Mistborn: Shadows of Self by: Brandon Sanderson

Books are odd things aren’t they?  They can have an incredibly slow start and make it feel like there’s little the book can do to improve, exacerbated by an author’s note saying that this was written after its sequel because of difficulty, but then in the final act make it one of those books that hits hard and leaves you feeling more satisfied than it has any right to be.  Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson is one of those novels: an unintended sequel to The Alloy of Law published in 2016, it deals with Wax, Wayne, and Marasi undergoing political maneuvering while a threat emerges to the city of Elendel.  On the surface it’s a murder mystery whose culprit is revealed about a third into the novel.  Sanderson excels at describing Wax’s wedding planning and his relationship with Steris, but the prose is not well suited for the murder mystery format and once he ditches that style the book improves greatly.  Once the foe is revealed to be a kandra Sanderson adds a flair for paranoia as they could be anywhere, and giving Wax a communication channel with the kandra really allows the villain to be fully realized.  There’s this taunting, like Wax is being played with throughout the book and there is a final reveal that pushes Wax’s character forward past the death of Lessie by force.  The epilogue of Shadows of Self contains some of Sanderson’s best emotional prose as Wax and Steris both reflect on the events of the book with a final image that is the first time Sanderson actually sells their relationship.  It isn’t a romantic relationship, but it is one of mutual trust and gain.  It’s a partnership and nothing more.

Sanderson also spends a lot of time with Wayne and Marasi here, making Wayne’s comedic relief become more developed.  Here, Wayne is a fish out of water in high society, looking on the games that the upper class play and attempting to master them.  By games, I am speaking of the social games of regulating their speech with hidden meanings and making actions specifically for their own ends.  There is a point where Wayne infiltrates a party as a Thomas Edison-esque professor and has to deal with that baggage which does more to reveal the hypocrisy of the upper classes.  Where Marasi shines is uncovering the political conspiracy underneath Elendel as a revolution is built up against politicians making unwise decisions for the people.  The Well of Ascension saw Sanderson writing a revolt against a benevolent leader from the perspective of said benevolent leader, while Shadows of Self sees the revolt occur from the perspective of those on the ground.  The reader can see the political and social unrest, the poverty which has been growing under this particular governor.  The landing is slightly lessened when the explanation is given as to why the governor is making these decisions, however, it can be taken as an allegory for how politicians take dirty money over their own principles.

The title of the book, Shadows of Self, is apt for this one as Sanderson includes several elements and shadows from the original trilogy here.  There is a point early on where our heroes rediscover Hemalurgy as it is being used by the kandra and is what allows Wax to speak with Harmony, the deity Sazed became at the end of The Hero of Ages.   The conversations with Harmony are fascinating as he is still clearly the flawed Sazed given godlike powers, but is treated like a god.  Sanderson does use this to argue for why an actual god would not interfere with the affairs of mere mortals, but this analysis is surface level and less engaging.  What is really engaging is the fact that while Sazed is worshipped as an all-good god, he does not make those claims.  He does what is right and what must be done, but there really isn’t a veneer of being the moral high ground.  Harmony sends MeLaan, a younger kandra, to help our heroes and she works really well as a kandra who doesn’t have to hide behind the contract.  Finally, there really is a reflection of how Vin and Elend have become almost deities, rarely being referred to by name, instead by title for their hero status.  They have become shadows in the eyes of the people while Wax has to see from a primary source just how human they were.  Overall, Shadows of Self is definitely a good novel, brought up by a great ending, but it’s difficult to initially get into.  7/10.