Book Review: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
Mogsy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 7 of Mistborn
Publisher: Tor Books (November 15, 2022)
Length: 528 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Endings are always so anxiety-inducing for me. Especially Brandon Sanderson endings. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of him and I love his books, but I often find his series endings to be a bit of a mixed bag. Take the original Mistborn trilogy, for example. Maybe I’m just being overly sentimental, but I’ve always felt conflicted about the way it ended, and if I’m to be honest, that may have a lot to do with why I prefer these new books set in Mistborn’s second era of Scadrial. It was a salve to the tragedy and abruptness. It meant a future and new characters to fall in love with.
And fall in love I did. In a very short amount of time, Wax and Wayne have become like family, and so as we come to the end of their story in The Lost Metal, I steeled my nerves for whatever there was to come.
As always, I keep my reviews as spoiler-free as possible but if you’re not caught up with the series yet, do bear in mind there may be references to events from the earlier books. The Lost Metal is the fourth volume in the new Mistborn sequence, and we once more join up with Waxillium Ladrian as he works to keep the streets of Elendel safe for its citizens, though now he does it as a senator instead of a lawman. The mystery behind all the missing Allomancers also comes to fruition in this book, as Marasi Colms and her partner Wayne from the constabulary uncover a weapons smuggling plot which involves the neighboring city of Bilming.
Meanwhile, Wax is determined to hunt down the shadowy organization known as the Set, whose leader is none other than his sister, Telsin. In light of Wayne and Marasi’s discoveries, our heroes realize that the connection between Set and the smuggling plot may run deeper than they had previously thought. And worse, it may already be too late to stop whatever Telsin has planned, especially since she may be working under the direction of forces more powerful than any of them can imagine. A devastating new type of explosive has been developed and built right under all their noses, an event that even Harmony could not have foreseen. Scadrial’s god has been distracted as of late, his powers diminished, leaving Wax to fight for him in the physical realm, taking his place as his Sword to drive back the influence of Trell, a god worshipped by the Set.
First, let’s get the important questions out of the way. What did I think of The Lost Metal, as a series ending? Well, I’m not going to lie and say it was all sunshine and unicorns, but I did love it. Yes, I loved it. It might be one of my favorite series conclusions in a long time. It was just the right amount of struggle and triumph. I was elated and heartbroken, but not too much of both. The overall tone of the resolution fell somewhere in that sweet spot between hopeful and bittersweet. In other words, it was perfect.
And what of the lead up to the final showdown? If you are a fan of the Mistborn series, and of the greater lore of Sanderson’s Cosmere as a whole, I think you are going to be very happy. More than any of the previous books, The Lost Metal goes deeper and farther into the scope of this magnificent universe, exploring the history of the people, magic, and locations spanning Mistborn as well as Sanderson’s other books. But even if you aren’t a lorehound with a nose for sniffing out clues and theories to the greater mysteries of the Cosmere, you will find plenty to enjoy in this story about our heroes valiantly trying to save Scadrial. The action was blood-pumping and constant, the emotions high and poignant, the overall energy fast-paced and contagious. Sanderson also never fails to win me over with his character development and the moving relationships between them, and as ever, the dialogue was top shelf. The witty banter between Wax and Wayne, Wayne and Marasi, etc. made me giddy with joy.
In short, Brandon Sanderson shows us once again why he’s a master storyteller and the best world-builder in the industry. He’s even starting to win me over on his series conclusions! And while it is with stirring emotions that I bid goodbye to the characters and setting of this second era of Mistborn, I am certainly looking forward to the start of the third, which has been teased as a series set in an 80s-esque early computer age. Truly, I just can’t wait to see what comes out of that.
More at The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Shadows of Self (Book 5)
Review of The Bands of Mourning (Book 6)
The BiblioSanctum 
Thank you very much for your review of this. It’s exactly what I was afraid of 😦
I suspect I would enjoy this particular book but have enough issues (as I do now with Sanderson in general) that it would not be a great experience for me. It pains me to admit, but I think I just have parted ways with him, sigh 😦
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Not sure if you have read the other Mistborn second era books, but I really enjoyed this one capping off the series. In fact I liked it waaaay more than the first Mistborn. I think I will still read and love Sanderson books for a long time, though I hope he won’t start delegating any more series to co-authors and such. Seems so far he is only doing that with his children’s series.
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I want it, but I also do not remember a single thing from book 1
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Book 6 I mean
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It’s been a looooong time between books.
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I love his books but I’m a little behind
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I hear ya, it’s hard to keep up sometimes, he writes so fast!
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I loved the first Mistborn trilogy but also had mixed feelings about the ending. In fact, I enjoyed each sequel a little less than the book before. I recall being really disappointed when I heard he was planning to create 2 more series set at different points in the future. But eventually I gave the 2nd series a try and though I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first Mistborn book I did find myself settling in nicely and really enjoying the stories. I’ve listened to most of them via audiobook and I love the narration. Can’t wait to try this one and see how it all “ends.” Very glad to see you ended up loving it!
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Oh thank goodness I’m not the only one who did not care much for the ending of the first Mistborn, I remember feeling wary when the new eras of Mistborn were announced as well, but after Wax and Wayne, I’m more open to the idea of the third series now, even though the setting sounds so different!
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I’ve only read the first book of this second series Mistborn series so I’ve got some catching up to do. I loved this review.
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Thank you! And I hope you get a chance to pick up the series again soon!
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I really want to check this out, but it’s going to require a re-read of at least the Era 2 books because I remember NOTHING. Glad to see it was a worthy ending though!
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Yes, it’s been such a long time between the books! A refresh would probably be a good idea.
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Huh, I think Booky and I read this review differently lol
As much as I’m bummed about this being an ending, and excited I am for Era 3 Mistborn, I still hope this ending will somehow lead us to the Atlatlist. Glad you liked it, great review!!
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Thank you! And for once I actually enjoyed a Sanderson ending lol. I am pretty psyched for era 3 was well, it sounds so cool! Gotta wonder how Allomancy will work in an 80s style setting though, lol!
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Great review. I really need to grab a copy of this, but I’ve got to review the other books beforehand. It’s been so long since I read them, lol.
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I’m so happy you loved this one!
I reread the whole series leading up to this release, and they didn’t live up to my memory of them. Especially the Wax and Wayne books were just fine to me this time. So I doubt I’ll enjoy this final one as much as you did, but looking at your review I think I’ll have at least a decent time with it 😁
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Gah, I’m so far behind with Sanderson’s books.
Lynn 😀
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