Reading Orders
Follow a reading order to control what you see as you read through a series.
What are reading orders?
Some series and universes can be read in more than one order. The Cosmere, for example, has a recommended order that differs from publication order. Reading orders let you choose which order you're following and track your position within it.
Your position in a reading order feeds directly into spoiler filtering. All books up to your current position are treated as safe, so character pages only show information from books you've reached.
Following a reading order
There are two ways to follow a reading order:
From a series reading order page
- Go to a series page (e.g. The Stormlight Archive) and find the Reading Order section.
- Click Follow this order. This takes you to the Reading Profile page and opens the setup wizard with that order already selected.
- The wizard asks how far you've read and whether you're currently reading a book. Your choices are saved and the series appears on your Reading Profile page.
From the Reading Profile page
- Go to your Reading Profile page and search for a series.
- Select the series to open the wizard. If the series has multiple reading orders, you'll choose which one to follow in the first step.
How it works with spoiler filtering
OpenFiction combines two sources to decide which books are safe for you:
- Books you've marked as Read or Reading on your Reading Profile page
- Books up to your current position in any followed reading order
The safe set is the union of both. If you've marked a book as read and it's also in a reading order, it counts either way.
Cascade behaviour
When you mark a book as read or currently reading, earlier books are automatically marked as read too. This keeps your progress consistent and prevents gaps in the spoiler filter.
- With a reading order: the cascade follows the reading order's sequence, not publication order. If book 5 in the order is actually the third published book, marking it as read still cascades books 1-4 in the order.
- Without a reading order: the cascade falls back to the series' default ordering (by book number, then publication year). This works well for straightforward series where publication order is the only sensible reading path.
- Reverse cascade: if you unmark a book, your reading order position is recalculated based on the books that remain read, so your position moves back accordingly.
- Completion: when your reading order position reaches the last book, all books in the order are marked as read and the series is treated as finished.
Example
You're following a Cosmere reading order and your position is at book 5. Books 1 to 5 in that order are automatically treated as safe. If you've also marked a Cosmere book that's later in the order, that book is safe too. Character pages will show data from all of these books.
Suppose the reading order puts Elantris at position 3 and Mistborn: The Final Empire at position 4. If you mark Mistborn as read, Elantris is automatically marked as read too - even though they're in different series - because the reading order defines the sequence.
Series vs universe reading orders
Series reading orders
Define the sequence of books within a single series. Most series have just one reading order (publication order), but some have alternatives - Discworld, for example, can be read in publication order or by following a sub-series like the City Watch or Death books.
Universe reading orders
Define the sequence of books across multiple series within a universe. A Cosmere reading order, for example, might interleave books from Mistborn, Stormlight, and standalone Cosmere novels into a single recommended path. Universe reading orders are the most useful when the order in which you read different series affects what spoilers you encounter.
Managing your reading order
On your Reading Profile page, each series card shows which reading order you're following, a progress bar, and the full list of books in that order. You can mark individual books as read or currently reading directly from the card.
You can stop following an order at any time. Your read progress is kept - only the order tracking is removed. You can also remove a series entirely to clear all reading progress for that series.
Public reading order pages show your position as a read-only label. To make changes, use the Reading Profile page.
Tips
- Reading orders are most useful for universes with multiple series where reading order matters (e.g. the Cosmere, the First Law World).
- For a simple series with a clear publication order, you can just mark books as read on the Reading Profile page without following an order.
- If you're currently reading a book, you can also set your chapter position for even more precise spoiler filtering. See Spoiler Controls for details.
Good to know
Reading order preferences affect the order of books within a series on character timelines. If a character appears across multiple series in a universe (e.g. a Cosmere character in both Mistborn and Stormlight), the series themselves are still grouped by publication order. This is a known limitation we plan to address in a future update.
Related
Spoiler Controls covers the full spoiler filtering system, including chapter-level filtering for books you're currently reading.