Still good on a re-read though still lacks some of the epicness of his other series.
There is the threat of civil war in the air as the cities outside of Elendil resent the taxes and controls that are imposed on them. Wax is on a mission to track down his uncle and bring down the Set whereas Maresi takes up a mission from Harmony to track down a spike that was taken from a Kandra and restore its memory. All the signs are pointing towards a confrontation in New Seran.
Steris finally comes into her won in this book and it is great to see. Very weird but in a good way whereas Wayne has grown a little more palatable he still doesn’t seem real. Her and Wax are well suited. I still don’t get all the love I see Wayne get on posts etc. It was a fairly straight forward book until the end when things really expanded, we find out about people from other areas outside the Basin and a very major reveal right at the end. It’s here Sanderson recommends reading Secret History and it’s a good point though I still think it’s better after finishing Era I.
There’s still quite a lot left unsaid here. We still don’t know who or what Trell is, what’s the real purpose of the Set and there is a lot of talk about investiture etc that I only have a shallow understanding of. The cosmere connections are getting bigger, and it is starting to feel like you really need to know more about all the books to make sense of everything. I do admire what the series is attempting to do and broadly succeeding; that of showing a world changing and starting to expand into technologies and exploiting the rules of the magic system in the world. It really is quite cool and I don’t really recall any other series that has taken it so far, and this is still early days, two more era’s to go!
Another good solid read, not too demanding and quick to read. Looking forward to finally getting some answers in the final book.
4 stars
Barry's Bloody Books 