Although I generally think it is best when an author can explicitly state that a character is neurodivergent, I understand that we have only had terminology that allows this for a few decades — and even that terminology is ever-changing as we understand what neurodivergence more. After reading Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, whose main character resonates with many neurodivergent readers, I started to wonder about other books with neurodivergent “coded” characters, especially those which were written in times when we did not have terms like autism, ADHD, and OCD.

I’m thinking maybe I’d like to make a list of such books, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for said list?

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to this quest, but in no way new to the Cosmere. I started reading Brandon Sanderson's books with The Final Empire back in 2016 (ten years ago, oh my god) and I've been obsessed ever since! But, ever since throwing myself into Sanderson's world without having any clue what I was getting myself into, I've done a lot more research and made my own "reading order". Of course, you could just read the books in publication order as they come out, but I've noticed a few people talking about how different books have a bigger impact if you read them out of publication order, so I've been making a list, and this is what I have so far! I've not read all of the books (YET), so I would appreciate any and all advice from any of you who have read all or most of the Cosmere!

I've used a bunch of Reddit threads and different blog posts and suggested reading orders to form my own, but credit where credit's due, I wouldn't have ever known where to start without them, so here are the links to everything I've used over the years. When to read Mistborn era 2 + Brandon Sanderson's Reading Order (2024) + Sixth of the Dusk/ Emberdark comparison + When to read Yumi and the Nightmare Painter + Cosmere Reading Order Reddit Thread + Reading Order + Secret History Suggestion + Library Unbounded + Where does White Sand fit in? + When to read Warbreaker?

Here's my reading order. It changes around a bit every couple of years as new books come out, but this is what I've got after Wind and Truth (2024). Just a heads up, as of writing this (May '26), I've only read up to Edgedancer on this list, so please please please no spoilers! If you think I need to move something around because of spoilers, please lmk but don't spoil the book for me!

*I've also added which books were full 5 star reads for me, but a lot of these were high 4 - 5 star reads for me, don't worry!

The Selish System (Arcanum Unbounded) Elantris The Hope of Elantris (Arcanum Unbounded) The Taldain System (Arcanum Unbounded) White Sand Vols 1 - 3 The Scandrian System (Arcanum Unbounded) The Eleventh Metal (Arcanum Unbounded) The Final Empire ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Well of Ascension The Hero of Ages The Emperor's Soul ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Threnodite System (Arcanum Unbounded) Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Warbreaker The Rosharan System (Arcanum Unbounded) The Way of Kings Words of Radiance Elsecaller King Lopen the First of Alethkar Edgedancer (Arcanum Unbounded) Oathbringer Dawnshard Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (Arcanum Unbounded) The Alloy of Law Shadows of Self The Bands of Mourning Secret History (Arcanum Unbounded) Rhythm of War Yumi and the Nightmare Painter Horneater The Lost Metal Winds of Truth The Sunlit Man Tress of the Emerald Sea The Drominad System (Arcanum Unbounded) Sixth of the Dusk Isles of the Emberdark

unknown: The Fires of December

The Selish System - Elantris The Taldain System - White Sand The Threnodite System - Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell The Drominad System - Sixth of the Dusk, Isles of the Emberdark The Scandrian System - Mistborn The Rosharan System - The Stormlight Archive The Nalthis System - Warbreaker

A note on Secret History & The Lost Metal - There's a big reveal for something in Winds and Truth, so it's better to read them first. A note on Sixth of the Dusk & Isles of the Emerdark - You don't necessarily need to read Sixth of the Dusk if you're going to read Isles of the Emerdark. SotD came first and has been developed into what is now Emerdark. It's not a completely word for word copy and paste from what I can tell; some details have been changed, but Emberdark flashes everything out and adds more to the story since it's a full-length novel, instead of a short story/novella. A note on Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - There are references to Warbreaker, Shadows for Silence ITFOH, Elantris and The Stormlight Archive with a small allomancy reference (Mistborn). One important character from Stormlight and a species from Stormlight, so if you're trying to read the Cosmere as close to 'in order' or to try and understand as many references as possible, you probably want to read this after Rhythm of War. A Note on Warbreaker - Apparently, Brandon Sanderson considers this a prequel to The Stormlight Archive, so while I read it long before I started TSA, I think I'd recommend reading it a bit closer so you can see more connections. I believe there is crossover with characters and other books.