I loved Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, which is why I'm going to
spend the rest of this review talking about the things I hated about it. That's
how you know you love something, when you have to specify what you don't like
about it. (And that's how you know you hate something, when you have to specify
what you like about it.)
1. The title. I kept thinking this was the last book in the trilogy, since
it has the word "Final" in its title. And I find it annoying that
it's all Mistborn: The Final Empire, Mistborn: The Well of Ascension.
A Dance with Dragons isn't A Song of Ice and Fire: A Dance of Dragons,
The Dragon Reborn isn't The Wheel of Time: The Dragon Reborn.
(Although, of course, The Prisoner of Azkaban is Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban.)
2. Elend and Vin's love story. First, Sanderson really made it hard to like
nobles. In the first pages of the novel Kelsier kills a lord, who's a rapist,
and you know he's the hero because he kills the rapist. Second, unlike Dalinar
from The Way of Kings (which, by the way, is The Way of Kings and
not The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings), readers only get to spend
time in Elend's head (i.e. chapters with his POV) about three fourths into the
book, there's not enough time to get to like him. Third, Spook, Vin's first
suitor, is just lovable with his "wassing" and "notting,"
and he's a skaa like Vin and they should have ended up together (yes, I'm
saying opressed people should love their own). Fourth, it's just so typical to
have a tough magical woman and a bookish gentleman fall in love. Fifth, nobles
should die.
3. Vin is just too power full. She's a Mistborn, I'll accept that. That's
her gift, that's what separates her from the skaa and the Mistings. But not
only is she more powerful than ordinary human beings, she's also more powerful
than ordinary Mistborns. If she were Jesus Christ, she'd get ressurrected in two
days, not three.
4. The fight scenes. In the first pages of the novel, as I wrote above,
Kelsier kills a lord/rapist. It's powerful because it's done off stage. I
wouldn't mind if the Sanderson spent pages on the final battle, because I want
details in my climaxes. But he has at least three too long fight scenes
(Kelsier's attack on the Venture, Kelsier's practice with Vin, and the third
one's actually the first fight scene in the second book, The Well of
Ascension).
Like I said, I loved reading The Final Empire. I consider myself a
Sanderson fan. I like how he handled completing The Wheel of Time (The
Gathering Storm is better than Towers of Midnight), and unlike some
reviewers I really like that The Way of Kings was long. I'm about two
chapters into The Well of Ascension, and I'm glad to be spending time in
Elend's head. Yes, he's a noble. And yes, he deserves to die. But I feel like
Vin's relationship with him is being set up to be this epic love story. I might
as well be given an opportunity to grow to like him.
