Mistborn World Guide: A Lore Companion and Art Book for Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Saga review

Growing up, everyone always told me to stop eating random bits of metal. Little did they know that I was testing to see if I was one of sixteen different types of Mistings. Even though it turned out that I’m not, the experience and knowledge of Mistings helped while reading through the new Mistborn World Guide: A Lore Companion and Art Book for Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Saga.

If you read my review of the Stormlight World Guide, you’ll see similarities between the reviews. Unsurprisingly, it’s because there are similarities between the books. As I noted in that review, I’ll note here that the lore book contains SPOILERS. I’m doing my best not to include them, but certain things about Era 2 inherently spoil Era 1.

The seven Mistborn novels cover two different Eras, separated by hundreds of years and a major cataclysm. Era 1 was the first complete series that was published in the cosmere and, as such, it didn’t have nearly as many tie-ins to other worlds as something like The Stormlight Archive. Comparing the two series just by length, all seven Mistborn novels are shorter than the first three Stormlight Archive books. To top it all off, Era 1 focuses entirely on a small group of people and region of the Final Empire, without something like the Broadsheets in Era 2 or the Interludes in The Stormlight Archives. Why do I bring this all up? It means that the major difference between the two World Guides is that Brotherwise had some room to create and/or canonize things here that there wasn’t room for on Roshar. And new lore is always exciting!

This World Guide covers both Eras of Scadrial’s existence (so far). For Era 1, the books center around the world as it exists during The Final Empire, the first book in the series. While that means that lots of lore and intrigue end up being put to the side, it allows campaigns and one-shots to focus narratives on the act of rebellion as opposed to the acts of cleaning up after a rebellion. For Era 2, the book covers the world as it exists three years after The Bands of Mourning. This omits some of the most overt Worldhopping in the cosmere and allows players to dance around in the liminal areas of Scadrial and its written narrative.

For actual structure, this guide is identical to the previous one. There’s an intro about what’s going to be in the book, and the chapters are the same. I’m a fan of the layout, so this is a huge plus. Chapters that cover both Eras are divided into those Eras, so it’s not hard to find what you’re looking for. Throughout the book, there are short pop-out boxes that contextualize the information around them. Most of these are useful in the context of reading the chapter in a sitting, not for referencing during a session. Allies and Organizations continues to be a great chapter for GM planning and the stat blocks in Adversaries are easy to find and reference.

I don’t want to crib my entire section about the art in the Stormlight World Guide, but suffice it to say, the art in these books continues to shine. Yes, the full page pieces are something you’ll be able to find prints of on the artists’ website. Yes, you should pick some up. Frankly though, my favorite pieces in this book are the individual characters inserted amongst the text. These smaller pieces accentuate and elevate the text and bring life to the denizens of Scadrial. The team as a whole shines once again and Marie Seeberger continues to bring life to the cosmere through Khriss’s sketches.

Some extra thoughts for 

Cosmere die-hards who aren't going to play

Unlike last time around, there’s new lore! If you’ve ever wondered what was going on in Dominances that weren’t the Central one, this book has sections for each and how their cultures were different. Confused about Sterris’s line about Sliverism in Alloy of Law? There’s a section detailing what that religion actually believes and how adherents practice. It even definitively canonizes that the Atium that was burned in Era 1 wasn’t pure, but actually a naturally occurring alloy of Atium and electrum.

GMs who are new to Mistborn

I still believe that GMing a setting that your players know better than you is not a great idea. That said, I think that this book has a more comprehensive summary than the last since the material covered has comparatively less canon to work with. Read thoroughly and carefully, be willing to hear a few comments about “that’s not how that works” and you might be up to run Mistborn for players that have read the books.

Players who are new to Mistborn

You are exactly the type of reader this book is targeted for. Go buy the book and get excited to find out what happens when you burn tin and duralumin at the same time. Avoid the Allies, Points of Interest, and Adversaries chapters and you’ll be fine.

Players who have read some or all of Mistborn

This is a useful refresh and for audiobook listeners, the charts and tables for the Metallic Arts are nice to review. The art is stunning and includes maps, which is always a plus.