Shadows of Self
Let's dive right into the biggest problem I had with this book, which is Sanderson's treatment of Lessie. Wax's lady-love, in a classic case of fridging, gets killed in the prologue of The Alloy of Law, giving Wax a reason to return to the big city and mope around for a while. She turns back up in the prologue of this book, which details how she and Wax met. And at first I was excited to get a bit more backstory. I wondered if maybe all the prologues would be about her, letting her be more than the awesome woman who died to give Wax some man-pain.
This turned out not to be the case. Instead, the prologue was just there to remind us that she existed. Until it's revealed at the very end of the book that she's been alive all along, having faked her own death on God's orders. (It makes slightly more sense than that.) This comes up just in time for her to die in Wax's arms again, sending him into a fresh bout of grief plus bonus loss of faith in God. That's right, Sanderson managed to fridge the same woman twice.
Aside from that whole mess, the book is pretty good. It's not quite as concerned with being a fun romp as the first book. Sanderson is clearly doing some more work to set up the trilogy and tie this back to the rest of the Cosmere. But there are still a lot of fun chases and fights, and a great mystery (mostly). Steris really comes into her own in this book, and I find myself rooting for her and Wax to really fall in love and have a great relationship. Marasi is equally great in different ways, and the book feels more balanced than the first one, thanks to their expanded roles.
The again, the lack of a villain point of view had me feeling like the book was missing something crucial for most of it. In the first book, Miles got a handful of chapters, and I enjoyed the glimpse into his plans, his mysterious boss, and his antagonist but respectful relationship with Wax. I spent most of the book wondering why we didn't ever get to see inside Bleeder's head, which made me even angrier when it was ultimately revealed that this was to keep her identity a secret for the sake of the twist at the end. But having a few chapters with her, her motives, and her continuing feelings for Wax would have made her second death go down so much better.
This turned out not to be the case. Instead, the prologue was just there to remind us that she existed. Until it's revealed at the very end of the book that she's been alive all along, having faked her own death on God's orders. (It makes slightly more sense than that.) This comes up just in time for her to die in Wax's arms again, sending him into a fresh bout of grief plus bonus loss of faith in God. That's right, Sanderson managed to fridge the same woman twice.
Aside from that whole mess, the book is pretty good. It's not quite as concerned with being a fun romp as the first book. Sanderson is clearly doing some more work to set up the trilogy and tie this back to the rest of the Cosmere. But there are still a lot of fun chases and fights, and a great mystery (mostly). Steris really comes into her own in this book, and I find myself rooting for her and Wax to really fall in love and have a great relationship. Marasi is equally great in different ways, and the book feels more balanced than the first one, thanks to their expanded roles.
The again, the lack of a villain point of view had me feeling like the book was missing something crucial for most of it. In the first book, Miles got a handful of chapters, and I enjoyed the glimpse into his plans, his mysterious boss, and his antagonist but respectful relationship with Wax. I spent most of the book wondering why we didn't ever get to see inside Bleeder's head, which made me even angrier when it was ultimately revealed that this was to keep her identity a secret for the sake of the twist at the end. But having a few chapters with her, her motives, and her continuing feelings for Wax would have made her second death go down so much better.
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