Major Spoilers for The Lost Metal throughout the review.
Dear reader, unlike usual, I’m writing this review in an airport, away from my copy of ‘The Lost Metal’. Which means I’m relying on my fallible memory. Luckily, I wrote out my thoughts during my reading of the text in the Mistborn Unofficial Discord server! Whooo!
Also of note, the previous reviews of Mistborn Era 2 on this blog have been written by Argo. Our thoughts on the series as a whole differ somewhat (Argo enjoys it more than me).
Wayne in the Limelight
While the previous books in the series have undoubtedly focused on Wax, book four turns its gaze on Wayne. This is great—I love to see more Wayne, but it did make me suspicious to see the book open with him on such an emotional note.
While I wasn’t certain that Sanderson wasn’t double-bluffing me, from the prologue I was fairly sure that Wayne was going to be in a life or death situation equal to Wax’s Bands of Mourning finale.
Overall, while I might describe Wayne’s final character arc as somewhat saccharine and a little cheesy (his upcoming sacrifice and struggle seemed so obvious so early on for me) it was very enjoyable and a good change from Wax’s angry moping (sorry, Wax. You’re alright. I don’t mean it too harshly).
Wayne Moneyborn
Are we sure that Terrisborn is Wayne’s real surname? Because he is LOADED in this book! One of my highlights throughout the series is actually Wayne’s relationship with money. Throughout the series, poverty has been an important part of Wayne’s story.
Poverty pushed Wayne towards murdering a man for money, and money is what Wayne has fought for to try and redeem himself in the eyes of his victim’s daughter. As such, Wayne seems to be have been chasing money for most of his life.
Since Wayne’s power relies on Bendalloy, and therefore money, Wayne’s relationship with Wax goes beyond that of partner. Wax is Wayne’s benefactor, his enabler, but also his moral centre in the previous three books. Wax gives Wayne power through funding, but there’s always the threat that he can take it away if needed. This keeps Wayne in check.
Wayne is an impoverished Batman. He needs money behind him to be a superhero. Wayne without Wax is underpowered, but with his newfound wealth he is freed to become his best self by taking greater responsibility for his abilities.
Wayne and Identity
While wealth is something that Wayne has always chased, it’s never something that he’s wanted to amass. Wayne sees himself as one of the common folk, which is in direct opposition with his estate in book four. I think he worries that being apart from the day-to-day struggle will distance himself from the empathy he has for his fellow people—and could later impact his ability to imitate them.
Though it could also be that Wayne harbours some resentment towards the general rich (not Wax, who proved himself in the Roughs), but now that he is one of them, he is forced to question such beliefs.
At the end of the book, his wealth is shown to be quite necessary. Harmony comments on the fact that Wayne has no less than seventeen bags of bendalloy and he uses them all. Without that money, Wayne’s final mission may have been impossible. It’s an important lesson that sometimes, good funding is necessary to fix a bad situation. You can’t brute force everything with nothing but your own body.
Wayne in Heartbreak
‘The Lost Metal’ takes a sour shift away from the heights of book three’s romance. Where book one and two focussed on Wayne’s childish attempts to romance Ranette, book three began a serious roller coaster relationship with Melaan, but book four ends this quite early in the narrative. They’ve been together for six years, yet we only see the beginning and ending.
The breakup hits Wayne hard, but he handles it very well. Me, however, I did not handle it well. I unashamedly love romance side plots, and book 3 was full of them! Book 4, by contrast, is sinking ships and separating lovers to focus on the bigger threats to humanity.
Unfortunately, this meant I appreciated the book less. Because I’m a sucker for smooches. I think Wayne’s breakup was well written, but I missed the fabulousness of his relationship with MeLaan. I’d been looking forward to seeing more of it.
Simply put, my expectations for this book were different than what it was willing to give me, and perhaps that’s my fault?
Cosmere Came Home
Out of all the Brandon Sanderson books I’ve read so far (Elantris, Mistborn & Stormlight), The Lost Metal does the best job of incorporating characters from Sanderson’s other series without completely alienating me.
Let me explain a little—I’m not a big fan of multiverse stories. I like them in concept, but rarely in the final product. I often find the introduction of characters that I don’t know that have previously appeared in other series to be a little too… nudge nudge wink wink. Their appearance often feels like an advertisement rather than a natural insertion into the plot. Sort of, ‘PLEASE BUY MY OTHER BOOKS’, in the middle of the prose, or in the middle of the movie when it’s Marvel.
It throws me out of the story, and I quickly grow to dislike these characters quite intensely, along with all the in-jokes that I know are there but I can’t quite understand, or sometimes infer spoilers from. It’s incredibly frustrating.
The Lost Metal succeeds in introducing its multiverse characters in a way that doesn’t immediately repulse me. Overall, I think this is achieved by introducing the characters in a fresh way, without too much pomp or sly hinting towards their own story. In The Lost Metal, these planetary travellers are meaningful characters in their own right. The plot wouldn’t be the same without them, which is more than can be said for some…
Conclusion
The Bands of Mourning remains my personal favourite of the Era 2 Mistborn books, but The Lost Metal has its own qualities. It’s a moody, somewhat fatalistic book with a dramatic conclusion. Unlike the previous books in this era, it also contains far more set-up for future books in the Mistborn franchise. It feels the least ‘finished’ of all the Mistborn books so far and leaves plenty of threads dangling for future novels—I’m not personally sure whether this is a good thing.
Doubtless, I’m extremely excited to see Mistborn Era 3 in years to come. It’s been a wild ride and it appears to be far from over.
And don’t forget, if you’ve lost your mettle, come to the Mistborn Unofficial Discord and we’ll soothe you!
Beyond The Spine Reviews 