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Shadows of Self: A Mistborn Novel (The Mistborn Saga Book 5)
Fans of Robert Jordan and George RR Martin alike have found a new champion of epic fantasy in Brandon Sanderson. And now, in the first of two sequels to The Alloy Of Law the Sunday Times and New York Times…
- Release Date
- 2015
- Length
- 383 pages
- Publisher
- Gollancz
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Our Review
About the book
The second Wax and Wayne novel in Sanderson’s industrial-age Mistborn era follows lawman Waxillium Ladrian as a string of killings threatens to tear Elendel apart. As he and his allies dig in, the investigation points toward forces far older than the city’s politicians.
Our review
Sanderson’s frontier lawman takes the case of his life, and the Mistborn world quietly gets much bigger.
We came to Shadows of Self expecting a fun Western-flavored sequel and got something with more weight. Elendel is now a city of railways, labor unrest and nervous elites, and Sanderson uses a run of political murders to show how fragile its prosperity really is. Wax is still a swaggering hero with guns and metal-pushing tricks, but the story keeps asking what his kind of justice costs the people around him.
The action set pieces are as kinetic as anything in the series, and Wayne, with his accents and petty theft, remains a delight. Where the book really earns its place is in its final act, which reframes Wax’s own past and leaves a genuine emotional bruise. Marasi grows into a sharper presence, though Steris is still mostly a punchline here. It is shorter than most Sanderson novels, and the pace benefits from that discipline.
What we loved
- A mystery that widens the scope of the whole Mistborn saga
- Wayne’s comic timing and unexpected tenderness
- A late emotional blow that lands without feeling cheap
Keep in mind
- Some supporting characters, especially Steris, feel underwritten this early in the arc
- You will get far more out of it if you have read the original Mistborn trilogy
Read it if you like
Readers who enjoyed The Alloy of Law, or who like the cross between detective story and fantasy found in Jim Butcher’s work.
The verdict
A tighter, darker Wax and Wayne adventure that turns a city mystery into a series-shifting revelation.
