The second era of Mistborn had been Brandon
Sanderson’s unintended quartet with the most delays on its final
installment. Shadows of Self, the
second installment, was written after the third, The Bands of Mourning,
while The Alloy of Law was only intended to start as a brief standalone but
Sanderson being Sanderson it became a quartet.
It’s also a sequence that now that it is complete I am having some
difficulty parsing my complete thoughts on the sequence. While none of the installments were bad, they
weren’t among Sanderson’s absolute best work and couldn’t seem to reach the heights
of the initial trilogy. The Lost
Metal was initially announced soon after The Bands of Mourning but
was delayed until a November 2022 release after both Oathbringer and Rhythm
of War, plus the initial installments in the Skyward series being
used to prepare for the third era of Mistborn which will bring the
Cosmere as a whole into the Space Age.
In describing The Lost Metal, Sanderson mentioned taking the gloves
off in terms of using this novel as a way to go through larger Cosmere
connections which was something that generally made me a touch worried as bringing
together a shared universe could entangle the Cosmere for potential new
readers.
In terms of Cosmere connections, I must confess that
while I have been doing a larger Cosmere reread through 2022/2023, when it
comes to connections I am often quite bad at spotting them and always parsing
out who they were. It took me until this
read of Words of Radiance to realize all of the Warbreaker
connections (or at least the big ones that aren’t Nightblood), so when approaching
The Lost Metal there was some worry that even these would take away from
my enjoyment of the novel. The novel is
split into three parts, with the third being the longest of the three parts,
and while reading the novel only took me about three days, this is one where
Sanderson’s tendency to ramp things up as the story hurtles towards a climax
might be Sanderson’s biggest yet. The
stakes, as was for much of the original Mistborn trilogy, are world
ending, and Sanderson has thrown out much of the Western storytelling that
defined The Alloy of Law (and held back the other two installments
slightly) for a post-Western aesthetic. The
big climax involves a planted bomb that would destroy Elendel and the Cosmere
in general being told about the opportunities to colonize Scadriel, plus the
potential of creating atium in the destruction.
Marasi’s plot is where the proper connections are really to be made, as
a police detective she becomes embroiled in the activities of the Ghostbloods who
become allies to our protagonists meaning several references to specifically The
Emperor’s Soul, Elantris, and probably The Stormlight Archives
(outside of some cultural references there are a few cryptic plot elements that
may be active characters from Roshar).
Marasi finally also feels like an elevated character here, in previous installments
she just wasn’t quite working for me as well as she could have. Luckily, while there are many, many more,
they are details that say a Mistborn only reader will slip right by
without largely impacting the story outside of the general climax and the
larger Cosmere rules.
While the first part of the novel is actually quite
slow, Sanderson having implemented a five year timeskip to account for the many
delays, there’s time spent showing where our major players and Elendel as a
city has grown since The Bands of Mourning. Where The Lost Metal really succeeds
is capping off these character arcs, Wayne in particular. Wayne’s comedy has always been hit or miss for
me, there are times when I find him quite charming and it’s clear there is
depth, but Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning had some
points where his humor has gotten older.
Sanderson really took the character to the next level here, beginning The
Lost Metal with a clear indication that this is going to be an ending for
Wayne. He’s influenced Wax and Steris’
now five year old son, has become far more accomplished as trickster, and is
ready to finally meet his grief head on with the acknowledgment that forgiveness
is never coming for him. Sanderson has
also just dialed in the jokes to the right amount. The same can be said about Steris whose neurodivergence
just feels as if its given her a better place in the world, possibly due to how
Sanderson has grown as a writer, her epilogue specifically calling out how
there is a place in the world that was always there but due to subtle
discrimination had to be carved for her to be seen as enough. Her chapters are fascinating in particular as
her relationship with Wax has grown. Wax’s
arc, while not weak, is more of a capstone, though he’s still a wonderful
protagonist and seeing his place in politics is equally as interesting as
Steris’ before the calamity hits in that third part.
Overall, The Lost Metal is honestly the book
that makes the second era of Mistborn worth it among the rest of the
Cosmere. It’s a book where nothing feels
trivial or a side step, Sanderson having the mission to show a preview of things
to come from him and the Cosmere, while really giving the characters their best
outing possible. The plot itself is
elevated by being quite a simple conspiracy with Western characters forced into
an ordered world which is an interesting theme.
The usual religious elements that have been integral to Mistborn
are also fascinating as there are several points where it is indicated the gods
are wrong, or could be wrong. It is one
that you need Mistborn: Secret History to fully get though that is part
of Mistborn already and the start isn’t quite there yet but the rest of
the book has some of Sanderson’s greatest ideas so far. 9/10.
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