Title: Mistborn Secret History
Sold alone or found in Arcanum Unbounded, The Scandrian System.
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: High Fantasy
Audience: Adult
Series: Mistborn Novella (Companion novella to the Mistborn series, Cosmere, Major spoilers for Mistborn #1-3, minor spoilers for Mistborn #6)
Next Release: The Lost Metal, 15 November 2022 (Mistborn #7, Era 2/Wax & Wayne #4 of 4)
Format read: 50% Audio, 50% ebook (audio from Arcanum Unbounded). Own Audio, eBook and paperback of Arcanum Unbounded and individual hardback.
Publisher: Tor (US) & Gollancz (UK)
Date read: 3 November 2022 (2nd time reading, 1st time in 2020)
First released: 26 January 2016
Content Warning: Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, War
He was alive. Kind of.
Page 5
Mini Review:
Picking up from the end of the Mistborn: The Final Empire, this novella is full of secrets from the Mistborn world. There’s always another secret, and this is the biggest secret of them all. Containing MAJOR spoilers for Mistborn Era 1, here is your reminder to read at least Era 1 before diving into this must-read companion novella for inquiring minds. There are also minor spoilers for The Bands of Mourning.
This novella will help cement Mistborn’s position in the Cosmere while exposing some secrets and perhaps creating even more questions. This is a fascinating world and I need more time in it!
The end was not the end.
Page 6
The Mistborn Saga reviewed:
- Book Review: Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
- Book Review: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
- Book Review: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
- Novella Review: The Eleventh Metal by Brandon Sanderson
- Book Review: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
- Novella Review: Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania by Brandon Sanderson
- Book Review: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
Full thoughts:
One more spoiler warning! Mistborn Secret History contains major spoilers for Mistborn Era 1 (The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages, #1-3) and minor spoilers for the Bands of Mourning (Era 2, #6).
Timeline wise, the story starts towards the end of The Final Empire and fills in the gaps for a certain character from that point onward.
“Would it hurt so much to give us a little more time?
Page 128
This novella is a short story, or let’s say short-er story since Brandon Sanderson is anything other than brief. It is a must read for Mistborn fans, especially those who want to explore the whole Cosmere. It connects Mistborn to the rest of the Cosmere and explains some secrets you were maybe wondering about and leaves you wondering about some other ones.
You need to read the first trilogy (era 1) first, but you don’t really need to have started era 2 before reading this novella. There are minor spoilers so of course you may want to wait, but they are quite minimal. This was my second time reading it and I chose to read it after Era 1 this time. The first time I read the story I finished the era 1 and 2 books (so #1-6) before reading Secret History. This meant I wasn’t spoiled but it also meant the events of books 1-3 were not as fresh as they could have been.
Reading after Era 1 feet like a very natural place for the story, and is where Goodreads lists it. The Coppermind says to read it after Bands of Mourning. If you are like me and enjoying re-reading, you can always read it after Bands of Mourning the first time, then read it after Era 1 for future read-throughs.
Chronologically, this story was released the same day Bands of Mourning was published in January 2016. It was first released as an ebook, then included in all formats as part of Arcanum Unbounded in November 2016 and now this year, 2022, it was released as a stand alone mini-hardback.
But it seemed there was yet another secret.
Page 220
Structure wise, I did find this story a little bit annoying. There are six parts to the story, and in each one the chapter numbers start over from 1. Perhaps this is a specific design choice, but as someone who likes to switch between format when reading, it is not so nice. I also find this a little bit distracting for knowing where you are in a story. A single book has multiple chapter’s numbered “3” just feels odd for me. That aside, I really enjoyed this story and this isn’t worth skipping the story over, just maybe something to keep in mind if you do plan to switch formats while reading.
Overall, this is a must read addition to the Mistborn saga which helps tie the larger story into the Cosmere and answer some questions more curious readers may have been asking along the series. In the Post Script Sanderson says he can’t promise to write Secret History 2 and 3 but we can hope!
Notes on edition:
I mainly listened to the audiobook of this portion of Arcanum Unbounded and highlighted some favorite quotes in the eBook. I also flipped through the new hardback that I picked up a couple of weeks ago. I really love this small hardcover size for Sanderson’s novellas. The cover for this one is especially nice and such a perfect fit for this world.
PalmKD - Books and Other Nerdy Ramblings 
There’s always another secret!
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