A review by jenna_smuszkiewicz
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I did not enjoy this book as much as Alloy of Law for me personally. I still had fun with it. 

The whole city's working class going into revolt over their conditions and the stress of that made a lot of sense.
And while the characters sympathized, they were still part of the police whose main goal was to stop them at any cost. I get having to stabilize the city but there was no thought from them as to how to make the city better or how to change the system.
 

Also, I found the villain's motivations really hard to follow.
She wants to free them from Harmony. She says strong emotion frees them, but I don't understand how that works.
Finding out that
she was Lessie the whole time was surprising. That does make me feel for Wax as he had to kill her twice
. 

Wayne honestly brought up this book a lot. He was my favorite POV by far. I also did like MeLaan too. 

So, I found the mystery fun to follow but it was hard for me to follow the villain's plans. And the overall politics in this book and how the characters talked about them didn't really agree with me. I think they are still really important conversations to have and you can see many parallels to our world in this. I also got the strongest Christian vibes from this book than from any other Sanderson book. Which is fine, but I don't super vibe with personally and it came on a little too strong for my taste. But, there was that touch of having to struggle with living with these big gods around you and I am interested in how the characters will evolve from this book. 
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