Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn era 2 Turns Sharp, Strange, And Personal
If The Alloy of Law felt like Sanderson trying on a waistcoat and six-shooters just to see what would happen, Shadows of Self is where Mistborn Era 2 rolls up its sleeves and starts asking uncomfortable questions. Law, faith, grief, riots, talking gods, very judgmental kandra – all crowded into one city that feels ready to catch fire.
I tore through this book in two days. Then I closed it, made a very undignified noise, and opened The Bands of Mourning straight away. That is usually a good sign.
If you are just arriving from my review of The Alloy of Law, consider this part two of our Wax-and-Wayne reading party. If you are starting with Shadows of Self, for whatever incomprehensible reason, I will do my best to keep this mostly spoiler-light while still being honest about why this one hit so hard.
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Is Shadows of Self Worth Reading In Mistborn Era 2?
Short answer: yes.
Shadows of Self is the second book in the Mistborn Era 2 Wax and Wayne sequence (and the fifth Mistborn book overall), set about 300 years after the original trilogy. It was first published in 2015 and runs to about 383 pages ( at least in its original Tor edition).
Where The Alloy of Law gave us an “Allomantic crime caper in a new industrial city”, Shadows of Self shifts into a darker murder mystery with bigger emotional teeth. The banter, shootouts, and steel-pushing acrobatics are still there, but they sit on top of:
a rogue kandra killing officials and stirring up riots
Wax’s unresolved grief and growing anger at Harmony
a city on the edge of class and religious conflict
If you liked the tone and characters of The Alloy of Law, and you are curious whether Mistborn Era 2 really matters for the wider saga, this is the book that answers that with a loud “yes”.
Mistborn era 2 – Shadows of Self
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series: Mistborn era 2 (Wax & Wayne #2, Mistborn #5)
Setting: Elendel, about 300 years after the original trilogy
Length: 383 pages (Tor hardcover)
Best for: Readers who enjoyed The Alloy of Law and want a darker, more emotional follow up with higher citywide stakes
Where Shadows of Self Sits Inside Mistborn Era 2
Publication order and reading order
Here is the Mistborn era 2 reading order:
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
The Lost Metal
You can absolutely treat Wax and Wayne as its own four-book mini-saga, but Shadows of Self is not a friendly starting point. It builds directly on the relationships, mysteries, and dangling threads from The Alloy of Law, and it assumes you know who Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris are.
If you somehow landed here first, I strongly recommend hopping to my Alloy of Law review, reading that book, then coming back. The emotional payoffs in Shadows of Self depend on the groundwork laid there.
Do you need to read Mistborn Era 1 first?
Technically, you can read Mistborn Era 2 without touching the original trilogy. The plot in Shadows of Self still makes sense as a fantasy detective novel about a magically gifted lawman, a rogue shapeshifter, and a city in trouble.
Realistically, you will miss a huge amount of:
background about kandra, Hemalurgy, and Harmony
history behind the religions that keep clashing in Elendel
surprises when certain characters and ideas from Era 1 stroll back on stage
My recommendation:
Best route: Read Era 1, then The Alloy of Law, then Shadows of Self.
Shortcut route: If you absolutely cannot face another trilogy right now, start with Alloy, then Shadows of Self; keep Era 1 on your “sooner rather than later” list.
From The Alloy of Law To Shadows of Self: A Quick Catch Up
Wax, Wayne, and Marasi when we last saw them
At the end of The Alloy of Law, Elendel had been saved from the Vanishers’ kidnapping ring, Wax had accepted a sort-of-official role with the constabulary, and his return to noble life was still wobbling along in fits and starts. Wayne remained the absolutely chaotic lawful best friend with hats and borrowed accents. Marasi had proved herself sharp, sincere, and slightly in awe of both men, while tackling her own insecurities about nepotism and noble blood.
If you need a spoiler-light refresh of that case, the Alloy review has a full recap and “what worked / what might not” breakdown.
What has changed by the start of Shadows of Self
Shadows of Self picks up about one year after Alloy of Law.
In that time:
Wax has settled into his role as a special constable, balancing city work with house duties.
Marasi has joined Constable-General Aradel’s team but faces resentment from colleagues who think she only has her job thanks to Wax.
Wayne is still Wayne, although the book spends more time on the weight he carries from past mistakes.
More importantly, Elendel feels rougher. Tensions between workers and business owners are higher, the government looks corrupt, and religious groups are pulling in different directions. You get the sense that the city is not just noisy any more; it is angry.
Spoiler-Light Review: A Murder Mystery That Breaks Your Heart
The basic premise
The story opens with a massacre at a secret auction where Governor Innate’s brother, Winsting, has gathered key figures from the criminal underworld. Someone with very unusual powers murders everyone present and kicks off a wave of unrest in the city.
Wax, Wayne, and Marasi are pulled into the investigation and quickly realise that this is not just “one more criminal with Allomancy”. The killer looks like a rogue kandra named Bleeder, hiding from Harmony’s sight and picking up new powers through Hemalurgy.
From there, the book structures itself like a fantasy detective story:
crime scenes, evidence, and interrogation
political pressure from the Governor’s office
mysterious messages that seem aimed directly at Wax
The plot stays tight enough that you can follow the investigation, guess at motives, and still be surprised by the late-book reveals, especially around Bleeder’s connection to Wax.
Tone and pacing
If The Alloy of Law was a witty western-flavoured romp that happened to feature some tragedy, Shadows of Self flips that ratio. The book is fun to read, with plenty of banter and kinetic action, but its emotional centre is much heavier.
I felt that in my own reading speed. This is a book that almost dares you to read “just one more chapter”, because each scene either:
pushes the investigation forward, or
pulls back another layer of Wax’s grief, faith, and guilt
I ended up racing through it in two days, partly because I wanted to know how the case ended, and partly because I could sense the Sanderlanche ramping up in the second half and did not want to be away from the book when it hit.
How Shadows of Self deepens Mistborn Era 2
Where The Alloy of Law introduced the idea of a modern Scadrial with trains and headlines, Shadows of Self widens and darkens that picture.
You see more of:
labour unrest and police crowd control
class resentment between outer settlements and the capital
how religion has evolved since Vin, Elend, and Sazed reshaped the world
On top of that, it leans harder into Cosmere hints, mysterious metals, and Harmony’s limitations. This is the point where Wax and Wayne stop feeling like a “fun side quartet” and start feeling essential to the larger Mistborn story.
Character Focus: Why This One Hurts So Much
One of the reasons I liked Shadows of Self more than Alloy is the way it treats its main cast. Everybody gets bruised. Everybody grows.
Wax’s grief, faith, and anger
Wax is still the same lawman who can ricochet bullets off streetlamps, but here the narrative leans into his internal mess. The loss of Lessie still haunts him, and Bleeder’s attacks claw at that wound.
On one side, he is Harmony’s chosen champion, trusted with information and tasks no one else receives. On the other, he feels used and abandoned, convinced that a god who allows such pain cannot be completely kind. The book stages that conflict through:
terse, sometimes bitter conversations with Harmony
flashbacks to his time in the Roughs
mistakes in the present that stem from obsession rather than clear thinking
It is not always comfortable to read, which is exactly why it works.
Marasi’s career and ideals
Marasi moves from “Wax’s clever ally” to a woman with her own office politics, ambitions, and principles.
She deals with colleagues who think she only earned her position due to noble connections, and she has to prove, again and again, that her analytical skills and calm under pressure are not just a cute hobby. The book gives her several important wins, some painful losses, and one or two moments where she is the only one in the room actually thinking about the citizens caught between riot police and agitators.
If you enjoy “competent woman stuck inside a slightly old boys’ network”, Marasi will be very satisfying here.
Wayne’s humour and guilt
Wayne remains funny. He still swaps hats, accents, and identities like other people change socks. His chapters are hilarious and often needed, because this book goes to some grim places.
At the same time, his guilt over a man he killed years ago never fully leaves him. We spend more time with him visiting the victim’s daughter, trying to “repay” a debt that cannot be repaid, and navigating her very understandable hatred. Those scenes add weight to his jokes and underline that his constant performance is, in part, a coping mechanism.
It is one of the neat tricks of Mistborn Era 2: the comic relief turns out to be one of the most quietly tragic figures in Elendel.
Steris, from awkward fiancée to secret weapon
If you were lukewarm on Steris in The Alloy of Law, this book is where she starts to shine.
Her encyclopaedic preparation, contingency lists, and painfully self-conscious attempts to “be useful” could easily slide into caricature. Instead, Sanderson treats them with a kind of gentle respect. Steris knows she is not Wax’s first choice romantically. She knows she is not easy to love. She is still determined to help.
Watching her design careful social plans, think through worst-case scenarios, and back Wax up in her own structured way is far more moving than I expected. It also sets up an even better arc for her in The Bands of Mourning, which I will cover in a separate review.
Returning faces and Cosmere nostalgia
On top of the main quartet, Shadows of Self brings back a few familiar elements from Era 1 most readers will recognise, especially in the kandra department. MeLaan in particular is a delight – irreverent, slightly gross, and very good at puncturing Wax’s more self-serious moments.
These appearances never fully take over the story, but they do give long-time fans that pleasant “oh, it is you” jolt.
Themes That Make Shadows of Self Stand Out
Law, justice, and who the system really serves
From the very first pages, Shadows of Self keeps asking whether the law in Elendel serves justice or just protects those already in power.
Constable-General Aradel stands out as someone trying to do the right thing while surrounded by corruption. The Governor’s office wants order, but often at the cost of truth. Wax, meanwhile, keeps trying to make the law fit his own instinctive sense of right and wrong, which works fine until that instinct clashes with political reality.
The result feels uncomfortably familiar: protests, propaganda, backroom deals, and one exhausted woman trying to write honest reports in the middle of it all.
Gods, free will, and the burden of being “chosen”
Wax’s connection to Harmony is not a straightforward blessing. It comes with expectations and with enormous emotional cost.
Bleeder, the rogue kandra, presents the other side of that relationship, arguing that a god who quietly nudges people like chess pieces cannot truly be good. The book never hands you a neat answer. Instead it forces Wax (and by extension you) to sit with questions like:
How much guidance from a higher power is too much?
Can a god be kind and still allow terrible things to happen?
If you like your fantasy with theology baked in, this thread alone makes Shadows of Self worth your time.
Technology, workers, and people left behind
Elendel has rail lines, early cars, electric lighting, and the beginnings of modern industry. It also has carriage drivers and labourers who are slowly being replaced.
The book frequently shows how progress can be thrilling for some and terrifying for others. Old skills lose value, new ones are not easy to gain, and unrest simmers as people watch their livelihoods evaporate. Paired with rising religious tension, it gives the whole city a “one bad day away from complete mayhem” feel.
Identity, control, and the horror of Hemalurgy
Hemalurgy in Shadows of Self is not just an interesting magic mechanic. It is horror. Bleeder’s ability to swap bodies, steal powers, and walk around inside other people’s lives raises deeply unsettling questions about identity, autonomy, and consent.
The book does not linger on gore for its own sake, but some of the most unsettling moments come from the implications of what Bleeder can do with a few spikes and enough time to prepare.
Magic And Worldbuilding: Mistborn era 2 Gets Stranger
Allomancy and Feruchemy in a modern city
It is still very satisfying to watch Wax ride bullet casings across a room or use stored weight to turn himself into a wrecking ball. What makes Mistborn era 2 special is where those tricks happen:
along rail lines and inside railcars
in tall buildings that did not exist in Era 1
on crowded streets where bystanders might film the aftermath, if phones existed
Allomancy and Feruchemy feel like tools citizens of this later era have grown up with, not mysterious forces from fairy tales. That sense that “magic has had to get a job” is one of my favourite parts of the book.
Kandra in a post-ascension world
The kandra have gone from terrifying legend to hidden guardians and, in Bleeder’s case, existential threat. Through MeLaan and Harmony’s comments, we see how their role has shifted since the events of The Hero of Ages, and how the rest of society now treats their existence as myth, story, or state secret depending on who you ask.
Trell, strange metals, and the wider Cosmere
Without spoiling too much: a mysterious spike made from a metal Harmony does not recognise shows up late in the book, and the name Trell keeps cropping up in worrying places.
These details are small in page count, but large in implication. They point toward threats that are not purely local, and they set up some crucial developments in The Bands of Mourning and The Lost Metal.
Magic in Mistborn era 2
- Twinborn hero: Wax combines steel Allomancy with iron Feruchemy for aerial gunfights and physics-breaking stunt work.
- Hemalurgy as horror: Bleeder swaps bodies and powers by changing spikes, turning magic into something deeply unsettling.
- Kandra politics: MeLaan drops hints about what Harmony asks of her kind behind the scenes.
- New metals, new threats: a strange spike and whispers of Trell signal that bigger Cosmere forces are in play.
My Reading Experience: Two Days, Zero Regrets
Binge-reading Shadows of Self
Some books you savour over a week. Shadows of Self was not one of those for me.
The structure makes it very hard to walk away. Every chapter either reveals a new piece of the conspiracy, deepens a relationship, or throws Wax into another impossible choice. I kept telling myself “stop after the next clue”, and then the next clue introduced a conversation with Harmony, or a new riot, or a character beat that changed the meaning of earlier scenes.
By the time the climax arrives, the emotional stakes have quietly climbed up to stand shoulder to shoulder with the plot stakes. The final confrontation wrecked me in a way I did not fully expect from a book about what I thought would be a fairly stereotypical lawman in a waistcoat.
Comparing it to The Alloy of Law
If The Alloy of Law was the trial run that proved Mistborn era 2 could work, Shadows of Self is where it starts to matter. Alloy is lighter, more contained, and focused on proving that trains plus Allomancy equals fun.
Shadows adds:
heavier emotional focus on Wax, Wayne, and Marasi
direct pushback on Harmony as a benevolent figure
a city that feels closer to collapse than convenience
If you had fun with Alloy but were not completely sold on the need for a second Mistborn era, this book might change your mind. And if you already loved Alloy, this is where everything it set up gets sharper and more painful.
Who Will Love Shadows of Self (And Who Might Not)
Perfect for readers who…
enjoy a mystery spine in their fantasy, complete with interrogations and evidence that actually matters
like character-driven stories where trauma, faith, and friendship are given real space on the page
loved the “industrial Mistborn” vibe and want to see it used for something more intense than one train heist
Might bounce off it if…
you only want planet-shattering, trilogy-ending stakes like The Hero of Ages every single time
you prefer humour that never brushes up against deep sadness
you are very squeamish about body horror and do not want to read about people changing bodies or being spiked
Content notes – Shadows of Self
- Violence and on-page deaths in shootings, riots, and assassinations.
- Grief, depression, and religious doubt; a protagonist who questions his god.
- Body horror linked to Hemalurgy and kandra shapeshifting.
If you are choosing Shadows of Self for your next book club meeting, you might want to pair it with our Book Club Discussion Questions so you do not run out of things to argue about once the last chapter is done.
How Shadows of Self Sets Up The Rest Of Mistborn Era 2
Threads that lead straight into The Bands of Mourning
Without spoiling specific twists, Shadows of Self leaves several big threads dangling in a very intentional way:
Wax’s relationship with Harmony is badly damaged.
Marasi has a new obsession with Trell and unknown metals that do not play by normal rules.
The political leadership of Elendel changes, opening the door for more stories about reform, backlash, and outside pressure.
The Bands of Mourning picks those up and runs with them, and you will feel the impact far more if you read this book first. My review for that one is on the way.
Where to go next on His and Hers Book Club
If you enjoyed this review, you might like to wander through a few other corners of the site:
Start at the beginning of this sequence with The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson: A Mistborn Return That Actually Feels New.
Looking for your next epic after finishing Mistborn era 2? Try Best Fantasy Books of 2025, according to BookTok! for a hype-driven list of new favourites.
Curious about the man behind all these metal flakes and nervous kandra? Check out 10 Surprising Facts About Brandon Sanderson.
FAQ: Mistborn Era 2 And Shadows of Self
Do I have to read Mistborn Era 1 before Mistborn Era 2?
You do not have to, but you will have a richer time if you do. Shadows of Self relies on lore, gods, and history from the original trilogy. You can follow the plot without that background, yet many emotional beats and Cosmere connections will land with far more force if you already know Vin, Kelsier, Elend, and Sazed.
Can I start Mistborn era 2 with Shadows of Self?
I would not recommend it. Shadows of Self assumes you already understand the relationships between Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris, and it continues threads from The Alloy of Law. Start with Alloy, then come back here. If you want a feel for that first, my Alloy review stays mostly spoiler-light.
How long is Shadows of Self and how fast does it read?
The Tor edition of Shadows of Self runs to about 383 pages, with most paperbacks in the same range. Thanks to its mystery structure and relatively short chapters, many readers finish it in a few sittings, especially once the investigation heats up in the second half.
What genre is Shadows of Self?
Shadows of Self is a blend of fantasy, steampunk-western, and detective story. You have Allomancy and Feruchemy alongside railways, early cars, guns, and crowded city streets, all wrapped around a murder investigation and political crisis.
Is Shadows of Self suitable for younger readers?
I would place this in the “older teen and adult” bracket. The violence is not gratuitous but it is present, the book deals with heavy themes like grief and religious doubt, and the Hemalurgy scenes include some body horror. Parents or teachers who are unsure could skim key chapters first, especially the opening massacre and the later confrontations with Bleeder.
Where does Shadows of Self fit in the overall Mistborn and Cosmere timeline?
In the Mistborn saga, Shadows of Self is book 5: it follows The Alloy of Law and comes before The Bands of Mourning and The Lost Metal. In-world, it takes place roughly 300 years after the end of the original trilogy, in a period where Scadrial has moved into an industrial age while remaining part of the wider Cosmere.
If you are already this far into Mistborn Era 2, you are in an excellent position to keep going. Just make sure you clear a couple of evenings before you open The Bands of Mourning, because if your experience ends up anything like mine, stopping between chapters will not be easy.
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