How long does it take to read The Stormlight Archive?
Brandon Sanderson · 5 books
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, all 5 books of The Stormlight Archive take about 145 hours to read. As an audiobook, expect about 234 hours at 1x.
Every Stormlight book is enormous. The shortest, The Way of Kings, is about 384,000 words, and the five together are longer than all of A Song of Ice and Fire. Wind and Truth closed the series' first arc in 2024; five more books are planned.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
Every book, timed
| Book | Words | Read | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Way of Kings | 384,265 | 25h 37m | 41h 19m* |
| Words of Radiance | 398,238 | 26h 33m | 42h 49m* |
| Oathbringer | 454,440 | 30h 18m | 48h 52m* |
| Rhythm of War | 455,891 | 30h 24m | 49h 1m* |
| Wind and Truth | 487,746 | 32h 31m | 52h 27m* |
* Listening time estimated at a narration pace of 155 words a minute.
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the whole series:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: published word counts. Word counts from the Coppermind wiki and Brandon Sanderson's published figures, the same ones the Cosmere reading-order page uses. The novellas Edgedancer and Dawnshard aren't included.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked October 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log each book in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read The Stormlight Archive?
About 145 hours at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 182 hours at 200 and 121 hours at 300. That covers all 5 books, from The Way of Kings to Wind and Truth.
How many words are in The Stormlight Archive?
2.2 million words across 5 books. The longest is Wind and Truth (487,746); the shortest is The Way of Kings (384,265).
How many pages a day to finish The Stormlight Archive in a month?
About 265 pages a day, or 4h 51m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 7,929 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
Which Stormlight book is the longest?
Wind and Truth, at about 488,000 words, which is around 32 hours of reading at an average pace.
Should I read Mistborn first?
You don't have to, but the Cosmere books connect, and Mistborn is a shorter way into Sanderson. The Cosmere reading-order page covers the options.