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Monday, February 20, 2023

Arcanum Unbounded Part II: The Eleventh Metal, Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, and Mistborn: Secret History by: Brandon Sanderson

 

Arcanum Unbounded is a 2017 collection from Brandon Sanderson collecting all of the short fiction that had been written and published for the Cosmere to that point.  This means there are short stories, novellas, and novelettes featured, all generally longer than one may expect from a typical piece of short fiction.  As such I have decided to split the review for the collection into four separate reviews, generally splitting up by systems, three connected to previously released series and one covering the miscellaneous pieces of standalone short fiction.  This second covers ‘The Scadrian System’ section of the collection, containing the short stories “The Eleventh Metal” and “Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania” and the novella Mistborn: Secret History.

 

This section opens with two short stories included with the Mistborn role playing game and its expansion for The Alloy of Law.  This is interesting as it means neither of these stories will be essential for understanding something from the original Mistborn trilogy or the second quartet.  “The Eleventh Metal” is a character piece, focusing in on Kelsier before the trilogy really begins, training to understand Allomancy.  The postscript included in the collection explains that Sanderson believed that he had a duty of care for those playing the game because of friends and would never actually pick up Mistborn.  It’s mainly Kelsier and his mentor Gemmel exploring the full length of Allomancy, with Kelsier learning how tot ravel by air and freeing several skaa foreshadowing his actions in the trilogy proper.  Seeing a younger Kelsier is fascinating since Sanderson implies Kelsier is suffering through his grief incredibly well without actually really being able to explore it to the fullest since there’s the general audience to think of.  Kelsier’s still characterized well and seeing him essentially in Vin’s role from the early portions of Mistborn.  Gemmel feels like the classic old, wise mentor from fantasy which while a trope that won’t appeal to everyone, is one that works really well here for me.  It makes “The Eleventh Metal” a very nice little story.  7/10.

 


“Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania” is the other short story and since it was part of the supplement to the Mistborn role playing game there wasn’t the pressure from Sanderson to explain the magic system.  Since it’s set during The Alloy of Law and was written before the rest of the second quartet of the novels, it is an oddity for these short stories since it isn’t really one with a plot.  The story’s full title is actually “Allomanceer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, Episodes Twenty-Eight to Thirty.”  Instead of a standard short story, it is three installments of an in universe broadsheets serial with annotations from the compiler which are often humorous in nature.  Sanderson uses this as a way to indulge himself in classic pulp style fantasy with a lot of trappings of that story which once again will not be for everyone and it doesn’t entirely work since it’s the middle installments of a larger story that doesn’t exist, though it’s serviceable for what it is.  6/10.

 

Mistborn: Secret History is the bulk of this section and works as an epilogue to the original Mistborn trilogy.  Like “The Eleventh Metal” it’s from the perspective of Kelsier, though this point after the original trilogy.  Kelsier wakes up dead and refuses to pass on to whatever afterlife awaits him, meaning that throughout The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages he had been actively observing events.  That is much of the store behind Mistborn: Secret History is Kelsier exploring what influence he can exert on Scadriel after his death, which is not a lot.  Sanderson really paints Kelsier early in this novella as full of this despair and stubbornness.  While the stubbornness is to be expected from the character, the despair is something that he cannot really come to take himself out of until he understands what he is.  His early interactions with Preservation are fascinating, giving him the name Fuzz which you do genuinely care for once Preservation expires due to Ruin’s influence.

 


Sanderson’s great achievement with Mistborn: Secret History is really giving readers their first chance to explore the history of the Cosmere as well as the magic system.  Kelsier is initially trapped in the Well of Ascension, but that allows him to understand what Ruin is planning which occurs at the end of The Well of Ascension, so Kelsier is able to leave across the ocean on Preservation’s orders once the well is opened.  This brings him into contact with two worldhoppers where we explain that Adonalsium is the dead god of the Cosmere, splintered into 16 shards, Ruin and Preservation being two of them. This gives Kelsier the understanding of the Physical vs Cognitive Realms and a plan to be able to eventually influence the Physical Realm once again.  This does also lead to Kelsier understanding how Ruin may be defeated leading to the rather touching ending of the novella where Elend and Vin reunite with Kelsier as Sazed becomes Harmony.  This is also the point where Kelsier is able to really get in touch to the Physical Realm once again teasing something that is yet to come.  Mistborn: Secret History is genuinely a great little novella and character study that has the time to breathe and gives Sanderson enough space for a plot.  One thing I’ve noticed while reading Arcanum Unbounded is that he isn’t quite effective when it comes to building a plot for shorter fiction.  This is almost the perfect length for a novella like this and still isn’t the longest installment in the collection.  9/10.

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