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A review by steven_v
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
This was a great ending to the Mistborn trilogy. I very much enjoyed the last few hundred pages in particular. However, in between the very strong opening and strong closing, I felt like the middle 1/3 or so of the book was a little bit slow. I've watched Sanderson's entire lecture on writing, and I think the issue here is that throughout the middle section, it felt like no progress was being made, but the characters were spinning their wheels. They would try stuff, and it wouldn't work, and they went back to baseline (such as the siege that lasted hundreds and hundreds of pages). There were hints, in which the three main characters (Sazed, Vin, and Elend) kept feeling like they were "missing" something, but there was no way to "measure" the progress or to detect that any was being made. Sanderson should have caught this, given that he has whole lessons about it -- and he knew about it while writing this book, because he does a progress countdown literally the way he says to do it in his lectures when one of the main characters fights multiple foes. Each time one is defeated, Sanderson counts them off -- one, two, etc... so that you can see the progress. Thus, he knew he needed to make it look like progress was being made, but then failed to do so through the main part of the plot in the middle of the book.
Of the 3 Mistborn books, this is the only one I was able to put down for a couple of days and not have to make time to pick up again. For this reason, although I enjoyed the book, it felt much slower than the first 2, and it's therefore my least favorite of the three. It's good, but a little slow in the middle section. It didn't drag... but it did feel like the characters were spinning their wheels a lot.
Now, this isn't a major issue. Overall, the worldbuilding is great, and Sanderson brings a lot of things together that he hinted at so that you have some aha! moments that are very satisfying. I just feel like he needed to do some work on that middle section.
Of the 3 Mistborn books, this is the only one I was able to put down for a couple of days and not have to make time to pick up again. For this reason, although I enjoyed the book, it felt much slower than the first 2, and it's therefore my least favorite of the three. It's good, but a little slow in the middle section. It didn't drag... but it did feel like the characters were spinning their wheels a lot.
Now, this isn't a major issue. Overall, the worldbuilding is great, and Sanderson brings a lot of things together that he hinted at so that you have some aha! moments that are very satisfying. I just feel like he needed to do some work on that middle section.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence