The Lost Metal
Ratings498
Average rating4.4
Te amo Alex, muchas gracias por descubrime esta maravillosa saga, me falta mas de la mitad por leer pero son increibles.
It's hard to make a plot feel organic, especially in a wider story as grand as what Sanderson is building, but usually he nails it. In this instance there were a few moments where it was too blatantly done for plot purposes, The entire rocket premise felt a little "lets keep things moving" but the worst example was the Bands of Mourning subplot, absurd chain of events that was only for the purpose of getting them to where they needed to be as quickly as possible not as a natural progression of the situation and the characters involved.
Sanderson is ultra talented so if he allowed a bit more space he could've managed it, but there are limits when you want to keep things as short and snappy as he does in this book. An understandable tradeoff even if I preferred the plot felt less forced.
Still a fun read with some really great character beats but left me with a niggling concern that tying in the wider Cosmere will detract from the quality of the individual stories going forward (AKA the MCU curse).
I legit skipped 5 pages of Wayne rambling to Marasi. A little Wayne once in a while is nice, but dear gods i could not stand the “banter” in this book.
The Cosmere reveals are insane though.
During the first 1/4 I thought it was going to be a DNF something I'd never thought I'd say about a Sanderson. But soooooo glad I persevered - epic epic epic conclusion to Era 2.
A fitting conclusion for Wax and Wayne, that will be better on a reread. There are some cosmere characters and references that I did not quite get at first, and while I get a good easter egg, having it detract from the story to figure out, or having it essential for the story is a bit annoying. (I thought I had read everything I needed to before this, but missed a couple of short stories/novellas).
That being said, I love Wax and Wayne as characters, and their develop of their relationship over four books as friends, detectives, and ultimately defenders of the realm have been quite a ride.
Mistborn Era 2's strength is it characters.
Mistborn Era 3 has a high bar set for it, as it does the rest of the cosmere. This universe is amazingly special with unique places, themes, and characters.
4.25 STARS
3.00/5.00
uhhh.. what the hell was that ? As a final book of a Mistborn series, it is very underwhelming. Wayne is good. Everything else is mediocre. Why even write this ? Why is Harmony so boring comparing to other shards like Honor, cultivation or Odium! Even Preservation was so fun, and he was there in cosmere text for like 5 minutes. Sazed needs more charcter development. There needs to be more “Shardian Influence” on this vessel.
I think I am just dissapointed. The book introduces a bunch of new characters, and there isn't enough time to enjoy the new characters. The book also chooses a brand new villian for some reason, breaking the fun of the final villian showdown.
Some great ideas in the book, but this second Mistborn series is a far cry from SA or Mistborn Era 1
Plot is complicated, just as expected, but boring.
Overall an average read.
nice ending to mistborn era 2 though it definitely doesn???t match the same scale as the ending of era 1. regardless, enjoyed the story especially the second half of it which i read within a day.
Entre los libros de la 2da era, es de los más interesantes al mostrar su relación con el resto del libros del Cosmere abiertamente, así como dar un final más ominoso a algunos personajes. Fue un soplo de aire fresco vvolvver a sentir la avalancha de Sanderson de esta manera en un libro de Mistborn, porque el resto no me convencieron tanto (especialmente el segundo), aunque este no sea aclamado por los fans.
That was probably the best book in the second part of the Mistborn saga. Maybe a bit all over the place, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. And as an entertainment it was fantastic. The geopolitical structure of the planet is still really bizarre, but it's a lot of fun to discover more about the mysteries of the Cosmere world. I will be definitely waiting for the third part of Mistborn and try the stormlight archives in the meantime (big expectations!).
3/5 stars
Meh
It's the best of the era 2 books and there is a lot of cosmere stuff going on but ultimately it did not satisfy my mistborn itch.
Lots of stretches are just plain boring, maybe thats because no character really clicked with me.
I'll be honest, Mistborn era 2 didn't really work for me. The previous book was the highlight, mainly because of the connections to the broader Cosmere. There are even more of those here, which was my favourite aspect of the book. However, I didn't care about the rest of it. The humour didn't land, and I found some characters really annoying. It's also very action-heavy, and when most characters wear plot armour, it never felt like there was any real danger. Another problem is the length. I feel like this book could easily be shorter. So yeah, a bit of a disappointment, but I didn't hate it. It's just a bit weak compared to the other entries in the Cosmere series.
De conclusie van Mistborn Era 2 was explosief, omvangrijk en hartverscheurend.
The Lost Metal was een snel avontuur boordevol actie, terwijl er ook veel karaktergroei en -verkenning mogelijk was.
Er waren ook enorm veel Cosmere-connecties, waarvan ik er zeker heb gemist, aangezien ik nog niet alles las binnen dit universum. De enorme hoeveelheid informatie die we kregen, maakte me duizelig en ja, soms voelde het een beetje te veel. Dit is een aspect waarvan ik denk dat ik dit minder als iets negatief zal zien bij herlezen en wanneer ik alle andere Cosmere-boeken heb gelezen. Maar nu voelde het een beetje info-dumpy aan.
Dat dit boek ook een emotionele achtbaan zou worden, was een gegeven, aangezien het een seriefinale is. Er was veel voorafschaduwing geweest, zowel in eerdere boeken als uiteraard doorheen dit boek, waardoor ik een bepaalde gebeurtenis verwachtte die ik niet bewaarheid wou zien worden.
Dit is volgens mij de belangrijkste reden waarom ik op de laatste honderd pagina's heb getreuzeld. Ik wilde in een soort van Schrödingers kat toestand blijven, wetend en tegelijkertijd niet wetend.
Natuurlijk heb ik uiteindelijk doorgebeten en wat ik had verwacht, gebeurde ook tot mijn verdriet. Maar Sanderson slaagde er wel in om het ook bitterzoet en een beetje hoopvol te maken.
Het feit dat ik er zo emotioneel bij werd, illustreert ook hoe goed deze serie is. Het is momenteel zeker niet mijn favoriete boek van deze auteur, deels ook omdat ik nog niet alle linken heb gelegd naar de Cosmere.
Dat gezegd zijnde heb ik zeker wel genoten van dit boek. Het was een heel waardige afsluiter van dit tijdperk van Mistborn en ik ben reuzebenieuwd hoe het derde tijdperk er zal uit zien.
3/5
Hmm, did not anticipate my rating being this low for a Brandon Sanderson novel. I think this one suffered from being less of a Mistborn sequel and more of a Cosmere expansion. Another factor in my rating was definitely the time gap between novels, both in my own reading and in real life - six years have passed since Mistborn #6 Bands of Mourning was released, and this timing is also reflected in the novel's characters.
We pick up with Wayne and Marasi as a constable duo with a solid track record, and Wax and Steris sitting well-established in Elendel's politics. Our entire cast is still working towards uncovering the plans of shadowy organisation The Set, and their strange other-worldly God Trell. Harmony and the Kandra aren't doing the best job, and no progress has been made on finding The Survivor.
It took me a while to get into this one, as the Part 1 really takes it's time in showing us where the characters and world are. The emotional maturity of our cast and discovery of the Southern Continent has meant a lot of off-page development between the books, but rest assured Sanderson sets our quartet up with satisfying and impactful arcs over the course of the story. By the end of Part 1 I was fully hooked into the story and its threat, with Sanderson taking smart cues from human history (especially photography and WWII).
However, I found myself losing interest during Act 2. Firstly, I felt there was a bit too much monologuing and questioning by our cast. Secondly, this book definitely opened the Cosmere up. Having only read Mistborn, Elantris and Emperor's Soul at this stage, I found myself overwhelmed with information that didn't exactly excite me. On a different note, I was pleasantly surprised at how in-depth and scientific the magic systems were, especially when Sanderson compared real-world science and other Cosmere magic against each other. The Cosmere as a whole is definitely a rigorous, if less interesting, science system.
As expected, the Sanderlanche was fantastic. All of the action in Act 3 was awesome, even if the emotional moments were not as impactful for me personally. When I can follow what is happening and the stakes are clear, our characters become superhuman beings of power and destruction.
I look back on Mistborn Era 2 with fondness. You didn't blow me away the same way Era 1 did, but I appreciated your lighter approach and inventive action. Thank you to Wax and Wayne for your adventures these past years, and I need to give full credit for Sanderson actually developing his fantasy world realistically by steadily adding technology into the mix.
I will be catching up on the rest of the Cosmere before the real big-scale battles begin in Era 3.
TLM had the unfortunate job of following up on what I believe to be the second-best book of the series, the best in the era. I think it delivered and gave a mostly satisfying conclusion to Era 2 of Mistborn. I talked a lot about the growth of these characters in my review for The Bands of Mourning and in The Lost Metal they truly realize who they are. It got me pretty emotional reading them getting to that point and seeing the different paths they chose for themselves. Honestly, the only part that was really lacking was the ending, but I expected that as I knew this era was more of a transition project than anything. Still, I came away with some of my favorite characters being from the transition project that wasn't supposed to be this big.
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.
El mejor de la segunda era por lejos loco. Muy recomendable leer todos los libros de sanderson para entender la locura que es el universo que se armo
3.5
Actually pretty sad to say bye to these characters (end of this era of mistborn). I liked Wayne Wax Marasi and Steris a lot. But I feel like this book was a decent sendoff. I enjoyed the detectiveness (although it wasn't as good as book 1/2 in this era) and the character arcs were well executed. I think my gripes were that there was a bit too much cosmere-y powers that be in this book - i enjoyed previous sanderson stuff when the cosmere was easter eggs or at least clearly presented - this required me to have a bit more context, which i did have so it was fine but it was a bit frustrating at times. I also felt like the book dragged a lot in the middle - i think we as readers got a clear picture of what the bad guy plot was and it took forever to wrap up. but i'll miss this era of mistborn - it fits a weird niche of tech development in fantasy that is really rare. i feel like the only other place ive seen something like this off the top of my head is legend of korra.