On the plus side I can say that this book was by FAR better than the first two of this Era, on the negative side, it was still nowhere close to being as good as the Era 1 trilogy. 'Hero of Ages' has one of the best book endings I've ever read, and I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the Era 1 experience, so the poor quality of Era 2 is truly baffling. Sanderson is clearly very good at writing complex ideas that are built up over long books, and I can only assume that he doesn't have the skillset to write shorter books with more compact ideas.
 
From the start of this book I could tell that it was going to be bounds better than the first two in the series. I was actually interested in the storyline, and way more invested in the characters. I think this is because this book actually introduces new magical elements where characters are experiencing the new discoveries on page, rather than us just being told about them. It has more complexity and energy, with deeper thoughts, emotions, and reactions to events. 
 
To compare the series so far:
 
 - Book 1 was not great, but being set in a new time period and incorporating new versions of magic use saved it a little.
 - Book 2 was just BAD, there was zero magic development and a boring plot.
 - This book has interesting magical elements and other new aspects of the world being introduced, and the plot is developed well. The characters and their relationships are much more endearing, and I actually found myself caring about them at points. 
 
Though the characters and the relationships between them were so much better than the first two books, they unfortunately still weren't that great. I never felt any of the animosity between Suit and Wax, and the tension between our group and the Set felt forced and lacklustre - that whole plotline has just felt underdeveloped and rushed despite being a through-plot in all of the books. I thought Telsin was boring and cliche. I did, however, really enjoy the relationships between Melaan/Wayne and Steris/Wax and how they developed, and as always Wayne is by far the best character, mainly because he actually feels like a fully realised person compared to everyone else who still feel very flat after three whole books... I also liked the new characters; they were fully realised from the beginning and I got a real sense of who they were. However, it seemed insane that as people who live in a freezing cold environment and have lived that way for generations, cold would affect them MORE than people used to a warmer climate?? That's like saying polar bears would freeze to death quicker than lions, a truly bizarre piece of logic from Sanderson. 
 
Unfortunately, the middle of the book was a real low point, especially compared to the freshness of the beginning. About half way through the story my interest in it just vanished. Physical descriptions of fights etc. became confusing and clunky, the 'action' was boring and didn't have any real stakes, and I often found myself forgetting the character's goals because even the characters didn't seem to care that much about them. 
 
The worldbuilding was also an issue for me. The weird industrial yet still almost archaic fantasy setting is not described well enough for me to feel immersed in the story. It felt confused and I had no clear picture in my head of anything, even though I am an extremely visual reader. I understand what Sanderson was trying to go for, but it wasn't executed well enough. It feels like he didn't spend enough time developing his own world building - either that or he didn't have enough space in such a short novel to describe everything in enough detail. 
 
Throughout the entire book it was so obvious that Wax and Wayne weren't going to die, they're the main characters, and by now I know that Sanderson wouldn't do that. This meant that every single one of their 'close to death' moments had ZERO stakes, and I felt absolutely no stress or excitement during these moments. 
 
THEN, what's completely wild about the book is that it picks up in the last 100 pages, and actually feels like the first glimpse of real Sanderson in this Era so far. Finally, some interesting and truly intriguing ideas! Did it REALLY need to take so long to get here?? 
 
Though the ending is on a totally different level to the rest of the Era, it is unfortunately still very predictable. The 'twists' were either blindingly obvious or held no weight, and the stakes felt very low, if they even existed at all.  
 
The last two or three pages were the only time I felt true shock and excitement, even though I had already accidentally spoiled it for myself by reading 'The Secret History' too early. I'm hoping this is a sign that 'The Lost Metal' is better than these last three disappointing books. I’m honestly not sure why I have continued the series otherwise. 
 
To conclude, my final gripe with this book, as with all of the others in Era 2, is that the only points of true interest and excitement occur when Era 1 characters or elements are brought back. The core Era 2 characters have almost no substance to them, and can't stand on their own at all. I'm just so confused how this series has sunk so low after such an impressive start...