Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Former frontier lawman Waxillium Ladrian has returned to Elendel to lead his noble house, but still helps the constabulary pursue criminals. Three centuries after the original Mistborn trilogy, railways and electric lights coexist with metal-powered magic, while corruption, labor unrest and competing religions divide the city. When an assassin threatens to turn those divisions into open conflict, Wax investigates alongside his old partner Wayne and constable Marasi Colms.
Reader notes
The fantasy detective story runs briskly through gunfights, magical combat and dry banter, while raising questions about faith and justice. It assumes familiarity with The Alloy of Law, the preceding Wax and Wayne novel, and draws more heavily on the original trilogy’s mythology.
How it reads
Writing style
Conversational · Direct · Witty
Tone
Dark · Suspenseful · Tense
Structure
Linear
Driven by
Mystery · Plot · Worldbuilding
Point of view
Multiple viewpoints
Reading complexity
Writing
2 / 5
Ideas
3 / 5
Structure
3 / 5
Background knowledge
3 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Writing
How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas
How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure
How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity
Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Yes, start with The Alloy of Law, the preceding Wax and Wayne novel: familiarity with it is assumed. The story also draws more heavily on the original Mistborn trilogy’s mythology.
Is it hard to read?
The prose is direct, conversational and witty, and the plot follows a linear course across multiple viewpoints. The main challenge is familiarity with the world and its mythology, rather than the language.
What does the fantasy and mystery mix feel like?
Wax’s investigation moves briskly through gunfights, magical combat and dry banter. The mood is dark and tense, with an assassin threatening to turn Elendel’s corruption, labor unrest and religious divisions into open conflict.
How strong is the violence?
Strong violence includes gunfights and magical combat, both part of the brisk fantasy detective story. Sexual content, language, substance use, abuse and self-harm or suicide are mild.
How long is it?
400 pages in the Tor Books 2023 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Tor Books · 2023 · Paperback. ISBN 9781250860019.
How long does it take to read Shadows of Self?
About 8 hours at 50 pages an hour, based on the 400-page Tor Books edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is an American writer of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult fiction whose largest series share the Cosmere universe. His novels favor direct, descriptive prose, dialogue-driven scenes, elaborate settings, and plots built around supernatural systems with intelligible rules. Mistborn makes that method literal: its Allomancers ingest and burn metals for distinct powers, while a rebellion against an immortal ruler proceeds through the mechanics of a confidence game and heist. Sanderson often enlarges private tests of trust into questions of government, religion, and historical memory. The later struggle to govern the Final Empire’s remains turns magical combat into part of a siege and a dispute over political legitimacy. In The Stormlight Archive, he works on a broader scale, rotating among soldiers, scholars, rulers, and assassins whose separate plots gradually converge. The Way of Kings sets apprenticeship, enslavement, and moral conflict against war and recurring highstorms, while subsequent volumes widen the field to contested histories and alliances among kingdoms.
