#CBR8 Book 23: "Shadows of Self" by Brandon Sanderson

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Readers should probably have read The Alloy of Law before beginning this book. It sets up these characters and the world and time they inhabit really well. I shall try to refrain from spoiling said book too much, but if you haven't read it, that's where you want to start. Well, to be really accurate, you should probably start with Mistborn: the Final Empire, the first book in the trilogy that establishes the whole of this world, but that's more for those who want a really comprehensive understanding.

Since the events of The Alloy of Law, Lord Waxillium "Wax" Ladrian is now established as the leader of House Ladrian and has managed to sort out their finances. He is continuing to track down criminals with the aid of his trusty and irreverent sidekick Wayne, who can impersonate pretty much anyone with a little bit of time to listen to their accents and the right hat. The actual law-enforcement officers in the city aren't always too happy with the way Wax tends to track down law-breakers and especially with the wanton destruction often left in its wake. Marasi, who has given up a career in law to become the assistant to one of the superintendents. Her new position forces her to consider her friends in a new light.

There is trouble brewing in the city, with a lot of workers congregating in the streets. There are food shortages due to floods, there are talks or strikes and protests. Then the governor's brother is showily murdered in a gathering of several known criminals and accusations of corruption are levelled at him and the governor. A prominent priest is publicly murdered, seemingly by a rival religious leader and soon the religious groups in the city are also turning on each other. When Wax, Wayne and Marasi discover who is behind all the seemingly unrelated incidents, they are unsure of how to deal with it at first. Taking down a near-immortal supernatural creature isn't going to be easy.

I am clearly going to have to at least wiki the plots of the original Mistborn-trilogy before I read any further in this series, because it is quite clear that while these books are set several hundreds of years after the first trilogy (a concept which is just delightful in itself - same societal structures, same magic systems, same laws of physics, but set centuries apart), there are still obvious connections and I think I'm going to understand what is going on a little bit more, if I can recall the general outline of the books I read way back in 2009. Creatures and possibly even individuals from those books are starting to make appearances and I am honestly somewhat confused as to what is going on.

Wax, Wayne, Marasi and Steris all continue to delight me in different ways, even though Wax can seem unnecessarily grumpy on occasion. While she is more of a minor supporting character, I really love Steris, Marasi's half-sister and Wax' fiancee. She knows she isn't a very exciting personality and that hers and Wax' marriage will be an alliance based on furthering the interests of both houses, with no actual love involved, but she pragmatically organises every social encounter with the precision of a general, down to witty remarks she can regurgitate to make small-talk or useful gossip that can be used to embarrass or dismiss bothersome hangers on. She's like a self-aware, and thus much more delightful, Mr. Collins.

The reason I recommend not reading this book until after The Alloy of Law is because quite a lot of Wax' past in the Roughs comes back to haunt him in this book. His antagonistic relationship with his evil uncle, his continued grief over his lover Lessie and the reasons he chose to rejoin polite society in the first place are all established in that book. It's also where we meet all the prominent characters for the first time and while you can understand the main points of the story in this book without the backstory, it will be a much better read if you've got the necessary background.

While I liked this book, I don't love it as much as my book twin Narfna did. I do get where she's coming from about thinking this book is going to be a pretty straightforward Wax, Wayne and Marasi catch some criminals and restore justice and order to the society they live in, and it becomes something very different, involving ancient, powerful shapeshifting creatures trying to incite rebellion, but I may just have felt frustrated at my lack of remembering the events of the original trilogy, that keep being referenced more and more. If I do some catching up online before reading the next one, I will hopefully get more immersed in the next book.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 136: "The Alloy of Law" by Brandon Sanderson

Page count: 392 pages
Rating: 4 stars

In helping me establish some of the background for the plot of this book, here is the Goodreads summary:

In the three hundred years since the events of the Mistborn trilogy, science and technology have marched on. Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads, electric lighting, and even the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds. 

Even with these advances, the magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands, known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for those trying to establish order and justice.

One is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax must now put away his guns and assume the duties incumbent upon the head of a noble house - until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs. 

So our hero is Wax, or the ridiculously monikered Lord Waxillium Ladrian, who has to leave his position as a lawkeeper in the Wild West-like areas of the Roughs. While he is a legend with his guns, and his Allomancy, a personal tragedy has made him wary of using his skills anymore and since propriety seems to demand that the High Lord of a noble house don't run around catching common criminals, he instead tries to figure out what to do to make the House of Ladrian slightly more solvent. The answer appears to a marriage alliance to someone with a generous dowry, and the lady Steris appears to fit the bill. Unfortunately, at their first public appearance together,  she gets abducted by the Vanishers, the band of robbers/kidnappers who have been plaguing the city, stealing train loads of metals and taking women of good families as hostages.

Wax, his former partner Wayne (who is hilarious) and lady Steris' country cousin (in reality her illegitimate sister) Lady Marasi, an unobtrusive and quietly clever university student, team up to track down the Vanishers, rescue Steris and hopefully the other missing ladies as well.

It's been a fair few years since I read the original Mistborn trilogy (or any Sanderson really) and while I wouldn't recommend reading this book without first having read the other three books, I didn't feel too confused about the world building and the magic system, even though I hadn't re-read. This is partially because Sanderson has let three hundred years pass since his original trilogy, so while that was set in a sort of fantasy Renaissance, this is set in a sort of 19th Century developing technology world, with the same rules of physics and inherent magics. Sanderson is famously excellent at world building, and this series is no exception. While the book started a bit slowly and I was unsure of Wax as a protagonist, I got more engaged as his buddy Wayne showed up and they decided to actually solve some crime instead of Wax just trying and failing to be a stuffy society lord.

As a team, Wax, Wayne and Lady Marasi are a lot of fun. There is clearly romantic tension being set up between Wax and Marasi, which I'm hoping develops into something more in later books. While Wax is mourning, and believes himself to be too old for Marasi (plus there's the whole matter of him possibly entering a marriage of convenience with her rich half-sister), I have faith that she'll make him see sense. Poor Steris doesn't get to do much more than be girl hostage in this book, but despite her strange, stiff demeanour, I have faith that she too will turn out to be an interesting side character.

There are going to be two more books in this second trilogy in Sanderson's Mistborn universe. The second one is already out and the third book comes out early next year. I may wait a little while to read the second, so I can jump straight into the third without having to wait. Having taken quite a break from the books of the terrifyingly prolific Mr. Sanderson, I think I'm ready to have him wow me again.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR2 Book 6: "The Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson

Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Page count: 748 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: November 20th, 2009
Date finished: November 26th, 2009

WARNING! THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR MISTBORN AND THE WELL OF ASCENSION - THE FIRST TWO PARTS IN THIS TRILOGY!

The third part of Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy starts a year after the end of the second book. At the end of the second book, Elend became Mistborn, and gained incredible powers, while Vin, thinking she was saving the world, instead released a malevolent force trapped in the Well of Ascension. Ruin is one of two cosmic powers, and strives only to destroy and create chaos. Released from its prison, it can manipulate events in the world directly, and the world, which was already turbulent after the fall of the Lord Ruler, is now moving towards certain destruction. The mists are out even in the daytime, and many people caught in them either fall sick or die. Plants are not getting the sunlight required to grow, both because of the smothering mists and the ever increasing ashfalls.

Vin and Elend, have found four great storage caverns under prominent cities in the Empire, but have to lay siege to the last remaining city, ruled by one of the late Lord Ruler's administrators, in order to get to it. Spook, one of the less prominent members of Kelsier's old thieving crew has been sent to spy in another of the cities, where a man calling himself the Citizen has taken control, determined to wipe out all nobles, and creating a world following all the most extreme ideas of Kelsier, the Survivor of Hathsin.

As with the second book of the trilogy, I didn't exactly dislike The Hero of Ages, but it took me longer to finish than many books do, because I just didn't care all that much. As with The Well of Ascension, the action picks up towards the latter half of the book, and some of Sanderson's ideas really are very original and creative. It's just that the book is far too long, and the plot drags out for hundreds of pages before you get to the really good bits. I have read books this size in a much shorter period of time, and several times this week had to persuade myself to read rather than do other things, which does not happen if I am reading a book I really love.

As a concluding part of a trilogy, it does tie up loose ends very neatly, and there are some cool revelations to previous storylines, but all of these things mostly come towards the latter half of the book. Of the trilogy, only the first book didn't really suffer from being overlong and having parts I pretty much skimmed through, in the hopes that something more interesting would happen soon. Like quite a lot of epic fantasy, the page count should have been reduced somewhat, making the books shorter and faster paced. All in all, the trilogy is a good read, but not a great one.

CBR2 Book 5: "The Well of Ascension" by Brandon Sanderson

Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Page count: 783 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: November 14th, 2009
Date finished: November 19th, 2009

WARNING! THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR MISTBORN - THE FIRST BOOK IN THIS TRILOGY!!

Kelsier, "the Survivor of Hathsin" and Vin, both Mistborn, set out, with a band of thieves and conmen to overthrow the tyrannical Lord Ruler and free the Final Empire. They suceeded, but there was a cost. Kelsier sacrificed himself, and is now worshipped as a God in a slowly emerging new religion. Elend Venture rules Luthadel, the capital city, but there are two armies camped outside the city walls, one led by his own father - and a third army is on the way.

Vin and the rest of Kelsier's old gang are not sure what they are supposed to do now, as none of them expected to succeed, and establishing a democracy where there was previously a thousand-year long dictatorship is easier said than done. Especially with large hostile forces on one's doorstep. Vin is not entirely comfortable with being a ruthless weapon these armies can be threatened with, and the appearence in Luthadel of another Mistborn makes her more insecure. The mists have also started becoming more sinister, actually appearing in the daytime, and sometimes apparently killing people. Could it be that the mists are actually the legendary Deepness returning? Is Vin the prophesied Hero of Ages, and does she, her lover and her friends have more to worry about than impending warfare?

The second book in Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy fleshes out some of the characters from the first book more. Breeze and Ham, not to mention Elend, are explored in greater detail. The premise of the book: what happens when the rebels actually win, and defeat the Dark Lord? What happens afterwards? is an interesting one, but I also found the plot a lot more slow and plodding in this book. Both Vin and Elend spend a lot of the book being insecure and unsure of themselves and their feelings, and after the third or fourth time they kept agonizing over how wrong they were for each other, not to mention uncomfortable in their roles as King of Luthadel or worshipped Mistborn, it got a bit tiresome. For a very long time, while he is building up tension, nothing much actually happens, and I suspect Sanderson might have produced a better book if he'd cut the book by a hundred pages or so.

The book also explores some interesting political and religious ideas, but it felt like a lot of Sanderson's main messages got a bit dragged down by the long narrative. Still, the ending of the book is not bad at all, and makes me very curious about the conclusion of the trilogy.

CBR2 Book 4: "Mistborn: The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson

Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Page count: 647 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Date begun: November 11th, 2009
Date finished: November 14th, 2009

Brandon Sanderson was hired by Robert Jordan's widow to finish his sprawling and unfinished fantasy series The Wheel of Time, after Jordan died in 2007. Sanderson wrote the stand-alone fantasy novel Elantris in 2005, and followed this up with the trilogy Mistborn.

Mistborn: The Final Empire is the first part in the trilogy, but somewhat unusually for epic fantasy trilogies, has a self-contained ending, instead of ending with a cliffhanger, forcing the reader to continue to the next book in the series. If one wanted to, this book could be read in isolation, and one would still have a satisfying conclusion.

The Final Empire is a depressing place to live. Once, it is rumoured, the sun was bright and yellow, not a dull red. The fields, trees and plants were green, not a dull brown. There were even things known as flowers. Ash didn't constantly rain from the sky. Now the days are dark and gloomy, and at night the sinister and all-enveloping mists cover everything. A thousand years ago, the Lord Ruler saved the world from the Deepness. He has ruled the Final Empire ever since. Known as the Sliver of Infinity, he is immortal, both emperor and God. Society consists of a limited amount of Noble Houses, and the skaa, the down-trodden and oppressed serf-race. The skaa work on the plantations in the countryside, or do menial tasks in the cities. They have no rights, they can be killed on the whim of one of the nobles or clergy - and any skaa woman who is taken as a mistress by one of the nobility has to be killed before half-noble offspring can be concieved and born.

Some of the nobles possess the power to burn one of ten metals to give them enhanced powers. A few, very rare exceptions, are known as Mistborn. They can burn all ten metals, and hence can control all ten enhanced abilities. Vin, the street urchin who is the book's protagonist, is one of these Mistborn. She is one of the few half noble children who were never killed. Another of the Mistborn is Kelsier, a half-noble former thief and conman. If the skaa are lucky, they get a quick death if they earn their masters' disapproval. If they're less fortunate, they are sent to the Pits of Hathsin, a brutal mine where people first go insane and then die. Kelsier is the only man to survive and escape the Pit, but he lost his wife - and is out for revenge.

Kelsier, with the help of Vin, and his band of accomplices have a grand scheme. They are going to kill the immortal Lord Ruler, destroy the Final Empire and steal the treasury. Everyone is convinced that Kelsier is insane, that the plan is impossible to accomplish - but they're going to try anyway.

One of the best things about Sanderson's book is the magic system the Mistborn control. By swallowing fragments of metal, they are able to burn them to get various enhanced power, like strength, speed, vision, hearing etc. Various metals burn at different speeds, when they're used up, the powers fade. There are also consequences to using the powers, the users are not superhuman, and have limitations. The main characters are pretty well fleshed out and complex, however, some of the supporting cast are pretty one-dimensional. Still, Sanderson has created an interesting world, quite different from that of many other epic fantasy series. I had read several complimentary reviews of this book, and am glad to say that I was not disappointed.