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A review by danilanglie
Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson
2.0
I think the main function of this book is to fill in some lore about Kelsier and the overall cosmic makeup of the Cosmere. And for that function, it does quite well for itself! It was actually quite fun to dip into this book so many years after having first read the original Mistborn trilogy, because I had straight-up forgotten a TON about how the plot went down. Now we get to hang with Kel while he relives bits of the story from this outsider perspective, and that was fun to see.
I liked the heist part where Kelsier steals the God Juice from the Ire, that whole action sequence was pure Sanderson fun. Also, as someone whose favorite Mistborn character has been and always will be Marsh, I loved seeing how Marsh gets Kelsier's message and rips Vin's earring out; it's sweet how proud Kelsier is of his brother, and how much he openly acknowledges him to be the better man.
That's probably the thing that's coolest about this little volume thematically, the idea that Kelsier wants to help, wants to do the right thing, but he's not the right type of person for it. He's too motivated by anger and revenge, he's too chaotic. Even as he tries to help Preservation, he is bolstering Ruin every step along the way. It had to be Vin, it always had to be Vin.
On the flip side, I don't really like the bit at the end where Vin goes all Wise Sage and asks Kelsier if he really did all of this for them, or if it was for himself. It's a little too on the nose, and as much as I get the point, to see Vin grow as a character and be more self-assured, I don't really like the ascended version of Vin we get for those final few seconds. She doesn't feel like the person I spent three novels getting to know.
In all, this is a good curio for the Cosmere completists, which is apparently what I'm slowly trying to become! Nice to have a bit more info about how Kelsier worked to position himself for the shit that goes down in later books. I'm excited for him to pop up in Stormlight for real, I've got my eyes peeled for this dude.
I liked the heist part where Kelsier steals the God Juice from the Ire, that whole action sequence was pure Sanderson fun. Also, as someone whose favorite Mistborn character has been and always will be Marsh, I loved seeing how Marsh gets Kelsier's message and rips Vin's earring out; it's sweet how proud Kelsier is of his brother, and how much he openly acknowledges him to be the better man.
That's probably the thing that's coolest about this little volume thematically, the idea that Kelsier wants to help, wants to do the right thing, but he's not the right type of person for it. He's too motivated by anger and revenge, he's too chaotic. Even as he tries to help Preservation, he is bolstering Ruin every step along the way. It had to be Vin, it always had to be Vin.
On the flip side, I don't really like the bit at the end where Vin goes all Wise Sage and asks Kelsier if he really did all of this for them, or if it was for himself. It's a little too on the nose, and as much as I get the point, to see Vin grow as a character and be more self-assured, I don't really like the ascended version of Vin we get for those final few seconds. She doesn't feel like the person I spent three novels getting to know.
In all, this is a good curio for the Cosmere completists, which is apparently what I'm slowly trying to become! Nice to have a bit more info about how Kelsier worked to position himself for the shit that goes down in later books. I'm excited for him to pop up in Stormlight for real, I've got my eyes peeled for this dude.