a fantasy reading starter-pack
be0baBrandon Sanderson’s Cosmere
The vast majority of Sanderson’s books are part his Cosmere Universe. Describing it would unfortunately lead to spoilers.
The Stormlight Archives
- The Way of Kings
- Words of Radiance
- Oathbringer
- Rhythm of War
- Wind and Truth (set for release in Dec. 2024)
Standalone story-lines
- Elantris: This was Sanderson’s first book. While the Cosmere itself is not mentioned, this book is, indirectly, foundational material.
- The Emperor’s Soul (novella)
- Warbreaker
- Like Elantris, this is indirectly foundational.
- The more you read his books, the more you find that it’s all interconnected, with hints and clues present everywhere.
The Mistborn Saga
- Mistborn
- The Well of Ascension
- The Hero of Ages
The Wax and Wayne series (part of the Mistborn saga)
- The Alloy of Law
- Shadows of Self
- Bands of Mourning
Miscellany
- Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection (includes Edgedancer, a Stormlight novella, and The Emperor’s Soul.)
Non-Cosmere
- Skyward (A sci-fi series currently consisting of two excellent books)
Further Reading from other authors
And if you like Brandon Sanderson, don’t forget about:
Sam Sykes
- The Grave of Empires series:
- Seven Blades in Black
- The Gallows Black (novella)
- Ten Arrows of Iron
- The Iron Dirge (novella)
Jim Butcher
- The Dresden Files (fantasy/mystery series)
- The Cinder Spires (steampunk fantasy series)
- The Aeronaut’s Windlass
- Furies of Calderon (fantasy series)
- The Cinder Spires (steampunk fantasy series)
Scott Lynch
You’d have to be insane to skip the Gentleman Bastards series! - The Lies of Locke Lamora - Red Seas Under Red Skies - The Republic of Thieves
Chritopher Paolini
You will already have read Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle of course, but if you haven’t, you’re an idiot.
- Inheritance Cycle
- Eragon
- Eldest
- Brisingr
- Inheritance
- Fractalverse
- To Sleep In a Sea of Stars
- Fractal Noise
David Weber
I doubt you’ll have heard of this series, since most people know David Weber as a ‘mere’ science fiction author, but he also writes excellent fantasy novels. His War God’s Own series is quite fantastic, and with it’s most recent book has in fact become and entirely different series, called The Norfressa series.
- War God’s Own
- Oath of Swords
- War God’s Own
- Wind Rider’s Oath
- War Maid’s Choice
- Norfressa series:
- The Sword of the South
For a fantastic mash-up of science fiction and fantasy, one need look no further than Weber and Linda Evan’s Hell’s Gate series:
- Hell’s Gate
- Hell’s Gate (Weber and Evans)
- Hell Hath No Fury (Weber and Evans)
- The Road to Hell (Weber and Joelle Presby)