“The Bands of Mourning” by Brandon Sanderson

This is the sequel to Shadows of Self, part of Sanderson’s Mistborn series (previous posts can be found here and here). There’s also a book that just came out that wraps up the series. I haven’t read that one yet. This one builds a whole lot off of Shadows of Self with its focus on gods and mystical beings, the main mission is to find these extremely powerful Bands of Mourning that give you incredible power.

The protagonist is again Wax who is a lawman and he is hesitant about this mission because he doesn’t like helping the gods. They aren’t the greatest and let him kill his ex (twice), but he gets sucked in when he finds out that his uncle is also after them and he has his sister. The book is really slow until they get to where the stuff is supposed to be and find a whole hideout of the group Wax’s uncle’s with. There they find Wax’s sister and also a group of people from a different land with advanced technology that have been tortured and enslaved. Marasi then befriends them, and the gang gets out with a flying ship. -Wax also finds his sister and gets her out.

Then they get to where the Bands are supposed to be and only find decoys. Then it turns out that Wax’s sister is the leader of the bad guys and betrays them. Wax dies in the ensuing fight. Meanwhile Marasi finds the Bands in their hidden spot and turns into a badass with their power. Wax has a lovely chat with God and decides to go back when Marasi hands him the Bands, he starts wrecking shit. The squad frees the enslaved people and they set up friendly relations with them, then they all get home and Wax finally marries Sterris.

So first of all I don’t love the junk with the gods, it all feels super heavy handed but whatever I’ve talked about that previously in other posts. I also super saw the betrayal of Wax’s sister coming a mile away, he gives her a gun and she immediately starts shooting and talking about how she wants all of them dead and it read as very suspicious to me that she wasn’t brainwashed or trying to recruit Wax or something. Which is fine, possibly could be more realistic that way, but frustrated me for a few chapters that NO ONE ELSE in the book thought anything was strange.

What I loved though were the character interactions, there’s an amazing scene where the crew is checking into the hotel and Sterris is handing the concierge a list of everything that might go wrong. Wayne wants to trade for her shoes, Wax just wants to leave, Marasi is trying to smooth over the situation, and Melaan keeps referencing that she’s an immortal god without a real body. It’s hilarious and it just keeps building, a really well written section. Amusing moments like that really make the book work because you start to feel for the characters and get invested in what’s happening. Unfortunately that aspect dropped off towards the end with all the fighting, but it’s there earlier in the book.

Anyways I had fun reading these few books, I haven’t gotten the most recent one yet but if I come across it I would not mind checking it out.