Sean Gursky reviewed The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (The Mistborn Saga, #6)
Review of 'The Bands of Mourning' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
2022 Re-read:
Has it really been six and a half years since my last read? Not surprising as Bands of Mourning feels completely new and fresh to me. The 4 star rating still seems fair and I won't change it.
I hope I am not getting burnout on Mistborn but I felt the book to be a little slow. The wonders of Era 1 don't seem to be achieved here, and maybe that's because the limitation on Metallurgy the characters can access, or there is no "the world is ending" urgency, but it reads as a Wild West story with some Allomancy added in.
I do like the evolution of Era 2 and how we can see this world evolve and achieve new advancements with their metal properties. The Southern characters that appear at the end of the book are such a wonderful peek behind the Scadrial world.
Whatever …
2022 Re-read:
Has it really been six and a half years since my last read? Not surprising as Bands of Mourning feels completely new and fresh to me. The 4 star rating still seems fair and I won't change it.
I hope I am not getting burnout on Mistborn but I felt the book to be a little slow. The wonders of Era 1 don't seem to be achieved here, and maybe that's because the limitation on Metallurgy the characters can access, or there is no "the world is ending" urgency, but it reads as a Wild West story with some Allomancy added in.
I do like the evolution of Era 2 and how we can see this world evolve and achieve new advancements with their metal properties. The Southern characters that appear at the end of the book are such a wonderful peek behind the Scadrial world.
Whatever my reasons for not being completely in love with this book I am still excited for the Era 2 conclusion and can't believe I went this long between re-reads of a Sanderson book.
Original read in 2016
"Go", Marasi said. "Do what you do best, Waxillium Ladrian."
"Which is what? Break things?"
"Break things," Marasi said, "with style."
I love the Mistborn world and am really enjoying how the story is evolving after the original trilogy. Shadows of Self was a game changer and now Bands of Mourning picks up where it lefts off and breaks the story wide open.
The Metallurgy properties remain the same but how they are used, and where they are used makes this great. What we understood of Metallurgy is evolving and I really appreciate that Sanderson looks for ways to operate within the magic system he created.
Our favorite characters are back and there is depth added to Wax, Wayne, Marasi and even Steris. Wayne is still brilliant with his one liners and metaphors but there is an emotion to his character now, he appreciates the decision Wax made with him years ago in The Roughs and is using that himself. MeLaan is a brilliant supporting character and is another reason why I want to re-read the original trilogy because I would enjoy TenSoon and the Kandra's more on a second read.
I wished this book was longer so we could learn more about the new characters. There was time spent on constructing the world but new characters showed up and left me with more questions than answers. However, if our heroes hardly had time with them so why should the reader? There is so much opportunity for the story to grow in the next installment I'm looking forward to it, even if the wait could be years from now.
