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.

unexpectedly this book jumped into my top 3 cosmere books and not going to lie, my favourite mistborn story. the amount of cosmere connections was enough to make me entirely grateful for reading the entire cosmere before this. also Wayne is a top 3 all fantasy favourite for me now.

Truly a rusting good end to era 2, I look forward to Stormlight 5 and Mistborn Era 3.

What an end to Mistborn Era 2. I'm glad I was there the whole way and I think this actually be one of my favourite series of the Cosmere so far, Stormlight Archives notwithstanding since I haven't finished or caught up with that one yet. Naturally, this review would spoil all the books of Era 2 up to Book 3 before this one.

There's a more sober feel to this one, taking place several years after the events of Bands of Mourning and seeing Wax as happily married and a father of two. There're several mentions between Wax and Wayne about how they're “too old” for certain things (like getting exploded), so I assume they're in their 40s or so by this time. Wayne meanwhile is broken up with MeLaan and feeling desolate, worthless, and positively existential, pondering on the role he is playing and needs to play in the bigger scheme of things.

I didn't get why Marasi needed to have a relationship with Allik at all. I could understand why she perhaps needed a failed crush on Wax in the very beginning but I thought she was pretty happy going along by herself. Her relationship with Allik seemed a bit tacked on at best, since we barely see him anyway in this book. It just seemed to be there to tick a checkbox for Marasi's character development, which I didn't think was necessary at all.

The characters in this one are still a blast to read, with all the familiar brands of humour out in full force. Wayne proves himself to be a treasure as always with his wildly inappropriate and untimely interjections to the consternation of Wax and Marasi, Steris is still being Steris and writing out disaster preparation plans when she's bored, but I also missed MeLaan in this book since she strikes out early to go on another mission and doesn't return. That bit also felt a bit too obvious a device for conveniently removing MeLaan from the plot without actually having to kill her off or anything drastic like that, and again I didn't understand why that was needed given that MeLaan has been with them since Book 2. Luckily though, we still have some kandra humour from VenDell, although he's not an integral part of their operations as MeLaan was.

This book is one that really opens up a lot of questions about the Cosmere. I might even say that it ends with more questions asked than answered, at least regarding the Cosmere. With our characters on Scadriel, the plot has pretty much wound to a close. There are some little references to the world of Stormlight Archives in here, but it probably wouldn't spoil readers who haven't read or are halfway through reading that series (like me having only finished 2 books from SA). Or at least, if there were spoilers, I don't understand them and that's the same as no spoilers to me. I look forward to revisiting the Cosmere bits of this book in the future when I have caught up with Stormlight Archives so I can fully appreciate which bits are easter eggs and callbacks to other books, and which bits are new information entirely.

About the ending: I was really, really agitated when I read the ending. Here is the barrage of my emotional response: “this is some Sam and Frodo bullshit!! the sidekick is actually the real hero in the end!? i had a bad feeling when the book's prologue was a scene from Wayne's childhood, it just didn't bode well, y'know? but i'm mostly kinda pissed at Harmony for literally ignoring the hell out of Wayne for the entire series and then just swooping in to give him that final nudge to sacrifice himself at the end. that was such a bullshit move!!! and i'm also kinda pissed that it wasn't Wax, mainly cos i'm the least attached to Wax of all of them, but also cos like, it was always *building* up to him being the sacrificial lamb but for one reason or other, either cos Sanderson is attached to Wax or he has other purposes to fulfill in presumably Era 4, we just kinda shift the burden of sacrifice off of him and give it to Wayne instead, who had never asked for this and was never developed to be the end-game until this book.”Yeah, I really didn't like that Wayne was the one who had to sacrifice himself in the end. I didn't think it gelled well at all with what it was all building up. I definitely felt like it should've been Wax, if anybody. I know this book was dwelling a lot on who and what makes a hero, with Wayne always feeling like it should be Wax. Personally, this cliched but all-too-true quote sums heroism up to me: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Wax enjoyed great power, being almost a Chosen One when he was literally pulled back from the cusp of death by Harmony himself to take up the Bands of Mourning and enjoy unlimited Mistborn powers to reverse the situation and win the day. He continues to enjoy all the plot armour of a hero, but when I feel like the situation is called upon for him to pay his debts and to shoulder that responsibility of being a hero, that is suddenly shifted to Wayne in the end? I just can't stomach it! It's framed as Wayne stepping up and being a hero in his own right in the end, but it just doesn't feel right - it just feels like Sanderson couldn't bear to kill off Wax for whatever reason and decided to just shift it to Wayne instead.

Overall, I really enjoyed this whole series and it has some of my favourite characters in the whole Cosmere so far, hands down. There's a high possibility of me revisiting this one in the future.

De conclusie van Mistborn Era 2 was explosief, omvangrijk en hartverscheurend.

The Lost Metal was een snel avontuur boordevol actie, terwijl er ook veel karaktergroei en -verkenning mogelijk was.
Er waren ook enorm veel Cosmere-connecties, waarvan ik er zeker heb gemist, aangezien ik nog niet alles las binnen dit universum. De enorme hoeveelheid informatie die we kregen, maakte me duizelig en ja, soms voelde het een beetje te veel. Dit is een aspect waarvan ik denk dat ik dit minder als iets negatief zal zien bij herlezen en wanneer ik alle andere Cosmere-boeken heb gelezen. Maar nu voelde het een beetje info-dumpy aan.

Dat dit boek ook een emotionele achtbaan zou worden, was een gegeven, aangezien het een seriefinale is. Er was veel voorafschaduwing geweest, zowel in eerdere boeken als uiteraard doorheen dit boek, waardoor ik een bepaalde gebeurtenis verwachtte die ik niet bewaarheid wou zien worden.
Dit is volgens mij de belangrijkste reden waarom ik op de laatste honderd pagina's heb getreuzeld. Ik wilde in een soort van Schrödingers kat toestand blijven, wetend en tegelijkertijd niet wetend.
Natuurlijk heb ik uiteindelijk doorgebeten en wat ik had verwacht, gebeurde ook tot mijn verdriet. Maar Sanderson slaagde er wel in om het ook bitterzoet en een beetje hoopvol te maken.

Het feit dat ik er zo emotioneel bij werd, illustreert ook hoe goed deze serie is. Het is momenteel zeker niet mijn favoriete boek van deze auteur, deels ook omdat ik nog niet alle linken heb gelegd naar de Cosmere.
Dat gezegd zijnde heb ik zeker wel genoten van dit boek. Het was een heel waardige afsluiter van dit tijdperk van Mistborn en ik ben reuzebenieuwd hoe het derde tijdperk er zal uit zien.

It's been awhile since my last Sanderson book, enough that this really made me remember that no one does fantasy like Sanderson!! So many cool things in this book with wider connections to the larger cosmere. Also reading this made me realize how out of touch I've become with the cosmere as a whole and that I really need to reread some things and read the novellas I haven't read. Like there was a MAJOR twist in Stormlight 4 that I completely missed until now... Anyways fantastic end to Era 2 and excited for what's to come!

Really enjoyed this final entry in the second era of Mistborn. I think it's Sanderson's most fun and fast paced novel yet, with a ton of cool Cosmere connections and some really excellent action sequences.

My only gripe is that it feels like a lot of characters have more story to tell, while they dealt with the major story beats that have been ongoing through the series it felt like Sanderson opened up a lot of interesting stories here that then don't get wrapped up. Presumably these are stories for future eras of Mistborn, but I would have liked to see these characters get to work through them.

3.00/5.00

uhhh.. what the hell was that ? As a final book of a Mistborn series, it is very underwhelming. Wayne is good. Everything else is mediocre. Why even write this ? Why is Harmony so boring comparing to other shards like Honor, cultivation or Odium! Even Preservation was so fun, and he was there in cosmere text for like 5 minutes. Sazed needs more charcter development. There needs to be more “Shardian Influence” on this vessel.

I think I am just dissapointed. The book introduces a bunch of new characters, and there isn't enough time to enjoy the new characters. The book also chooses a brand new villian for some reason, breaking the fun of the final villian showdown.

Some great ideas in the book, but this second Mistborn series is a far cry from SA or Mistborn Era 1

Plot is complicated, just as expected, but boring.
Overall an average read.

A fitting conclusion for Wax and Wayne, that will be better on a reread. There are some cosmere characters and references that I did not quite get at first, and while I get a good easter egg, having it detract from the story to figure out, or having it essential for the story is a bit annoying. (I thought I had read everything I needed to before this, but missed a couple of short stories/novellas).

That being said, I love Wax and Wayne as characters, and their develop of their relationship over four books as friends, detectives, and ultimately defenders of the realm have been quite a ride.

Mistborn Era 2's strength is it characters.

Mistborn Era 3 has a high bar set for it, as it does the rest of the cosmere. This universe is amazingly special with unique places, themes, and characters.

4.25 STARS

3.5
Actually pretty sad to say bye to these characters (end of this era of mistborn). I liked Wayne Wax Marasi and Steris a lot. But I feel like this book was a decent sendoff. I enjoyed the detectiveness (although it wasn't as good as book 1/2 in this era) and the character arcs were well executed. I think my gripes were that there was a bit too much cosmere-y powers that be in this book - i enjoyed previous sanderson stuff when the cosmere was easter eggs or at least clearly presented - this required me to have a bit more context, which i did have so it was fine but it was a bit frustrating at times. I also felt like the book dragged a lot in the middle - i think we as readers got a clear picture of what the bad guy plot was and it took forever to wrap up. but i'll miss this era of mistborn - it fits a weird niche of tech development in fantasy that is really rare. i feel like the only other place ive seen something like this off the top of my head is legend of korra.

A very fast paced book and a suitable ending to the Second Era of the Mistborn series.

There was no lack of action, planning, mysteries and answers, of the type that brings more questions (which is really the best kind).
We got a better look at the Cosmere and multiple references to other, already familiar, worlds and characters.

As a negative I will point out the same thing I have already mentioned in the other books - lack of character debt. Not because their stories weren't well plotted, but because there was no time spared.
This makes the book very fast and easy to read on one hand, but robs the consequences of impact on the other.

I also feel that some of the “cameos” by characters from Eta 1, were slightly underwhelming. I somehow expected better set up and suspense building. Though it was nice to see said characters.

All in all, I liked the book and I am excited to read more about Scadrial and its future. And if for some reason you haven't read Era 2 but somehow ended this review, please do not skip it! It holds vital information for the Comsere and all evidence indicates that it will turn into a hot zone in the (maybe not so distant) future.

9.5/10
Sanderson did it again!

The whole book was an absolute blast. Discovering new stuff on this planet, then suddenly mixing with multiple other Cosmere works was perfect.

I felt the urgency for stopping disaster through the entire part three. The ending for Wayne is absolutely perfect. Hoid just passing by is perfect.

The missing 0.5 points are for the anticlimactic scene when Marasi drains the pool. This scene had the potential to be epic, but it missed the mark by a mile, in my opinion.

I'm definitely coming back to Mistborn era 2 at some point!