Shadows of Self Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Wax and Wayne Book Two, Mistborn Book Five
Pages: 384

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The Alloy of Law originally intended to be a standalone, despite having an ending with openings for sequels, finally got its sequel, or rather it will be getting three of them.  Shadows of Self is the first of these sequels with the The Bands of Mourning scheduled to come out in early 2016, and the final novel yet to be written.

A rogue kandra has lost her mind, and she intends on setting the city of Elendel in disarray. Wax, Wayne, and Marasi are soon thrown into the mix as they are forced to track down one of Scadrial's most ancient and dangerous creatures.

Sanderson's transformation of the Mistborn series from epic fantasy to steampunk feels seamless. The series' are united by the mythological workings of the world and Brandon Sanderson's brilliant metal based magic system.  The heroes of the Wax and Wayne series are powerful, but they do not contain nearly the amount of power as Vin and her contemporaries from the original trilogy. On the other hand, the Wax and Wayne era is much more technologically advanced, and the concept of having twinborn - ie people who have a combination of one allomantic and one feruchemical ability - makes for another fun rediscovery of this great magic system.

Shadows of Self is easily the fastest paced of Sanderson's Mistborn novels, with the majority of the action taking place over a single night. As a novel the style and writing of this book actually reminds me more of Sanderson's Reckoners series than it does the actual MIstborn books. In short it feels very much like a Y.A. novel, something the original trilogy never did.

I was offput by the lack of mentioning sex. Knowing that Brandon Sanderson doesn't like to write about the subject is fine, I'm not expecting details or anything like that. But I do expect it, along with lust, to be a motivating force for the characters and the decisions they make. In Shadows for Self it's like sex doesn't even exist. It really hinders a lot of the believability of the story being told. Especially when it comes to Wax, his previous relationship with Lessie, and his current relationship with Steris.

A lot of the inner workings of the world Scadrial aren't really expanded on at all, making this the first Mistborn book to do this. Normally Brandon Sanderson is able to throw in a few big surprises in his stories, but Shadows for Self failed to do any of this, including the big reveal at the end. While it was fun reading, I feel it's safe to say Wax and Wayne will not be surpassing the original trilogy.

Score: 7.4