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A review by mohammad_sabir
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
Shadows of Self is a worthy sequel to The Alloy of Law, and the twists at it's end and how they tie to it's predecessor are phenomenonal.
It has been a year since the events of The Alloy of Law. Workers toil long hours in Elendel's factories for little pay while the nobility plays its deceitful game of power in fancy halls and ballrooms. There is anger in the city, lying like a pile of dynamite, and a high-profile murder leads to a series of events that threaten to make the city explode. Wax, Wayne and Marasi must find the culprit and stop the people of the city from burning it down, before it is too late.
Shadows of Self's plot was definitely of a slower pace than The Alloy of Law, and seemed to me less like a fun adventure and more like a serious investigation. The Sanderlanche at the end was phenomenonal and one of the best I've ever read, and by no means do I exaggerate my feelings here. I realise that I say this for all of Sanderson's books, but it is not my fault that he writes such good endings. Seriously, the ending twist was excellent and left me positively shaken. And the epilogue also had a fantastic ending hook, which makes me rather restless to start The Bands of Mourning.
My opinions of the characters remains the same as that of The Alloy of Law. Marasi is still my favourite, and her internal struggles were quite engaging. Wayne's chapters were bloody hilarious - I love how he sees things. Wax's POV was the least interesting to me, oddly enough. It was not bad by any means, just that Marasi's and Wayne's POVs were better. The two characters that were rather under-developed in The Alloy of Law, sadly, remain under-developed here. Well, there's two more books to go, I'm certain that will change. Of the new characters, I liked Aradel the most, because in a book of remarkable folk the unremarkable becomes the remarkable, and I look forward to seeing more of him.
And yes, there is yet another brilliant innovation in the magic system - this is a book by Brandon Sanderson, what are you expecting? This innovation also impacts the worldbuilding, and all we thought we knew about it, in a profound manner. I won't speak any more of it because of spoilers.
You may have noticed that this is the only Mistborn book that has received four out of five stars from me, instead of the usual five out of five stars. This is because I was honestly a bit lost in the middle and unable to connect the dots together, which slightly soured my reading experience. The ending made up for it many magnitudes, though. If I was not lost in the middle, this book too would have easily received a 5/5.
A very good book, this is. Look forward to reading The Bands of Mourning, very much I do.
It has been a year since the events of The Alloy of Law. Workers toil long hours in Elendel's factories for little pay while the nobility plays its deceitful game of power in fancy halls and ballrooms. There is anger in the city, lying like a pile of dynamite, and a high-profile murder leads to a series of events that threaten to make the city explode. Wax, Wayne and Marasi must find the culprit and stop the people of the city from burning it down, before it is too late.
Shadows of Self's plot was definitely of a slower pace than The Alloy of Law, and seemed to me less like a fun adventure and more like a serious investigation. The Sanderlanche at the end was phenomenonal and one of the best I've ever read, and by no means do I exaggerate my feelings here. I realise that I say this for all of Sanderson's books, but it is not my fault that he writes such good endings. Seriously, the ending twist was excellent and left me positively shaken. And the epilogue also had a fantastic ending hook, which makes me rather restless to start The Bands of Mourning.
My opinions of the characters remains the same as that of The Alloy of Law. Marasi is still my favourite, and her internal struggles were quite engaging. Wayne's chapters were bloody hilarious - I love how he sees things. Wax's POV was the least interesting to me, oddly enough. It was not bad by any means, just that Marasi's and Wayne's POVs were better. The two characters that were rather under-developed in The Alloy of Law, sadly, remain under-developed here. Well, there's two more books to go, I'm certain that will change. Of the new characters, I liked Aradel the most, because in a book of remarkable folk the unremarkable becomes the remarkable, and I look forward to seeing more of him.
And yes, there is yet another brilliant innovation in the magic system - this is a book by Brandon Sanderson, what are you expecting? This innovation also impacts the worldbuilding, and all we thought we knew about it, in a profound manner. I won't speak any more of it because of spoilers.
You may have noticed that this is the only Mistborn book that has received four out of five stars from me, instead of the usual five out of five stars. This is because I was honestly a bit lost in the middle and unable to connect the dots together, which slightly soured my reading experience. The ending made up for it many magnitudes, though. If I was not lost in the middle, this book too would have easily received a 5/5.
A very good book, this is. Look forward to reading The Bands of Mourning, very much I do.