Return to #1 New York Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn world of Scadrial as its second era, which began with The Alloy of Law, comes to its earth-shattering conclusion in The Lost Metal.
For years, frontier lawman turned big-city senator Waxillium Ladrian has hunted the shadowy organization the Set—with his late uncle and his sister among their leaders—since they started kidnapping people with the power of Allomancy in their bloodlines. When Detective Marasi Colms and her partner Wayne find stockpiled weapons bound for the Outer City of Bilming, this opens a new lead. Conflict between Elendel and the Outer Cities only favors the Set, and their tendrils now reach to the Elendel Senate—whose corruption Wax and Steris have sought to expose—and Bilming is even more entangled.
After Wax discovers a new type of explosive that can unleash unprecedented destruction and realizes that the Set must already have it, an immortal kandra serving Scadrial’s god reveals that Harmony’s power is blocked in Bilming. That means the city has fallen under the influence of another god: Trell, worshipped by the Set. And Trell isn’t the only factor at play from the larger Cosmere—Marasi is recruited by offworlders with strange abilities who claim their goal is to protect Scadrial...at any cost.
Wax must choose whether to set aside his rocky relationship with God and once again become the Sword that Harmony has groomed him to be. If no one steps forward to be the hero Scadrial needs, the planet and its millions of people will come to a sudden and calamitous ruin.
Publishing Date: November 15, 2022
Genre: Fantasy
Age Group: Adult
My Rating: 5/5
As I walked around a dried up lake listening to this book, I found myself crying.
Brandon Sanderson has no right writing this well. This book blew the rest of the Wax and Wayne series out of the water.
The last for W&W books have been a great time. I've given each of them 4/5 stars and have really enjoyed the fun that each book brings. But this book brings fun and so much more to the table.
As Sanderson himself said, this book is the most "Cosmere" of all of his novels. The Cosmere is explicitly mentioned and there are cameos from across the Cosmere. I don't think that any of these cameos are particularly spoiler-y, but if you prefer no spoilers whatsoever, I would recommend reading the first four books of The Stormlight Archive first.
What really shines in this book are the characters. Previously, they all felt a tad flat. Wax was the good lawman. Wayne was comic relief. Steris was uptight and a good planner. Marasi was investigative and brave. This book did so much for these characters, especially Wayne and Marasi.
I have so much love for this series and for what Sanderson has been able to achieve. I will definitely return to these books, and I cannot wait for Era 3 of Mistborn!
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