The Lost Metal

Mistborn Era 2 has been a mixed bag in many ways. While I've thoroughly enjoyed it, it's always felt a tiny bit out of place in the grand scheme of the Cosmere. That's likely due to the fact that, much like the Secret Projects releasing this year, these books were born out of Brandon accidentally writing a trilogy.
Alloy of Law was originally meant to be a novella, and the Bands of Mourning was written to get over writer's block for Shadows of Self.
The books themselves have been thoroughly enjoyable, giving a nice break to the at the time consistently high stakes stories that Brandon had been writing, but again, they felt like they lacked direction. Pair this with 7 years of delays, and The Lost Metal was a book to be cautiously optimistic about. Brandon had never let us down, but he'd also seemingly never had this much trouble writing a book.

So, as I wrapped up my time with The Lost Metal, and said goodbye to Era 2, I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. Perhaps a few months from now, my love for it will soften, and I'll look back on it a bit more harshly, but as of now, this sits very high up in my rankings for the Cosmere novels that we've gotten.

Issues that I had with Era 2 have been resolved, both in Sanderson's technical skill, and the characters within the pages.

Sanderson's prose is lightyears better than in previous Era 2 entries, showing just how much he's improved as an author. He still has his easy to follow prose, but will throw in some genuinely beautiful lines here and there.

But where he really shines, is the characters. Each one feels more defined than they ever had, as previously they had relatively simple characterizations, (with the exception of Wayne, who in my opinion, always had the most depth out of the whole cast) and never really sold me on their motivations as much as other characters in the Cosmere.

However, in this one, every character feels well thought out, each action they take deliberately written to further their character. There's two in particular that really grabbed my as I read.

The first is Wayne. Wayne continues to be an absolute gem, consistently making me laugh, and then following it up with an absolute gut punch. His self hatred is palpable, and at points, genuinely distressing to read. Sanderson thankfully solved his creepiness towards Ranette in a way that doesn't excuse, but explains it, and allows the character to genuinely grow from it.

The second is Steris. Prior to this, Steris was my favourite Sanderson character, not because of her amazing arc, or epic moments, but just because she was so pleasant to read. I was able to see myself in her self doubt in prior books, and her being accepted by her close knit circle was some of my favourite character work that Sanderson had done. However, in this book, it's taken to a whole new level. She's learned to accept herself, but doesn't think she has the ability to thrive in society, and when she's thrust into the spotlight, she doesn't really know how to handle it. Watching her grow in this book was one of my favourite parts of the book.

The early pacing is definitely something that I can see being a turn off to some readers, since Sanderson doesn't take any time setting the scene, and just puts the pedal to the metal from the word go, and doesn't stop until the book ends. This was definitely jarring when I was reading it, but I ultimately think it was the right call for the book, since I don't think it needed the usual Sanderson setup.

The absolute best part of the book, was the Cosmere links. Prior to the release of the book, Sanderson said that the gloves were coming off with Lost Metal, and by god, was that man not lying.

This is the book that is most densely backed with Cosmere crossovers, and it's glorious. We get more revelations about the nature of the Cosmere, and the events taking place in it than we do in half the Cosmere stories combined, and I can't get enough of it.

We got conclusions to stories that I never though we'd see any more of, including The Emperor's Soul, and even get hints towards worlds we're yet to see.

I don't think a Cosmere book has ever left me with more new questions about the future of the series, and I'm here for it. If this is how the gloves coming off starts off, I can't wait to see the state of the Cosmere 5 years from now.

This was a fantastic way to end Era 2, dripping with exciting setup for Era 3, while still feeling like a complete story that fits perfectly within the Cosmere. The potential for the future of Mistborn is massive, and I'm here for it.

All in all, this book is one of my favourites from Sanderson, and I can't wait to see how Era 3 shapes up when we get it, since I feel like it's going to be his best series yet.