Shadows of Self

Shadows of Self is an exceptionally good entry in the Mistborn series. I was so impressed with how Sanderson leveraged the original Mistborn trilogy to tell this fresh and exciting story. Even if you weren't completely sold on Wax and Wayne after The Alloy of Law, I highly recommend sticking with them long enough to get to this one.

If you read Sanderson's books you can be sure to expect the unexpected. I thought I had a pretty decent idea of what was going on in the first era of Mistborn, but I was so wrong. Sanderson challenged my beliefs and blew my mind with this new era. I don't have any choice but keep reading the next book.

With this being the 5th book in the Mistborn universe, and 2nd in the Wax and Wayne series, I wasn't expecting too much. Alloy of Law didn't hook me in anywhere near as much as Sandersons other works. Although it set the stage in a new time, it didn't evolve the world as much as I'd hoped. Shadows of Self, on the other hand, conjured some new ideas into the world and brought more light to the condra who I always was interested in hearing more from.

I think this was better than the first book. We get a more in depth look at the three main protagonists, a greater story arc is taking shape, and it's even started to expand on the greater lore of the Mistborn series. Very much looking forward to the next book and the conclusion of the Wax and Wayne trilogy!

 I had forgotten a bit how amazing Sanderson's writing is. I really had missed it. The plot got away from me in the middle a bit but int he last couple of chapters Sanderson delivered. The ending always feels like some cathartic and damn this twist. 
I also loved all the characters that came back even is only mentioned briefly. Absolutely loved it and I am going on to the next book as fast as is humanly possible. 

Overall, really enjoyed this one. While Alloy of Law felt more self contained western/Victorian action thriller, I found that Shadows of Self started expanding that to the wider Mistborn lore and a lot of very interesting and far-reaching questions are being asked. We also have your usual Sanderson mix of tortured heroes, semi-mysterious comic relief characters, unknowable omnipresent gods and demi-gods, and just a whole lot of fun.

Continuing where the first book left off, we follow Wax now as he, at the behest of Harmony himself, tracks down a mysterious and nigh invincible creature that's looking to start a revolution in Elendel. Marasi is now pursuing her dreams as a constable led by Aradel, while Wayne is still... Wayne.

Steris continues to be my favourite character of this series, if not of the entire Cosmere, which is saying a lot considering she's such a side character who has barely appeared in Books 1 and 2 so far. She's like Mr Collins from Pride and Prejudice, but less pompous and more honest. We left off Book 1 with a really weird and sticky romance undercurrent going on between Wax and Marasi, but which Wax has pointedly avoided by stupidly getting engaged to Steris - and yet, he seems to be gaining ever more affection and respect for her, his partner in this almost-marriage of convenience. I wouldn't be mad if Steris ended up with Wax, but tbh I don't think she needs him to shine on her own. I'm kinda hoping that she'll turn out to be an OP character in a later book - why would Sanderson put such a bright and unique character in the wings for no reason and to serve no plot purpose? Her damsel in distress role has already expired at the end of Book 1.

Some lore theories for the rest of the series: I still wonder what is it that "moves" Bleeder and Bloody Tan and it's not Harmony (and that conversation he had with Wax in his head was so weird and hilarious), it can't be Ruin/Preservation anymore so I'm not sure if it was ever fully explained. I had a Cosmere super-fan explain to me that name Marasi mentions at the end, Trell, is the god of Sazed's old religion. My cross-Cosmere theory is that Trell is going to end up being someone from the Stormlight Archives... it's wild and I don't know enough of my Sanderson timeline and connections enough to back it up but I just have a hunch like that.

Some thoughts on the ending: The moment Bleeder took on Lessie's face and mannerisms, I had a sneaking suspicion that Lessie had been Bleeder all along, but I quelled those suspicions given that Bleeder never revealed it and chose to only say it *just* after Wax had to kill her - again. I gotta say **poor Wax**!! having to kill the person you loved not once but *twice*!! He not only has to work through that but also the whole trauma of realizing that this person you loved had lied big time to you, had murdered a vast number of people, had conspired with your murdering uncle against you, and was inches away from putting a bullet through your head just moments before. I hope Wax realizes that Bleeder, though she had been Lessie, was no less of a murdering psychopath of a kandra.

I'm in too deep now to stop reading this series and so intend to finish up Book 3 before the new book for Era 2 comes out in mid-November.

There's no such thing as a bad entry to the Mistborn series. This one has some fantastic action. The development of Wax, Wayne, and Marasi were all well done. I especially like Wayne. Nice little mystery included in the epilogue, which I'm sure will be at least partly explained in Bands of Mourning or The Lost Metal.

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.

With this being the 5th book in the Mistborn universe, and 2nd in the Wax and Wayne series, I wasn't expecting too much. Alloy of Law didn't hook me in anywhere near as much as Sandersons other works. Although it set the stage in a new time, it didn't evolve the world as much as I'd hoped. Shadows of Self, on the other hand, conjured some new ideas into the world and brought more light to the condra who I always was interested in hearing more from.

Shadows of Self is the sequel to The Alloy of Law, and continues the story of Waxillium Ladrian and his sidekick Wayne. Wax comes from a wealthy family, but spent quite a few years as a vigilante lawman in The Roughs. He has returned to the city life of Elendel, but he is having a hard time fitting into a world with politics, police, and ever-changing technology. As with the first novel about Wax and Wayne, you get a fun detective story mixed in with some awesome magic and cool fight scenes. However, this novel also has much more development of the changes to politics, religion, and technology since the original Mistborn trilogy. We get to find out what happened to a lot of the cool creatures that were major plot points in the original books as well. This novel also has a fair bit of character development as well, and shows a much more introspective side to a group of characters that could have come across as excessively comedic in the first novel. Shadows of Self doesn't have quite as much action as The Alloy of Law, but I actually appreciate the change of pace, especially because it allows for more world building. Anyone who has read the original Mistborn series is going to love how the events of those novels have influences the religion and politics of the newer stories in such a logical way. There are also quite a few Cosmere nuggets sprinkled into this text, so all of the obsessive Sanderson fans should be quite pleased with that as well. I don't think knowledge of the Cosmere, or even reading the other Mistborn novels, is necessary to enjoy the story, but I do think being able to geek out over the key sentences scattered throughout the book did substantially increase my enjoyment of it. Aside from the Cosmere geekery, I also have to applaud the ending of this book. Sanderson always delivers a great ending, but I believe the only appropriate way to describe this one is that it gives you “all the feels.” I'm trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but I will say that if you think the middle of the book gets slightly too focused on the politics and plotting, don't worry - there will be too much emotion to handle by the end. And if you are worried that you won't be able to deal with the emotional ending, don't worry - the third installment of Wax and Wayne trilogy, The Bands of Mourning, will hit stores January 26, 2016. I don't know if this is the fastest publication sequence for two novels in a series like this, but fantasy fans are used to waiting at least a year (or two, or three, or six...) between books, so this quick release sequence is actually really exciting. Although this book had a satisfying ending, I'm really excited for the conclusion to the Wax and Wayne trilogy, so I'm very excited for the end of January. Overall I think this was a great addition to Sanderson's Mistborn series. I think it could be enjoyed by anyone, even without having read the other books in the series, however, this story is one that I think readers will enjoy more if they have at least read The Alloy of Law or the original Mistborn trilogy. It was a great read, with nerd-tastic world building details and enough emotional punches to last me the winter. Highly recommended.

I want to give this book five stars, I really do. It did everything right but the first three books of the series does steal the thunder from this one..

So many high points in this book. Especially the mention of...
(Oops, I won't say more, don't wanna spoil anything)

Brandon Sanderson has such an organic style of writing, you know the end product is going to be great but you know the reading process will be different and difficult even.
Thank you, Mr. Brandon, I truly do have a favourite author now.

I don't know how he did it, but Brandon Sanderson turned the characters he set up in Alloy of Law–easily my least favorite Sanderson book to date–into people I empathize with to the point that the last part of the book emotionally wrecked me, almost out of nowhere.

So screw you, Brandon Sanderson, for making me feel something. But also thank you for making your characters so gloriously, horribly human.

Terwijl het eerste boek in dit tweede Mistborn-tijdperk meer gericht was op het introduceren van deze geëvolueerde wereld en de nieuwe personages, maakte dit tweede deel veel meer verbindingen met de originele trilogie, waardoor het voor mij een veel diepere impact had. Waar het eerste boek vooral een entertainend avontuur was, was dit tweede boek ook nog eens een emotionele rollercoaster. Je voelt dat een groter verhaal wordt opgebouwd en dat einde was weer een onverwachte klap.

Now this was more like it. After the fun but self-contained Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self becomes a city-based crime thriller with the stakes of Elendel hanging in the balance. There are definite personal threads running through this story as well, this time Sanderson rotates naturally between the trio of Wax, Wayne and Marasi as they hunt a murder causing chaos amongst various class factions. This also greatly increases the depth of worldbuilding this time around, as we see these various groups and their thoughts, concerns and personalities (although over a short time span). Loved the return of the broadsheets and the sense of constant building tension throughout the first two-thirds of the book, which led to an almost inversion of the Final Empire's events (which I thought was very smart). Unfortunately, the conclusion and all its reveals were amazing but felt a bit convenient for me, although undoubtedly setting up the next entry in the series. There was a lot more religious pondering in here, a few more references to the original trilogy and honestly Wax was like a superhero in The Dark Knight with how much political thrilling and chaos was being caused by Bleeder. Very cool and very fun.