The Great Mistborn Read-along of 2019/2020 *Bands of Mourning*

Thaddius al'Guy

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Yes! We should start this soon. I never did parse out the chapters, but I'm sure we can knock this one out like we did with Shadows of Self.
 

Kassina Tendar

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Do we want to parse out the chapters? I'd be happy to do it myself, if you'd like. :)
 

Thaddius al'Guy

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I don't have a copy of the book handy, so if you want, go right ahead! I'm gonna start reading it tonight, then. :D
 

Kassina Tendar

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Perfect! My page numbers may be a bit different from yours. I'm using my paperback copy:

8/10 - 8/16: Prologue - ch. 4 (94 pages)
8/17 - 8/23: ch. 5 - ch. 11 (102 pages)
8/24 - 8/30: ch. 12 - ch. 16 (78 pages)
8/31 - 9/6: ch. 17 - ch. 23 (125 pages)
9/7 - 9/13: ch. 24 - Epilogue (100 pages)
 

Kassina Tendar

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My notes for Prologue - Ch. 4:
  • In the prologue, after he kills Forch, Wax hears gunfire downstairs. Are the constables there? If so, how did they get there so far? Or is it the Terris who have guns for some reason? :scratch
  • Also, I thought Wax’s Steel cloud trick wasn’t perfect. :scratch Like I thought that it could deflect bullets, but it wasn’t a guarantee that none would hit him. Did I misunderstand or was Wax insanely reckless and lucky here when he just steps inside of people open-firing on him?? :arch
  • Wayne just assumes that Marasi is still pining after Wax. :rolleyes
  • Marasi is a good detective and figured out that Wayne was the one who (indirectly) caused the water tower to collapse, but isn’t turning him in… which is less than responsible of her as a Constable. :p
  • Marewill flowers! :love I don't think I'd ever made the connection to 'Mare' before now. (it was quite awhile between my first read-through of the original trilogy and the Wax & Wayne trilogy)
  • Steris is very perceptive and, even though Wax thought he was hiding it, she could clearly tell that he didn’t really want to get married. :fistbump
  • I love that there are ash girls at Survivorist weddings. :laugh: Sounds like a pain to clean up, though. :look:
  • Wax is really enjoying leaning into the image of him as a rule-breaking lawman from the Roughs. He expressly takes his gun out of its holster before entering the church for his wedding. :rolleyes Clearly he doesn't expect any danger; it's 100% for show.
  • The dome in the church can open inward to let the mists in. That’s a cool design! And it further discredits Wax’s poking fun at its congregation earlier. He was saying how it’s weird that they worship the mists, but then keep themselves apart from them… no, they just don’t want to get rained on in church. :laugh:
  • It’s interesting that, in Wax’s time period, mistcoats are commonly worn by any form of misting. In Vin’s day, mistcloaks were only worn by Mistborn. Mistborn are almost unheard of now, though, so the social conventions governing who wears mistcloaks/mistcoats have relaxed significantly.
  • Go Marasi and VenDell! :swordy Telling Wax off for assuming that VenDell only went to Marasi with his request as a means to get to Wax. Marasi is super badass in her own right! :horsey
  • I’d take it as quite the compliment if a kandra wanted my bones after my death. :p
  • Has Wayne read Watership Down? :rofl (referring to his comment about a book after asking VenDell if he could be a bunny)
  • I continue to find the concept of religion in this world… odd. As I’ve said before, it feels like they’re using the term ‘religion’ differently than how we usually think about it. In the ‘real world’, religion is usually a thing of faith. Generally people say that they 'belong to' a certain religion because they believe in specific things and then, consequently, don’t believe in most of the precepts of other religions. (though obviously there are exceptions and religions with similar histories tend to have overlapping beliefs) However, in these novels, they know that Harmony exists. They know that Kelsier existed and they know what he did while he was alive. So you can be a Survivorist and have ‘faith’ in Kelsier (whatever that means in this context) and still believe in Harmony and other ‘religions’… because they’re demonstrably factually true. It’s… odd. Their religions share the same functions as ours do, but due to the Words of Founding, they have absolute knowledge of the truth of a lot of these things, so their ties to their religions aren’t as focused on ‘faith’ as ‘believing in’/’believing x is true’. They (generally) don’t have to deny the truth of other belief systems while adhering to their own. I know this isn’t a novel idea and is a common trope in fantasy novels, (having gods that demonstrably exist), but I find it interesting.
  • Wayne finally lets go of Ranette. :) :joy
 

Elia LePhant

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I love that Marasi isn’t pining after Wax and does her own thing. I’m also finding how the Terris have changed and adapted pretty interesting.

I got pretty mad with the whole Wayne and Ranette conversation, ngl. I really hate the whole “lesbianism is just a phase and maybe we can have a threesome” thing men do not to mention the weird “I don’t care if she’s fat” thrown in. The whole thing felt very not Brandon and I was surprised by it. Wayne went from my fav to least fav with that conversation. :cheeseeni:
 

Kassina Tendar

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Yeah... I'm not a big fan of Wayne. He's a cool character and it's interesting to read his chapters sometimes, but things like his bullying Steris and his badgering of Ranette... I can't *like* him. He pisses me off too much. :indifferent:
 

Elia LePhant

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Yeah true. I think I kept trying to like him because that type of character is often my favorite but he keeps doing shitty things to women so just... nope.
 

Thaddius al'Guy

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I'm-a readin! I promise. I wanna complete a few more chapters before I have...things to say so far.
 

Kassina Tendar

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Ch. 5-11:
  • Wax said:
    Steris, you’re a delight. How could anyone ever think you dull?
:joy Yay! Wax is recognizing Steris's awesome!
  • Spook lived for a hundred years as Governor! :brown-blink:
  • Now we find out that giraffes and lions live out in the Roughs.
  • Ok, this time Wax even states that his steel bubble isn’t perfect and that he’s been caught several times while it was up…. So what was up with that stunt in the prologue? :arch He was totally cool with having people open fire RIGHT AT HIM, with only his steel bubble (which he admits is not fail-proof) to protect him… right before his wedding. So he’s either insanely reckless (moreso even than I’d realized) or stupid. :cheeseeni:
  • Steris using cod-liver oil for the steel suspension. :rofl
  • It’s nice that, whether it was intentional or not, the Lord Ruler made the kandra to enjoy the taste of rotten flesh. :laugh: So that the more decomposed the body is the tastier. :p At least they enjoy their ‘meals’.
  • ”Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t fit in? A place where everyone else seems to get it immediately? They know what to do. They know what to say. But rusts, you have to work to untangle it all?”
“That describes my entire life,” Steris said softly.
Awww, Steris. :hug
  • Wax is needlessly judgmental toward the Lurcher juggler on the street, calling it a waste of Allomancy. :(
  • Marasi is good at dealing with Wayne: Let him ramble about his plan to rob the bank’s records, pretend to go along with it, and then just walk in and show her Constables badge. :laugh: And keeping some alcohol in her purse to ‘trade’ back for the things that Wayne steals from people.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Yeah, I love the Marasi-Wayne dynamic :)

And Steris is awesome, and totally underrated :D
 

Kassina Tendar

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Ch. 12-16:
  • Kelesina calls the Elendel governor Wax’s ‘peasant governor’. Odd insult considering Elendel is pretty uncontested in being the biggest city in the basin…
  • The mayor of Bilming is giving a speech at the party. That’s a long way to come for a dinner party! :shifty
  • Steris finishes Wax’s pop and then gets more for herself. :laugh:
  • Hearing Lord Severington’s speech and its contents (the tyranny of Elendel) gives new meaning to Kelesina telling Wax that he would find the speech ‘of note’.
  • The New Seran newspaper has an ad searching for people whose metal objects talk to them. :rofl
  • Wayne… :facepalm You know, dragging a dead gravedigger’s corpse all the way to someone’s house to then throw it bleeding onto the floor is incredibly creepy. :brown-blink:
  • MeLaan has an awesome cyborg body. :laugh: :swordy
  • Kelesina was a Ferring gold user!
  • Steris is great! :joy
  • Wayne, be nice to Steris. :indifferent: :mad
  • Awww, poor New Seran people. Wax had to down a gondola to make their escape. Hopefully no one was in it at the time!
 

Kassina Tendar

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Ch. 17-23:

  • They’re lucky that Marasi happened to be experimenting with the cube when she did and they they stopped the carriage when they did. Otherwise, they would have likely run right into the Set's perimeter without being forewarned.
  • Marasi notices that the engineers seem to be new to the project/technology. A first hint that it's not from the Basin.
  • Sometimes Wax and Wayne just seem very inept, despite their obvious competence. :facepalm They get up on the lower catwalk and then spend time bickering, (after Wax puts his foot through a board, which was probably not silent), not seeming to realize that yes, they are practically invisible to people on the ground, but that there’s another catwalk right above them. :facepalm
  • MeLaan: “I’ll try something more mundane first.”
    MeLaan: *proceeds to pull a set of lock picks from insider her forearm*
    Yes. Right. Mundane. :laugh:
  • Marasi asks MeLaan what life was like in the Final Empire and I like her answer about people just being people. It’s why I love historical fiction and historical accounts that give us glimpses into life in the past. ‘Cause obviously we know that historical people were just... people, but it can be hard to really feel it and see the past as more than just a story..
  • Purses are handy! :laugh: I’ve had people question the utility of purses before and I always argue for purses being awesome. :p I mean, my kindle fits in my purse, so I can have an entire library with me wherever I go! It also means I don’t have to worry about things falling out of my pockets (even ignoring the state of pockets in women’s clothing, it’s more comfortable to not put hard bumpy things in my pockets), and I can always carry stuff like tissues and pens with me… Purses are great! :laugh: I just feel bad that it’s usually only considered socially acceptable for women to carry purses.
  • Wax is right, Telsin shooting the guard is quite inconvenient, but also, you really can’t blame her… You just gave her a gun RIGHT beforeone of her captors walked in...
  • We learn a bit more about the Survivorist faith. So they do believe that Kelsier is still around and willing to intervene to help his followers. Interesting. I'd be interested to hear more about Kelsier's activities after death to see if this is true or not.
  • Marasi is very good under pressure. I know she’s been trained to be a constable, but fighting and being in the field were never her focus. However, she may not be ‘calm’ under pressure like Steris, but she’s very quick to react and figure out what is needed. (on top of, of course, being a very good shot)
  • Kandra friends are so useful! :laugh: MeLaan acts as a ‘humanoid’ shield for Marasi. :D
  • The crew is very quick to learn how to use the allomantic grenade in battle. It’s an incredibly useful device, especially if you have people with different allomantic abilities with you (which they do with Marasi, Wax, and Wayne), but they also all are very creative with how they use it, despite only having ever used it a few times… and this being their first time trying to use it in the heat of battle.
  • We see that Allik has a device that lets him understand languages… which definitely made me :arch when I first read this book years ago. ‘Cause it seems so different than even the weirder types of allomancy/feruchemy that we’ve seen. Like the only way I could think it made sense was if it worked like a feruchemist’s steelmind. So someone who knows, for example, the language of the Basin would be able to store their knowledge of that language in the device so that anyone can access it. Of course, soon we learn how it actually works, which is a very interesting mechanism! But I remember being very skeptical at first. :laugh: It almost felt like a deux ex machina just ‘cause it would’ve been too inconvenient to have them to be unable to communicate with Allik. :p
  • Is this referencing Hoid?:
    newspaper clipping said:
    I found no trace of him, and though no one witnessed his fall, a young white-haired man was there and offered to tell me a story. I declined.
  • Pinecone Allomouser the Third! :joy :giggle (it’s in one of the newspaper clippings)
  • MeLaan thinks that Spook was wrong to create the book about Hemalurgy. As a kandra herself, I can’t really blame her, but I still think Spook was good to make it as a precaution, especially since he was so careful with it and didn’t just disseminate the information widely.
  • Regarding Allik's device that lets him speak with the crew:
    ‘Connection’ is based on the location you’re in. So it’s connection to the ‘land’, implying that, in the Cosmere, the language and culture and history of the people who live somewhere becomes intrinsically tied to that location. That has interesting ramifications… and it makes me wonder how mixed-language areas, moving state boundaries, or the creation of new territories (with different languages) affect the ability to use ‘Connection’ to speak others’ language. I can think of a bunch of 'tests' they could try to figure out exactly how 'Connection' works. :laugh:
  • ‘Anteverdant’ is a nice word. :pleased-1:
  • We learn some about the Lord Ruler and his activities since the events of the original trilogy (even though we thought he was dead). In the statue, he has just one eye spiked through. If he had the Bands of Mourning, why did he also need a spike to grant him powers? Perhaps it’s something his followers did in order to save him when he ‘died’? :scratch Since we know spikes have the ability to grant consciousness in some species. (kandra, koloss…) I really want to learn about the other people on this planet in future stories!!
 

Elia LePhant

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Oops I forgot to come mention that I finished Bands of Mourning, and I loved it! The final battle was of course, in true Sanderson style, quite exciting and action packed. I thought he ended it really well. :)
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Yeah, the part about the Lord Ruler confuses me, especially since we see him die in Secret History? Could it be Kelsier who for some reason poses as Lord Ruler?
Or have I mixed up the timelines here?
 

Elia LePhant

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Yeah, the part about the Lord Ruler confuses me, especially since we see him die in Secret History? Could it be Kelsier who for some reason poses as Lord Ruler?
Or have I mixed up the timelines here?

That's what I just assumed... that it was Kelsier. Seems like something he would do.
 

Kassina Tendar

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Yeah, that's definitely a possibility... Curious why he would also need to impale his eye with a spike. :brown-blink: That seems like something you'd try to avoid...

But yeah, I forgot that Kelsier actually saw the Lord Ruler after he died. :scratch
 
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