Good morning, Cosmere chickens! It’s November 15th, and you all know what THAT means?
LOST METAL RELEASE DAY! ::confetti::
Ross and I had a ton of fun with the non-spoiler review a few days ago, but we were having to be VERY careful about what we did and didn’t say. Here…not so much. This is the full-spoiler review, so we’ll be giving you our unfiltered opinions on the book as a whole. There WILL be spoilers. You have been warned. If you don’t want to be spoiled about things, for the love of Wit turn back NOW. (Please note: in addition to Mistborn, we may be mentioning some things from The Stormlight Archive and The Emperor’s Soul. If you haven’t read those, tread carefully.)
Now, you may be wondering who we are. My name’s Lyn! I got my BA in English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing way back in 2004. I’ve written five novels and self-published one of them; still working on edits to the rest. I have a smattering of short stories and novellas as well, but novels are really where I shine. Never could get the hang of short-form storytelling. I’ve been a beta/gamma reader for Brandon since 2013, and I’ve worked on over 20 projects for him in that time. I’ve also written a ton of articles here on Tor.com, and for the last two years I’ve been running a storytelling variety act at renaissance faires in the New England area (we use one of our sets to teach people about the Hero’s Journey in a comedic manner, it’s quite fun). I’m also a cosplayer (since 2003), fire performer, and make hand-carved magic wands as a day job. (Explaining my life to the tax people every year is a ton of fun.)
And I’m Ross! I’m a software developer by day, but I do some writing on the side, and have been one of Brandon’s beta readers for several years. In fact, this book has a special place in my heart, because Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning were the first two books I beta-read for Brandon. I’m feeling like this is the end of an era even more than most!
Buy the Book
The Lost Metal
Lyn: We’re bringing you this article today from Dragonsteel 2022, where Ross is volunteering and I’m selling my novel in the exhibitor hall. Please excuse any rambling on our parts; we’ve been working on this while simultaneously doing a reread of the book and getting ready for the con, so we may be a bit unhinged. But that’s half the fun, eh?
Lyn: So! Let’s begin with an overview. Broadly speaking, was the book worth reading? Did it stand up as an ending to Mistborn Era 2? Are we satisfied with the character arcs, plot arcs, Cosmere connections…? How does this series differ from Sanderson’s other works? Ross, why don’t you start us off.
Ross: Okey doke! Was the book worth reading? Absolutely. Did it have a compelling self-contained plot that resolved perfectly while wrapping up all of the loose ends from Mistborn Era 2 and also digging its roots into the broader Cosmere as a whole, without ever stumbling? Not exactly. But yes, overall I really enjoyed it, and it was definitely full of surprising twists and turns.
Lyn: I agree. Now granted…I am a bit biased here. I adore Era 2. Shadows of Self is one of my favorite Cosmere books. I love the setting, I love Wayne and Marasi, I love the bro-mance between Wax and Wayne. It’s all so much fun. This said, Bands wasn’t exactly my favorite book ever, and I did feel that there were a few things in Lost Metal that weren’t quite…ideal, shall we say? We’ll get into specifics in the later parts of this review. I think, were I to rank the books in this series from personal favorite to least, I’d place them as follows: Shadows of Self, Alloy of Law, The Lost Metal, Bands of Mourning.
Ross: Oh yeah, I’d never bad-mouth Era 2. Wax and Wayne have a buddy vibe that’s top tier, and Steris is on the tippy top of my changed-my-initial-opinion-about-this-character list. I mostly just wished that some of this Era’s conclusion had been a little more…conclusive?
Lyn: We’ll get into specifics on our critiques down below, but for now I’ll just say I agree. Overall I’d say that this book—and the series as a whole—is well worth reading, for sure. It’s a great jaunt through a fun and engaging world, and I love what Sanderson is doing with the magic system and how we’re watching it evolve along with technology. I also liked the atomic weaponry parallels, and the way the book shows us the very real fear that inspires. From a purely technical standpoint, The Lost Metal is exactly what you’d expect from Sanderson, if you like his other works. Strong characters and a great plot with an engaging and explosive finale. Fun dialogue with a distinctive voice. Fascinating worldbuilding and magic-system work that displays the amount of thought that went into both. Prose that is clear and engaging without straying into the overly poetic.
If you enjoy Sanderson’s other books, you’re probably going to like this one, though I have heard some say that the setting doesn’t work for them, as it’s not your typical high fantasy setting. That’s very much a “your mileage may vary” opinion though.
Ross: Era 2 has been one of the most rollicking literary accidents ever, and I’m overjoyed that Brandon decided to go there.
***
Now, let’s get into a bit more of the nitty-gritty, and go over what we liked—and didn’t like— specifically, starting with the very best bits…
Ross: My favorite thing about this book is that Wayne has, through callous disregard for and lack of attachment to wealth, become perhaps the richest person on Scadrial. He has the best brain for monetization opportunities and zero interest in seeing what happens, and it’s hilarious. Running away from Mysterious Suited Figures, getting caught, and it all being because they needed to discuss his finances, was so very Wayne.
Lyn: 100% agree. Wayne was far and away my favorite part of this book…fitting, as it was his swan song. He really shone here, and I think this was such a perfect send-off for him as a character.
“Wayne sometimes pretended he was a hero. Some rusting old figure from the stories, off in some nonsense quest about slaying a monster or traveling to Death’s domain.”
Ross: Well, the good news is that his death was quite well telegraphed, if you were paying attention. In fact, when I got to the end of the Prologue on my first read, I was really worried. And then, when his attitude in every PoV dealt with separation and death, I kind of saw it coming. But it still hurts.
Lyn: Oh yes. I think that even the least observant readers could see this coming a mile off. I never thought that Wayne was going to make it out of this one alive…I was just hoping that he would get a good send-off. And his death certainly lived up to that for me. No “getting killed at the last minute” gut punch here. Wayne had an amazing, perfect (for him) death. I’m glad that he got his awesome huge explosion, glad that he got to be the hero, glad that he got the recognition that he deserved afterward. He’s remembered as a hero, and that’s beautiful. And his character arc was just…fantastic. And since I brought up character arcs…let’s talk about the other main characters.
Ross: Then we should definitely start with Wax. The Wax and Max show early on in the book was very endearing. I think this book also had the clearest and most poignant view of Wax’s dual nature, of his internal conflict between destructive force and nurturing figure. I’m very happy with the way his story was wrapped up.
Lyn: Completely agree, Ross. The journey from Roughs lawman to politician was engaging for me, especially since his revelation was that he didn’t have to be one OR the other, but a mix of both.
“It’s not politics or Allomancy. … It’s never been either/or. That part of your life isn’t over merely because you didn’t need it for awhile.”
Lyn: Even more than the career aspect, though…I loved seeing him become a family man. His relationship with Steris was a beautiful evolution, and one of the more realistic romances in Sanderson’s books. It was a gradual realization that the flaws we see in one another may actually, in the right circumstances, be features instead, and worthy of love and admiration.
Ross: One hundred percent agreed.
Lyn: Watching Steris evolve and realize her own self-worth was pretty amazing over the course of the series, too.
Ross: I still love Steris, and the way she continues to epitomize Brandon’s excellent habit of showing the ways that neurodiverse characters often exceed the abilities of their more “normal” peers in ways that either advance the story or literally save the day. I have a ton of neurodiverse friends who identify with one or more of these characters, and the associations have almost universally been positive and helpful.
Lyn: And of course, we have Marasi. What an awesome character. I’ve always liked her and her quest to try to better the lives of the people, but she felt so much more…mature in this book.
“Lock a man in prison, and you might stop him from committing crimes. Teach a man to respect himself and his community, and you stopped everyone he might have taught, recruited, or bullied. She didn’t want to focus on individuals. She wanted to change the world.”
And turning down the offer to become a worldhopper? Good job, Marasi. Sometimes the most exciting decision isn’t the right one.
Ross: As for an aspect of the book I didn’t like, I was wishing for deeper insight into the reasons Trell is interfering in the Scadrian system, and while we got significant Trell representation, we don’t really have any greater idea what’s going on behind the scenes.
“She has an army,” Telsin said, looking away. “Men of gold and red… waiting for me to fail.”
I suppose it makes sense that Brandon doesn’t want to tip his hand on Trell too much right now, as there might end up being some business that goes down in Stormlight book 5 that will shed lots of light on the Shardic State of Things for all of MB Era 2 (if you weren’t aware, Dear Reader, Brandon has said that these Mistborn Era 2 books take place in the gap between Stormlight books 5 and 6).
Lyn: I’m also not a big fan of how nebulous a lot of the Autonomy stuff was. I was left with a lot of questions, and not in the good “wow I can’t wait to read the next book and find out the answers!” way. I’m glad that Sanderson did give us some very blunt explanations (ie, Trell is just a name of an old religion that Autonomy decided to co-opt), but even so, a lot of it left me very confused as to what we’d just seen and who was doing what.
Ross: The Cosmere-connectedness was the most surprising aspect of this book for me.
Lyn: Yeeeaaaah…same here, and not in a good way.
Ross: I expected to get Kelsier stuff, and more insight into the Ghostbloods. I was not expecting Shai, and definitely wasn’t expecting aethers to make their first canonical on-screen appearance. I know Brandon’s initial idea for the interconnectedness of the Cosmere was that every story would stand on its own, and that worldhoppers and such would only exist as Easter eggs, and I also know that position has evolved over time, but wow. I was certainly expecting a Kelsier sighting, but I didn’t go into this expecting for the secret organization to be composed of main characters of books from other Cosmere planets and people wielding magic tech from other unpublished works.
Lyn: I think this could be the book’s biggest potential failing. For die-hard Cosmere fans, it’s going to be a smorgasbord. But for casual fans, I worry that they’re going to be confused, or feel as if they’re missing out on things. I suppose time will tell on this one…it’s hard for us to judge, since we’ve read all of Sanderson’s published works. But I can’t help but feel like, with this level of interconnectivity, that’s going to leave a subset of fans in the dark. And that does kind of make me sad. It’s a hard line to walk…much like the MCU, managing to weave all these stories together in such a way that both die-hard and casual fans enjoy is very, very difficult. I’m not sure if he managed it in this instance. There were also a few plot holes (looking at you, “Wayne surviving a hundred-foot fall when he barely had enough healing for one bullet wound”) but I’m willing to let those slide in favor of the rule of cool. I wasn’t entirely sold on the doppelgängers, either, to be honest. They felt a bit too much like generic B-list villains in a video game that you have to defeat before you get to the main boss. I wanted to hate them, wanted to really be rooting for them to fail, but I never did. Nor did I ever feel as if they were a real threat to our heroes.
Ross: I didn’t mind the doubles nearly as much as you did. I think one thing that had really been missing from the action scenes in Era 2 was a situation where the main characters had to work against each other, and this set up a way for Wax and Wayne to really go to town on one another without relationship fallout. Plus, the overacting their doubles did was primo cringe. One that I would like to make sure I don’t leave out is a couple of minor let-downs for Steris. First, I wish that Max’s sister Tindwyl had gotten a little more screen time, and that we’d been able to see more depth of Steris’s interactions with her. And second, while Steris once again proved that her planning and organization skills are top-notch, her big moment organizing the evacuation at the end fell a little bit flat when it turned out not to actually be needed, thanks to the lack of an Elendel-shattering kaboom.
Lyn: Well…I think we’ve blathered on for quite long enough. Let’s leave off with a hat-rating, shall we? I’d give The Lost Metal four out of five hats. How about you, Ross?
Ross: Aye, four out of five here, and they’re really good hats, too. All worn in and comfortable, with just enough nicks and stains that folks know they really get worn.
Let us know what you thought of the book—share your theories, your favorite bits, and thoughts about what you’d like to see as we learn even more about the Cosmere and how its worlds connect…
The Lost Metal is published by Tor Books.
Read excerpts from the novel here.
Lyndsey wrote most of this review from her hotel room here at Dragonsteel 2022. If you enjoy queer protagonists, snarky humor, and don’t mind some salty language, check out book 1 of her fantasy series. Follow her on Facebook or TikTok!
Ross also wrote most of this review from the hotel just before con, surrounded by friends and fans. He’s still working on his first novel, but that’s been the case for seven years, so don’t hold your breath just yet.
Huh, this was a trip. Some thoughts, having just finished it:
I didn’t find the explanations about why Marsh couldn’t be actively involved or why the Ghostbloods were caught with their pants down to the degree that they have been, convincing. Harmony clearly created atium and lerasium in that second lab explosion* and withheld atium from Marsh until the dust settled… why exactly? He was still able to enhance Wax and Wayne, so he isn’t completely paralysed and having Marsh functional would have required less active intervention. Additionally, you’d think that Kelsier would have learned how to manipulate Connection to slow/stop aging during his stint as Preservation and shared it with his brother. Also, no medallion use by the Ghostbloods, not even of the medallions commonly available in SoScad, where Kelsier seems to spend considerable amount of time?! I understand that Marasi is supposed to have different strengths than personal combat prowess and weight manipulation is Wax’s signature “thing”, but that was just jarringly unbelievable. Also, you’d think that Wax and Steris would have funded aluminum equipment for her use.
*there is no way that the Set wouldn’t have discovered the god metals, after all their experimentation with blowing up ettmetal with trellium, if they had been the normal product of this process.
And speaking of SoScads, what on Scadrial is the deal with the Bounds of Mourning? Who made them, since now it clearly couldn’t have been Kelsier? Was it TLR, after all? Was it Sazed, maybe? Spook and some unknown Full Feruchemist who survived Catacendre? Or only first manifestedhis power during the 10 years before Kelsier went South? Who drained them? Why the whole rigmarole with the temple? Was Daal snatching them part of Kelsier’s plan? What is to prevent them from attacking the Basin now that the threat of the Bands is gone? And, of course, we learned nothing about the medallion production, except for one thing in appendices: Second Era hemalurgists can’t compound. Which throws out most of the theories about their making.
The hints about what happened to Kelsier are quite intriguing – I guess that he probably has a mistwraith body, as has been speculated? Which is why he can’t use Metallic arts? Though Harmony might be lying about some of it. OTOH, medallions work on the kandra, and presumably he had been able to use the Bands, so I don’t understand why he didn’t make some for his own usage before giving them up, not to mention that he should, again, have access to SoScad ones. Oh, and things like Breaths and such, I imagine. I am 100% with him on making Metallic Arts widely available and very much hope that we’ll finally see it in the 3rd Mistborn trilogy.
What we learned about Harmony is quite ominous – he really needs to learn to use his Ruin to protect Scadrial instead of trying to suppress it completely. Not sure why he doesn’t produce atium either. Lerasium I understand, since making it would weaken his Preservation even further. Also, did he really kill Wax’s parents, and, presumably his cousin? And tried to kill Telsin?
Speaking of whom, I somewhat understand her bitterness towards Wax from their youth, since he not only had won a genetic joker in Metallic powers, but was also treated as heir presumptive to the Ladrians despite being younger and less politically capable, due to sexism. It must have been hard to hear that in the end even Autonomy liked him better.
Set’s research into synthetic hemalurgy is very exciting! Too bad that it is more than likely lost, if Shai can’t be recovered and returned to her normal state. The permanency of her mark is more than a bit odd, since in the Emperor’s Soul marks on people had to be renewed every day and her jar of investiture should be finite. Is she going to experience Shaod when it runs out, I wonder? I was very glad to see her again, though!
I generally liked the trajectories of the central characters. They felt appropriate and satisfying. I have felt that Marasi should be a great reformer from the beginning, but with Wax with Steris’s help seemingly moving into this spot in the preview chapters, I was also excited in her becoming a worldhopper. This felt fitting for who she is, however. Ditto for the rest of them. Wayne’s arc in particular. The Ghotsbloods need to up their recruitment game, though – that’s the second protagonist turning them down. At least this time it was amicable and with possibility of a future collaboration.
Oh, and I almost forgot – who were Autonomy’s soldiers? They couldn’t have just been Iriali, could they? I mean, in such a case, even with better guns they wouldn’t have been as devastating as all that? Are they some kind of Awakened constructs or similar? And how would they have cleared Scadrial of all sentient life?
I didn’t expect Wayne to die because I thought it was too obvious. Turns out that Brandon surprised me by not going for the fake-out. To be expected, I suppose. The man is an evil genius. At least the manner of death was suitably epic. It’s also a reminder that Brandon doesn’t usually end things without killing somebody. (Why yes, I’m worried about SA5, however could you tell?)
Between here and how tSA has been shaping up, I think we’re basically at the point where Cosmere knowledge will be needed going forward. SA5 will probably be the last book where you don’t need to know what else is going on (but it would still really help). Fair. Elantris was published in 2005. That’s almost 20 years of the Cosmere. Right now, by my count, there are: 13 novels, 1 or 3 graphic novel/ (depending on how you count it), 3 novellas, and 8 short stories. A staggering amount of work before factoring in the soon-to-be-published Quarantine 3 novels coming out next year, SA 5 in 2024, and Horneater either next year or in 2024. (Also without getting into his non-Cosmere work, or which there is [shockingly!] even more!) It’s probably time to go beyond Easter Eggs.
The talk between Kelsier and Sazed at the end was interesting. Kelsier may worry about having to protect Scadrial from Sazed, but I think Sazed might be having that same concern about Kelsier. And I wonder if both of them might just be right…
@2 I completely agree with your last point there. I’ve seen quite a lot of people rushing to take Kelsier’s side over Sazed, but what I think is being highlighted isn’t two different sides but two similar sets of flaws. The secrecy of Sazed and Kelsier, and the fragility of their noble motivations (Sazed at risk of becoming Discord, Kelsier’s Ghostbloods developing into villains when he’s not there to personally tell them not to, as well as his own lies and evasions) aren’t contrasted with each other, they’re contrasted with Wax and Marasi, who have made peace with the different drives making up their full natures and want to work in the open for the public good.
@1 Honestly, I thought Automony’s army were listeners. The red and gold sound like the patterns on their skin.
I totally agree with the above comments about Sazed and Kelsier. Both have good intentions but their ridgid belief that their way of seeing things and their path forward is the only way, along with their unwilllingness to compromise or share information is what makes them clash and could possibly be dangerous in the future.
As for the cosmere side of things i love that he’s making world hoppers and other worlds a bigger part of his books. Like @Wizard72 said above theres been so many books in this universe that if he was just dropping little easter eggs in here and there what would really be the point? Thatd be a cruel tease, I’ve been wanting to dive deeper into the interconnectedness of things for a while now. I really dont think it would detract too much from ones enjoyment of the books if their not in the know anyway though but i suppose i cant really speak on it because i am. Once you read one series its hard not to want to devour them all right after so by this point i dont think theres too many people that will be left in the dark for long. My first Cosmere books were the OG mistborn and after that i got Arcanum unbounded and every related book i could find. Really excited for the next era. Hear talk of space opera vibes
Is it just me or did I miss something when Marsh said that 3 members were left of the original crew. Marsh, Kelsier and. . . a third somehow?
@6. Sazed! They know God himself from work.
My big gripe is that the Marasi recruitment thread seemed rushed. It should have been started in a prior book (especially with when she was originally requested to lead the expedition to recover the missing spikes, instead of Wax), or at least been introduced with something more gradual than her having been watched during her operation on the opening chapters. Compare and contrast to the slow recruitment of Shallan in Stormlight.
Another apparent narrative hole (and I agree with the lack of SoScad tech being an issue here, and Kelsier not having anything he can do to help with that, or forces he can marshal?)
One question (of many) I have is the source of the pure investiture used by the Set to make the Portal. We know that the Ghostbloods’ stuff is Liquid Dor. Is it Liquid Trell? Some of the missing “Free Ruin” corresponding to the bit of preservation in all the humans on Scadrial, ala the Well of Ascension? Harmony’s liquid (which was suggested to be guarded heavily in the Southern Hemisphere)?
In response to others comments/the post.
>>> *there is no way that the Set wouldn’t have discovered the god metals, after all their experimentation with blowing up ettmetal with trellium, if they had been the normal product of this process.
I think this is the opposite of what the book says. Harmony says very clearly that Wax did something different, and I think what was different was his explicit intent to split ettmetal using bavadinium, as opposed to just testing the explosive capability. It even works with the intent of the Autonomy shard, as it’s individualizing the two blended components of Harmony.
>>> I’m glad that Sanderson did give us some very blunt explanations (ie, Trell is just a name of an old religion that Autonomy decided to co-opt),
@Lyn that’s the opposite of what was revealed. In Ch. 20: “Trellism is the remnants of an ancient religion on your world, originally founded by Autonomy long, long ago. A seed for when she decided to move in.”
I honestly think we should have seen the dopplegangers throughout the previous books. like, they were a interesting deal, but after the events of the first one, we should have had hints that these guys existed, or were being trained. The anti Wax doesn’t really have a character at all, besides “professional” while anti Wayne is a poor carbon copy; which could be interesting, but we just don’t see them that much. Though at least anti Wayne does give Wayne an opportunity for self reflection, so that’s nice.
I think the reason that the Set’s method of causing an explosion between harmonium and bavadinium used heat to apply energy but Wax’s used electricity. Dazed said that something about wax’s method created Lerasium and Atium.
loved the connections to the Cosmere especially Shai’s role. She’s awesome. Also interesting that Kel recruited a few Skybreakers.
i have a suspicion that the pool used to create the perpendicularity came from the bands of mourning. Somehow the Set figured out how to drain the bands and turn them into pure investiture, possibly even in a deal with the Malwish.
The thing that is yet most scary to me is black shadows Sazed. It makes sense that he is becoming unbalanced and setting up Era 3.
@6 and @7 – I actually think that the third person is probably Spook. He ruled as Emperor for a century before stepping down and probably has some way to stay immortal (by compounding through acces to hemalurgy or he potentially also was given feruchemy powers). I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows up in Era 3.
@10 wait, where were did it say he recruited skybreakers? Was it the 8 people who helped Steris, and she just didn’t realize it?
@10 Andrew — I think it’s the intent. Brandon says over and over again that intent matters, especially on Scadrial. That was the point with the bullet-as-spike in SoS. I don’t see those flyers as skybreakers (and how do you know they’re skybreakers rather than windrunners?), especially as they’re not described as glowing. If they were using Rosharan gravitation surge to fly, what investiture are they using to power their flight? So I think it’s far more probable that they’re probably regular coinshots, which as we know from tAoL are pretty common among Mistings. On the bands, I think that could be plausible, especially given the existence of “dark kandra” as we saw at the end of BoM. But the Malwish had no access to the bands before they were drained — it they were in the possession of the Kandra alone. I think there’s definitely something hinky going on with the Malwish and the bands (Brandon couldn’t have said it any more explicitly from Steris’s PoV), but I don’t think that it’s the Malwish knowingly working directly with the Set or with Autonomy. They’d be just as screwed if Autonomy takes over.
@11 Andy — nope. Refer back to the “legs of the tripod” bit from Marsh. It’s Marsh, Saze, and Kelsier. Spook, even as a mistborn, wasn’t on that level — he couldn’t balance anybody.
@12 Steven — it doesn’t. It’s an inference, and IMO, an unsupported one.
@13,12,10
They specifically ask if the governor is the person who speaks for the law. This is classic Skywalker MO.
Also, did anyone notice Sarene’s Niece? Also the allusion to Aiden? (Elantris is my Fav BS Novel)
Suggested alternate title: Giant Infodump. That’s the big weakness in the book for me, it’s too devoted to filling in the Cosmere gaps at the expense of the story.
Hoid is clearly working with Harmony, just as he was asked to. OK, not clearly, but I think he is.
Brandon’s getting squeamish. Notice that nobody who has a name or background gets killed by the heroes, as they mow down nameless mooks by the dozen? It’s (consciously or unconsciously) a way to keep them from reading like murderers, IMO.
Steris’s work was not wasted – the tsumami from Wayne’s explosion would have killed thousands if not for her.
@Loweeel: the Dor is from Elantris – it’s the combined Investitute of Devotion and Dominion, which Odium stuffed into the Cognitive Realm after he Splintered them. Liquid Dor is mentioned in Mistborn: Secret History.
I can’t edit my previous message because of moderation delay, so let me add: isn’t it odd that the aether requires the same power source as sand mastery, drinking water?
@14 it still doesn’t explain how they are able to have stormlight, nor that they didn’t glow when they flew away. That’s the whole point of Mrzaie’s operation; which we know hasn’t succeeded because Kelsier is still trying to find out how to get past his problems. Just because they talk about the law doesn’t make them skybreakers, or if they are, how their current powers go against the rules of a Radient. If they did have Dor infused jars, wouldn’t Steris, a woman known for noticing the most minute of detail, be able to notice that instead of just brushing them off as coinshots?
I’m struggling with one thought. Where’s Spook (the lord mistborn, if you may)? The lost metal proves that kelsier has no allomantic or feruchemic ability. Meaning, he didn’t fill the bands. Correct me if I’m wrong.
And I seem to remember Kell promising Spook immortality or something like that. But, spook is yet to factor in the post apocalyptic conversations and I’m still waiting for his role.
Wow, I must have a missed something. Who was the rose crystal guy? Where did he come from, some book I haven’t read? Info dump city was how I felt about the volume of Cosmere data that filled the book. If someone has only read era 2 I think it would be off-putting.
I loved Wayne and felt he died in a way that made his end memorable and fitting. I liked the way Brandon brought back the earlier “he exploded himself” theme to compare him to Wax, and that this was the biggest explosion of all.
I also had a feeling Brandon was trying to short circuit any talk of Wayne ever coming back by having Marsh tell the others Wayne was really and truly dead.
Over all this isn’t one of my favorite books. It’s still a solid four out of five but at times it felt off. There are plenty of teasers for era 3 to work with. Who drained the bands, what will the Malwish do with them, will Shai end up immortal and show up, where/how did they get all that investiture? I suppose it’s a given that Autonomy will come back.
One thing I’m still trying to figure out. In Roshar the Ghostbloods seem like bad guys, but in era 2 they at least seem more honorable. Of course, if Kel would destroy another system to save Scadrial that would make a bad guy.
@goddessimho: we never met Twin Souls before this book. Aethers not only come from a book you (and I) haven’t read, they come from a book that was never published, Aether of Night. It’s meant to be mysterious, I presume. Apparently you can get a manuscript of Aether to read by asking for it on the Seventeenth Shard forums, if you are curious. I know about it from fannish discussions.
Another thing I know by reading stuff: in a Q&A, Brandon said that the Ghostbloods are much more amoral when Kelsier himself isn’t there in person to supervise them (like on Roshar). We see him shut down Iyatil’s brother here, for instance, who was apparently ready to assassinate Marasi at the end of Lost Metal.
Also, you mention Shai being immortal. Well, Elantrians apparently do not age, so in her current Essence-Marked state she’s doing OK there, but in any case, Emperor’s Soul seemingly takes place at around the same time as Elantris, which is (as I understand it) centuries before Mistborn Era 1, let alone Era 2. She (and Kaese, aka Codenames Are Stupid) are seemingly unaging already.
@carl 15 — I agree and know that the Liquid Dor is from Elantris. But my question is different — it was about the source of the liquid investiture used by the Set to make the portal. I don’t know that it was described the same way or was confirmed to be Liquid Dor or something else. For example, the Liquid Ruin in the Well of Ascension was described (and functioned) similarly as a shimmering, glowing white pool full of liquid metal. Investiture in liquid form has seemed to be minimally differentiated throughout the cosmere (as opposed to the solid or gaseous phases). — Shardpools either being blue or metallic liquid.
@goddessimho 19 — Yeah, I think Kelsier’s control is not what we think it is. My sense from Stormlight is that Kelsier is more of a figurehead w/r/t events on Roshar and Iyatil is really running the show. (Just recall how hard it was for the Brits to run the American colonies with a multi-month info lag!) We know that Iyatil has a different sense of morality than Kelsier even on a good day, and that’s underscored by how Kelsier refers to her as “running amok on Roshar” (and reinforced by Dlavil’s Machiavellian behavior). So it seems that Kelsier isn’t thrilled about how she’s doing things, but can’t do much about it, even if we’re not sure what exactly he would do if he could.
Bit of a puzzler this book. I felt it diverted just that little bit too much from a self-contained story into a cosmere-connected book.
Fine for me – in a sense – because I’m desperate to learn more about the cosmere. But having now learnt it, I feel I’m less likely to revisit this book in years to come, because the revelations are such a large part of the story.
I still enjoyed it because, well, of course I did. Brandon is a terrifically readable author. Wayne is great and his bromance with Wax is still fantastic. Steris develops beautifully and Marasi is the MVP of the book for me. I loved that she turned down the Ghostbloods but I’m not sure I could have done the same!
Speaking of the Ghostbloods – I still have trouble reconciling Kelsier and Thaidaker. Kelsier was an inspirational hero, the kind of man you could form a religion about. Sure, he was pretty flawed, but he still was basically a very ‘ good ‘ guy and a fantastic character. One I badly missed in the second Mistborn book.
Thaidaker seems a hell of a lot closer to being a villain, considering some of the actions his Ghostbloods perpetrate. Kelsier was properly ruthless but he had limits. I’m less sure Thaidaker does, or at least he has a hell of lot less of them. But maybe so much time and his ‘ death ‘ have sharpened his edges to a considerable degree.
Anyway. This was very enjoyable but it was a 3.5/4 out of 5 book for me. And that’s only disappointing because Rhythm of War was a 4.5/4.75 out of 5 as far as I was concerned.
Maybe every book will be so heavily linked with the cosmere from now on but I think they could use being just that little better balanced with the self-contained story.
Did I miss something? Is Wax a Mistborn now? The book appears to say he is when Harmony is talking to Wayne and when Wax is in the water but then doesn’t mention it again. Wouldn’t that be kind of a big deal?
Is there a handy almost somewhere explaining all the cosmere links? It’s been ages since I read some of the books and I’ve never been great with names regardless.
The book was reasonably entertaining and kept me up until 2am so it succeeded on that count. Since I don’t buy Wayne as a person, it inevitably fell short of what it could have been.
Wax must be mistborn since he burned pewter in order to not freeze to death. Good old Hoid and his ability to show up. But as a mistborn does that mean if Wax has more kids they could be mistborn, too? I was never clear on how the genetics worked since allomancy lasted for so long under the Lord Ruler but seemed to be diluting out quickly in Era 2. Also, how much Lerasium do you need to become a mistborn? Wax must have gotten only a fraction of a gram which implies you need very little. While the process to make it is very energetic, if you don’t need very much it’s not an insurmountable obstacle.
RE: is Wax a Mistborn: He and Wayne both inserted spikes from the dead set members at the tower. Later it mentioned that the spike couldn’t be removed. Wax had studied the Hemalergy book from Marsh and knew how and where to place them. I think it was just Duralium so he could make the jump, sorry, I don’t know the spelling off hand.
@23
I think @25 has it right. Wax now has access to pewter and duralumin via the spikes he took from his double in addition to his existing steel and feruchemy. Wayne was briefly Mistborn because he burned the Lerasium dust they created in their experiment early in the book.
Edit: @24 i think that the lerasium dust that Wayne burned didn’t have to make him a terribly strong Mistborn, really it just granted him access to duralumin. He was relying on his already existing expertise with bendalloy. He just need a way to burn a huge amount of it all at once.
@noblehunter: you might watch or listen to the Shardcast (or the first Shardcast) on this book. The Seventeenth Shard’s podcast did a real deep dive on the Cosmere links.
Steven Hedge @17:
I too don’t believe that they are Skybreakers – IMHO people are just primed to see worldhoppers in every shadow. Not to mention that it would be very weird if all Scadrian Ghostbloods were actually off-worlders, who for some reason decided en masse that protecting Scadrial is the most important thing they could do with their lives. They might have worried about legality because it could threaten their cover and the bay between them and the ships is not open ocean – it is much more shallow and offers metal structures and ships as anchors.
Moh @18:
Not every character can continue forever, or there would be no space for new heroes. The way Kelsier and Marsh have briefly appeared in TLM only to be unceremonoiusly side-lined in very contrived ways was already pretty jarring, throwing Spook into the mix as well would have made it even worse. Maybe he eventually decided that immortality wasn’t worth it for him. Maybe he went out into cosmere for Kelsier and got killed. You’d think that he would have been the one in charge of the very important Rosharan operation, rather than Iyatil if he was still available. There is a WoB from 2010 that Sanderson didn’t intend for Spook to appear in later Mistborn Eras, though he may have changed his mind, of course.
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/270/#e8067
Loweel @21:
A good question, to which we currently have no answer. Somebody in TLM (Harmony? Moonlight?) did say that Autonomy is known for being able to suddenly open her perpendicularities on other planets if certain conditions are met – maybe she somehow channeled it there? A bit Cthulhuesque – “when the stars are right”, there she is. That’s why the Set was laboring under such strict timing limits.
Regarding the Ghostbloods, the way they are depicted operating on Scadrial makes no sense, but of course they had to be very incompetent to allow the Set to be as successful as it was. After BoM and The Secret History, the WoB that Kelsier couldn’t leave Scadrial and the evidence that he was Thaidakar, I kept wondering how Sanderson could reconcile the Set running unchecked and the Era 2 heroes being the only ones to thwart them with the Ghostblood HQ being right there. And after TLM my conclusion is – not well.
It makes sense for them too be less brutal, mind, on a world that they are dedicated to protecting and where their founder is worshipped as a deity. But they definitely should have permeated every level of society, like they do on Roshar and more(!). Now, Marasi is, of course a bit of special case in that she is already a bit cosmere aware and very dedicated to the protection of Scadrial in her own way. So, it would have been plain stupid to kill her.
But I don’t quite agree that Kelsier can be absolved of what the Rosharan branch is doing. I mean, he would have acted with more finesse and wouldn’t have antagonized some people unnecessarily, but ultimately he doesn’t care about Roshar. I am convinced that the woman Axindweth – clearly a Terriswoman, who gave Venli Ulim was working for him, for instance.
@several:
Yes, Wax is a very weak Mistborn. The amount of lerasium does matter. The 15 regular vials provided by Harmony must have contained other base metals along with steel. He uses other metals subconsciously during TLM – pewter when brawling, iron when that vial snapped into his hand while in free fall, tin when he could suddenly see the ship through the mists, etc. What it means for his potential 3rd child is unclear beyond that they are more likely to become an allomancer than the 2 elder kids. He also only has one spike – for A-duralumin.
Noblehunter @24:
Most noble allomancers were killed at the end of Era 1 and the survivors intermarried with the former skaa and the Terris, which is why dilution happened. But it has reached the bottom and on the whole there are proportionally more allomancers in Era 2 than in Era 1, they are just all mistings.
@Isilel 27 — “I am convinced that the woman Axindweth – clearly a Terriswoman, who gave Venli Ulim was working for him, for instance.”
Oh, I had a different take. I think it makes much more sense that she was an agent of Trell/Autonomy (who clearly has fingers deep enough into the world to get Dark Kandra) given the Intent of that Shard. If Autonomy can get Kandra, she can definitely get some Terrisfolks. (I think Autonomy is also behind Sja-Anat and her actions as well)
@6 The third is Demoux. He is Grunt in SA.
@deadhedge: the third is Sazed himself. Demoux was not one of the original crew.
I am disappointed to learn that the forger is Shai rather than someone we haven’t seen before. Nothing about her made it necessary plotwise, she seems less skilled/adaptable than in Emperor’s Soul, and it raises a lot of questions.
What happened to her three soulstamps, especially the one that made her a warrior? Why can’t she make more than the one generic door stamp (or were there two and I just don’t remember the second being used) and why doesn’t she have ones to do specific things like change her clothing or otherwise help disguise herself?
Thanks everyone, the comments have been far better and more thorough than the original post.
I for one was super bummed at Marasi’s blue pill choice. If she is after wider knowledge of the Cosmere she just turned her back on it in favor of willful ignorance. She might not agree 100% with the Ghostbloods, but she works for a government that is just as imperfect and corruptible. It was out of character for her IMO, because she should instinctively understand the need to keep dangerous secrets out of public hands. What benefit would it do to tell all of Elendel about cultures on other worlds they’ll never visit and alternate magic systems they’ll never use? Would you have given nukes to Napoleon and trusted him not to use them?
Sanderson really implied that she was getting groomed to become one of the Ghostbloods, and for her to reject them just doesn’t make sense in my opinion.
But even more importantly, it means that unfortunately we’ll never see Worldhopper Marasi appearing in any of the other series, effectively killing off all our favorite characters in Mistborn Era 2 by the time 3 rolls around. :(. I sincerely hope she reconsiders. The problem is that there are a lot of loose ends and I think I’m Era 3 we’re going to get a lot of info dumps to retcon plot holes.
We need to remember Sanderson is handling a massive amount of threads here and no one has don’t anything on this scale before save the MCU. He won’t hit a home run every time. He may change his mind.
For example in terms of the WoT, after reading the recent Origins book I was disappointed to find out about the Taimandred controversy and how Jordan literally changed his mind halfway through the series. I remember back in ‘97 or ‘98 even teenage me knew what was going on, and to find out that was taken away now feels like a betrayal and a flaw in my otherwise favorite author.
This book was another big step forward for the Cosmere in general, because similar to the last couple Stormlight books, this one brings in some characters from other books that we’ve met before (and some that I assume we’ll meet in the near future) together to have some really awesome moments. I love seeing these glimpses of the wider universe at play. We’re starting to get a glimpse of what may happen when characters from different worlds, bearing different powers, converge together. I can see some Avengers: Endgame-style Tarmon Gai’don coming featuring heroes from many worlds converging to defeat threats such as Odium or Autonomy.
Imagine seeing Hoid, Kaladin, Kelsier, Vasher, Kenton, Szeth, Shai, Shallan, Vivenna, Khriss, and whole host of others facing down a vast army of Odium or Autonomy all at once. I know, it probably won’t be like that, but the sheer epic scale of it would be incredible.
@33 John Ausley
I have to disagree about Marasi. It’s not that she has an issue with keeping secrets as much as giving secrets more value than the lives around her. There’s a ruthlessness to the Ghostbloods that she recognizes and realizes she doesn’t have or want. That’s the essence of her question to Kelsier about how long they knew about the Set and it’s plans.
So, liaison, yes, but member no.
On a separate note, I really don’t like the idea of a big Avengers-style free-for-all. As I mentioned above, I didn’t like Shai showing up here, especially with no explanation or reason. I was happier just having Hoid as a worldhopper and letting the stories otherwise stand on their own.