Brandon Sanderson - Shadows of Self (spoilers)

Joined
Jan 4, 2002
Messages
2,448
Location
Louisville, KY
So the book is out; what did everyone think of it?

I didn't see the final twist of Bleeder's identity coming at all, and that was quite a cruel but impressive direction to take things for Wax. One of the strongest things I've found in Sanderson's books are that he is able to consistently play with audience expectations to produce genuine surprises much of the time. I really liked that he continuously had characters thinking the same thoughts the intelligent reader would be having in trying to guess who Bleeder was posing as. At various times he had characters wonder if she was the other kandra, or the guard, or pretty much anyone that we might assume in an attempt to metagame the narrative. Well done, Sanderson.

MeLaan is a very fun character, and I hope we see more of her in Bands of Mourning.

I'm fascinated at who the new God is to antagonize Harmony. In Alloy of Law the villain drops the name Trell, but that doesn't ring any bells. I don't think it'd be Odium from Roshar (though it's been confirmed from Sanderson that the Wax/Wayne stories take place after the time of the first five Stormlight novels). Maybe it's one of the other shardholders we've not heard anything about yet? Bavadin? Not sure there.

Clearly Sanderson adores the patter dialogue he can get whenever he has Wax and Wayne in a room together. They can be funny, but a little goes a long way and I hope he doesn't overdo it. He may just have to recognize that the same way Tolkien realized that his four Hobbits could get in a habit of just prattling on at length early in LotR if he didn't watch it.

I hope TenSoon gets some kind of happy ending or rest by the end of the Mistborn series. Poor guy deserves it.

It sure does sound like Sazed is beginning to be a bit more subsumed into the Intent of his Shard. If he really tried to use Paalm just to manipulate Wax that doesn't bode well. Hopefully there's a bit more context to that history there.

I enjoyed it a bunch, although I do hope that we're done with the "Find the kandra" plots for now. I'm very glad it's only a few months' wait until Bands of Mourning comes out in January!
 

Aduiavas Ida

Aes Sedai
Head of the White Ajah
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
20,134
Age
34
Location
Drøbak, Norway
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
I must say that although I really enjoyed the shout backs to the original series, the kandras are getting a bit old (pun intended :look:) And Sazed has definitely changed from being the holder of two Shards for so long, the Sazed in the original series would never play people around like that. But then again, when you are an omnipresent figure, individual feelings may not be as important as the position they need to have in the big puzzle. Just a bit like every nobleman only sees a large crowd of peasants that needs to be controlled and used to make as much money as possible ;)

And yes, someone should come and give TenSoon a break! And poor MeeLan, imprisoned for crimes she didn't commit :p I hope she will be "ordered" to still be part of the group, or that she just does it anyway :look: She and Wayne are good for each other :)

And I was terrified that Bleeder would be Marasi! That would have been awful!
But it is nice to see Steris fleshed out a bit more as a character, other than annoying-person-with-connections :)

Overall, a nice book, but as usual, Sanderson are much better to write the first book in a trilogy than the second :look:
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
274
Age
35
Location
Bulgaria, Sofia
There's spoiler tag in the thread name but just in case: SPOILERS. RUN AWAY.

Yes, final twist of Bleeder's identity was not something I saw coming. I was patting myself because I had guessed that she might be the governor only to have my jaw falling when it was revealed she was also Lessie. That was rather brutal - what Sanderson did to Wax - having to lose her all over again. It's sort of worrying though that she might have been right. The Sazed I know would not have manipulated people that way.
I thought that Bleeder was Bloody Tan btw but obviously not so what/who is Bloody Tan originally?

So Wax is half Terris I guess on his mother's side ?

Did anyone saw Hoid? At first I almost missed him. I was already reading the next paragraph and I was like wait a second! what! and went back to re-read the last few sentences to be sure I have not confused something.

I really like Steris. I am now Weris or maybe Stax shipper , I guess. :cheeseeni:

It was pretty cool to see TenSoon and Sazed again. I wonder where Marsh was? I wonder who else from the original trilogy is alive ?
 

Aduiavas Ida

Aes Sedai
Head of the White Ajah
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
20,134
Age
34
Location
Drøbak, Norway
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
Yes, Hoid was there as the eternal cab driver :pleased-1: It was kind of cool to see :)
 
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
2,354
Age
42
Location
UK
Pronouns
  1. He - Him
Discord
Nick.#7789
Missed Hoid completely, enjoyed the banter and the story but I think he made Wax too much the focused good guy he just breezed in did heroics and breezed out again. Wayne was given much more of the spotlight which was nice and yes MeLaan was fun.

Was surprised we didn't see any more of Marsh though I thought he'd be much more involved with all the talk of Hemalurgy.

Definitely looking forward to Bands of Mourning but then the oh so agonizing long wait for the next book.
 

Aduiavas Ida

Aes Sedai
Head of the White Ajah
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
20,134
Age
34
Location
Drøbak, Norway
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
Yeah, Marsh was strangely absent, but I suspect he will come back in the next book. And yes, Wax was a bit absent from the book, Sanderson obviuosly tried to flesh out the other characters a bit more, and Wax suffered a bit for it :cheeseeni: But then, he was the one who got to walk on holy ground ;)
 
Top