Book 5 of Misborn

Shadows of Self

Re-reading the whole Wax & Wayne before I do the Lost Metal as is my Sanderson tradition when a new book in a series comes out.

Apiecalypse Jen

“The law is not something holy, son. It's just a reflection of the ideals of those lucky enough to be in charge.”

Minnie Mazuera

that was a god-tier twist OMG and i just love sazed even more from this book best vessel on the cosmere methinks. also the way meelan popped off so hard at the epilog yeah go MY QUEEN

hana

Christine

Vicky  Nuñez 

Great follow-up to the previous Wax and Wayne book. The flawlessness that is Brandon Sanderson's writing continues to amaze me.

Nick Perronteau

4.5/5
-
Reading TenSoon’s description of Vin to Wax was something so beautiful even with it being so quick. Made me realize how much I loved her arc(s) in the first trilogy.

Also, Steris deserves so much good. I’m hoping she gets her loyalty, recognition, and kindness reciprocated in these next books.

Faith Williams

Ben Silverman 

Stronger than the first book, in my opinion, and being to expand out into some really interesting lore! Can't edit to read the next one!

Rachel Kanyid

So good on the reread. Brandon never disappoints.

andrea

i enjoyed this book more than the alloy of law. there was more action in the plot and i was able to connect more with wax as a character. now i can say he's my favorite in this new trilogy and i, obviously, loved all the connections with the first mistborn era as well, all the appearences and the name-droppings.

the lightheartedness that was so present in the first part of mistborn era 2 is slowly giving space to a more intense, serious and well-developed story. i feel like, with this book, era 2 has established the base to stand as a series of their own, not to remain just as a little fun, cute mistborn novella with silly characters.

the ending, with that final moment between wax and steris after the overwhelming avalanche of emotional distress to which wax was subjected to, was really heart-touching... they're growing on me and i hope we can see more of their relationship in book 3. usually i wouldn't be so interested in a romance or a soon-to-be couple in a fantasy story or just any book that isn't romance, but i don't know how sanderson always manages to make me care about the couples he writes. i find them really cute, i don't care about what anyone else says.

hoping for more plot and character development in the bands of mourning so i can give 5 stars to another mistborn book.

Alejandro

I love the multiple layers of the story. The mysteries and difficulties of keeping a city and its people content; while (view spoiler)[we have connections from previous eras popping up when they are less expected. (hide spoiler)]

In a typical Sanderson fashion the last part of the book is something you need to read in a sit. And the epilogue shows a future for the series that I can't wait to read!

James Paden

Brandon Sanderson is probably my favorite author. This wasn't his best work, but I'd still recommend the entire series (and everything else he's written).

September 2022 reread: I stand by everything I wrote below. It amazes me how little of the specific plot points I remembered. Not every book can genuinely surprise you on a reread, but this one did. But the characters and setting were all still incredibly fresh in my mind. I love Wayne, and MeLaan, and most everyone else. I'm so happy with how this series holds up to revisiting.

Be forewarned. This is less of a review and more of a gush session over Sanderson’s craftsmanship in building the world of Scadrial in the Mistborn books. 

I read Alloy of Law last year and, while I liked it, I didn’t feel driven to continue reading about the exploits of Wax and Wayne. I had no idea what I was missing. While I really enjoyed 

 by far surpassed it. This is a book I feel is on par with the rest of Sanderson’s Cosmere fiction in terms of depth. As my lovely friend Mary said in her review, it felt like Sanderson wrote a love letter to the fans of his original Mistborn trilogy, and I loved it so much.

Returning to a world you love three hundred years after the events that drew you there the first time can be jarring, which I think unfairly influenced my view of 

 the first time I read it. But, now that I’ve been in this brave new world built on the foundations of one I adore, I’m thrilled with what Sanderson has done here. Characters that we know and love from the original trilogy are now the figures of myth, with entire religions built around them, and it’s fascinating to read. It’s like visiting old friends, but now they’re deities instead of the humans you once laughed with. Also, there are some of these characters that live on in different ways, and getting to see them again was a lot of fun.

I don’t really know what to say here that wouldn’t be a spoiler. But I will say that I disagree with some readers who believe that Sanderson’s weakness is his characterization. While he obviously excels in his world-building and magic systems and plot twists, he’s no slouch when it comes to crafting characters, either. I 

 with so many of his characters. The characters in this series, Wax and Wayne and MeLaan and Marasi and Steris, are no exception. Wayne was my absolute favorite in 

, and I still love him, but now he’s sharing that spotlight with Wax. And Steris is really growing on me. I think she might be the most honest character in the entire series. The ending wrecked me more than a little bit, but cemented my love for Steris. I’m really excited about this series. Time to dig into 

Celeste Richardson

September 2022 reread: I stand by everything I wrote below. It amazes me how little of the specific plot points I remembered. Not every book can genuinely surprise you on a reread, but this one did. But the characters and setting were all still incredibly fresh in my mind. I love Wayne, and MeLaan, and most everyone else. I'm so happy with how this series holds up to revisiting.

------------------

Be forewarned. This is less of a review and more of a gush session over Sanderson’s craftsmanship in building the world of Scadrial in the Mistborn books. 

I read Alloy of Law last year and, while I liked it, I didn’t feel driven to continue reading about the exploits of Wax and Wayne. I had no idea what I was missing. While I really enjoyed The Alloy of Law the second time I read it, Shadows of Self by far surpassed it. This is a book I feel is on par with the rest of Sanderson’s Cosmere fiction in terms of depth. As my lovely friend Mary said in her review, it felt like Sanderson wrote a love letter to the fans of his original Mistborn trilogy, and I loved it so much.

Returning to a world you love three hundred years after the events that drew you there the first time can be jarring, which I think unfairly influenced my view of The Alloy of Law the first time I read it. But, now that I’ve been in this brave new world built on the foundations of one I adore, I’m thrilled with what Sanderson has done here. Characters that we know and love from the original trilogy are now the figures of myth, with entire religions built around them, and it’s fascinating to read. It’s like visiting old friends, but now they’re deities instead of the humans you once laughed with. Also, there are some of these characters that live on in different ways, and getting to see them again was a lot of fun.

I don’t really know what to say here that wouldn’t be a spoiler. But I will say that I disagree with some readers who believe that Sanderson’s weakness is his characterization. While he obviously excels in his world-building and magic systems and plot twists, he’s no slouch when it comes to crafting characters, either. I connect with so many of his characters. The characters in this series, Wax and Wayne and MeLaan and Marasi and Steris, are no exception. Wayne was my absolute favorite in The Alloy of Law, and I still love him, but now he’s sharing that spotlight with Wax. And Steris is really growing on me. I think she might be the most honest character in the entire series. The ending wrecked me more than a little bit, but cemented my love for Steris. I’m really excited about this series. Time to dig into The Bands of Mourning!

Brianna

Luna

i still don’t know the difference between wax and wayne

Maytal

The last two pages had me be like oOoOoO but I had some real troubles concentrating and caring throughout the majority of this book which is shocking for a brandosando story.

Julia

Vitor Augusto Dal Molin 

“Every man had to die. He’d always found it odd that so many died when they were old, as logic said that was the point in their lives when they’d had the most practice not dying.”

I love this book so much!!

Judy Hudgins

Loved it. Can't wait to start the next in the series.

Wiktoria Cembala

Karleigh McCarville

** spoiler alert **
           Amazing. Absolutely amazing. You did it again Brandon Sanderson! 

I have to admit I was iffy on the last book when the characters changed and the entire feel of the story changed. I was very sad to see the old world disappear along with the characters I loved but you have made it easy to fall inlove with the new world and the new characters. I can't say the whole "western" vibe is my favorite but I do enjoy the new use of metals. 

I was EXTREMELY happy to see kandra brought back into the story line. Along with Tensoon and Sazed. Wayne has quickly become my favorite character of this new trilogy. 

I highly recommend these books to anyone who enjoys fantasy. They are amazing.

vera

”Owning things of value is secondary to creating things of value where none once existed.”


Wowowowowowowowowowowowow!

Loved this one even more than the first book. I loved so many things about this, there’s so much I could say but I’ll just say this:

1. I love Marasi.
2. That ending... wow.
3. I cried.

Ben Nathan

Tons of fun, once again. I think Sanderson is the best there is right now and this series is just something fantastic. The second series is less serious on the surface, but has all these amazing undercurrents. I'm really excited to continue with Mistborn and I'll read more Sanderson too!

Kireth Sandhu

Now this was more like it. After the fun but self-contained Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self becomes a city-based crime thriller with the stakes of Elendel hanging in the balance. There are definite personal threads running through this story as well, this time Sanderson rotates naturally between the trio of Wax, Wayne and Marasi as they hunt a murder causing chaos amongst various class factions. This also greatly increases the depth of worldbuilding this time around, as we see these various groups and their thoughts, concerns and personalities (although over a short time span). Loved the return of the broadsheets and the sense of constant building tension throughout the first two-thirds of the book, which led to an almost inversion of the Final Empire's events (which I thought was very smart). Unfortunately, the conclusion and all its reveals were amazing but felt a bit convenient for me, although undoubtedly setting up the next entry in the series. There was a lot more religious pondering in here, a few more references to the original trilogy and honestly Wax was like a superhero in The Dark Knight with how much political thrilling and chaos was being caused by Bleeder. Very cool and very fun.

Shadows of Self Book 5 of Misborn

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