Story Order
Request an addition

Enter the Cosmere universe

Cross every worldFollow the Cosmere forward.

Taldain, Sel, Scadrial, Nalthis, Threnody, Roshar and the space-age worlds form one canon—separate adventures whose people, powers and consequences increasingly collide.

Open the full timeline ↓
Last editorial check

Universe orientation

Thirty-two mapped stories. One connected creation.

The quick answer

This page answers where each published canon story sits in-universe. It is not a spoiler-safe recommendation order: use release order if you want discoveries to unfold as readers originally encountered them.

Switch to release order or use Starter Mode for a shorter route.

Universe explored

The Cosmere universe, story by story

Every published canon Cosmere story currently in scope appears here, from White Sand through the space-age works. Collections such as Arcanum Unbounded do not create duplicate entries; their individual stories sit where their events belong.

Route
Order
Formats
More filters
Story chronology · Full mapped list

This is an in-universe chronology, not Brandon Sanderson’s recommended reading order. Exact sequence is preserved within series; broad cross-world placements use confidence labels, and Secret History is shown as an overlap across Mistborn Era 1.

Showing 32 of 32 released stories.

  1. Graphic novelCanon

    White Sand, Volume 1

    ReadGraphic novelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanon

    Kenton survives an attack on the Sand Masters and begins the political fight to preserve their order on the sunlit side of Taldain.

    WorldTaldainSeriesWhite SandContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2016
  2. Graphic novelCanon

    White Sand, Volume 2

    ReadGraphic novelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanon

    Kenton’s fragile position as Lord Mastrell draws him deeper into Taldain’s politics while Khriss continues her own investigation.

    WorldTaldainSeriesWhite SandContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2018
  3. Graphic novelCanon

    White Sand, Volume 3

    ReadGraphic novelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanon

    The graphic-novel sequence closes its central conspiracy and Kenton’s struggle for the future of the Diem.

    WorldTaldainSeriesWhite SandContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2019
  4. NovelCanon

    Elantris

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    A prince is cast into a fallen city after a divine transformation goes wrong, while a princess and priest fight over the kingdom beyond its walls.

    WorldSelSeriesElantrisContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2005
  5. Short storyCanonOverlaps Elantris ending

    The Hope of Elantris

    ReadShort storyOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    A child inside Elantris tries to protect the people around her while the novel’s final crisis unfolds from another viewpoint.

    WorldSelSeriesElantrisContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2006
  6. NovellaCanon

    The Emperor’s Soul

    ReadNovellaOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    On another part of Sel, a magical forger is given one impossible deadline: reconstruct the soul of an emperor.

    WorldSelSeriesElantrisContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2012
  7. Short storyCanon

    The Eleventh Metal

    ReadShort storyOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    A younger Kelsier trains with Gemmel and learns how an impossible rebellion might begin before the original Mistborn trilogy.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 1ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2011
  8. NovelCanon

    Mistborn: The Final Empire

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Vin joins Kelsier’s crew for a magical heist against an immortal ruler in a world buried beneath ash and mist.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 1ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2006
  9. NovelCanon

    The Well of Ascension

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Victory leaves Vin and Elend holding a besieged city while something much older presses against its prison.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 1ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2007
  10. NovelCanon

    The Hero of Ages

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    The first Mistborn era reaches its world-changing conclusion as the truth behind Scadrial’s gods and powers finally surfaces.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 1ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2008
  11. NovellaCanonOverlapping story

    Mistborn: Secret History

    Overlapping storyRuns concurrently across the original Mistborn trilogy.Overlaps The Final Empire → The Well of Ascension → The Hero of Ages
    ReadNovellaOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon
    Spoiler-sensitive placement — reveal note

    A hidden viewpoint reveals what was happening beside Era 1’s main events. It contains major trilogy spoilers and a smaller Bands of Mourning spoiler.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 1ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2016
  12. NovelCanon

    Warbreaker

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Two princesses, a reluctant god and a dangerously cheerful sword collide in a kingdom where colour fuels magic.

    WorldNalthisSeriesWarbreakerContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2009
  13. NovellaCanon

    Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

    ReadNovellaOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    An innkeeper and bounty hunter survives a haunted forest where every flame, wound and sudden movement can attract the dead.

    WorldThrenodySeriesStandalone CosmereContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2013
  14. NovelCanon

    The Way of Kings

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Soldier, scholar, assassin and highprince converge on a storm-battered world as ancient powers and forgotten oaths return.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight ArchiveContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2010
  15. NovelCanon

    Words of Radiance

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    The new Knights Radiant begin to find one another while the Shattered Plains race toward a catastrophic transformation.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight ArchiveContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2014
  16. Short storyCanonDuring Words of Radiance

    Elsecaller

    ReadShort storyOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanon

    Jasnah Kholin confronts danger in the Cognitive Realm while learning how emotion, spren and her Radiant powers collide.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight Lost TalesContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2024
  17. Short storyCanonDuring Words of Radiance

    King Lopen the First of Alethkar

    ReadShort storyOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanon

    An assassination attempt takes an impossible turn, leaving one of Roshar’s least expected rulers to deal with the aftermath.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight Lost TalesContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2024
  18. NovellaCanon

    Edgedancer

    ReadNovellaOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Lift leaves court for Yeddaw and collides with Darkness in the bridge between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight ArchiveContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2016
  19. NovelCanon

    Oathbringer

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Dalinar’s buried history becomes inseparable from his attempt to unite Roshar against the new Desolation.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight ArchiveContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2017
  20. NovellaCanon

    Dawnshard

    ReadNovellaOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Rysn leads a dangerous expedition to Akinah and uncovers a secret whose importance reaches far beyond Roshar.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight ArchiveContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2020
  21. NovelCanon

    Rhythm of War

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    War, scholarship and the physics of Roshar’s magic converge as both sides gamble on dangerous new discoveries.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight ArchiveContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2020
  22. NovelCanon

    Wind and Truth

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Ten final days drive the first Stormlight arc toward Odium’s contest of champions and consequences felt across the Cosmere.

    WorldRosharSeriesStormlight ArchiveContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2024
  23. NovelCanon

    The Alloy of Law

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Centuries after Era 1, frontier lawman Waxillium Ladrian returns to an industrialising Elendel where guns and Allomancy share the streets.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 2ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2011
  24. Short storyCanonIntentionally unreliable narrator

    Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania

    ReadShort storyOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    A flamboyant newspaper adventurer recounts his latest exploits—with footnotes quietly challenging how much of his story deserves belief.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 2ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2014
  25. NovelCanon

    Shadows of Self

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Wax’s hunt for a shapeshifting killer forces him to confront Scadrial’s divine history and one of his own deepest wounds.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 2ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2015
  26. NovelCanon

    The Bands of Mourning

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    A hunt for the Lord Ruler’s legendary metalminds reveals that Scadrial’s history—and its place in the wider Cosmere—is less settled than it appears.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 2ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2016
  27. NovelCanon

    The Lost Metal

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Wax and Wayne’s era closes as a local conspiracy becomes an openly interplanetary Cosmere conflict.

    WorldScadrialSeriesMistborn Era 2ContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2022
  28. NovelCanon

    Tress of the Emerald Sea

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Tress leaves her island home and crosses lethal spore seas to rescue the person she loves, with a familiar worldhopper narrating the trouble.

    WorldLumarSeriesStandalone CosmereContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2023
  29. NovelCanon

    The Sunlit Man

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    A fugitive worldhopper lands on Canticle, where stopping in the sunlight means death and every escape exposes more of his past.

    WorldCanticleSeriesStandalone CosmereContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2023
  30. NovelCanon

    Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Two people from radically different societies become mysteriously linked while nightmares gather behind the rules governing both their lives.

    WorldKomashiSeriesStandalone CosmereContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2023
  31. NovellaCanon

    Sixth of the Dusk

    ReadNovellaOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    A traditional trapper on the lethal island of Patji faces visitors from the stars and the slow colonisation hidden beneath their help.

    WorldFirst of the SunSeriesStandalone CosmereContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2014
  32. NovelCanon

    Isles of the Emberdark

    ReadNovelOfficial Brandon Sanderson guideCanonListenAudiobook editionSearch Audible — edition not verified · Opens search resultsCanon

    Sixth of the Dusk’s world expands into a spacefaring Cosmere story where modernisation, conquest and interplanetary powers can no longer stay distant.

    WorldFirst of the Sun · Wider CosmereSeriesStandalone CosmereContinuityCanonical CosmereIn-world placementNot yet fixedFirst release2025

Suggested routes

Choose a way in.

Use the full chronology or follow a shorter route.

01 · Default view

In-universe chronology

All published canon fiction follows its best-supported position across the wider Cosmere.

02 · Secondary view

Publication order

Re-sort the same 31 works by their first published release.

03 · Overlap rule

No invented precision

Secret History and same-period stories keep relationship labels instead of misleading numbers.

Abstract branching map representing separate story continuities

Story versions

Choose how to experience it.

Researched editions and adaptations stay together under one story.

See how stories are organised

Sources

What anchors this order.

Official franchise, creator and publisher sources anchor the chronology. Conflicts and uncertain placements are labelled.

Officially confirmed Cosmere macro chronology ↗Official Cosmere collections and Arcanum Unbounded contents ↗Official Stormlight Archive series guide ↗Official Mistborn Era 1 guide ↗Official Mistborn Era 2 guide ↗Official Cosmere standalone guide ↗

Continue exploring

Similar themes, different worlds.

Missing something?

Help expand The Cosmere.

Request a title or correction.

Send a request