Bands of Mourning

Sanderson said that this book was a lot easier to write than Shadows of Self. He actually wrote it first, before backing up and writing the previous one. And it shows. Not that Shadows of Self was bad, but this one was a lot more exciting. There was a lot more going on. It flowed better, and I read it faster, even though it was longer.

It also helped that Sanderson refrained from killing off any more female characters, including Wax's sister, who I was really worried about up until the end.

This book also started to connect more with the greater Cosmere than any of the other books I've read in that universe so far. To be fair, I wasn't aware of the Cosmere when I read the first Mistborn trilogy, so it's likely that I missed some hints in those books. But it was nice to start to see some of those wider connections.

The downside of this is all the things I'm missing, or that I've already missed, or that I just forgot. I already feel like I need to go back and read the first Mistborn trilogy, to remind myself of certain plot points and find the things I missed the first time through. But we're still early in the series. I could probably stand to revisit Elantris, too, and finally read it's sequel-novella. Then there's Warbreaker and The Stormlight Archive, which I haven't even started yet, and more Mistborn at some point...

This series is large and unwieldy. And it's only going to get larger and more unwieldy, and it's probably not going to be finished for another couple of decades. That's a big commitment, and it's one I'm reconsidering at this point. At least until all of the books are out and a definitive reading order has been established. I just don't have the time or inclination to keep reading this books again and again.

I can only hope that some devoted fans will put together a wiki that lets me come back and quickly fill in the details I've missed or forgotten. Otherwise I may need to just turn my attention to smaller, more contained series. Or, even better, stand-alone novels.

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