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

Elia LePhant

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Oh yeah I'm good to go re: Shadows of Self! I read the first couple chapters but then stopped to wait. :) I LOVED Alloy of Law! It was great. It was the first time I read it, and I liked how different it was from the original trilogy.
 
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I think I was sold on Sanderson fully after reading Alloy of Law and being so impressed with the way he could swivel a fantasy world into a whole new genre of western/fantasy mix. I'm really, really hoping he'll stay with his initial plan of the next Mistborn era being a sort of 1980s political thriller (but with magic).
 

Thaddius al'Guy

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Alright, I have updated the first post with the reading schedule. It'll be a 4 week process just like the first book. Tomorrow we will start with the prologue + the first 4 chapters. As always, feel free to read ahead, but always put stuff past the current week's reading schedule in spoilers! I personally have not read Shadows of Self, so this is all new to me.
 

Kassina Tendar

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I personally have not read Shadows of Self, so this is all new to me.
Ooo, that's exciting! My memory of Shadows of Self is minimal. As with Alloy of Law, I remember the broad strokes of the trilogy and I remember a lot of the character development and what happens in the characters' individual stories, but I don't remember many specifics about the plot itself, so I'm looking forward to rediscovering it!

Rollyn, I agree completely! I was thoroughly impressed when I read Alloy of Law and saw how he was able to evolve the world technologically. Sanderson's worldbuilding is definitely one of my favorite things about his work. :joy
 

Aduiavas Ida

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You're in for a treat Thaddius :) It is not quite as good as Alloy of Law, but that is mainly because it is designed to be a follow-up to a book that started as a stand-alone, and one that is the middle of a trilogy... But it is still awesome :)
 

Thaddius al'Guy

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Oops I lost track of the days again.

For the rest of the week, the Prologue + the first four chapters!
 

Kassina Tendar

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I haven't read up 'til chapter 4 yet, but here are my notes so far:
  • I’d forgotten there were giraffes in the Roughs! :D
  • I love the history lesson we get in the prologue. Wayne started as just some kid following Wax around. :laugh: (I’d forgotten and had been imagining them as the same age) And Wax really needed Lessie to keep him from getting killed. I’d forgotten how painfully incompetent he was. And also not always that great a shot.
  • I love Steris’s equanimity about “Well, I know you shot their brother, but if they don’t actively try to kill you, we might as well invite them to the wedding.” :rofl I love Steris. :love
End-of-trilogy spoilers:
  • Lessie showing up in the bar through the window into the room where Wax is just in time to help him escape…. awfully convenient, huh? :shifty
  • She's also ‘weirdly’ willing to join him in all his crazy ideas, like jumping out the window. (even if they didn't end up actually having to do that)
  • Wax using Harmony as an expletive after Lessie saves him is also amusing, given that Harmony’s the one who sent Lessie to help him.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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What, giraffes? I missed that? Where?

And poor Steris, trying to plan a wedding and to anticipate all the things that could go wrong. I've had some experience planning events, and I just want to hug her and say "sorry, it doesn't work that way darling"
 

Kassina Tendar

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What, giraffes? I missed that? Where?
During the prologue! p. 10 in the paperback I'm reading:
In the middle distance, beyond the humble buildings, a few giraffes browsed lazily, the only sign of animal life in the vast plain.
 

Thaddius al'Guy

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Wow, I totally missed that as well.
 

Kassina Tendar

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  • I feel so bad for Wax’s butlers. :laugh: He better pay them well! (though after his last one tried to kill him, he’s probably very generous with his butlers)
  • It is sad, as Wayne notes, that parts of the city are getting covered in ash, but this time it’s man-made. :(
  • Marasi's great! I like the non-stereotypical characters in these novels. Marasi, on the one hand, is an illegitimate daughter of a noble family who has an interest in criminal activity and is going to study law in an era where it's rare for women to do so. That could easily turn her into a stereotype, (such as if all gun-carrying female characters in the novel were super anti-feminine like Lessie and Ranette*) but Sanderson does a good job at portraying her as a real person. No, she doesn't want to go out into the Roughs and become a law enforcer out there. She just finds this stuff fascinating and wants to learn more about it. And spending time around Wax gets her interested in some of the practical stuff, rather than just the desk work side of things.
  • Though :facepalm I feel Marasi's frustration at Wax's weird relationship with her. They're just misunderstanding each other, but it's so frustrating for her to think that he doesn't see her as an equal. :\
Spoiler for this and future books:
I can see why the Lord Ruler was strict on not allowing kandra to kill humans. It's terrifying to have a kandra murderer. You literally can't trust anyone.

*This doesn't mean I think Lessie or Ranette are bad characters! I just like seeing variety in female representation within a story. And I like nuanced characters who don't become caricatures of themselves. Which is generally something Sanderson excels at.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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I like how the relationship between Marasi and Wax develops :) They are able to work together, and little to no romantic tension there, even as Wax starts actually caring for Steris :)
 

Kassina Tendar

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I like how the relationship between Marasi and Wax develops :) They are able to work together, and little to no romantic tension there, even as Wax starts actually caring for Steris :)

I agree! It's frustrating right now, but remembering how it develops, I'm looking forward to seeing how it gets there. :) (I don't remember the specifics of these novels)
 

Kassina Tendar

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Whose writing is that on the map of the basin at the front of the book?
 

Thaddius al'Guy

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I forgot I had taken Monday off yesterday so I still thought it was the weekend.

Let us begin week two of the reading as of yesterday!
 

Kassina Tendar

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This week's reading was long, so I have lots of notes!
  • I’d forgotten that the ‘Synod’ still exists in some form. It definitely helps to have read the original trilogy so recently. The name Synod stood out to me way more than it probably did on my first read-through.
  • Even with her awkward position within the precinct, I love that Marasi has Captain Aradel’s support, to the extent that she feels comfortable questioning and disagreeing with him. And he has the sense to realize that that's a very valuable quality in an assistant.
  • Wax remarks that the Church of the Survivor worships the mists, but separates themselves from the mists with their glass dome and seems to think that's silly. That’s not really fair, Wax… I mean, you’re not gonna build a building that’s just open to the mists ‘cause then it’s also open to the rain and any Coinshot who wants to jump in and steal stuff. It makes sense that they’d want to see the mists from inside the cathedral without leaving it open to the elements.
  • The captain calling Marasi “Little Harms”. :facepalm How condescending... :rolleyes
  • “Twindyl Promenade” :joy
  • Wax is vigilant to defend the roughs and argue for a nuanced view of people who live out there. But, like everyone else, he has his blindspots and falls prey to assuming that all Terris are the same. He tells Wayne at first that Idashwy didn’t ‘long for wildness’ since the Terris don’t do that and, instead, Wax and Wayne are exceptions. Though he does reconsider pretty quickly when Wayne points out the flaws in his reasoning.
  • Spook has a good point that Harmony’s Words of Founding should have included information about Hemalurgy. Not so that people could use it… but because it was very possible that the knowledge of Hemalurgy would have been either rediscovered or passed on. Knowing what it is is important to recognizing it if it emerges again, as it is now in Wax’s time. Without Spook's help via the Words of Founding, Wax et al wouldn't know what they're dealing with right now.
  • We get to see some of Steris’s humor. :)
  • Ooo, it’s Hoid!
  • I love Sazed/Harmony telling Wax to be nicer to Marasi. :pleased-1:
  • Steris is awesome and I love her! :love She might be my favorite character in the series? If not, she’s probably tied in first place.
  • Instead of tossing a coin on the ground, Wax shoots the cobblestones to lodge a bullet and Push himself and Steris up the building. :arch Really, Wax? I thought we’d learned that we don’t shoot cobblestones in the city. :nono
  • Yay! Wax is starting to fall for Steris! :joy
  • Awww, Spook used Elend’s ideas of government in the laws he created. :)
  • I get why he’s doing it, but it doesn’t seem like a great idea to have a constant steel bubble in the middle of a crowded party. At the very least, that would just be extremely irritating to everyone around you. It also sounds incredibly impractical.
  • “rusting iron on a hillside” is an odd expletive :arch
  • I’d forgotten that Bleeder can communicate to people with a hemalurgic spike… that is creepy…
  • :mad Wayne, shut up. You have no reason to be so incredibly rude to Steris. Poor Steris. :( She’s right; Wayne is usually vulgar, but not downright rude and insulting (like literally calling her repulsive) except to her.
Major spoilers for this and the next book:
Knowing who the kandra is makes some of these interactions more interesting:

Wax: You should probably already be dead.
Innate: Why am I not?
 
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