*Spoilers for The Lost Metal ahead. If you haven’t read it yet, proceed with caution.*
Era two of Mistborn has been an interesting reading experience. One full of wild ups and downs. It’s expanded upon the first series in some unique, sometimes downright bizarre ways.
And now we reach the end. The fourth and final book in the second era. Question is: did they stick the landing, or is this another stumble?
Six years after the events of ‘The Bands of Mourning’, Marasi and Wayne finally track down the Set. With a little help from Wax, they discover their plan: to destroy Elendell with a bomb to prove themselves to Autonomy, a god aiming to eliminate Harmony and remove Skadriel from the stage of the Cosmere. Now it’s up to Wax, Wayne, and all their comrades to put an end to the madness once and for all.
This book is all about pay off. Every piece of setup and loose plot thread from the previous entries in the series comes to a head here. Some of them take some unexpected, downright creepy turns! Remember how the first book was about people getting kidnapped? Yeah, that plot thread comes to a really weird, chilling, and discomforting conclusion.
The characters are all at their absolute best here. Wayne is a delight in every scene he’s in and his arc is easily the best part of the book. Sterris is equally enjoyable; she’s always been my favorite era two character and I’m glad she got the love she deserves in this finale. Wax and Marasi are pretty good too; I don’t love them as much as the others, but their stories don’t give anything to complain about.
My biggest gripes in this book are with the villains. Not-Wax and Not-Wayne make for good fight scenes, but they don’t present much in terms of depth. Telsin and the rest of the Set don’t feel especially intimidating in this book; in fact, there are several scenes where they’re borderline incompetent. Even Autonomy/Trell, the main villain that’s been built up across the entire second era, feels really lackluster; they never actually do anything!
Oh yeah. The Ghostbloods are in this book, too. Led by none other than Kelsier. As a Stormlight fan that was convinced they were super-secret bad guys, I feel conflicted about this.
In terms of the ending, I have few complaints here. Some plot threads are still left open – likely for whatever’s in store with era three – but all the others are wrapped up masterfully. It’s sweet, it’s melancholy, and it’s incredibly satisfying.
‘The Lost Metal’ is definitely the best book in era two of Mistborn. It’s an excellent finale that made the journey to get there all the sweeter. I’ve had my issues with this era, but now that it’s all said and done, I can safely say it was all worthwhile.
The question now is: what kinda weird sci-fi shit are we gonna see in era three?
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