Lost Metal	2022	core	4.48 (132,424 ratings)

The Stormlight Archive Brandon Sanderson

	Work	Year	Canon	Rating
	The Way of Kings	2010	core	4.66 (707,574 ratings)
	Words of Radiance	2014	core	4.76 (491,715 ratings)
	Oathbringer	2017	core	4.60 (386,381 ratings)
	Rhythm of War	2020	core	4.57 (262,461 ratings)
	Wind and Truth	2024	core	4.36 (157,249 ratings)

Planned as 10 novels; 5 published through Wind and Truth (2024).

• Elantris (2005) core · 4.16 (368,980 ratings)
• Warbreaker (2009) core · 4.29 (300,823 ratings)
• Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023) core · 4.32 (298,003 ratings); Secret Project #1 (Kickstarter Jan 2023; trade April 2023).
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (2023) core · 4.43 (124,414 ratings); Secret Project #3.
• The Sunlit Man (2023) core · 4.26 (89,945 ratings); Secret Project #4.
• Isles of the Emberdark (2025) core · 4.48 (41,369 ratings); Secret Project #5; full novel expanding the novella Sixth of the Dusk.

Library: Expanded Canon (11 works) context only

• The Hope of Elantris (2007) expanded; Side story to Elantris; collected in Arcanum Unbounded (2016).
• The Eleventh Metal (2011) expanded; Mistborn prequel short; collected in Arcanum Unbounded (2016).
• The Emperor's Soul (2012) expanded; Set on Sel; won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novella; collected in Arcanum Unbounded (2016).
• Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (2013) expanded; Set on Threnody; collected in Arcanum Unbounded (2016).
• Sixth of the Dusk (2014) expanded; Set on First of the Sun; expanded by the 2025 novel Isles of the Emberdark.
• Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, Episodes 28-30 (2014) expanded; In-world serial tied to Mistborn Era 2; collected in Arcanum Unbounded (2016).
• Mistborn: Secret History (2016) expanded; Companion novella to Mistborn; commonly read after The Bands of Mourning (placement community-sourced).
• Edgedancer (2016) expanded; Continuity-important: set between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. First in Arcanum Unbounded (Nov 2016); standalone edition 2017.
• Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection (2016) expanded; Collects the shorter Cosmere works plus a White Sand excerpt; published November 22, 2016.
• Dawnshard (2020) expanded; Continuity-important: set between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War.
• White Sand (graphic novel trilogy) (2016) expanded; Dynamite: Vol.1 2016, Vol.2 2018, Vol.3 2019; revised omnibus 2022. Canonical story, adaptation of an unpublished prose draft, registered Expanded.

Quick answers

• How many books are in Cosmere? Cosmere's Core Canon is 18 books, plus 11 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
• What is the reading order for Cosmere? Publication order, starting with Mistborn: The Final Empire. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
• Is Cosmere finished? Ongoing (2005–present).
• How much reading does Cosmere take? High reading commitment (estimated from 18 Core Canon books · ~12,432 pages).
• How is Cosmere ranked? #4 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 6,497,728 reader ratings across 18 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.

Why is it ranked #4?

Ranked #4 of 664 ranked universes.

• Average reader rating of 4.46 across 18 core books.
• Backed by 6.5M reader ratings.
• Uneven reception: its books range from 4.16 to 4.76.
• 0.02 behind #3, The Hierarchy.
• Above the top-10 average of 4.45.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Top-tier rated · 18 books · Ongoing · 6.5M ratings · Ranks #4 overall

Good choice if you want a long-running epic fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.

Reading order

Publication order (18 Core Canon books)

1. Elantris (2005)
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)
3. The Well of Ascension (2007)
4. The Hero of Ages (2008)
5. Warbreaker (2009)
6. The Way of Kings (2010)
7. The Alloy of Law (2011)
8. Words of Radiance (2014)
9. Shadows of Self (2015)
10. The Bands of Mourning (2016)
11. Oathbringer (2017)
12. Rhythm of War (2020)
13. The Lost Metal (2022)
14. The Sunlit Man (2023)
15. Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023)
16. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (2023)
17. Wind and Truth (2024)
18. Isles of the Emberdark (2025)

Awards (verified)

• David Gemmell Legend Awards (2011, 2015, 2018) and multiple #1 NYT debuts: Stormlight Archive books

• Hugo Award (Best Novella), 2013: won: The Emperor's Soul
• David Gemmell Legend Award (Best Novel), 2011: won: The Way of Kings
• David Gemmell Legend Award (Best Novel), 2015: won: Words of Radiance

You might also like

Suggestions computed from what Cosmere and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.

• Legends of the First Empire Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.32
• A Song of Ice and Fire Epic fantasy / Grimdark · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.41
• Realm of the Elderlings Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.29
• Malazan Epic fantasy / Grimdark · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.27

Official resources

• Brandon Sanderson: Where do I start?
• What is the Cosmere? (official FAQ)
• Coppermind: the recognised Cosmere wiki

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.46 across 6,497,728 ratings on 18 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: Cosmere is a single universe accepted 2026-08-03

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

• Brandon Sanderson, official website Tier 1
• Coppermind Tier 2
• Wikipedia (English) Tier 2
• Macmillan / Tor Publishing Group Tier 1

Last reviewed: 2026-08-06

Rule: One universe. Core = 18 published novels; novellas and White Sand expanded. Stormlight planned as 10 novels; Mistborn Era 3 planned.

Key figures & places Knowledge-graph pilot

The 5th bounded, sourced pilot of this project's knowledge-graph layer, and the first against a shared multiverse rather than one world -- 40 characters, 15 places and 8 organizations registered for the Cosmere across 5 Shardworlds, with 57 cross-linking relationship edges (not rendered here). Coverage follows a fixed selection rule since 2026-09-04 (viewpoint characters across two or more core books, each series' protagonists and antagonists, and recurring named roles), so it scales with the size of the universe.

• Hoid
• Vin
• Kelsier
• Sazed / Harmony
• Kaladin Stormblessed
• Dalinar Kholin

• Scadrial
• Roshar
• Sel
• Elendel
• Urithiru

• Knights Radiant
• Seventeenth Shard
• Ghostbloods

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