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tdavidovsky's review against another edition
3.0
I don't need a book to sweep me off my feet with poetic prose. If a writing style is imperfect, I just need to not notice the flaws. Sadly, for whatever reason, the lack of good prose in Mistborn ruined an otherwise good series for me. I can still understand the hype around Mistborn. It has a creative plot and world, and the magic system is as interesting as everyone says it is. I can also see why people like the characters. I just had trouble enjoying it, because the writing is repetitive. It feels like Brandon Sanderson doesn't trust readers to understand subtlety, so he adds unnecessary explanations about the setting and the character motivations. Normally I appreciate digestible prose, but the constant handholding by the author in this series just gave me a headache.
I kind of hope Hollywood picks this series up. I honestly think the movies could be better than the books.
I kind of hope Hollywood picks this series up. I honestly think the movies could be better than the books.
hondiggsreads's review against another edition
4.0
This should probably be a 3.5 or even 3 stars. I’m just not over Eland becoming a Mistborn at the end of the second book. It was pretty clear that Sazed was going to be the hero of ages from the first line of the book. I love his character arc, but something felt missing to me. I still read it in like 7 days, so I obviously still loved it
laumee's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
grace_liz9's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
5.0
maryserea's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
maxgb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
4.75
ptlindeman's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
catbag's review against another edition
2.0
The Hero of Ages ✵ Brandon Sanderson
There is so much to say about this book and honestly it’s hard to filter 700+ pages of book into one review, but I need to say some things about this. It’s also two in the morning and I’m definitely missing a lot but I want to be done with this so I can move on with my life.
There were positives. For example, I enjoyed when we got to see badass moments, and some of the fight scenes, and the nuggets of information that turned into plot points, and some of the questions about the difficulties in creating systems of government. It’s fun making guesses at bits of foreshadowing, and then (400 pages later), being right. It’s fun discovering new bits of a very intricately-crafted world. It’s nice to see an easy relationship in a main pairing.
But I read over a thousand pages of Mistborn, and I can’t say it was worth it.
Yes, I enjoyed some parts, and the Allomantic fight scenes were consistently good (even if they felt less like they were worth reading to get to as the series progressed). But the more of this series I read, the less I found myself able to get over the endless pondering about faith, the fact that not a single relationship had any spark, the wonky ending, and the very suspicious undertones of it all. The plot is somehow both an interesting thing I want to think more about and also something that lacks payoff and unsettles me in its real-world implications.
///
1. Spook
2. LGBT / women
3. The religion
Spook
I don’t know if I’m reading into things too much, or if I’m looking at this incorrectly, but a huge, huge thing I noticed in The Hero of Ages was concerning the character referred to as Spook. I don’t remember whether or not I noticed in the first two books, but as soon as I read his name in this book, red flags shot up in my head. As this is a word I have always been taught is a borderline slur associated with racism against black people, and am therefore deeply uncomfortable with using, I’ll be referring to this character by the name Lestibournes.
Whatever the author’s intentions were, there were a lot of moments where I was reading and something was mentioned about Lestibournes that made me raise my eyebrows and squint a little harder to try to see what the actual fuck was going on.
Here are some quotes. I don’t think I’m qualified to say much more, but I can’t not say anything, because, seriously, what the fuck.
This, coming from a boy from “The Eastern Lands, near wastelands of grit and sand,” who had “problems… [that] run in the family” and who spoke in street slang with a thick accent frequently mocked and/or called ‘gibberish.’
I haven’t noticed anyone else mentioning this, and I really don't know what to think about it. But I noticed it, it made me uncomfortable, and I feel like it should be talked about.
LGBT / women
I feel like a lot of people have already pointed out both the lack of female characters and of LGBT representation in this series (and in this author’s works as a whole), but I don’t think I can not mention it.
Vin is certainly a leading female character, but every time a dress or any question related to femininity is brought up, there is also a mention of the fact that Vin is ashamed to enjoy her femininity. Yet, despite this repetition, this character-related question is never truly explored. Instead, all we get is Vin saying, “Elend, I had to realize that I could be both people—the Mistborn of the streets and the woman of the court. I had to acknowledge that the new person I’m becoming is a valid extension of who I am.” Which, yeah, sure, valid. But it doesn’t feel earned? It’s just something she seemingly randomly comes to accept, and as a person who appreciates character moments, I was disappointed.
Vin is also pretty much the only female character with rights, as any other woman is a side character attached to at least one man. All (three. there are only three.) women, even Vin, are romantically tied to a man. Also I just have to point out that there are a few moments that felt distinctly ‘cat fight’-ey, like when Vin gets jealous when other women (who are, I think, referred to as ‘puffs’?) look at Elend ‘dreamily,’ or when Allrianne says she doesn’t like Beldre, and Breeze says “Of course you don’t, dear, you never like competition.” For a series with very little to go off of in the way of female characters, stuff like that is disappointing.
The kandra, that are born from mistwraiths and can take on any body they want, only identify as male or female.
Not a single non-straight character to be had. Not one.
Religion
The most glaringly obvious problem I have with The Hero of Ages is religion. This primarily comes up in Sazed’s perspective chapters, and started in The Well of Ascension. After the death of a loved one, he begins to question the validity of the hundreds of religions he’s spent a lifetime learning about and teaching. Nearly every chapter has at least a paragraph mentioning this crisis.
For Sazed, the character who spent a book and a half going through 500+ religions to decide which ones are worth knowing, only to return to his own religion and discover it was right all along, and then for him to become the God of that religion… yikes. After he discounts every religion but his own, Sazed takes parts of each of those religions to do miracles (restoring continents, oceans, making plants and animals, changing the disposition of humanity), gaining the ability to confer with the dead (and possibly bring them back to life), and then choosing one boy to heal and make into a Mistborn because a dead man wanted it to be so. It all just read very fucking weirdly to me. I am deeply uncomfortable with the fact that this author, who is an outspoken believer in one religion, has created this world in which characters ponder which religion is true in a very similar way the author ponders his own religion, only to, at the end, be proven correct in their beliefs. It makes the entire series read like a thinly-veiled allegory for the ‘correctness’ of the author’s own religion, and I am extremely uncomfortable with this.
Other Stuff
There isn’t really a place in my review for this stuff, but here are some other random thoughts I wrote down while reading that I just wanted to share:
- the pondering never fucking ends and it’s agonizing every character is constantly thinking themselves in circles
- what is the point in having Breeze and Allrianne’s relationship have such a huge age gap? it’s unnecessary and stupid so why was that a thing
- 154 Lestibournes knows he’s going to fight Allomancers on the reg and yet he carries a weapon with metal in it and acts surprised when it’s ripped from him in a fight with Allomancy
- 164 a group of soldiers running low on food lets a horse go free rather than eat it
- 383 “She didn’t think of [Reen] very often now” he’s mentioned in pretty much every other one of her pov chapters, so, incorrect, and he was mentioned again five pages later, so
- 642 this specific moment of Vin getting the power of the Mists is very nice
- what the fuck happened to Marsh at the end? like… hello? where did he go?
- where did these gods come from and why was Ruin ‘human-like’ but also set on destruction-- what happens to the two gods when he wins and everything is destroyed? he exists in the atmosphere of the planet, so if he destroys it, does he die? is that what he wants?
- why are Vin and Elend in a romantic relationship when they could function just as well as friends and not come with the weird in-between of being married without romance or sex but also not be written as aro/ace
- why was only Lestibournes made a Mistborn at the end….
///
I understand that other readers may get something entirely different out of Mistborn, and I can see things that can be enjoyed, especially by those who love worldbuilding and religious contemplation. But despite the positives, I just don’t know if I personally can overlook all of the issues I had with the series, and I'm really disappointed about it.
There is so much to say about this book and honestly it’s hard to filter 700+ pages of book into one review, but I need to say some things about this. It’s also two in the morning and I’m definitely missing a lot but I want to be done with this so I can move on with my life.
There were positives. For example, I enjoyed when we got to see badass moments, and some of the fight scenes, and the nuggets of information that turned into plot points, and some of the questions about the difficulties in creating systems of government. It’s fun making guesses at bits of foreshadowing, and then (400 pages later), being right. It’s fun discovering new bits of a very intricately-crafted world. It’s nice to see an easy relationship in a main pairing.
But I read over a thousand pages of Mistborn, and I can’t say it was worth it.
Yes, I enjoyed some parts, and the Allomantic fight scenes were consistently good (even if they felt less like they were worth reading to get to as the series progressed). But the more of this series I read, the less I found myself able to get over the endless pondering about faith, the fact that not a single relationship had any spark, the wonky ending, and the very suspicious undertones of it all. The plot is somehow both an interesting thing I want to think more about and also something that lacks payoff and unsettles me in its real-world implications.
///
Spoiler
There are a few main things that I want to address in this review:1. Spook
2. LGBT / women
3. The religion
Spook
I don’t know if I’m reading into things too much, or if I’m looking at this incorrectly, but a huge, huge thing I noticed in The Hero of Ages was concerning the character referred to as Spook. I don’t remember whether or not I noticed in the first two books, but as soon as I read his name in this book, red flags shot up in my head. As this is a word I have always been taught is a borderline slur associated with racism against black people, and am therefore deeply uncomfortable with using, I’ll be referring to this character by the name Lestibournes.
Whatever the author’s intentions were, there were a lot of moments where I was reading and something was mentioned about Lestibournes that made me raise my eyebrows and squint a little harder to try to see what the actual fuck was going on.
Here are some quotes. I don’t think I’m qualified to say much more, but I can’t not say anything, because, seriously, what the fuck.
”You have a name, boy?”
Spook opened his mouth, then stopped. His old name didn’t seem like it would do anymore. “Lestibournes,” he finally said.
The old man didn’t bat an eye. Later, Kelsier would decide that Lestibournes was too difficult to say, and name him “Spook” instead. Spook never did figure out whether or not Clubs knew how to speak Eastern street slang. Even if he did, Spook doubted that he’d understood the reference.
Lestibournes. Lefting I’m born.
Street slang for “I’ve been abandoned.”
This, coming from a boy from “The Eastern Lands, near wastelands of grit and sand,” who had “problems… [that] run in the family” and who spoke in street slang with a thick accent frequently mocked and/or called ‘gibberish.’
I haven’t noticed anyone else mentioning this, and I really don't know what to think about it. But I noticed it, it made me uncomfortable, and I feel like it should be talked about.
LGBT / women
I feel like a lot of people have already pointed out both the lack of female characters and of LGBT representation in this series (and in this author’s works as a whole), but I don’t think I can not mention it.
Vin is certainly a leading female character, but every time a dress or any question related to femininity is brought up, there is also a mention of the fact that Vin is ashamed to enjoy her femininity. Yet, despite this repetition, this character-related question is never truly explored. Instead, all we get is Vin saying, “Elend, I had to realize that I could be both people—the Mistborn of the streets and the woman of the court. I had to acknowledge that the new person I’m becoming is a valid extension of who I am.” Which, yeah, sure, valid. But it doesn’t feel earned? It’s just something she seemingly randomly comes to accept, and as a person who appreciates character moments, I was disappointed.
Vin is also pretty much the only female character with rights, as any other woman is a side character attached to at least one man. All (three. there are only three.) women, even Vin, are romantically tied to a man. Also I just have to point out that there are a few moments that felt distinctly ‘cat fight’-ey, like when Vin gets jealous when other women (who are, I think, referred to as ‘puffs’?) look at Elend ‘dreamily,’ or when Allrianne says she doesn’t like Beldre, and Breeze says “Of course you don’t, dear, you never like competition.” For a series with very little to go off of in the way of female characters, stuff like that is disappointing.
The kandra, that are born from mistwraiths and can take on any body they want, only identify as male or female.
Not a single non-straight character to be had. Not one.
Religion
The most glaringly obvious problem I have with The Hero of Ages is religion. This primarily comes up in Sazed’s perspective chapters, and started in The Well of Ascension. After the death of a loved one, he begins to question the validity of the hundreds of religions he’s spent a lifetime learning about and teaching. Nearly every chapter has at least a paragraph mentioning this crisis.
For Sazed, the character who spent a book and a half going through 500+ religions to decide which ones are worth knowing, only to return to his own religion and discover it was right all along, and then for him to become the God of that religion… yikes. After he discounts every religion but his own, Sazed takes parts of each of those religions to do miracles (restoring continents, oceans, making plants and animals, changing the disposition of humanity), gaining the ability to confer with the dead (and possibly bring them back to life), and then choosing one boy to heal and make into a Mistborn because a dead man wanted it to be so. It all just read very fucking weirdly to me. I am deeply uncomfortable with the fact that this author, who is an outspoken believer in one religion, has created this world in which characters ponder which religion is true in a very similar way the author ponders his own religion, only to, at the end, be proven correct in their beliefs. It makes the entire series read like a thinly-veiled allegory for the ‘correctness’ of the author’s own religion, and I am extremely uncomfortable with this.
Other Stuff
There isn’t really a place in my review for this stuff, but here are some other random thoughts I wrote down while reading that I just wanted to share:
- the pondering never fucking ends and it’s agonizing every character is constantly thinking themselves in circles
- what is the point in having Breeze and Allrianne’s relationship have such a huge age gap? it’s unnecessary and stupid so why was that a thing
- 154 Lestibournes knows he’s going to fight Allomancers on the reg and yet he carries a weapon with metal in it and acts surprised when it’s ripped from him in a fight with Allomancy
- 164 a group of soldiers running low on food lets a horse go free rather than eat it
- 383 “She didn’t think of [Reen] very often now” he’s mentioned in pretty much every other one of her pov chapters, so, incorrect, and he was mentioned again five pages later, so
- 642 this specific moment of Vin getting the power of the Mists is very nice
- what the fuck happened to Marsh at the end? like… hello? where did he go?
- where did these gods come from and why was Ruin ‘human-like’ but also set on destruction-- what happens to the two gods when he wins and everything is destroyed? he exists in the atmosphere of the planet, so if he destroys it, does he die? is that what he wants?
- why are Vin and Elend in a romantic relationship when they could function just as well as friends and not come with the weird in-between of being married without romance or sex but also not be written as aro/ace
- why was only Lestibournes made a Mistborn at the end….
///
I understand that other readers may get something entirely different out of Mistborn, and I can see things that can be enjoyed, especially by those who love worldbuilding and religious contemplation. But despite the positives, I just don’t know if I personally can overlook all of the issues I had with the series, and I'm really disappointed about it.
lap12's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0