Quick-take: As usual, book 2 of a trilogy is not as good as book 1. Fortunately, this one is still decent.

Dan's Review

Wax and Wayne, the "Twinborn" heroes are off on another adventure. The young Marisa tags along too (though not quite attached at the hip). This book is enjoyable, but it is not quite as good as the book 4.

This book referenced the original trilogy a bit more, which is fine, but they changed the name of so many things. For example, "The Survivor" is actually Kelsior. The book very rarely uses the original names from the first trilogy.

Exalted nicknames are fine, but throw me a clue, please. It's been 2 years since I read Mistborn, and I am not the type that re-reads books before the next in series. Outside of the basics of burning metals, I classify that level of lore as obscure if not paired with a name.

The main villain this time around is a Kandra. Once again, I would've liked a review of what their powers could be and perhaps an intro to the important Kandras from the first trilogy since a few make a reappearance. Fortunately, the context does help in shaking those memories of mine loose.

I personally never thought the Kandra were that interesting of a species from the original trilogy, but this book did do a good job of making this particular villain pretty unsettling. Book 5 needs to do something to step up the intensity from Book 4. Book 4 had an ultra-fast healing Twinborn. Book 5 now has a practically immortal demigod. What is Wax and Wayne to do?

The book ended with all the opened story arcs closed. The overarching series arcs progressed a bit further. However, dare I say, just like all mid-series novels, nothing particularly groundbreaking happened. The next book is the last in the series. Perhaps, everything will finally resolve there.

Score: 4/5. This was an enjoyable book. I look forward to the next one.