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Tuesday, September 18, 2018

The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn 6) by Brandon Sanderson

The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn, #6)The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once again I am amazed at the economy of Brandon Sanderson's writing.  He packs so much story into one book. In this book he could have drawn out endless descriptions of the setting, or spent unneeded pages inside the heads of his characters, and then ended it after the first initial conflict was overcome.  But he kept his writing focused and moved the story along constantly as he grew his setting and his characters in our minds.  So when the initial conflict was overcome, his sister was rescued, and more light was shed on the Set's plans, we were ready to keep going and get to an even bigger conflict, and an even bigger revelation.  It was very well done.

In my first reading of this, I really enjoyed the character of Wayne, and whats not to like?  Comic relief mixed with tragic back story all piled on top of a healthy serving of an unfailingly effective sidekick.  Yet, on this second time through, I found Marasi to be worthy of attention as well.  She could have been a weak, bitter, spurned love interest.  Instead she is taking action in her life from page one, proving herself professionally, and then challenging tough questions internally of who she is, and who she wants to be.  In terms of character development she is right there with Wax himself, which is interesting given that one of her issues is how she is always in his shadow.  It makes a much better story to have multiple protagonists and antagonists to deal with.

Excellent book.  I'm just frustrated that so many of Sanderson's other projects have stepped in front of the wrap up of this story line.  Grr.

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