Book Review: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson

Okay, what? It wasn’t over?

Secret History is a strange book. It’s an accompanying novella to the first Mistborn trilogy, the series that starts with The Final Empire, follows with The Well of Ascension, and finishes with The Hero Of Ages, and honestly, I thought that was it! Apparently not.

This is labelled as the third-and-a-half installment in the series, and serves as a kind of follow-up, which aims to… well, let’s just say it answers some questions. It’s very heavily prefaced with all sorts of spoiler warnings, saying that you should definitely not, under any circumstances read this book before you’ve read the original trilogy. Because it will ruin A LOT!

This, consequentially, makes it a really difficult book to review. Because I can’t really… tell you anything about it. But know that there are questions you’re left with from the trilogy, things you will have learned about and be wondering, that this last installment will help you understand. It’s kind of right there in the name: Secret History.

It’s a good book. It’s great, in fact. I loved all the insights I was getting, and it really put the whole story that’s been going on over the course of the first three books into perspective.

Yet…

I’m not sure I feel like I’m better off knowing a lot of this stuff. One of the absolute great things about the Mistborn trilogy, is the massive universe Sanderson has created. It’s huge and detailed, and it feels… for the lack of better words, organic. It’s natural that I don’t understand all the goings-on in the wider world that the Mistborn story takes place in. I kind of liked that. I understood some things, and I followed the exciting story that was taking place in front of my eyes, but it felt good to be left wondering about other things, it was nice that things were left unanswered, that things weren’t always explained in great detailed. It added to the mystique. It was just the way it was, and those things served to bring the world to life, for me. It let me know that there was more beyond the plot that happened in the three books. It was one of the things that made the universe feel so expansive.

Secret History kind of ruined parts of it for me. Because suddenly, things were explained. I was told and understood things that had been left to simmer in the back of my mind. This made some of those things lose their magic. It was fun not knowing, because when I didn’t, there was no limit to what was real and not. Now, it’s set in stone.

I don’t know. It’s a good book, don’t get me wrong, and if you’ve enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy so far, you’re probably going to want to read this one as well. I know I did. At the same time, it’s left me wondering if I was better off not knowing. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t ruined the original story in any way, but it’s definitely painted it in another light. It’s a weird kind of feeling to feel like a book might have “taken” something from me, that I can never get back.

What do you think? Have you read much by Brandon Sanderson? Been through the Mistborn series? What did you think of Secret History? Let me know in the comments!

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