DiscussionEditorial

Should You Read Edgedancer and Dawnshard in The Stormlight Archive?

by Nelera · October 1, 2026

The Stormlight Archive's main novels get all the attention, but Brandon Sanderson also wrote two novellas that fit between them: Edgedancer, which sits between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer, and Dawnshard, which sits between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War. Our reading order includes both, and here's why.

Edgedancer follows Lift, the irreverent young thief readers first meet in Words of Radiance. It's fun on its own, but it also develops her into the character she becomes in Oathbringer and digs into the oaths of the Knights Radiant that the main books lean on later.

Dawnshard follows Rysn, the merchant from the interludes, and the Lopen on an expedition to a forbidden island. It's lighter in tone, but it answers questions the main series raises and sets up threads that matter in the later books.

Neither novella is long, and both are easy to find: Edgedancer appears in the Arcanum Unbounded collection and in its own edition, and Dawnshard has its own edition too.

So, did you read them in their slots, or skip them and circle back? And which interlude character would you most like to see get a novella next?

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