Review: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #5)

“Cleaning the wound is often more painful than the cut itself.”

I have the hardest time rating this book. It's either 3.75 or 4 out of 5 starts for me. Or somewhere in between that. 
It has come as a great shock to me, as this is the first Brandon Sanderson book that I have rated lower than 4.5 stars. For starters, it wasn't nearly as good as Alloy of Law was. Both character and plot wise. 
But my rating is lower mostly because I found some theology and musings that rubbed me the wrong way in this book - I just wasn't a fan.

While In Alloy of Law Wax and Wayne were the ultimate dream duo - here they barely did anything together and thus I really missed their banter (thankfully there was some other banter going around but still). Wax turned from a funny badass allomancer to this removed, high brow and even a bit boring lawman.
​Except of course I felt for Wax in the end. Because that ending just came like an avalanche over me and plastered me to the ground with feelings. 

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“You had to adapt. Move. Change. That was good, but it could also threaten identity, connection, and sense of purpose.”

I also have lost all of the interest in Marasi with this book. She showed so much promise in the first book, but here she became the biggest bore of them all, with all of her proper law works, constable politics and just blah-blah-blah. Sure she's smart, and capable and resourceful , but she's just not engaging anymore. Not even a bit. 
And in the end when all Marasi cared about was a metal spike while Wax's world was crashing down, I literally lost all of my respect for her. 
And gained a whole more respect for Steris. I liked Steris a lot in the end of Alloy of Law, and I wish she had more page time in Shadows of Self. She didn't, but the time she had - she used so well. I am hoping beyond hope that I will see more Steris in the next book, because I need it! 

“The immortal demigod took a throaty slurp of her beer, then slammed the mug down onto the table, grinning like a four-year-old who had been paid in cookies to rat out her sister.”

With all of that said Wayne was driving the show in this book. Well him, and MeeLan and TenSoon (which I promise I almost cried when I saw his name pop-up in the book). Wayne and Meelan delivered all the banter I was looking for in this book, and TenSoon, let's just say that him being there was enough. 

“She had a way of pouring everything of herself into what she did. When she fought, she was the blade. When she loved, she was the kiss. In that regard, she was far more … human than any I have known.”

​The plot was good, but it spent way too much time on Marasi and her countable career, which as I said I didn't care one bit about. And then the ending came and the most brutal truth in the whole history of Mistborn came out and I was just shocked to my very core, and I still hasn't recovered. And neither did Wax. And I have no idea what he is going to do in the next book, and honestly, I'm scared.