The Hero of Ages: Book Three of Mistborn (edition 2009)

Fantastic conclusion to the trilogy! I could not put it down because I just had to find out how everything connected at the end. You could read my thoughts on the novel over at my blog (contains spoilers): http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=3311 ( )

This is the kind of book that makes me wish I could break the five star limit just to elevate it to a class of its own. ( )

This is the kind of book that makes me wish I could break the five star limit just to elevate it to a class of its own. ( )

My reread of this series is finally complete. And it's weird, I remember liking this book a lot more when I first read it.

Maybe it's because I knew what to expect this time around, and only now did I realize how much of the book is a recap or explanation of what every character has been up in the year since the events of the second book. Things don't actually pick up and get more exciting until well halfway through the book.

It's strange how a second reading can be so different than the first, isn't it? I hardly ever do rereads, so the feeling still baffles me somewhat. Still, at least the last half of the book was as awesome as I remember it.

But, ugh! The ending! Now I remember why I was pissed off, and this time around I'm even more pissed off. Don't get me wrong, the conclusion in itself was a well-executed one, tied up nicely with all the shocking revelations. But it didn't leave me with a good feeling at all. Not even the hint of hope or happier times to come helped in that. It's just so hard to take when you've come to know the characters over the course of three books, and to have things end that way is just a punch in the gut. ( )

I'm very conflicted about this. I'll give it 3 since I still like it more than the 2 star books on my list.

I'll just go through a list of issues I had, in no particular order:

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS











1. In the previous volumes, every chapter had an interesting snippet of a journal or personal log that was not exactly important to read, but helped flesh out the story. In the first book, it was great -- I distinctly remember Alendi's chilling thoughts in the early chapters, comments that stick in your mind:

"The Terris prophecies say that I will have the power to save the world.
They hint, however, that I will have the power to destroy it as well."

Who doesn't find that compelling? Reading Alendi's logbook was a fascinating look at the main antagonist (until it turns out he wasn't the Lord Ruler, but you get my point). In the second book, it was still very interesting as we read the words of the man who originally decided Alendi was the Hero of Ages, and his turmoil when he decided to betray his friend.

In this volume, it's repetitive explanatory text that explains everything, and then over-explains the same ideas later. Sometimes it even tells you exactly what you are about to read next! It was frustrating and I soon began to skip them.

2. The entire Yomen arc was frustrating to read. Here we have a king who can't believe the Lord Ruler is dead and refusing to work with Elend at all. At this point I'm tired of reading about would-be kings and playing politics and being nice to guys who are in the way. Just kill him and be done with it ffs. "He's not a bad man." "We can end this without bloodshed." Um, hello? The end of the world is coming. You don't have time to be nice.

3. In an attempt to make Elend less goody-goody (? I guess) there is a rather painful conversation between him and Vin about beating children to find out if they're Mistborn. It was out of character, to be sure.

4. Sazed's constant self-reflections and doubt was also frustrating. I understand he was broken after what happened in book 2, but it was very repetitive. Especially since suddenly at the end of the book he does a complete 180, suddenly dispelling all his doubt.

5. I felt like Marsh was dealt with too quickly. I mean we have pages and pages and pages of self-reflection for Sazed but very little for Marsh, and Marsh is the one who's directly connected to Ruin and can shed light on the being's motivations, but we didn't see as much of that as I would have liked. Of course, I am biased because he was my favorite character.

On second thought, he might be my favorite simply because he does not have so much face time dedicated to him. What a conundrum.

6. The Spook and Bedre romance is just as forced as Breeze and Allriane. I think the only romance I like that I've read of Sanderson's is Vin and Elend in the first book, when things were simple. Here, the Vin and Elend romance is, well, they don't have much time for each other so it seems secondary to Spook and Bedre.

7. The "Human" character was rather useless. Sure, we learned how koloss are made, but it seemed like Sanderson was trying to make him replace OreSeur. And then gave up halfway.

8. Making Kelsier & co. motivated by an overarching godly force beyond their control leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm fine with destiny etc. used as a plot device as long as it is established from the beginning (e.g. Sara Douglass's The Wayfarer Redemption) and not, say, in the last volume of the trilogy. Vin's brother, for example, felt incredibly important to her character in the first book. It shaped her as a person. But here we find out it's actually the voice of Ruin the whole time.

It made me want to punch something.

9. The main characters turning around completely to be sympathetic towards the Lord Ruler. He wasn't such a bad guy! Look, he was preparing the world for his own fall ... while he was executing skaa by the dozens. It felt like an odd reversal of the characters' opinions of him.

10. Ham and Breeze don't have much face time. Spook has too much face time.

Good things:
Well, the ending was an ending, but, to be honest, I was apathetic by the time I got to it. So I didn't even care.

Other thoughts:
I wanted OreSeur to meet with Vin and have an interesting discussion about kandra, etc. but they never met.

Bottom line:
I didn't want to say it, but as I write this, it really is how I feel.

Read the first book and skip the rest. ( )