| The best recommendation for reading order I can give is this: * Start with the Mistborn trilogy. This series probably has the best magic system he ever designed, and they're not as long as the main opus magnum that is the Stormlight Archive series, so if you don't like them, you can discover that much more quickly. It also gives you probably the best window into the general writing style of Sanderson, I believe. * The next book is probably Stormlight Archive book 1, The Way of Kings. If you liked the Mistborn trilogy, reading this book next is probably the right thing to do to know if you're going to be invested into the entire shared literary universe or if you just want to stick to some series. * After this point, it's probably best to read the books closer to their original publication order. In particular, the Stormlight Archive books start drawing on the other Cosmere novels so that familiarity with them is helpful, although definitely by book 4 (Rhythm of War), it's necessary to be familiar with Mistborn's magic system for maximum enjoyment. * The thing with starting with Elantris is that Elantris is Sanderson's first novel, and it that really comes across in the writing. For that reason, I'd move it away from a general publication order recommendation. * Another reason to generally favor publication order is that the wiki actually lets you browse it as it was right before the major books were published (https://coppermind.net/wiki/Special:TimeMachine), which lets you use it to catch up on information in reading the newer books without spoiling them for you. |