There are two levels to this review. On the one hand, there’s the review of this book as its own thing, the final book in Mistborn Era 2. On the other hand, there’s the review of this book as a piece of the larger Cosmere.
As the concluding volume of Mistborn Era 2: this was quite good. The story and character arcs both wrapped up in ways I was very satisfied with, and I enjoyed the journeys to get there.
As a piece of the larger Cosmere: this was frustrating, and I’m not sure I’m interested in the Cosmere any more.
I’ll start with the good. As always in Mistborn Era 2, this has felt like a buddy-cop action movie in book form, which is a complement. Wax and Wayne play off of each other beautifully: as people, as investigators, as combatants. Marasi makes things into a tripod: she fits well with Wax as an investigator, and with Wayne as a partner (since Wax’s retirement as a lawman at the end of the previous book, Marasi and Wayne have been partners in the Elendel constabulary). Wax’s marriage with Steris has settled into a warm routine that was a pleasure to read about, even though there was not nearly enough Steris in the book (Steris is the best).
The bigger picture from the earlier books carries on, but with a new and appropriately-high-stakes plot that the good guys are trying to thwart. It was well done and with a good build-up to a great conclusion. I only have two real complaints. The bad-guys-of-the-book (a pair of Allomancers who the Set trained specifically to counter Wax & Wayne) felt like moderately ridiculous Bond villains. Not the most ridiculous of Bond villains, because that’s a high standard, but they were extremely corny. And the motivation behind the big plot the good guys are trying to stop made no sense at all to me. It was explained several times, and I still don’t get why the bad guys were doing it. But those are minor, especially considering the ending, which was very well done.
As for the Cosmere stuff: I still am in the mindset of the Cosmere from the earlier Cosmere books (Mistborn era 1/Warbreaker/early Stormlight), where the books were their own thing with little Easter eggs that were a pleasure to spot. That’s not at all what the Cosmere is any more. If you haven’t read Mistborn: A Secret History you will, I am confident, be totally derailed while reading this. Why is this a problem? Because M:ASH was marketed as an outrigger, an optional novella that might be interesting, not an essential read. There were appearances by the Ghostbloods from the Stormlight Archives that just raise many questions, and how Scadrial fits into the assorted planets is clearly a major component. But I just don’t know what I’m supposed to know or supposed to have read, and it’s frustrating. We’re past the point where I can go on Coppermind or a Tor readalong and find out “oh, that guy from the Stormlight interlude was Demoux from Mistborn!” We’re at the point where I feel like I need to go and read all the Cosmere stuff I haven’t yet in order to feel like I can understand what is going on.
Which is not a bad thing, in and of itself. It’s a question of expectations. I’d feel a lot better about it if Brandon would come out and say that his books are no longer a thing where people can dip in and read a book or a series - it’s really necessary at this point to read most of the Cosmere to follow what is going on. I am certain that the publisher marketing teams do NOT want him to say this, because it’s a lot harder to get people to buy a book if you tell them “you’ll also need to read these 2 dozen books to understand this.” But that’s where the Cosmere is these days. I’m going to continue with Stormlight book 5, but I’m currently leaning towards that being my final Cosmere book. I just have too much other stuff to give the Cosmere the time and attention it needs.
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