Saturday, September 1, 2012

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson Blog Tour: Week 5



We have reached the end of the Mistborn Trilogy . . .

I hosted the discussion of Part 1 here.

Naithin hosted the discussion of Part 2 here.

Grace hosted the discussion of Parts 3 and 4 here.


Wow! This last part was a real roller coaster! I read it all in one sitting, unable to tear myself away from the action as it seemed that Ruin would destroy everything and everyone. I was fairly certain that Ruin would not prevail, but it was impossible to see how that would happen as we got closer to the end. By the time Ham was reunited with his family I was sobbing . . .

Was I the only one to cry like a baby? If not, how many tissues did YOU get through?


I was particularly moved by the sacrifice made by the kandra: it was so sudden and unanimous amongst those with the Firsts. I was delighted to discover that the Firsts were actually Terrismen and I loved how Sazed sat there picking their brains.

Were you surprised by the actions of the kandra? Do you think that Ruin would have succeeded if they had not made this sacrifice?


I really like the way that Mr Sanderson has changed our view of the Lord Ruler over the course of the Trilogy. As we look back at his actions now, we can see that he did things for the greater good and with the best of intentions. He definitely made some really bad decisions, but he was not a truly evil person.

Were you surprised that Sazed became a god? Do you think that he could make mistakes similar to those of the Lord Ruler, and that he will be seen as evil in one thousand years?


I would have liked to know what Sazed did with the kandra and koloss. I certainly felt like the kandra deserved to be returned to their Terrismen forms and allowed to live normal lives, especially after their self-sacrifice.

Were there any things that you would have liked Sazed to address, but that were not mentioned?


We have seen Kelsier's gang go through so much, and now there are only two of them left. Spook has definitely come into his own power by the end of the book, and he is now a Mistborn thanks to Sazed.

Who do you think will take control: Spook or Breeze? Or do you think that Cett will try to seize the power?


Finally, I am so pleased that I joined the Read Along for The Final Empire, as it introduced me to a wonderful writer: I can totally understand why Robert Jordan chose him to finish off The Wheel of Time series. I would like to thank everyone who has hosted and contributed to this wonderful experience: you have made reading a great trilogy even better! :)

So, who wants to read The Alloy of Law?????


11 comments:

  1. I'll first say that I was really happy to join the read-along too! I paid much better attention to the series than I would have if I had read it on my own. I appreciate everyone's thoughts and guesses along the way!
    The only time that I did really cry was when Ham finally saw his family (and got a little bit choked up when Elend died). I too loved the actions of TenSoon and the Firsts, their immediate sacrifice to save the world. They were amazing. I was really shocked by the coup by some of the Seconds, those idiots. ;) I would guess that the kandra, mistwraiths and koloss were all absorbed back into the land because they weren't natural. Sazed restored everything which means there was just no place for them anymore. Their bodies had no original state to go back to. I think they were too far off of being Terrismen anymore.
    As for Sazed becoming God, that was awesome. I loved his role at the end of the story and was happy that he could end up at peace. He did say that he spoke to Kelsier, Vin and Elend's spirits so I'm hoping that he was able to communicate with Tindwyl as well.
    And I think that Spook will take control -- though he's going to need a real name again! Ham will probably just settle down with his family and, dare we hope, Breeze should be starting a family with Allrianne. He doesn't want to be a leader anyway.
    I think the one question that I still had was if Sazed changed allomancy/feruchemy/hemalurgy at all when he restored the world since some of the aspects of it were based on the workings of the Lord Ruler and Ruin. I guess The Alloy of Law answers that there IS still allomancy but I wonder if it will be exactly the same.
    Anyway, I could probably talk for hours about this series. I loved the ending even though it was sad in ways and I really came to believe in the world that Sanderson built. I guess that's the measure of success for any novel!

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  2. I don't think I cried at the ending, but I was absolutely blown away by it. Like you I read the last 300 or so pages of the book in one sitting, it was great to see just how much Sanderson packed into the ending of the story.


    I don't know if Ruin would have succeeded without the kandra interfering. They were in a pretty bad spot before they removed their spikes, and I don't know for sure if they would have been able to get past the armies with enough Atium to help Ruin win, fortunately we'll never have to worry about that because most of the kandra lived up to their end of the bargain.


    I know that a couple of other people thought that Sazed might actually be the Hero of Ages, but when I first read it I was blown away. I was still thinking too much along the lines of "well Vin is the main character, of course she's the hero." But Sazed actually being the hero was a perfect plot twist because it was so well foreshadowed. Go back and look at the epigraph (chapter intro) for the prologue of the first book, there's a line about the hero bearing the future of the world on his arms, the same revelation that Sazed has when he realizes he actually is the hero. As for what happens in 1,000 years, I think Sazed will be alright, he made it through the first 300 years without messing too much up. (Alloy of Law takes place about 300 years after Hero of Ages).


    The ending to this book is still the gold standard for me, I honestly don't know if I'll ever find an ending that will be more impressive to me than this one. So I really don't think there's anything that I'd like to see in the ending. It gives you enough information to know that the world will be ok, but leaves plenty of room for everything else to be up to your imagination. You also forgot about Ham, he survives to the very end, but he wasn't as big a factor throughout this book.


    I have an idea about who takes power, and I think they'll do alright.


    I bought and read The Alloy of Law the day that it came out, and I really enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun to read another book in the Mistborn world, and it was amazingly interesting to see what Sanderson did with the series by moving it forward 300 years.


    I also have to say that this book has one of my favorite quotes from any book: "The life of a person is more than just the chaos of it's passing." Such a perfect quote for the time it shows up in the book, and a great line to remember for everyone.

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  3. I admit, the first time I cried was when Ham and Elend were debating whether or not to use the koloss, and Ham finally made a decision. Just that word, "no," killed me. I cried and laughed and wanted to hug the book!!

    The big thing I wanted to know was how Zane got his spike. The second time reading through the book, I think it says that he probably spiked himself, but even then, I wanted to know more detail!

    I loved finding out about the kandra. I did think that Sazed said something in the end about them, about how he took all the mistraiths and kandras and made them into animals? Or immortal animals? Or something like that...I did wish they'd been able to become people again, unless they had been removed from their human selves so long that they wouldn't have wanted that.

    Such a good series!! I finally convinced my husband to read it. :D

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  4. Oh - and I should say that I read Alloy of Law as well. It was far more Western, which is NOT my favorite genre, so it's probably my least favorite of all of Sanderson's books so far. However, a couple characters from this trilogy did play into it, and that made it worth it. :D

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  5. I like your question about Sazed changing the magic system. I would hope that he had removed the memory of hemalurgy, because that was just too horrific to continue.


    I know what you mean about being totally fascinated by the trilogy: I always think that a really good book leaves you wanting to explore its world and ask loads of questions about how it works! :)

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  6. I'd love to read Alloy of Law at some point; I'm curious about how the world changes from when Sazed restores it. I guessed a week or two ago that Sazed might be the hero, but everything else was completely unexpected. I was terrified that Vin and Elend were going to die, but then when they did I thought that they did so in a very fitting and meaningful way. Even though I was rooting for them to live, I found the ending tremendously satisfying. And yes, I did tear up a bit when the kandra pulled out their spikes. It was interesting to see how even creatures of Ruin could be fighting for Preservation.

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  7. Sorry, Ham! As you say, he didn't have a very big role in this book and there is no way he could be a leader anyway because he doesn't have the temperament! :)

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  8. I agree with you about VIn and Elend's deaths: they were handled so well that I didn't cry then, but when Spook found their perfect bodies laid out in the meadow . . . (tearing up again!)

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  9. It seems like an interesting idea to revisit the world so much further into its future rather than just looking at the immediate aftermath of the trilogy. I am happy to hear that we get to revisit some of the characters . . . no, I wonder which ones??? :)

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  10. I was surprised by Ham at that point: almost three books of indecision and debate, but he was right that it would have been the wring thing to do.

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  11. It's true. We still didn't find out everything that I wanted to know about Zane. I guess it implied that he was one of those who was unstable to begin with but how did he get the knowledge about hemalurgy and was it a mistborn that he spiked through?

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