Hmmm... for myself I would suggest reading the series in internal chronological order. OTOH, I've read the whole series multiple times so no spoilers left.
So tempting to say there no one true way to read the books.
For a new reader, I would suggest starting with:
- The Last Herald-Mage trilogy (Vanyel's story)
- The Vows of Honor trilogy (Karma and Kethry's story)
- By The Sword (Kerowyn's story)
- the Alberich duology (Exile's Honor & Exile's Valor)
- Take a Thief (Skif's story)
- The Heralds of Valdemar trilogy (Talia's story)
- The Mage Winds trilogy (part 1 of Elspeth's story)
- The Mage Storms trilogy (part 2 of Elspeth's story)
- The Darian's Tale trilogy (Darian's story)
You can take a look at
Books by chronological order for the full list in internal chronology order or
Books by publication order.