Mistborn Saga Books in Order by Brandon Sanderson
But you can’t kill me, Lord Tyrant. I represent that one thing you’ve never been able to kill, no matter how hard you try. I am hope.Brandon Sanderson, The Final Empire
- The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) (2006)
- The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) (2007)
- The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) (2008)
- The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4, Wax and Wayne #1) (2011)
- The Eleventh Metal (Mistborn #0.5) – Short story. (2012)
- Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (Mistborn #4.5) – Short story. (2014)
- Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5, Wax and Wayne #2) (2015)
- The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6, Wax and Wayne #3) (2016)
- Mistborn: Secret History (Mistborn #3.5) – Novella. (2016)
- The Lost Metal (Mistborn #7, Wax and Wayne #4) (2022)
- Untitled Mistborn Saga #8 (Mistborn Era Three #1) (planned 2025)
- Untitled Mistborn Saga #9 (Mistborn Era Three #2) (planned 2026)
- Untitled Mistborn Saga #10 (Mistborn Era Three #3) (planned 2027)
About the Mistborn Saga
Set in his wider fictional universe of the Cosmere Universe, Mistborn is a series of epic fantasy books by Brandon Sanderson. As of writing, there are currently seven novels and one novella published, set in two different eras, 300 years apart. The first era, a trilogy, came out in 2006. Set in a region on the planet of Scadrial, Era One mostly takes place in Classical Scadrial, during the Final Empire. Whereas Era Two takes place in Post-Catacendre Scadrial.
Through the first trilogy, we learn of Allomancy, an ability that an Allomancer has where they can burn metals that they ingest for magical powers. These can include enhancing physical and mental capacities.
In the first trilogy, we follow the a secret group of Allomancers who are making an attempt to overthrow the empire. The inspiration for the series came to Brandon Sanderson while he was reading through the Harry Potter series and inspired by the heist storytelling of the Ocean’s film series. Sanderson decided to mix the two genres and create a heist story set in a fantasy setting.
Sanderson has plans for two more series as part of the Mistborn Saga, with the next book planned for 2025.
Who is Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is an American author of SciFi and High Fantasy. He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on 19th December 1975. He enjoyed reading High Fantasy through junior high and high school, finding authors such as Robert Jordan and Anne McCaffrey. He enjoyed reading the genre so much that he gave writing a go himself. His first attempts, as he puts it, were dreadful.
He enrolled at Brigham Young University in 1994 as a biochemistry major. He took time away from University from 1995-1997, to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Seoul, Korea. When he returned to BYU, he switched to an English Major. He began working nights as a desk clerk at a hotel as they allowed him to write while at work. And by 2003 he had written twelve novels, with none of them as of yet published. But by 2005, Elantris, was picked up by Tor Books to some positive reviews. A year later, in 2006, Mistborn: The Final Empire was published.
Sanderson had started to make a name for himself in the genre, and in 2007, only two years after his first book was published, he was chosen to complete the final books in Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time after Jordan’s untimely death. He was asked by Harriet McDougal, who was the wife and editor of Jordan. Sanderson turned what was meant to be one book into three.
Since then Brandon Sanderson has published over 70 books that are involved in 8 different series. From Novels to Novellas, standalones to a part of a larger series of books. And they are all to high praise, if his average Goodreads score is anything to go by (4.41 out of 5).
In March 2021, Brandon Sanderson began his “Weekly Update” on his YouTube channel. It was here that he revealed the title and cover for Cytonic (2021), the third book in his Skyward series (not in the Cosmere Universe).
And in March 2022 Sanderson broke the record on Kickstarter, becoming the all-time most successful campaign. He announced that over the previous two years he had secretly written five otherwise-unannounced books, with three a part of the Cosmere Universe . He told the world that these will be available through a Kickstarter subscription, released quarterly throughout 2023. He raised $15 million in the first 24 hours, and $20 million within three days! It ended with a total of 185,341 backers pledging $41,754,153!
The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.
Brandon Sanderson, The Allow of Law
The Order
Below you will find the publication order of the Mistborn Saga books and more info on each book. If, however, you are more interested in the wider Cosmere Universe by Brandon Sanderson we have done a post about the Best Reading Order of the Cosmere Universe.
WARNING: There will be spoilers for some of the books mentioned. These are taken from the official descriptions but can sometimes spoil huge parts of previous books. So please be careful!
The Final Empire (2006) 
Mistborn #1
214,755 words, 40 chapters, 544 pages, 14hrs 20mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.47 out of 5 on Goodreads
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.
Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.
But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
The Well of Ascension (2007) 
Mistborn #2
252,730 words, 60 chapters, 592 pages, 16hrs 50mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.38 out of 5 on Goodreads
The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler — the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years — has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.
As Kelsier’s protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.
Stopping assassins may keep Vin’s Mistborn skills sharp, but it’s the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn’t run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier’s crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won’t get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler’s hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.
As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.
Hero of Ages (2008)
Mistborn #3
244,200 words, 84 chapters, 572 pages, 16hrs 20mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.52 out of 5 on Goodreads
Who is the Hero of Ages?
To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness–the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists–is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.
Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. She can’t even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!
The Alloy of Law (2011) 
Mistborn #4, Wax and Wayne Series #1
96,645 words, 22 chapters, 332 pages, 6hrs 30mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.21 out of 5 on Goodreads
Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.
Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history―or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.
One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.
The Eleventh Metal (2011) (Short Story) 
Mistborn Prequel
6,715 words, 21 pages, 30mins to read.
Published by Crafty Games
3.81 out of 5 on Goodreads
It tells the story of how Gemmel taught Kelsier the art of Allomancy. They travel to Mantiz and attack Keep Shezler. There, Kelsier learns that Antillius Shezler had been searching for half-breed skaa for him to torture, hopefully snap, and then test new metals on in a search for the eleventh metal.
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (2014) (Short Story) 
Mistborn #4.5, Wax and Wayne Series #1.5
7,050 words, 40 pages, 30mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
3.50 out of 5 on Goodreads
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania is a short story about an adventuring Allomancer named Jak, as told by him and edited by his Terrisman steward, Handerwym.
Shadows of Self (2015) 
Mistborn #5, Wax and Wayne Series #2
115,775 words, 28 chapters, 383 pages, 7hrs 45mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.29 out of 5 on Goodreads
When family obligations forced Waxillium Ladrian to forsake the frontier lands and return to the metropolis of his birth to take his place as head of a noble House, he little imagined that the crime-fighting skills acquired during twenty years in the dusty plains would be just as applicable in the big city. He soon learned that there too, just being a talented Twinborn ― one who can use both Allomancy and Feruchemy, the dominant magical modes on Scadrial ― would not suffice.
This bustling, optimistic, but still shaky society will now face its first test by terrorism and assassination, crimes intended to stir up labor strife and religious conflict. Wax, his eccentric sidekick Wayne, and brilliant, beautiful young Marasi, now officially part of the constabulary, must unravel the conspiracy before civil strife can stop Scadrial’s progress in its tracks.
The Bands of Mourning (2016) 
Mistborn #6, Wax and Wayne Series #3
130,295 words, 33 chapters, 448 pages, 8hrs 45mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.43 out of 5 on Goodreads
The Bands of Mourning are the mythical metal minds owned by the Lord Ruler, said to grant anyone who wears them the powers that the Lord Ruler had at his command. Hardly anyone thinks they really exist. A kandra researcher has returned to Elendel with images that seem to depict the Bands, as well as writings in a language that no one can read. Waxillium Ladrian is recruited to travel south to the city of New Seran to investigate. Along the way he discovers hints that point to the true goals of his uncle Edwarn and the shadowy organization known as The Set.
Mistborn: Secret History (2016) (Novella) 
44,980 words, 26 chapters, 160 pages, 3hrs to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.37 out of 5 on Goodreads
Kelsier, sentenced to die mining the Pits of Hathsin after attempting to rob the Lord Ruler’s palace, arose as a powerful Mistborn and inspired the revolution that shook the foundations of the Final Empire. His name and deeds passed into legend.
But was that truly the end of his tale? Whispered hints to those he called friends suggested there was a lot more going on. If you think you know the story of the Mistborn trilogy, think again―but to say anything more here risks revealing too much. Even knowing of this tale’s existence could be heresy.
There’s always another secret.
The Lost Metal (2022) 
Mistborn #7, Wax and Wayne Series #4
156,380 words, 82 chapters, 507 pages, 10hrs 30mins to read.
Published by Tor Books
4.49 out of 5 on Goodreads
For years, frontier lawman turned big-city senator Waxillium Ladrian has hunted the shadowy organization the Set―with his late uncle and his sister among their leaders―since they started kidnapping people with the power of Allomancy in their bloodlines. When Detective Marasi Colms and her partner Wayne find stockpiled weapons bound for the Outer City of Bilming, this opens a new lead. Conflict between Elendel and the Outer Cities only favors the Set, and their tendrils now reach to the Elendel Senate―whose corruption Wax and Steris have sought to expose―and Bilming is even more entangled.
After Wax discovers a new type of explosive that can unleash unprecedented destruction and realizes that the Set must already have it, an immortal kandra serving Scadrial’s god, Harmony, reveals that Bilming has fallen under the influence of another god: Trell, worshipped by the Set. And Trell isn’t the only factor at play from the larger Cosmere―Marasi is recruited by offworlders with strange abilities who claim their goal is to protect Scadrial…at any cost.
Wax must choose whether to set aside his rocky relationship with God and once again become the Sword that Harmony has groomed him to be. If no one steps forward to be the hero Scadrial needs, the planet and its millions of people will come to a sudden and calamitous ruin.
Mistborn Era Three (planned 2025-2027)
Mistborn #8-10, Mistborn Era Three #1-3
200,000-250,000 estimated word count,
13hrs 20mins – 16hrs 40mins to read
3.50 – 3.86 out of 5 on GoodReads
A third trilogy is being planned, set to take place “in the early days of computer programming” and with novels set to release in 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively.
Mistborn Reading Order in Chronological Order
Below you will find the chronological order for the Mistborn Saga, not much changes in the order in these books. This is because the main series of books came out already in order. The only change would be when you add in the novellas where the order changes. This is a fun way to add some new way to dive back into these books.
- The Eleventh Metal (Mistborn #0.5) – Short story. (2012)
- The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) (2006)
- The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) (2007)
- The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) (2008)
- Mistborn: Secret History (Mistborn #3.5) – Novella. (2016)
- The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4, Wax and Wayne #1) (2011)
- Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (Mistborn #4.5) – Short story. (2014)
- Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5, Wax and Wayne #2) (2015)
- The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6, Wax and Wayne #3) (2016)
- The Lost Metal (Mistborn #7, Wax and Wayne #4) (2022)
- Untitled Mistborn Saga #8 (Mistborn Era Three) (planned 2025)
- Untitled Mistborn Saga #9 (Mistborn Era Three) (planned 2026)
- Untitled Mistborn Saga #10 (Mistborn Era Three) (planned 2027)
Overall
The Mistborn Saga series are a great series of books, the first trilogy was my introduction into Brandon Sanderson’s work and ones that I could not put down. The world building and story building that goes into this makes it seem that Sanderson has thought about every little detail. Small details that make you want to instantly pick up the books again and find all the subtle hints that reveal major plot points later on.
If you have enjoyed any of Brandon Sanderson’s work and want to learn more about him or any other of his work, then feel free to check out his website.
Which one is your favourite or most looking forward to picking up next?
Let us know!
Happy reading!
Somehow, we’ll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.
– Brandon Sanderson, The Hero of Ages
Mistborn Saga Word Count and More!
- Total words: 1,269,525 words
- Total chapters: 352 chapters
- Total pages: 3,599 pages
- Total reading time: 84hrs 40mins
More of the same, but different:
Things to Note
- Word count is an approximation.
- Amount of pages may differ due to different publications, font style and/or size etc.
- Time spent reading is an approximation based on the word count and the average reading time. The average reader will read 250 WPM (Words Per Minute).
- This is the original publishers of the books.
- The Current GoodReads score at time of writing.
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