2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Brandon Sanderson‘s book, The Hero of Ages.


***Please remember to mark spoilers.***

Participants: Janine, Lindsay, Cassandra, Winter, Mary Pat, Craig, Miriam

Suggested break down of reading so that you can check in and let us know how you're doing. The following breakdown is purely a suggestion and is therefore not set in stone.

Rather than putting dates for each section I've done it so that it takes into account that not everybody will necessarily have the book at the same time.

Week 1: 181
Week 2: 181
Week 3: 181
Week 4: 181

I'm really happy to get back to this series. It's been thoroughly enjoyable reading one a month. It's soon enough that I remember entirely what happened in the previous book, but the 2 or 3 weeks between each one gives me space and makes me eager to find out what happens! Hoping for lots of resolution in this one. There's been so many unanswered questions in the first two books.

I'm 10% in, although I might take a few days off to get through a couple other books. Enjoying it very much already. Elend as a mistborn is something new!

Also, spoiler mostly about the first chapter/prologue:
(view spoiler)[I KNEW there was something more to the inquisitor's spikes. Hemalurgy / Feruchemy / Allomancy. I'm so excited about this. (hide spoiler)]

I've been busy so my reading has slowed down a little, but I'm about half way through the book and still really enjoying it. All this stuff about Ruin and Preservation is so interesting. I have many theories!

Also really enjoying chapters from different perspectives - particularly TenSoon and Spook.

I finished this book today. Wow! Two teeny tiny things distracted me in this series - one directly related to the writing, the other to the narration. (I read at home and listened in the car!)

The feel of this series from the very beginning was very much a "long ago and far away" feeling. Every rare once in a while, I would get thrown by a word or idiom that just seemed too modern for this book. Similarly, the narrator of the audiobook - who truly did a fantastic job 99% of the time - would use a voice too modern for the series. Even though Demoux's name sounds French, his French accent just didn't fit for me!

Truly though, those are very miniscule problems in a series that I absolutely loved and this book brings such wonderful closure to the plot line. The subtle surprises still astonished me even though I was aware of the clues throughout!

I am extremely impressed with Sanderson's intricate and delicate development of characters, species, magic, spirituality, storyline, etc.! The detail and nuance of these elements make the world so very real and believable. I want to meet Sazed, watch a Kandra change form, and get lost in the mists!

Five stars for a truly unique story!

Curious as to when others picked up on (view spoiler)[Vin's earring (hide spoiler)]! I have to admit, that didn't register with me!

Finished! Really enjoyed that ending. I loved seeing it all come together. I was surprised by how very carefully interwoven everything was. It was also on a much grander scale than I think I expected! Also loved the way things were left a little open at the end. We got a lot of resolution, but I'm glad the series was continued on a few years later.

Honestly books #2 and #3 never quite lived up to the excitement of #1 for me, but I still very much enjoyed it. I am completely invested in this world! I agree with you, Mary Pat, in that it all felt very real. I find myself still wanting to know more.

Re: Mary Pat's spoiler: (view spoiler)[That was such a clever reveal, one of my favourites! I think the realisation came for me in two parts: when Vin was imprisoned by Yomen in Fadrex City and he had her earring and when Spook wrote the message about any metal piercing the body. (hide spoiler)]

Hope everyone enjoyed this book as much as I did!

April is winding down. Onward to The Alloy of Law in May! (Much shorter book!)