eBook, 386 pages
English language
Published Oct. 6, 2015 by Tor Books.
Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.
When family obligations forced Waxillium Ladrian to forsake the frontier lands and return to the metropolis of his birth to take his place as head of a noble House, he little imagined that the crime-fighting skills acquired during twenty years in the dusty plains would be just as applicable in the big city. He soon learned that there too, just being a talented Twinborn — one who can use both Allomancy and Feruchemy, the dominant magical modes on Scadrial — would not suffice.
This bustling, optimistic, but still shaky society will now face its first test by terrorism and assassination, crimes intended to stir up labor …
Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.
When family obligations forced Waxillium Ladrian to forsake the frontier lands and return to the metropolis of his birth to take his place as head of a noble House, he little imagined that the crime-fighting skills acquired during twenty years in the dusty plains would be just as applicable in the big city. He soon learned that there too, just being a talented Twinborn — one who can use both Allomancy and Feruchemy, the dominant magical modes on Scadrial — would not suffice.
This bustling, optimistic, but still shaky society will now face its first test by terrorism and assassination, crimes intended to stir up labor strife and religious conflict. Wax, his eccentric sidekick Wayne, and brilliant, beautiful young Marasi, now officially part of the constabulary, must unravel the conspiracy before civil strife can stop Scadrial’s progress in its tracks.
4.5 Audiobook I enjoy being away from this world into the mists. The colourful characters. The gut wrenching ending. I hope they manage the problems of capitalism a bit better than the real world is doing now, but it did hurt reading about the economic struggles of a fictional world when one of the main reasons for binge reading Sanderson has been to escape thinking about the ones in real world.
Either I’m getting kind of tired of Brandon Sanderson’s writing style or this book in particular didn’t resonate well with me. It wasn’t boring and the story was interesting enough, it just felt kind of annoying at times.
I must admit that it’s been around ten years since I read the first Mistborn trilogy and while the fourth book in this series worked quite well as a standalone, this one was having a lot more references that I no longer understood. I wish there had been more explanations for those than endless repetitions of how pushing, pulling and metalminds worked.
Of course, as usual, the ending was very well written and made up for a lot of the shortcomings.
Time to read: 6 hours 6 min
Solid 7/10. The entire emotional ending twist with Lessie made it go from a 6/10 to a 7/10. (although I changed my rating for both from 4/5 stars to 3/5 stars bc it feels more right in my head because it just feels like they are on a lesser tier than the books i have in 4/5). Bleeder's character and her interaction with Wax's character was interesting if not thoroughly explored enough for me to entirely love.
Overall same same with my last Era 2 opinion, although this one had more character development from Wax and Wayne.
I am really really interested in the wider cosmere hints in this book though.
Like there is a newspaper article about an alien monster from another world, what the fuck is that??? And hints about another god?? And the metal spike came from a different god?? …
Time to read: 6 hours 6 min
Solid 7/10. The entire emotional ending twist with Lessie made it go from a 6/10 to a 7/10. (although I changed my rating for both from 4/5 stars to 3/5 stars bc it feels more right in my head because it just feels like they are on a lesser tier than the books i have in 4/5). Bleeder's character and her interaction with Wax's character was interesting if not thoroughly explored enough for me to entirely love.
Overall same same with my last Era 2 opinion, although this one had more character development from Wax and Wayne.
I am really really interested in the wider cosmere hints in this book though.
Like there is a newspaper article about an alien monster from another world, what the fuck is that??? And hints about another god?? And the metal spike came from a different god?? Another cosmere god maybe??? Although Trell is mentioned in Era 1, so maybe just another god on the planet. But still, hype.
Overall, probably enjoyed the first book more because the setting and characters were fresh and the allomancy fights and shenanigans were more fun in that book, but this one probably has the better (if less epic) ending and character writing. It definitely feels like a "build up arc" ngl though.
Very enjoyable read, builds on series. Didn’t quite capture the scope of the original trilogy.
I really enjoyed the original Mistborn trilogy. I read the first book of this second trilogy quite some time ago and wasn't keen. I then picked this up cheap and thought I'd give it a chance. I was disappointed. I'm not sure if it's just that too much time has passed between reading the original books (or indeed the first of this new set) meant I didn't understand the references, or the fact time has passed in the series itself and the setting (a sort of wild west/industrial age) doesn't appeal to me as much. I'm not against fantasy set in more modern time periods, this just didn't interest me much. I'd even go as far as to say I found it quite dull and didn't really care what happened to the characters. It's a shame as I usually enjoy the author's output.
Mucho más ameno que el cuarto. No obstante, la ambientación, equivalente al paso del siglo XIX al XX, hace que cueste acercarse a la historia de la misma forma que en el resto de la saga. Aquí al menos recupera personajes y parte de lo que hizo exitosa a la primera trilogía. Wax está mucho mejor en todo lo que tiene que ver con su amada, pero me sigue pareciendo enormemente plano. Su compañero Wayne es bastante más interesante, pero está constreñido al papel de colaborador gracioso por desgracia. La alguacil podría dar mucho más de lo que da. Aún así, mejora el cuarto y ya por eso vale la pena.
Came together at the end
As good as the last one but with that extra zing of Brandon Sanderson ultra-plotting leading to characters and events from the previous book being recontextualised in fun unexpected ways.
With literally any other writer you might think he's doing a 'Luke and Leia are siblings actually' kind of thing, but since you know he's plotted out every story years ahead in obsessive detail you can feel safe it was all part of the plan.
Long story short, this book has another great Sando ending.
3.5 stars.
I liked this one more than the previous thanks to the larger presence of Harmony and TenSoon. This helped me out to connect to the first era trilogy that I loved so much. I also like Wayne for his craziness and fun. However, I cannot really connect to the other main characters and I am not a fan of western atmosphere, making my reading experience not as involving as I wanted to.
Having decided to extend Wax and Wayne's tenure well beyond the initially planned single story in Alloys of Law, this book takes an opportunity to dive into characters' histories and personalities to flesh them out for the coming ride. It's pretty great.
I had some hesitations before starting this book, I wasn't as enamored with its immediate predecessor as I was with the Mistborn trilogy. It took a little bit before this book got its hooks into me, but it definitely did. I greatly enjoyed the original Mistborn trilogy, and I enjoyed this book too.
I would say somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I quite enjoyed it, much more than the original trilogy. I like the characters and the story has the right amount of action and drama. It's also the first time that the idea of the Cosmere, where most of Sanderson's books are set, became even remotely interesting to me. So, right on to the next one.
I would say somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I quite enjoyed it, much more than the original trilogy. I like the characters and the story has the right amount of action and drama. It's also the first time that the idea of the Cosmere, where most of Sanderson's books are set, became even remotely interesting to me. So, right on to the next one.
Amazing just like everything written by Brandon Sanderson
I love the ways in which the books of the second Mistborn trilogy reference back to the first trilogy. Sanderson has succeeded in creating religions and mythos based around interpretations of the events of those first books. Such details add to the development of a world that has seen centuries pass since those first books.
I also enjoyed the plot of this book more than Alloy of Law, less world building and more of the supernaturally fueled sleuthing that this trilogy is built around.
Shadows of Self made me very excited for what is coming in Bands of Mourning.
