The Bands of Mourning

Wax brings along Wayne, his shape-changing-accent sidekick with a habit of trading for other people's hats; Marasi, the young constable who is growing into the real detective of the group; Steris, whose lists and contingency plans turn out to be surprisingly useful; and the kandra MeLaan. The journey takes them from rail lines to mountain cities and finally to a remote temple full of traps, in what is easily the most Indiana Jones of Sanderson's books.

The pleasure here is in the team. Wayne is often the funniest character Sanderson has written, but he is also given real grief to carry, and the relationship between Wax and Steris quietly becomes one of the most touching in the Cosmere. The action scenes, built on the physics of pushing and pulling metal, are clever and clear. Along the way a stranger from beyond the known map appears, and the scope of the world suddenly widens in ways that matter for the next book.

It is not a standalone: you should read the earlier Wax and Wayne novels first, and the ending deliberately leaves threads hanging. But as an adventure it is a delight. About 448 pages in the Gollancz paperback.