A lawman hunts a shapeshifting killer—and executes the wife he buried twenty years ago.
Who drives the story
Lord of House Ladrian and former Roughs lawman, a Twinborn who Pushes metals and changes his weight. He hunts Bleeder to protect Elendel—and executes the wife he has been mourning for twenty years.
Wax's best friend and deputy, a disguise artist with speed bubbles and stored health in goldminds. He stands by Wax through a case that destroys him.
Constable, analyst, and aide to Aradel in the Fourth Octant; a Pulser who slows time in a bubble. Her research into Trell opens the next mystery.
A deranged kandra of the Third Generation, once the Lord Ruler's servant, hiding from Harmony by removing her own spike. She wants chaos—and, unknowingly to Wax, she is Lessie.
A Seventh Generation kandra sent by Harmony to help Wax. She rescues him from the Set, impersonates the governor, and delivers the warning about the unknown metal.
Governor of Elendel, believed corrupt by Marasi; his brother Winsting's murder ignites the plot. Bleeder kills and replaces him.
Constable-General of the Fourth Octant, a man of honor with no noble blood. He arrests a kandra wearing the governor's face and ends the book as governor himself.
Also in the story
Wax's betrothed, famous for being a bore. She is shut out as Wax isolates himself in grief.
Wax's villainous uncle and a leader of the Set, funding Bleeder to destabilize Elendel.
How they are connected
Waxillium 'Wax' LadrianBleeder / Paalm
He hunts Bleeder to protect Elendel—and executes the wife he has been mourning for twenty years.
Constable, analyst, and aide to Aradel in the Fourth Octant; a Pulser who slows time in a bubble.
Governor of Elendel, believed corrupt by Marasi; his brother Winsting's murder ignites the plot.
Bleeder kills and replaces him.
Wax's villainous uncle and a leader of the Set, funding Bleeder to destabilize Elendel.
Go deeper
Faith under interrogation · Identity as performance · Corruption and the city · Grief and guilt
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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