Review: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
Blurb:
Return to #1 New York Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn world of Scadrial as its second era, which began with The Alloy of Law, comes to its earth-shattering conclusion in The Lost Metal.
For years, frontier lawman turned big-city senator Waxillium Ladrian has hunted the shadowy organization the Set—with his late uncle and his sister among their leaders—since they started kidnapping people with the power of Allomancy in their bloodlines. When Detective Marasi Colms and her partner Wayne find stockpiled weapons bound for the Outer City of Bilming, this opens a new lead. Conflict between Elendel and the Outer Cities only favors the Set, and their tendrils now reach to the Elendel Senate—whose corruption Wax and Steris have sought to expose—and Bilming is even more entangled.
After Wax discovers a new type of explosive that can unleash unprecedented destruction and realizes that the Set must already have it, an immortal kandra serving Scadrial’s god, Harmony, reveals that Bilming has fallen under the influence of another god: Trell, worshipped by the Set. And Trell isn’t the only factor at play from the larger Cosmere—Marasi is recruited by offworlders with strange abilities who claim their goal is to protect Scadrial...at any cost.
Wax must choose whether to set aside his rocky relationship with God and once again become the Sword that Harmony has groomed him to be. If no one steps forward to be the hero Scadrial needs, the planet and its millions of people will come to a sudden and calamitous ruin.
Review:
If you’ve read my previous Sanderson reviews, you’ll know that I’m making my way through his Cosmere novels in publication order so that I’m all caught up for the release of Wind and Truth.
Honestly, Era 2 hasn’t been quite as epic as Era 1. However, the conclusion of this arc does scratch the Cosmere-curious itch. And more.
What I liked:
Okay, I’m going to try and keep this review spoiler-free because The Lost Metal is one of those gems that are best enjoyed without spoilers. I read one particular spoiler before I started the book, so the emotional impact of that incident didn’t hit me as strongly; I am an ‘I don’t care about spoilers’ reader, so it didn’t bother me much. However, I respect the fact that people don’t want spoilers and I’m going to try to exercise that in this review.
The most noticeable difference in this book—I may not be remembering the earlier books correctly—is the chapter lengths. They’re very short, almost as if Sanderson plotted this book to be one 150,000 word long Sander-lanche right from the beginning. The pacing is break-neck, the narrative very, very straightforward, and the reveals magically organic. This might be my Cosmere bias, but the connections to the larger Cosmere and the ‘gloves are off’ parts of the book were just as magical to me as were the emotional payoffs and character arc conclusions for Era 2. For a series that was originally not planned, it has ended up having one of the most satisfying conclusions, which is perfectly balanced with the Cosmere-aware reveals.
So, how Cosmere-aware is The Lost Metal? Well, I’ll just say this—keep this book for the end, even post Rhythm of War. At the time of its publication, this was the most Cosmere-aware novel out there, and it really is. For fans who’ve followed the Cosmere sequence right from Elantris, this one serves as a healthy treat. Imagine the first Avengers movie but with the awesomeness of Infinity War/Endgame. The only difference is that Sanderson doesn’t just do fan service with these moments. He makes them feel like organic additions to the conclusion of Era 2.
Okay, I’ve just rambled on about the conclusion and the Cosmere-awareness. What of character? What of plot? Well, let’s get to it.
Wayne gets a lot more attention in this one, and his character arc was by far the best for me. After 4 Era 2 novels, I understand Wayne so much better now. His growth, his comeuppance, his self-acceptance without losing his self-awareness and characteristic miscreancy is an absolute delight to read. He was mostly a sidekick in the early books (that’s just how I remember him, sadly), but here he really rises to the ranks. He retains his humor and annoying traits, but they somehow worked better this time around. Also, I think the ending he gets is one of the most fitting character arcs in the Cosmere. Is it the best? I don’t know. But certainly one of the best, at least in the Mistborn saga.
Marasi’s growth is another striking feature. She’s no longer that naïve girl from book 1 who looks at the world through rose-tinted glasses. She is a full-on constable, her struggles having inspired more and more women to join the force. She isn’t assisting anyone anymore; she’s leading her own mission in this one. Marasi’s journey holds the most spoilers, so just trust me when I say this—reading her chapters was the most times I’ve had my jaw drop.
And Wax. Waxillium Ladrian has become a councilman now? Nah, this is the final book of Era 2. You know he’s going to don his mistcoat and go gunslinging to save the day. While his arc felt the least emotional to me, everything thrown his way was fitting and satisfying. He gets his due with Telsin and the Set. He has his moments to shine, living up to the name of Dawnshot. And the Wax & Wayne banter that we get was as heartwarming and entertaining as it was bittersweet. Because this is the last time we’re getting it. Seriously, I’m going to miss these two.
Steris was a refreshing POV. I never liked her before, to the point that I was one of those who thought Wax was better off with Marasi. I will admit, however, I was wrong. Steris not only is a great companion to Wax’s character, her own POVs are quite intriguing. Getting inside her head and seeing her taking charge of her own story was very inspiring and empowering to my anxiety-ridden mind.
The plot, like I mentioned, is very straightforward. Race-against-time, conspiracy reveals, good guys vs bad guys, etc. It’s not too complicated, yet the details of what’s really going on do make the whole thing intriguing. In fact, the plot does a great job of pushing our characters forward, aiding their growth and making their individual arcs shine brightly. Plus, all the reveals really do have Cosmere-wide implications that, the more you think about it, are mind-blowing to say the least. I can’t really talk much about the plot, because that would start entering spoiler territory.
So, I’m going to refrain from delving into the details. The only thing I’ll say is—I read 2/3rds of this book in a single day! It was straight-up un-put-down-able after one point. And that point is very clearly noticeable because that is the moment where you can see the ‘gloves coming off’.
If you haven’t yet, you’re in for a real treat.
What I didn’t like:
There were literally two scenes in the whole book where I felt like Sanderson was compromising the plot and character for info-dumps. These are the first two moments where the larger Cosmere is directly alluded to. However, everything following those scenes—including the reveals—felt organic and didn’t break my reading experience.
When starting off, I did wonder, ‘Do the Cosmere reveals spoil The Lost Metal in any way?’. A valid doubt, considering the state of the MCU post-Endgame.
It’s honestly a subjective experience. On the one hand, I absolutely loved the Cosmere reveals. They genuinely felt like the culmination of thousands of pages worth of stories, each independent in their own right. This was what Sanderson had been building up towards, and this was what I was looking forward to when I first picked up Elantris in 2019. However, I can imagine there being readers who are in it just for Mistborn. If you’re one of those, I can understand if The Lost Metal feels a little unfairly Cosmere-inclined. But, I will say this—despite the Cosmere connections, The Lost Metal delivers a solid and satisfying conclusion to Era 2. Also, it beautifully sets up Era 3.
Conclusion:
If there’s one author out there who I trust to deliver a satisfying, entertaining, edge-of-your-seat, bite-your-nail kind of finale to a multi-book build-up, it’s Brandon Sanderson. Finishing The Lost Metal has doubled my hype for Wind and Truth, because now I have (more) concrete proof that Sanderson can deliver on his promises, and knows how to satisfyingly end epic stories.
TL;DR:
WHAT I LIKED: Pretty much everything felt like the perfect conclusion to Era 2
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Two scenes that felt like info-dumps (didn’t spoil the overall experience though)
