Book Review: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson

Pros: complex mystery, great characters, more mythology

Cons: didn’t touch on one of the unresolved plot points from the first book

The past year has brought economic trouble to the city of Elendil.  When a creature from mythology starts a series of terrorist attacks, targeting the governor, whom Marasi believes to be corrupt, Waxillium and Marasi become more and more convinced that these problems are related.  

Wax and Wayne make for a fun team.  Wax is driven, with a strong moral compass while Wayne has a crude sense of humour and loose beliefs with regards to ownership.  Their different abilities complement each other, making them powerful. Wayne’s ease with accents, dialects, and costumes gets a good workout. 

I found myself liking Steris more in this book, and wishing she had more page time.  While her relationship with Wax isn’t a love match, I do think they’re a couple that could work, given how things progress.  

I also like how Marasi is developing as a character.  She faces different kinds of challenges in this book and acquits herself well.   

While you don’t technically have to read Alloy of Law to understand and enjoy the events of this book, it does help.  Certain events have more weight if you know what’s happened, and you’ll have a sense of missing information during a few conversations (I ended up skimming the first book half way through this one to remind myself of what’s happened).  There’s also a lot more mythology in this book, making me want to read the original Mistborn trilogy.

I love how Allomancy and Feruchemy work and the skills the powers allow the characters to use.  This book also uses a third type of metal magic, which was cool to learn about.

I was somewhat surprised that one of the major unresolved plot points from the first book wasn’t really touched on or dealt with in this one.  I’m assuming it will come back in the third book.

This is a fun book and while the ending isn’t a cliffhanger, it is designed to have you reaching for the next book, The Bands of Mourning, which luckily comes out in January.