The Lost Metal

3/5

Hmm, did not anticipate my rating being this low for a Brandon Sanderson novel. I think this one suffered from being less of a Mistborn sequel and more of a Cosmere expansion. Another factor in my rating was definitely the time gap between novels, both in my own reading and in real life - six years have passed since Mistborn #6 Bands of Mourning was released, and this timing is also reflected in the novel's characters.

We pick up with Wayne and Marasi as a constable duo with a solid track record, and Wax and Steris sitting well-established in Elendel's politics. Our entire cast is still working towards uncovering the plans of shadowy organisation The Set, and their strange other-worldly God Trell. Harmony and the Kandra aren't doing the best job, and no progress has been made on finding The Survivor.

It took me a while to get into this one, as the Part 1 really takes it's time in showing us where the characters and world are. The emotional maturity of our cast and discovery of the Southern Continent has meant a lot of off-page development between the books, but rest assured Sanderson sets our quartet up with satisfying and impactful arcs over the course of the story. By the end of Part 1 I was fully hooked into the story and its threat, with Sanderson taking smart cues from human history (especially photography and WWII).

However, I found myself losing interest during Act 2. Firstly, I felt there was a bit too much monologuing and questioning by our cast. Secondly, this book definitely opened the Cosmere up. Having only read Mistborn, Elantris and Emperor's Soul at this stage, I found myself overwhelmed with information that didn't exactly excite me. On a different note, I was pleasantly surprised at how in-depth and scientific the magic systems were, especially when Sanderson compared real-world science and other Cosmere magic against each other. The Cosmere as a whole is definitely a rigorous, if less interesting, science system.

As expected, the Sanderlanche was fantastic. All of the action in Act 3 was awesome, even if the emotional moments were not as impactful for me personally. When I can follow what is happening and the stakes are clear, our characters become superhuman beings of power and destruction.

I look back on Mistborn Era 2 with fondness. You didn't blow me away the same way Era 1 did, but I appreciated your lighter approach and inventive action. Thank you to Wax and Wayne for your adventures these past years, and I need to give full credit for Sanderson actually developing his fantasy world realistically by steadily adding technology into the mix.

I will be catching up on the rest of the Cosmere before the real big-scale battles begin in Era 3.