The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jun 29, 2018 Maryam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

Finally finished it! Review to come!

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Aug 31, 2018 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, audio, gods-known-and-unknown

"Oh come on. You have to admit that you're unusual, Vin. You're like some strange mixture of a noblewoman, a street urchin, and a cat. Plus you've managed, in our short three years together, to kill not only my god, but my father, my brother, and my fiancée. That's kind of like a homicidal hat trick. It's a strange foundation for a relationship, wouldn't you say?"

On the face of it, this story is completely ridiculous. But Sanderson includes so much detail, and is completely straight-faced, s

"Oh come on. You have to admit that you're unusual, Vin. You're like some strange mixture of a noblewoman, a street urchin, and a cat. Plus you've managed, in our short three years together, to kill not only my god, but my father, my brother, and my fiancée. That's kind of like a homicidal hat trick. It's a strange foundation for a relationship, wouldn't you say?"

On the face of it, this story is completely ridiculous. But Sanderson includes so much detail, and is completely straight-faced, so you find yourself taking it seriously. It's quite the saga!

88% of the way through this third book in the trilogy, I had a "whoa!" moment. Sanderson had been broadcasting it loud and clear right from the start, but I never suspected. Kudos.

The ending was satisfying and also surprisingly mystical. A bit of suspense was killed since I know there is a trilogy after this one, so I knew the world would be saved at the end of Hero of Ages.

My #1 complaint about these books: where are all the women? It's particularly annoying because this series is often held up as an example of a fantasy series with a "strong female protagonist." And, yes, that's true, we have Vin. Vin is a great character. But she is the only woman among the approximately eight main characters. Thus, 13% of the main characters are women. If you look at the "supporting cast," about 25% of them are women (or female at any rate - not sure if the other creatures count as "women" and "men"), but, most egregiously, ALL of the background characters (the random soldiers, villagers, and creatures) are male. Where are all the women in this world??

I wonder if Sanderson himself became aware of this (but still did nothing about it), because at one point Vin asks "Human" where all the female Koloss are. From what we learn, it seems that there aren't any? So why are they treated as male? I do not know, except that "male" seems to be Sanderson's default. And from what we learn of the Kandra, they really should be treated as genderless or genderfluid also, that was a missed opportunity.

At any rate, this trilogy was good, but I probably won't read anything more from Sanderson, since I'm not that interested in worlds populated entirely by men.
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Oct 13, 2011 Maryanne rated it really liked it

In general I enjoyed this series although I found every one of the books a little bottom-heavy - the first 50% (75% of the second) of each book was a bit of a slog mainly due to somewhat shallow character development. All featured at least one character wrestling with some major problem...the problems themselves weren't insignificant and usually related to an important turning point, but mostly the characters just whined about their problems in the exact same way for way too long until they fina ...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Samantha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2009

amazing end to the Mistborn trilogy! i loved how detailed Sanderson was, and i never felt the book was slow or dragging. i really liked how there were so many layers built into the trilogy that came to light in this book, so many minor details that really made the book as amazing as it was.

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Aug 31, 2020 Loretta rated it really liked it

A satisfying resolution to this series. It’s fascinating to me to see the echoes or premonitions of themes and ideas that recur in the Stormlight Archives. You can definitely see his growth as a writer between these two series. I’ll keep reading his books.

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Jun 08, 2012 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, epic

I really, really love the magic system in this series. It's the only system I can think of that was realistic. There are laws of physics involved! Wonderful. ...more

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Jan 24, 2021 Jon Wills rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2021, audiobook

A satisfying end to an epic tale. I recommend the entire series.... I had issues with the second book but you can't get to the third book without it. :) ...more

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