2025 Cosmere Reread Order

Now that Wind and Truth is out and behind us, those well Invested in the Cosmere may find themselves ready to dive into the backlog of books they’ve been holding off on while waiting for the conclusion of the first era of the Stormlight Archive. 

It won’t be long though before we start to hear the rhythms of Roshar or the pull of Scadrial, drawing us back in. 

If you’re new to the Cosmere, this isn’t the video for you. This is my 2025 Cosmere re-read order for fans who have fully plumbed the depths of the works of Brandon Sanderson, and are ready to start their journey over again.

I’ve broken down my list into four pods covering groups of books with complementary lore. 

My goal was to span the entire published works of the Cosmere, while also allowing for the occasional break to mix things up. 

Each pod serves as a large chuck of the Cosmere to bite off, allowing for a natural pause to read other series before diving back in.

For those watching this video months from now, this is the reread path I plan on taking in 2025. 

Once I’ve completed my journey, I’ll be posting an article reflecting on how it went here.

Let’s dive in.

Pod 1: Mistborn Era 1

Our first stop on our Cosmere tour is Scadrial. 

Many of us started a reread of the Stormlight Archive in preparation for Wind and Truth, so heading back to Mistborn first will be a refreshing change of pace.

We start with The Eleventh Metal. If you skipped out on the Arcanum Unbounded, it’s time to dive in.

If you’re unfamiliar with The Eleventh Metal, it's a short story published for the Mistborn Adventure Game, not to be confused with the yet to be released Cosmere RPG.

It follows Kelsier and his mentor Gemmel on a mission in the Western Dominance set just three months after Kelsier got his powers.

Think of it as a prequel to Mistborn.

Next up, a series that needs no introduction, we’re going straight through the first era of Mistborn, ending with Secret History.

To round out this group of books, we’ll finish off with Elantris and The Hope of Elantris. There’s really no bad time to fit Elantris into your reread, but some people find the pacing and writing style of the book not as up to par with the more recently published books. 

Thematically, it’s nice to revisit the Elantrians right after we see them in Secret History, so throwing it in at the end of Era 1 feels like the right play to me. 

While I enjoy Elantris, it also gives those who aren’t massive fans a good reason to take a break from the Cosmere and catch up on their backlog.

Pod 2: Stormlight

The next pod starts out similarly slow as some might feel the last pod ended. 

We're going to Taldain with White Sand. Like Elantris, I didn't really know where to put this book. 

There's sprinklings of this story in more than a few of the books in the Cosmere and so I'm putting it here to warm us up to what's next. 

After White Sand, we move on to Warbreaker, then return to the Stormlight Archive.

I know what some of you are thinking. We just finished Wind and Truth, why are we going back to the stormlight archive so quickly? 

There is still so much to unpack from the Stormlight Era 1, and I’m already craving a full reread of the series, novellas and all. 

Positioning it as about the midpoint of the reread allows us to go in with only a semi fresh mindset, allowing us to pull even more detail and nuance from the journey.

Pod 3: Mistborn Era 2

Our next pod starts off strong with the Emperor's Soul. It's a quick read, which off the back of Wind and Truth is refreshing in and of itself, but the plot brings a character crucial to Lost Metal to the forefront.

Speaking of Era 2 of Mistborn, we’re headed there next. All four books plus Allomancer Jack.

We’ll finish out with Tress of the Emerald Sea. Both Lost Metal and Wind and Truth suffer from the same problem of having overwhelming endings and set up more questions than what they provide for answers.

This always leaves me longing for what’s next, we now know that we’ll be waiting a long time for the next book.

The self contained and satisfying ending of Tress, and it’s tie in lore with Mistborn, will have you leaving this pod with a more resolved ending.

Future Cosmere

And so we arrive at last to the final pod. At this point, there are no more larger series to push through. 

Instead we have two of the secret project books and our final run through the arcanum.

We’ll start with Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell and move on to Sunlit man. These two pair well for their shared connection to Threnody.

I had a hard time determining where to put Sunlit given that it feels like the natural next step from Stormlight. 

Because it's so far in the future, and the fact that the Stormlight pod was already very long, I thought putting Sunlit here at the end made the most sense.

Sixth of Dust is our last stop on the Arcanum Unbounded train - Again, some ties to Stormlight but not enough to make that pod any longer than it is.

We end our re-read with Yumi. I picked this book specifically because it has a clean cut ending with just teases and hints at the bigger picture of the Cosmere. 

It's the perfect way to end your Cosmere reread with memories of the series that make it great, with an eye towards the future and new stories yet to be told.

The Journey

And that ends my 2025 cosmere reread. 

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