Shadows of Self (Mistborn, Book #5)

Shadows of Self (Mistborn, Book #5) by Brandon Sanderson

In his New York Times bestseller The Alloy of Law, the beginning of the second sequence in his massivley popular Mistborn series, Brandon Sanderson showed us that you can take the lawman out of the Roughs, but you can't take the Roughs out of the lawman.

When family obligations forced Waxillium Ladrian to forsake the frontier lands and return to the metropolis of his birth to take his place as head of a noble house, he little imagined that the skills acquired during twenty years in the dusty plains would be just as applicable in the big city. He soon learned that there, too, just being a talented Twinborn -- one who can use both Allomancy and Feruchemy, the dominant magical modes on Scadrial -- would not suffice.

Picking up the action about a year later, Shadows of Self shows us much more about how the Mistborn world and society are evolving as technology and magic-mix, the economy grows, democracy contends with corruption, and religion increasingly becomes a cultural force, with four major faiths competing for believers.

This bustling, optimistic, but still-shaky sociey will now face its first test by terrorism and assassination, crimes intended to stir up labor strife and religious conflict. Wax, his eccentric sidekick, Wayne, and the young constable Marasi must unravel the conspiracy before civil discord can stop Scadrial's progress in its tracks.

At the heart of the story this time are one of the Mistborj series' most intriguing creations, the kandra, non-human creatures who can impersonate any animal or person they've digested. Some of them now work directly for the god Harmony, functioning very much like our angesl. But one has gone mad and into rebellion against Harmony, and she is just as determined as Lucifer to have her own way, even at the cost of everything accomplished since the rebirth of Scadrials civilization.

Shadows of Self will give fans of The Alloy of Law everything they've been hoping for and, this being a Brandon Sanderson book, more -- much more.

Tor, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 3rd Printing, 2015