Mistborn Secret History Review: The Novella That Rewires Mistborn Era 1 And Era 2
If you ever finished a fantasy series and thought, “I wish I could stand behind the scenes and watch what was really going on,” Mistborn Secret History is that wish granted for Scadrial.
This 2016 novella by Brandon Sanderson was written as a companion to the original Mistborn trilogy and later collected in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection. It runs to about 151 pages in its first ebook edition and sits at nearly fifty thousand words, so it feels more like a small novel than a throwaway extra.
I nearly skipped Mistborn Secret History myself. After finishing The Bands of Mourning, I just wanted to know how all the Wax and Wayne plotlines would explode in the final book. The last page of my edition very gently told me to stop, read Secret History first, then continue. I listened, and I am very glad I did.
Secret History ties Mistborn Era 1 and Era 2 together in ways that made The Lost Metal far more powerful for me. Huge reveals land about some beloved characters, and you learn that not everything ended quite the way it looked at the close of the trilogy. As someone who had already read parts of The Stormlight Archive, it was also a thrill to see how the world of Mistborn slots into the larger Cosmere story.
If you are working your way through Era 2 right now, you might want to keep this review open alongside my earlier ones for The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning. We are going to weave all of those together.
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Quick answer: should you read Mistborn Secret History before The Lost Metal?
Short answer: yes, you should.
Mistborn Secret History follows Kelsier after his death in The Final Empire and runs in parallel with the rest of the original trilogy, finishing around the time Sazed ascends at the end of The Hero of Ages. It shows what he was doing behind the curtain while Vin, Elend, and the rest of the crew carried the main narrative.
Because of that, the novella ends up answering questions that sit right under the surface of Era 2. It contains huge spoilers for the first three Mistborn books and very small spoilers for The Bands of Mourning, which is why Sanderson’s own site recommends saving it until after book six in the saga.
If your goal is to have The Lost Metal land as hard as it can, reading Mistborn Secret History first is a smart move.
Mistborn Secret History – Quick Facts
Title: Mistborn: Secret History
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series placement: Companion to Mistborn Era 1, best read after The Bands of Mourning
Length: About 151 pages, nearly 50,000 words
First published: January 30, 2016 (ebook)
Collected in: Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
Spoiler level: Huge for Mistborn Era 1, minor for The Bands of Mourning.
Where Mistborn Secret History fits in the Mistborn and Cosmere timeline
Publication, format, and reading time
Mistborn Secret History first appeared as an ebook-only release from Dragonsteel Entertainment on 30 January 2016, then later joined the print and audio editions of Arcanum Unbounded. It sits in that grey area where everyone calls it a novella but databases quietly list it as novel length, because of the word count.
At roughly fifty thousand words and about 150 pages, most readers can finish it in a day or two, especially if the original trilogy is still fresh in their minds.
Story placement: parallel to Era 1, key for the end of Era 2
Story-wise, Mistborn Secret History runs alongside the original Mistborn trilogy. It starts the moment Kelsier dies in The Final Empire, follows his journey through a strange in-between state, and ends around the time Sazed picks up both Ruin and Preservation at the close of The Hero of Ages.
The twist is that it was written later, after Sanderson had already mapped out where the Cosmere was heading and after he had moved on to Mistborn Era 2. That means it quietly plants elements that line up with The Bands of Mourning and set the stage for The Lost Metal. Sanderson’s own reading guide mentions that the novella builds on the trilogy and contains small spoilers for Bands, which is why many fans now park it between Bands and Lost Metal in their reading lists.
Recommended reading order for Mistborn Secret History
If you want a tidy path through Mistborn that includes this novella, you can follow this route:
Mistborn Era 1 trilogy: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages
Mistborn Era 2 so far:
Mistborn Secret History
The Lost Metal
This path gives you the emotional weight of the original trilogy first, then the Wax and Wayne books that pick up that legacy, then the secret backstage tour that ties those threads together before you reach the last book.
What if you started with Wax and Wayne?
Some readers jumped into the Cosmere through The Alloy of Law and treated Era 1 as optional homework. If that is you, Secret History becomes even more important before The Lost Metal.
Ideally, you take a break, read the original trilogy, then come back for this novella. If three full novels feel like too much right now, you can at least work through detailed recaps of Era 1, then use Mistborn Secret History as your bridge between what Wax and Wayne think about their world and what is actually happening under the surface.
Mistborn Reading Order With Secret History
- Mistborn Era 1 trilogy – The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages
- Mistborn Era 2 – The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning
- Mistborn: Secret History
- The Lost Metal
Already started with Wax and Wayne? Slot Secret History in before picking up The Lost Metal.
Spoiler-light review: what Mistborn Secret History actually is
The basic premise
At its heart, Mistborn Secret History is Kelsier’s afterlife story. The moment he dies in The Final Empire, his perspective slides sideways into a strange place where thoughts and concepts have weight and the borders between worlds are thin. From there he watches events from the original trilogy, tries to influence them, and stumbles into people and forces that normal Scadrians never meet.
You see some of the trilogy’s biggest moments from Kelsier’s angle, which adds fresh context to choices Vin, Sazed, and even Ruin and Preservation make along the way.
Tone and pacing
Secret History feels more intimate than the main Mistborn books. There are fewer armies and sieges, more conversations with gods, tricksters, scholars, and the occasional very unsettling stranger from far away. Some chapters read like character study, others like lore drops, and quite a few manage to be both at once.
Despite the shorter length, I did not want to rush it. Every scene tweaks your understanding of something from the trilogy or nudges the Cosmere meta-plot forward, so I kept catching myself stopping after a chapter to think things through.
From “I might skip this” to “everyone should read this”
When I turned the last page of The Bands of Mourning, my first instinct was to sprint straight into the fourth Wax and Wayne book. The final battle had just given me a genuine gasp-out-loud moment, and the ending teased revelations that looked ready to rewrite parts of Era 1.
Then I saw the gentle note in my edition telling readers to pick up Mistborn Secret History before moving on. I changed course, read the novella, and ended up feeling that it was absolutely part of the core Mistborn journey, not optional bonus material.
For me it:
made the end of The Hero of Ages feel richer
added emotional weight and clarity to key scenes in The Lost Metal
pulled my Stormlight Archive reading into sharper focus by showing more of the Cosmere’s hidden machinery
How Mistborn Secret History reframes Era 1 and sets up Era 2
Kelsier’s unseen influence on the original trilogy
Kelsier always felt like a force of nature in the first book, then his absence in the later two created a giant emotional hole. Secret History fills that hole with something stranger and more interesting than a simple return.
We learn just how much he manages to do from the margins once he understands the rules of his new situation. In broad strokes and without spoiling specific scenes, the novella shows:
how closely he watches Vin and the crew
how limited he still is, even with new knowledge
moments where his interference helps, and moments where it nearly makes things worse
Reading those sections made some of the trilogy’s climactic choices feel less like lucky guesses and more like the result of a group of people, living and not-quite-living, all pushing in the same direction.
Physical, mental, and spiritual layers of reality
The main Mistborn books mention that the world has three layers, but Secret History is where we really spend time in the middle one. Scadrial’s cities and people exist on the physical side, but Kelsier spends most of this novella moving through a space built from perception and thought, while bumping up against forces from a deeper, more abstract level.
This structure matters, because later Cosmere stories use the same three-level model. Seeing it in action here, with a character you already know well, makes it easier to follow when those ideas show up elsewhere, including on other planets in Arcanum Unbounded and in the Stormlight books.
Seeds for Wax and Wayne and The Lost Metal
Secret History does not name-drop Wax and Wayne directly, but it lays a lot of groundwork for what Era 2 is dealing with:
Harmony’s limits and blind spots
the fact that other groups across the Cosmere are watching Scadrial very closely
hints that one particular Survivor is not done with this world yet
Once you have read The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning, it is very satisfying to go back and see where some of those threads first started.
Why Wax and Wayne only readers should not skip this
If you came into Mistborn through Wax and Wayne, Secret History is your chance to upgrade the backdrop. The last book in Era 2 brings together characters and forces from across the Cosmere. Knowing what Kelsier went through after his death and how Harmony’s power actually works gives those appearances real weight, instead of making them feel like random cameos.
Cosmere connections: why Stormlight Archive fans should care
Worldhoppers, the Ire, and the big picture
One of the biggest pleasures of Mistborn Secret History is finally seeing certain Cosmere legends step out of the background.
You get on-page appearances from:
Hoid, slipping through as the Drifter in his own infuriating way
Khriss and Nazh, the scholar and field agent whose notes show up in several books
the Ire, an offworld group with plans for Shard-level power
Seeing them interact with Kelsier, argue over plans, and treat Scadrial as one piece on a much larger board goes a long way toward making the Cosmere feel connected rather than just thematically linked.
Reading Mistborn Secret History after some Stormlight Archive
I went into Secret History with a few Stormlight books already under my belt, and that choice paid off. Names that had been floating around as footnotes or vague references suddenly had faces and agendas. Concepts that sounded abstract on Roshar snapped into focus when seen through Kelsier’s very practical mindset.
If you are a Stormlight reader who always meant to “get around” to Mistborn, this novella is one of the things that makes that effort feel rewarded.
Cosmere Highlights In Mistborn Secret History
- Extended look at the “behind the scenes” level of reality on Scadrial.
- On-page appearances from Hoid, Khriss, and Nazh.
- First close look at the Ire, a group with Shard-level ambitions.
- Stronger links between Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, and other Cosmere stories.
Who Mistborn Secret History is for (and who should wait)
Ideal readers
This little book hits hardest for readers who:
have finished the original Mistborn trilogy
are at least up to The Bands of Mourning in Era 2
enjoy lore, character work, and behind the scenes answers just as much as big battles
If that sounds like you, Secret History is pretty much tailor made.
Wax and Wayne first readers
If you discovered Mistborn through The Alloy of Law, you probably already care deeply about Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris. Secret History will not suddenly turn into a fourth-person narrator following their every move, yet it will deepen the ground they stand on.
A simple plan could look like this:
Finish The Bands of Mourning
Read Mistborn Secret History
Revisit key beats in your Era 2 journey through my Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning reviews
Start The Lost Metal with all of that fresh in your mind
Who should wait
There are two groups I would nudge toward patience:
readers who have not yet finished the original trilogy
readers mid-way through Era 2 who have not reached The Bands of Mourning
Secret History contains enormous spoilers for The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages, plus smaller ones for Bands. Sanderson’s site and most reading guides warn very clearly about this.
Going out of order will not make the novella unreadable, but it will blunt some of the best twists in Mistborn.
Spoiler & Content Guide – Mistborn Secret History
- Spoilers: Major for Mistborn Era 1, minor for The Bands of Mourning.
- Violence: On-page deaths already known from the trilogy, some eerie imagery in liminal spaces.
- Emotional weight: Grief, sacrifice, and a character learning he cannot fix everything for the people he loves.
My reading experience: why Mistborn Secret History became essential for me
The moment I almost skipped it
After The Bands of Mourning, I was itching to see how all the Wax and Wayne threads would crash together. Secret History looked small next to the chunky novels on my shelf, and part of me wanted to treat it as optional.
That little note at the end of Bands stopped me. It told me very directly that Mistborn Secret History should come next. So I listened.
How it changed my read of The Lost Metal
I cannot give details without spoiling the last book, but I can say this:
certain returning faces in The Lost Metal felt far more meaningful
Harmony’s messages to Wax carried extra layers of context
I had a better sense of the stakes where Scadrial fits into the Cosmere
Secret History did not make The Lost Metal make sense at a basic plot level, because that works on its own. What it did was give those events depth.
Why I recommend it to both Era 1 and Era 2 fans
If you love the original trilogy, this novella lets you say goodbye in a more nuanced way and answers questions you might not have realised you had. If you love Wax and Wayne, it shows you where some of the pressure on their world actually comes from.
Either way, it is a short, concentrated hit of Mistborn that pays off across several books.
Where to go next on His and Hers Book Club
If you are lining up your Mistborn reading plan, you can:
start Era 2 with The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson: A Mistborn Return That Actually Feels New
follow Wax and Wayne into darker territory with Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn Era 2 Turns Sharp, Strange, And Personal
jump into the treasure-hunt chaos of The Bands of Mourning Review: Wax and Wayne Go Treasure Hunting With History Breathing Down Their Necks
For broader Cosmere fun, you might also enjoy:
Both sit nicely alongside a Mistborn binge and help with planning your next buddy read.
FAQ: Mistborn Secret History
Do I need to read Mistborn Secret History before The Lost Metal?
You do not absolutely need it to follow the main plot of The Lost Metal, but it adds a lot. The final Wax and Wayne book pulls in characters and forces from across the Cosmere. Mistborn Secret History explains who some of those people are, what they did after Era 1, and how Scadrial fits into the wider picture. For that reason, I strongly suggest sliding it in between The Bands of Mourning and The Lost Metal.
Should I read Mistborn Secret History after Era 1 or after The Bands of Mourning?
At minimum, Sanderson says you should finish the original trilogy first. His site and several official blurbs also mention that Secret History has small spoilers for The Bands of Mourning, and many reading guides now recommend waiting until you are done with that book.
So the safe, spoiler-friendly spot is:
finish Era 1
read Wax and Wayne through Bands
then read Secret History
Is Mistborn Secret History a novel or a short story?
It is marketed as a novella, but sits close to fifty thousand words, which puts it right at the edge between novella and short novel. In practice, that means you get enough room for a full arc and plenty of lore, just in a tighter package.
Does Mistborn Secret History spoil Mistborn Era 2 or the Stormlight Archive?
Mistborn Secret History has major spoilers for the original trilogy and very small ones for The Bands of Mourning, mostly around the ongoing presence of a certain Survivor. It does not ruin the central twists of The Lost Metal or any specific plot reveals in the Stormlight books. Stormlight connections show up more as cameos and background information.
Can I read Mistborn Secret History if I have only read Wax and Wayne?
You can, but it will be a rougher ride. The novella assumes you already know who Kelsier is, what happened at the Well, and how the Catacendre reshaped Scadrial. If that history is just a blur for you, I would at least read detailed summaries of the original trilogy first, then come back to Secret History before starting The Lost Metal.
How long does Mistborn Secret History take to read?
With a length of about 151 pages and nearly fifty thousand words, most people can finish Mistborn Secret History in a day or over a weekend, especially if their memories of the original trilogy are still fairly fresh.
If you are anywhere between The Hero of Ages and The Lost Metal in your reading journey, this little book is a strong candidate for your very next stop.
They Both Die at the End is a YA romance with a speculative twist: a service called Death-Cast warns people they will die within 24 hours, and two strangers choose to spend that final day together. It is tender, tense, and quietly brutal in the way only a clock-ticking story can be. First published in 2017 by HarperTeen, it remains one of Adam Silvera’s best-known novels.