Scan barcode
fairhairedwarrior's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I cried at the end 😭
This book was SO GOOD but don’t read it if you don’t want to cry over a book
This book was SO GOOD but don’t read it if you don’t want to cry over a book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
bel017's review
I finished! The trilogy took me 36.4 hours.
The sexism was just so frustrating. Here's one non-spoilery example:
"The Allomancer following her obviously believed himself--or herself--invisible to Vin's senses. He moved with quick, easy bounds, following at a safe distance. He ... He ... He ... He ....". Vin acknowledges that the person following her may not be a man, then calls them He repeatedly. The characters call 'natural forces' He. Everyone with power is He. Humans are 'man', all the soldiers are men. The women and children must be protected by the men.
The argument that Vin is a Strong Female TM does not detract from the sexism of the book. She's not the character that the intended readership want to be, she's the one they want to be with. It's actually more gross. The only other named women are love interests.
It's such a shame, as I enjoyed the rest of the story. Such creative world building. And yes, the prose are simple, but that makes for speedy reading. The books are unnecessarily long so speedy reading was important!
I (accurately) guessed the 'twist' on thethird word of the first chapter epitaph . The foreshadowing is heavy handed.
I've been told that Sanderson's more recent books are much less problematic. I really did enjoy the world building and the story so I might check out something more recent.
The sexism was just so frustrating. Here's one non-spoilery example:
"The Allomancer following her obviously believed himself--or herself--invisible to Vin's senses. He moved with quick, easy bounds, following at a safe distance. He ... He ... He ... He ....". Vin acknowledges that the person following her may not be a man, then calls them He repeatedly. The characters call 'natural forces' He. Everyone with power is He. Humans are 'man', all the soldiers are men. The women and children must be protected by the men.
The argument that Vin is a Strong Female TM does not detract from the sexism of the book. She's not the character that the intended readership want to be, she's the one they want to be with. It's actually more gross. The only other named women are love interests.
It's such a shame, as I enjoyed the rest of the story. Such creative world building. And yes, the prose are simple, but that makes for speedy reading. The books are unnecessarily long so speedy reading was important!
I (accurately) guessed the 'twist' on the
I've been told that Sanderson's more recent books are much less problematic. I really did enjoy the world building and the story so I might check out something more recent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Sexism, War, Confinement, and Misogyny
Moderate: Body horror, Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Addiction, Animal death, and Suicide attempt
khymihr's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore and Confinement
Minor: Child abuse
aleyajo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Omg Brandon
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, and Death
rikuson1's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
It Really Like It 😍
-★★★★✭- (4.75/5.00)
My Grading Score = 95% (A+)
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages, I am so glad it won me over by the very end. Coming off of The Well of Ascension and The Final Empire, I struggled a lot in regard to which one I liked more favorably and critically. With both of them settling within me, I came to the conclusion on accounts of favorability and criticality that I'm putting The Well of Ascension over The Final Empire. Now, when it came to The Hero of Ages, I'm going, to be honest, that I was not feeling it from the start. The tone was extremely melodramatic and overwhelmingly depressing because, for the most part, we are following the depressed and broken state of Sazed. And mind, this is just the feeling of depression, hopelessness, and dread that Sazed was giving off and it latched onto me making me feel his dread to some degree which probably was tough to read for me. As someone going through something similar (losing someone you invested and cared about), I guess it hit really close to home for me. Nonetheless, critically speaking, the portrayal of it all was extremely accurate and well done and has my highest praise. Brando said that writing Sazed in this book was one of the hardest things he's done in his writing career, and it shows.
Another thing that I wasn't fond of during the time of my reading this was that the second portion of the majority of this book was mainly focused on, and that was Spook. A character that in both The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension I did not care for to any degree. I did not like him as a character, I did not like his annoying accent and he just felt like a waste of space anytime he was present, additionally, he had this snarky attitude in book 2 that only made me dislike him more. So when I come to find out that he is one of the main focuses in this book, I was not ready and very reluctant to get through the "spook-focused" portions. I can tell that Brando probably knew that the readers did not care for Spook so he really really had to try and make us understand where Spook is coming from and try to make us like him and make him more important in the overall story. Now I feel it did accomplish making me understand where he is coming from and additionally the message he sends off which Marsch finds did make him extremely important to the overall story but he did not sell me on liking him by the end, but at the very least I can say I don't hate or dislike Spook anymore so that counts for something.
The other points of view it focused on were Vin, Ellend, and TenSoon. I felt all of these points of view were great or, at the very least, satisfactory. I was entertained and engaged for the most part on all of them. I have no complaints or critiques on any of them.
The action in The Hero of Ages really held off longer than any of the three books. And that's something I love, action. The build-up in this book was also something that was a lot more than in any of the previous books. It was to the point where I was almost afraid that it could not deliver on all of its build-up and additionally the surplus of the build-up of being the final book in this trilogy. But man, basically every chapter after chapter 71 really paid off on everything this trilogy was building up to in all categories, action, character development, plot reveal after plot reveals, after plot reveals, it was a great sanderlanche that I will never forget.
Verdict
The Hero of Ages and by proxy the Mistborn Era 1 has lived up to its hype. This is now my favorite fantasy trilogy, and I'm glad I went through it.
I Really Liked it.
-★★★★✭- (4.75/5.00)
My Grading Score = 95% (A+)
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages, I am so glad it won me over by the very end. Coming off of The Well of Ascension and The Final Empire, I struggled a lot in regard to which one I liked more favorably and critically. With both of them settling within me, I came to the conclusion on accounts of favorability and criticality that I'm putting The Well of Ascension over The Final Empire. Now, when it came to The Hero of Ages, I'm going, to be honest, that I was not feeling it from the start. The tone was extremely melodramatic and overwhelmingly depressing because, for the most part, we are following the depressed and broken state of Sazed. And mind, this is just the feeling of depression, hopelessness, and dread that Sazed was giving off and it latched onto me making me feel his dread to some degree which probably was tough to read for me. As someone going through something similar (losing someone you invested and cared about), I guess it hit really close to home for me. Nonetheless, critically speaking, the portrayal of it all was extremely accurate and well done and has my highest praise. Brando said that writing Sazed in this book was one of the hardest things he's done in his writing career, and it shows.
Another thing that I wasn't fond of during the time of my reading this was that the second portion of the majority of this book was mainly focused on, and that was Spook. A character that in both The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension I did not care for to any degree. I did not like him as a character, I did not like his annoying accent and he just felt like a waste of space anytime he was present, additionally, he had this snarky attitude in book 2 that only made me dislike him more. So when I come to find out that he is one of the main focuses in this book, I was not ready and very reluctant to get through the "spook-focused" portions. I can tell that Brando probably knew that the readers did not care for Spook so he really really had to try and make us understand where Spook is coming from and try to make us like him and make him more important in the overall story. Now I feel it did accomplish making me understand where he is coming from and additionally the message he sends off which Marsch finds did make him extremely important to the overall story but he did not sell me on liking him by the end, but at the very least I can say I don't hate or dislike Spook anymore so that counts for something.
The other points of view it focused on were Vin, Ellend, and TenSoon. I felt all of these points of view were great or, at the very least, satisfactory. I was entertained and engaged for the most part on all of them. I have no complaints or critiques on any of them.
The action in The Hero of Ages really held off longer than any of the three books. And that's something I love, action. The build-up in this book was also something that was a lot more than in any of the previous books. It was to the point where I was almost afraid that it could not deliver on all of its build-up and additionally the surplus of the build-up of being the final book in this trilogy. But man, basically every chapter after chapter 71 really paid off on everything this trilogy was building up to in all categories, action, character development, plot reveal after plot reveals, after plot reveals, it was a great sanderlanche that I will never forget.
Verdict
The Hero of Ages and by proxy the Mistborn Era 1 has lived up to its hype. This is now my favorite fantasy trilogy, and I'm glad I went through it.
I Really Liked it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Ableism, Gaslighting, Gore, and Mental illness
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
samsalamander's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, War, Torture, Murder, and Death
kmedusa's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Body horror
Moderate: Grief, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Suicide
I loved this book! It made my heart ache and I was sobbing once it was over. Very well written with a beautiful set of complex characters. I do recommend this book for fans of fantasy with high stakes and world ending topics.shlymiller's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Death, Gore, War, Violence, Blood, and Racism
danniciaurro's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book wrapped up the trilogy so well. Questions they were asked in previous books were left to be answered in HoA and it’s incredibly satisfying. The first half of book was dark and slow to trudge through if you take on characters’ emotions but it’s worth it when the plot picks up. The ending was unexpected but fit so well.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore and Body horror
clairevn's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence