Utah author Brandon Sanderson is one of the biggest names in fantasy. Some fans may know he's the guy that finished writing Robert Jordan's hefty "Wheel of Time" series and was hired to consult on the canceled show. While his contributions were mostly left behind — to both his chagrin and those of the fans — it gave Sanderson plenty of time to keep building on his own personal literary juggernaut: the Cosmere.
Sanderson's Cosmere is a multi-world, multi-genre leviathan, where every corner of it has
rules of magic that work slightly differently, yet it all connects together. Though "Elantris" is his ground zero for publication, some fans instead entered the universe through the "Mistborn" saga, which begins as epic fantasy and evolved into gaslamp fantasy with a probable space opera future. But the crown jewel of this galaxy, its worlds bound together by the shards of the murdered deity Adonalsium, is the "Stormlight Archive."
The "Stormlight Archive" is pure epic fantasy. Set on Roshar, it's populated with a literal army of viewpoint characters and fueled by anime-styled fight scenes where warriors may take to the sky to fend off the threats posed by Odium, a malignant fragment — Shard — of that greater dead god. Yeah, it's a lot to take in, and although we're here today to rank the "Stormlight Archive" by its best for the fun of it, take it from us: just read them in order. As you go, bookmark the terrific, fan-created Coppermind website to refer to any details you might've forgotten from a few hundred pages ago. And as you fall in love with it, feel free to stop by his own publication house and fandom merch site, Dragonsteel. It's a big, big, BIG world over here, but Brandon Sanderson wants us to have fun with it all.
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Edgedancer
One of two novellas (it's almost 300 pages, but for Sanderson, that's novella length. Seriously) that make up the current "Stormlight Archive" canon, "Edgedancer" is both crucial for laying in some backstory for characters that become highly relevant to the latest book, and also weirdly niche. While there are no bad works in the "Stormlight Archive," and frankly the overall Cosmere holds up strong, "Edgedancer" still rolls low because everything hinges on your tolerance for the way-too-young-at-heart character Lift.
Lift is one of Sanderson's favorite characters, a girl who made a wish to never grow up and is committed to making sure that wish stays good. Like most wishes from the goddess-like figure she petitioned, it's got some big upsides, but the downsides eventually wear a person down. Lift is still in a childlike high in "Edgedancer," where she's a big eater with a rambunctious personality that would let her slot perfectly into the world of "My Hero Academia." Her Quirk, so to speak, makes her one slippery thief.
"Edgedancer" showcases some growth on Lift's part, but for "Archive" fans, it also shows that even one of the mostly-insane Heralds can learn to change, too. If a little. Still, it's a tough read for an audience that may yet resent the Jar-Jar Binkses of the world. Lift is a viewpoint character like none other in the series. It's up to you how you feel about that.
Rhythm Of War
"Rhythm of War" is the fourth chapter of the "Stormlight Archive," and it feels like the most geographically contained. While there's plenty of other things going wrong all across Roshar, including some much-needed dives into the lives and experiences of the singers, it's also the one fans sum up as "Fantasy Die Hard." As girthy as this novel is, that makes Kaladin Stormblessed's crawl to save the day an occasionally slow one.
The best part of "Rhythm of War" is also tinged with that weight. Navani Kholin, a scholar whose intelligence had gone ignored by her first husband, Gavilar (the man whose murder is reviewed by new angles in every novel's prologue until we start realizing we need to cheer for it), finally gets to headline much of the book. She's also the one that has to carry the load of expanding some of the most significant — and dense — rules for how magic works on Roshar. The title is the clue, and the clues have been building the whole time: it's the rhythms, silly. But things are a lot more complex than a few drum solos, and this book, while still terrific, is also the crunchiest.
Words Of Radiance
Almost every epic universe hits a little lag in the second segment. "Words of Radiance" is a big bridge for the warriors of Bridge Four as they, led by Kaladin, now serve the royal house of Kholin directly. That's a tough ask for Kaladin, who's still grappling with the well-earned hatred he feels for the noble class, and the Kholins aren't exempt. There's a caste-style system at work in the greater kingdom of Alethkar, where most of the privileged folk have light-hued eyes, which may as well be a curse as far as Kaladin is concerned. Thus, Kaladin is at his grumpiest for most of this book, and for Kaladin fans, you know that's grumpy.
This is also the point where fans have to lock in for the longest, and most potentially annoying subplot: The Ghostbloods. The potential here is how seriously one takes Brandon Sanderson's hope that fans can read what they like of the overall Cosmere without feeling obligated to read all of it. Without delving too deep into some big reveals — most of which are backloaded into the last 15% of the novel, creating what fans term the Sanderlanche — the Ghostbloods, their goals, and their existence tie heavily into one of Sanderson's other major Cosmere works. Despite Sanderson's efforts to retain some boundaries, the Ghostbloods pay off a lot more if you know their secretive leader's backstory.
Oathbringer
Shallan, who's also dealing with a striking mental illness (big points here to Sanderson as he continually makes efforts to improve how he handles various forms of representation), sees her life become an ever-bigger struggle in "Oathbringer," the third novel. The series begins to really hit its stride at this point. The biggest building blocks have been well-laid for readers to grasp and now the antagonists are in position to mess it all up. Among the pitfalls is a wildfire rush of paranoia as one nobleman's murder from the last novel remains unsolved — for shocking reasons.
Meanwhile, fans are introduced to the concept of the Unmade, one of which is causing havoc at the heart of the magical tower hidden among the Shattered Plains, and one of two characters the fans love to absolutely loathe gets oh-so-much-worse by the time "Oathbringer" is over. Moash, best described is "that murderous Jon Snow-killing archer, Olly, from 'Game of Thrones' but even more dickish" isn't even in his final form yet. These aren't the worst things to happen to our protagonists, but as the third book of a potential ten, the story is moving up to a good lope at this point.
Dawnshard
The second canon 'novella' (269 pages, aka, a full early Stephen King book) focuses on a character best known from "Stormlight Archive" interstitials. "Dawnshard" is about Rysn, a merchant noble from the kingdom of Thaylenah, who became disabled during one of those segments in "Words of Radiance." None of this slows her down, as the magitek-style fabrials that scholars invent give her a quality wheelchair, and her accident joined her with one of the coolest pets in modern fantasy: the larkin, Chiri-Chiri.
Larkins are sort of like lobster-dragons — Sanderson loves putting crustaceans in the Cosmere, leading this author to suspect that by the end of time, all of Adonalsium's creation shall Return To Crab — and Chiri-Chiri is just a lil guy. But more importantly, "Dawnshard" is one of Sanderson's most briskly paced works, putting Rysn on a quest that's vastly more important to the future of Roshar than you'd guess. Unless you have well-learned suspicions about what the title means. Also, it features a character called the Lopen. All my homies love the Lopen. "Dawnshard," of all the "Stormlight Archive," is simply a fun ride.
Wind And Truth
As any work grows in popularity, there comes with it bigger and weirder and louder divides in its fandom. "Wind and Truth" is the most recent novel, finishing at the halfway mark of the "Stormlight Archive," and the place where Sanderson will take a brief hiatus to fill out some of the rest of the Cosmere. Part of the issue that new slice of fandom has is that it features the lighter, faster tone Sanderson honed while casually writing four (and actually five) secret novels during the COVID-19 lockdown. Yeah, I rotted on the couch to "Tiger King," too, but here's this guy.
The biggest complaint from tough guys with YouTube channels where they scream into the camera? Finale action scenes as Roshar crawls towards some deadly apex occasionally take a backseat to the characters actually working through their issues. Yes, it's the book where Kaladin Stormblessed invents therapy, and you know what? Everyone on Roshar needs it. The readers need it. As 2025 lurches on, frankly, we all need it.
Just as importantly, the novel drills deep into what makes Szeth-son-son-Vallano tick at last, and (almost) nobody needs therapy more than he does. It's everything we wanted, and nothing Szeth ever deserved. By the end, you'll understand why it'll be a while before Sanderson returns to Roshar, and yeah, I'm not okay either.
The Way Of Kings
With five more bulky tomes to come and a sundered galaxy left to explore, the best place to start the "Stormlight Archive" is the beginning. And from such humble beginnings, dynasties are born. "The Way of Kings," first published in 2010, is a little rough in spots, being the biggest and most complex work Sanderson had yet published. Its first few fight scenes set a Very Extremely Anime tone, with a royal assassin lashing himself from wall to ceiling and even the sky in ways "Solo Leveling" fans would find appealing. But it also does a magnificent job of setting up the world for all the changes to come.
Key to the apex necessity of "The Way of Kings" at the top of this list are two details. The first are the epigraphs at the beginning of every chapter, and many of them — the 'death rattles' collected in the first and fourth parts — are clues to events that may take thousands of pages to pay off. The second detail that matters to future books is that this is the first time we read about King Gavilar's assassination, a nexus event that will unravel four more times to reveal dark secrets about that fatal hour. In my heart I know Brandon Sanderson's whole basement looks like Charlie Day's Pepe Silvia whiteboard, because from page one, everything in the "Stormlight Archive" is connected.
To read more, be sure to check out 12 fantasy novels that we think deserve a live-action adaptation. Want to scoff and shake your head and tell us we're wrong? Then be sure to also read our rankings for the greatest fantasy shows of all time.
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