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Are Wax and Wayne books worth reading?


Asasasyn in White

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Who's "everyone"? It's 4.5 stars on Amazon, par for the course for Brandon. 4.2 on Goodreads, a little on the low side for Cosmere books but still tied with Warbreaker and above Elantris.

Alloy is small-scale, since it was intended to be a short story that turned into a novella that turned into a full novel. It's interesting to see Allomancy and Feruchemy in a different setting, but it doesn't have the in-universe ramifications of the original trilogy. But I think it's still a fun read.

I wasn't a huge fan of Shadows of Self. It felt much slower-paced, with a lot of political tension and some personal drama. The ending left a lot of unanswered questions, which prompted some really good theorization here on the forums, though.

Bands of Mourning was phenomenal. Definitely worth powering through the other books if you don't like them, just to get to this one. It's very high-octane and fast-paced, with some incredible secrets coming out of the woodworks. Everything these books should be as self-contained, serialized adventures.

And then, the novella Secret History. It's currently only available as an e-book, but it will be included in the short fiction collection Arcanum Unbounded coming later this year. Brandon recommends you read it after Bands of Mourning, but I don't think it would be the end of the world if you read it after Hero of Ages. It's geared towards those who follow all the Cosmere books, not just Mistborn, but I assume from your username that you've at least read some Stormlight. You might recognize a few things, if you've been paying attention...

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Wax and Wayne books are quite strange. I will explain me better:
- Alloy of Law: well you are placed in a Scadrial like you never saw it. Things happened in the centuries and to you many things are like re-meet an old friend and his son

- Shadow of Self: Ok this book is strange, because in few words... it talk about something of a really different scale than the standard Mistborn's book

- Bands of Mourning: Ok this is hard to explain... Are you a huge fan of action ? You will love it, Are you an huge fan of Scadrial? You will discovers things that are hidden from the first trilogy. Are you a fan of Realmatic Theory or a Theorycrafter ? OK man you will need a Soother to avoid your excitement to go over the limit.

Seriously, the books are good. really. Maybe you may don't like the historical period... But I too don't like those period and yet I loved the books (just Shadows of Self left me a strange feel)

Edited by Yata
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Just to provide an alternative opinion. I thought the entire mistborn era 2 is brandon's weakest to date. While that still means it's better than 95% of books out there, it just didn't do it for me. Being the cosmere addict I am, I've read era 2 several times now, but it always feels like a slog. I just really dislike the genre... felt like it moved away from fantasy into the realm of westerns (with a supernatural twist).

That said, they're definitely worth reading at least once just to stay up to pace with the all the cosmere-related happenings on scadrial, but they were definitely my least favorite brandon writings to date (Only thing I haven't read is white sand).

I've also been very skeptical of amazon reviews as even terribly written books get seemingly amazing reviews .

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15 minutes ago, Asasasyn in White said:

Everyone is almost every person in Poland and half of other people.

Ah. The world has transformed to look very much like 1800s United States, with a lot of influences from the Wild West and the large cities of the day. While the frontier aspects are fairly intuitive to those of us from the States, they probably don't go so smoothly for those from other countries. The urban portions are probably more universal, and they feature more strongly in Shadows.

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@tennischamp5 in this case, you will probably don't like neither the next trilogies.

To be honest I always hated how in classical Fantasy books... the time is "frozen", the centuries go and leave and the world remains always the same.

I really liked the Scadrial's evolution and probably we saw some kind of development also in other shardworlds, after all the magics opens new way to discover things and made the science to progress

Edited by Yata
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I held off reading them for awhile. I just finished the Bands of Mourning and found out about the secret histories and had to read them. I really have no idea why I waited. I was probably put off by the fact that it took place in a more modern world, or the fact that there were no more mistborns. Lets just say I read all three books in a matter of a week and while not first series Mistborn books( first sanderson I read so hard to live up to) they were fun and lighter than the others but have an over arching idea that something bigger is coming. Very goof read.

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32 minutes ago, Yata said:

 

To be honest I always hated how in classical Fantasy books... the time is "frozen", the centuries go and leave and the world remains always the same.

I really liked the Scadrial's evolution and probably we saw some kind of development also in other shardworlds, after all the magics opens new way to discover things and made the science to progress

I feel the same. When I became a DM for D&D, I made a rennaissance fantasy world because I wanted to break the trope of stagnation. But I never actuallly considered to bring it to the next steps, i.e. industrial era, information era, and future era. If nothing else, I love the idea to take the fantasy world and show it developing through the ages.

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Yeah, technology moving forward is really cool. That's something rarely seen in fantasy. What I think is better, though, is how the alloy books are more self contained. Often in fantasy the entire world is explored, and the characters are fighting for the sake of the entire world. That's always fun, but I'd sometimes like to see books set in fantasy worlds where the fate of the world isn't at stake. Instead we get to see how more normal people live, not huge world-changing heroes.  Also I feel like the first Mistborn series dragged on at time (Well of Ascension). That issue isn't as present in the Alloy books. 

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I can't imagine any Sanderson fan not giving them a try. They are more light hearted than the original trilogy, but still enjoyable. I prefer the originals more, but look forward to each new release. He's doing some really interesting things in the Wax and Wayne books; I would go into more details on this but don't want to accidentally spoil them!

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20 hours ago, Yata said:

@tennischamp5 in this case, you will probably don't like neither the next trilogies.

To be honest I always hated how in classical Fantasy books... the time is "frozen", the centuries go and leave and the world remains always the same.

I really liked the Scadrial's evolution and probably we saw some kind of development also in other shardworlds, after all the magics opens new way to discover things and made the science to progress

I'm staying optimistic. I do love how time has moved forward in the second trilogy. It's simply the "wild-west" elements that I've disliked. I've never been a fan of guns in my fantasy books, and I'm hoping the sci-fi trilogy or even the modern day trilogy has less of a reliance on them.

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25 minutes ago, tennischamp5 said:

I'm staying optimistic. I do love how time has moved forward in the second trilogy. It's simply the "wild-west" elements that I've disliked. I've never been a fan of guns in my fantasy books, and I'm hoping the sci-fi trilogy or even the modern day trilogy has less of a reliance on them.

Understood

But I think they would not discharge the guns... after all if you think to the real world. The guns have a lot of pros, and when the Aluminium will became cheap. The magic wuold be really less useful

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On 7/6/2016 at 2:18 PM, Morzathoth said:

I actually like them more than the original trilogy. I really love the western/fantasy fusion thing he has going on.

And both Wax and Wayne, I mean they are not Kell, but I love the two of them.

I absolutely love the slight suggestion of a hint of steampunk to the Era 2 books.  But I'm also looking at this from a costume nerd point of view - the Era 2 costume possibilities are magnificent.  Corsets!  Bandoliers of metal vials!  Fascinating gadgetry!  I'm a sucker for this sort of thing.

On 7/6/2016 at 3:28 PM, Ammanas said:

I can't imagine any Sanderson fan not giving them a try. They are more light hearted than the original trilogy, but still enjoyable. I prefer the originals more, but look forward to each new release. He's doing some really interesting things in the Wax and Wayne books; I would go into more details on this but don't want to accidentally spoil them!

Heh.  Light-hearted.  Technically true - but he counters that light-heartedness with some serious punches in the Feels, which I think pulls the tone back into balance.

 

I adore Era 2.  It's my favorite era out of my favorite Sanderson series. 

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On July 7, 2016 at 7:23 AM, tennischamp5 said:

I'm staying optimistic. I do love how time has moved forward in the second trilogy. It's simply the "wild-west" elements that I've disliked.

To me at least, the books aren't very "wild west". Only the prologues are ever actually set in the Roughs (the Wild West equivalent). Wax tries to act like an old west gunslinger at times, but a lot of the focus is on how he can't really do that anymore. The books really are more analogous to pre-WWI city life. I myself hate westerns, but adore the era 2 books.  

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8 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

Also, the wild west part is mostly a deconstruction, with wax trying to apply tropes from it (the barkeeper knows everything, the duel at dawn, the gentleman adventurer...) and facing the hard reality at every step. though having a reputation actually helped :)

He does find himself in train top duels surprisingly often, though. 

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On 7/6/2016 at 9:52 AM, Asasasyn in White said:

I was wondering about it because everyone says that Alloy of Law is pretty bad.

What about other books? Are they worth buying?

ExCUSE ME?!

*Huffs*

Alloy of Law is AMAZING. One of the best Cosmere novels for sure, in my opinion. I mean, it has WAYNE in it. Also, scones.

AMAZING.

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As noted above, the issue may well be the setting. Poland doesn't really have anything analogous to the Wild West era of the U.S. which may lead to some disconnect. It also has a very different history; in many ways Elendel is 'Britain', practically forcing all trade to go through the city and taxes being a big complaint, while the other cities are the 'Colonies'.

Not a perfect analog at all, but close enough to resonate unconsciously with most Americans, or countries with a similar history. The ones who colonized too, for that matter, as we are on the side of the Imperialist in the Adventures books, which is a nice twist.

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1 hour ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

As noted above, the issue may well be the setting. Poland doesn't really have anything analogous to the Wild West era of the U.S. which may lead to some disconnect. It also has a very different history; in many ways Elendel is 'Britain', practically forcing all trade to go through the city and taxes being a big complaint, while the other cities are the 'Colonies'.

Never had any problems with that. With all that westerns Hollywood produces et cetera... And various books (like Winnetou)... That's not an issue, really.

BTW, I always thought that W&W are much more like RDJ's and Law's Sherlock Holmes films than Wild West.

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i never felt a wild west vibe in the books anyway, except in the first two prologues. the story takes place in a city with a technological level around 1900. doesn't seem much wild west to me. nor does it feel steampunk, it doesn't include the most common elements i associate with it - namely, a dark setting and strange steam-based technology. in general, i didn't feel a particular resonance with any particular subgenre.

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8 hours ago, Oversleep said:

BTW, I always thought that W&W are much more like RDJ's and Law's Sherlock Holmes films than Wild West.

This.  The grand majority of all the W&W books have very little to do with the Western setting, and much more to do with Wax being Scadrial's Sherlock Holmes.  Or, in the case of BoM, Scadrial's Indiana Jones.  

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Western as a genre is not necessarily beholden to a set time period. Neo-Westerns are a prime example of this (such as No Country for Old Men). In fact Breaking Bad holds to many Western archetypes. So I would still consider Wax and Wayne a Western. 

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