Shadows of Self shows Mistborn’s society evolving as technology and magic mix, the economy grows, democracy contends with corruption, and religion becomes a growing cultural force, with four faiths competing for converts.
This bustling, optimistic, but still shaky society now faces its first instance of terrorism, crimes intended to stir up labor strife and religious conflict. Wax and Wayne, assisted by the lovely, brilliant Marasi, must unravel the conspiracy before civil strife stops Scadrial’s progress in its tracks.
Shadows of Self will give fans of The Alloy of Law everything they’ve been hoping for and, this being a Brandon Sanderson book, more, much more.
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.
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.
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.
TL;DR It's a Sanderson, it's Mistborn, what are you waiting for?
I remember, with some surprise, about warning people off the second trilogy after reading the first book, even though Mistborn is way up there on my all-time-favorites shelf. So I conclude that this one is way better than [b: Alloy of Law|10803121|The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4)|Brandon Sanderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1442889632s/10803121.jpg|15035863], because I am definitely recommending this book. Maybe it is dependent on context.
I read, and read, and suddenly it was over. The story flows smooth, Wayne makes me laugh, and it feels so comfortably familiar while still managing to surprise me. And surprise me it did. For a more in-depth review I feel I have to re-read Alloy of Law.
Major, so don't if you haven't read the book:
I think I only suspected Bleeder being Lessie when she first appeared as her, though there were clues before that.
Read, …
TL;DR It's a Sanderson, it's Mistborn, what are you waiting for?
I remember, with some surprise, about warning people off the second trilogy after reading the first book, even though Mistborn is way up there on my all-time-favorites shelf. So I conclude that this one is way better than [b: Alloy of Law|10803121|The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4)|Brandon Sanderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1442889632s/10803121.jpg|15035863], because I am definitely recommending this book. Maybe it is dependent on context.
I read, and read, and suddenly it was over. The story flows smooth, Wayne makes me laugh, and it feels so comfortably familiar while still managing to surprise me. And surprise me it did. For a more in-depth review I feel I have to re-read Alloy of Law.
Major, so don't if you haven't read the book:
I think I only suspected Bleeder being Lessie when she first appeared as her, though there were clues before that.
Read, if you enjoy a (mostly) light-hearted fantasy with a heavy dose of steampunk thrown in with a cool Magic System (and you don't even have to have read the original series to understand it - although you may want to after finishing this) this book stands well on its own.
Very good. Focused and fast paced. Twists were good, nice to see some older characters returning. Lots of very interesting tidbits developing.
