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A review by bel017
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
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