The Hero of Ages

The Hero of Ages is the final book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. In the preface to The Alloy of Law, he says that two more Mistborn trilogies will come, one set in the modern era, and another in the future. I will definitely read these books if they ever come into being. The Hero of Ages is the worst book in the trilogy, but I still loved it. For this review, I'm going to list the things Sanderson got right and the things he got wrong.

Fight Scenes, the Things He Got Wrong: I just have to say this, the fight scenes are tedious. They just last for too long. Specially the shit with the koloss. Because Sanderson has to explain Allomancy in combat, the combat slows down. It's not exciting, and those capital Ps (Pushed, Pulled) are annoying.

Fight Scenes, the Things He Got Right: Spook's arc, though rendered useless by Sazed's ascension in the end, was the best in the novel. It made connections with the previous two installments, Spook progressed as a character, and he got to do heroic things. You know what's boring to read? Gods fighting. You know what's not boring? Heroes saving the day. When Spook fought the Citizen's goons at the plaza, he was in danger. When Spook was trapped in the burning house, he was in danger. When Spook saved that kid, he became worthy of being called "Survivor of the Flames." Elend, transformed into a Mistborn, was a whiny emperor who betrayed his ideals and failed to protect the people he professed to love.

Deaths, the Things He Got Wrong: Vin shouldn't have died. She was God! She should have just spent an eternity struggling with Ruin. Elend's death, on the other hand, was welcome. I loved that he got beheaded fighting an Inquisitor. Add his death to his final decision not to attack the city he was besieging with his koloss army because it wouldn't be the right thing to do and it almost saved his character for me. But then Sazed, after ascending, said that he was "all right" with Vin. Death and sacrifice are useless if there's an afterlife.

Cities, the Things He Got Right: Sanderson, in his elegy to Robert Jordan, said that while he admired the older fantasy novelist, nevertheless he began reacting to the tropes that Jordan established. So while Jordan sent his characters all over the map, Sanderson made his stay put in one city. That's why Luthadel was great, it was the microcosm of their ash-covered world. Unfortunately, Sanderson stayed out of Luthadel here in the Hero of Ages, jumping between besieging Fadrex City and saving Urteau from itself. This makes no sense. Luthadel was a character in the story, leaving it out of 99% of the novel would be like replacing Vin with some other hero.

Characters, the Things He Got Right: As I said above, Spook was great, his low self-esteem, his visions of Kelsier, his love of Beldre, his redemption in the end when he realized he wasn't talking to Kelsier's ghost at all. Yomen was great too, a Lord Ruler lover who was actually a good leader. Sazed turned disbelief turned God, though ruined in the end, plot-wise, was very interesting. But the best character in The Hero of Ages, in fact of the whole trilogy, is the Lord Ruler Rashek. He was thousands of years old, he was a horrible tyrant who executed the skaa on a regular basis, he murdered Kelsier, but he prevented Alendi from releasing Ruin, and he prepared storage caches for the people for Ruin's eventual return. A redemption-arc for a character need not be told in a linear fashion. Oh, and Human, the koloss, was cute. He didn't have to die a monster.

Plot, the Things He Got Wrong: Sazed became God! He made everything all right! The siege of Fadrex City (about 60% of the novel) was entirely for nothing! The best parts of the novel, TenSoon and his struggle with the Second Generation kandra and Spook's arc, should have been the core of the Hero of Ages. Instead we got neutered Vin and whiny superman Elend. Fuck you, Emperor!