The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“There is always another secret” Kelsier’s words from the first Mistborn book continue to be born out time and time again in Brandon Sanderson’s novels. Once more was have an tale of adventure and mystery in Sanderson’s Victorian inspired era of Scadrial. As Waxillium Ladrian attempts to come to grips with the actions he was forced to take at the end of the last book he is given another task by his god: find the magically invested bracers used by the god-emperor in the first Mistborn novel. This task takes us some distance from the city and politics of Elendel and we learn more about the world beyond the capital city and the wild-west frontier of the Roughs. We are introduced to other cities in the basin and shown how (and why) they feel oppressed by the collection of power in the hands of the Elendel elites, setting a stage for a larger conflict about to boil over.
In the course of Wax’s quest we learn deeper nuances of the magical powers of Scadrial, we are given history of the world outside of the protected basin where Harmony has sheltered Ellendale and the seeds of civilization after the end of the Hero of Ages and we are given new insights into the Lord Ruler. These revelations and more follow quick and fast in the midst of this riotous tumbling action-adventure surrounded by high-speed set pieces with Sanderson’s usual cinematic flare and attention to the creative use of his rigidly proscribed magic systems and once more everything comes to a tightly constructed cacophony of a conclusion that bears out the worldbuilding and character progressions while answering questions posed in the course of the six books set in this world and tantalizingly bringing more questions to the table. Everything about this book left me clamboring for the next novel which should wrap up the Wax and Wayne storyline while at the same time begging me to go back and re-read the original Mistborn trilogy.
If you do not already know, there is an overarching plotline in Sanderson’s works that connects the majority of his worlds into a multiverse that he refers to as the Cosmere. There are little occurrences that bridge between the worlds where his different series are set: most notably a character named Hoid who has a habit of showing up in each book at least momentarily. In this book we see a little more of the other worlds bleeding in, though not in a big way. Hoid makes his notable appearance and a couple of briefly encountered characters seem to be gathering information on how the magic of this world works with an outside perspective, these tendrils of broadening story are intriguing, pointing towards an over-arching metaplot that involves conflict between various beings invested with shards of divinity from a variety of worlds. So far this has been tastefully done and understated in a way that provides a clever easter-egg hunt for dedicated readers while not leaving readers who have not invested in every storyline in the dark, I am hoping that he manages to execute the Cosmere tie-ins completely without losing that balance.