panguitch's Full Review: Brandon Sanderson - The Hero of Ages
Brandon Sanderson loves to play with his readers' expectations, leading them to believe they understand his world, then forcing them to rethink all that's gone before. In The Final Empire, the first of the Mistborn trilogy, he inverts the fantasy paradigm by creating a world where the good guys lost and the evil Lord Ruler has reigned for a thousand years. In the second book, The Well of Ascension, the gang of thieves who overthrow the Lord Ruler discover the resulting anarchy may be worse than his tyranny. Now, in The Hero of Ages, we come to realize the Lord Ruler may have been one of the good guys to begin with, and by killing him our heroes have unleashed forces that will bring the world to an end.
These twists, and the many others, are remarkable enough. But what's truly impressive, and rare in fiction, is that Sanderson can do this in a way that excites his readers, rather than making them feel manipulated.
Once a passive idealist, Elend has learned to make harsh decisions for the greater good. Volcanoes are covering the land with ash and crops outside the Central Dominance are dying, so he conquers rebellious provinces, appropriating their goods and forcing their people to migrate inward. The mists now linger during the day and have begun killing certain people, so he forces villagers and his own soldiers to stand exposed to them, inoculating those who survive. But he wrestles with the question of whether he is doing the right thing or only transforming himself into a new Lord Ruler.
His Mistborn wife, Vin, was deceived into unleashing the ruinous power that the Lord Ruler had guarded at the Well of Ascension. Now she follows the clues the Lord Ruler left behind, trying to understand how the changing mists, the volcanoes and earthquakes all relate to the destructive deity she freed, and how that god was imprisoned in the first place.
These characters are rich and dynamic, Vin being one of the most involving protagonists in fantasy. Her alternating strength and anxiety, and her rashness lead her to both victories and defeats, also becoming levers for others to manipulate.
Spook, a minor character until now, is also manipulated, his insecurities and his good intentions making him a pawn even as he becomes the hero he always wanted to be. Sazed, crippled by grief for his lost love, begins discarding the religions he has meticulously archived, unable to find hope or truth in any of them.
These are good people who become better as they learn from the terrible things they both do and suffer. The reader benefits, riding their roller coaster of discovery. To the Mistborns' Allomancy, which allows them to affect peoples' emotions, fling metals like bullets and fly through the night on invisible lines of power, and to the Feruchemists' ability to store their strength or memories or eyesight for later use, Sanderson adds a third magic system: Hemalurgy, which endows one with abilities stolen from another. It's a messy process, and wrapped up in it are the secrets of the spike-riddled Steel Inquisitors, the shape-changing kandra, and the giant koloss.
Sanderson has constructed his world with astonishing rigor, taking a brass tacks approach to his magic systems reminiscent of hard science fiction. Rather than simply adding a new system every book, each revelation is a natural extrapolation of what's come before, though the characters (and reader) must navigate a few wrong turns and dead ends before understanding. It's clear the entire trilogy was written before the first book was published. Only trilogies that are really one story in three parts (like The Lord of the Rings) attain this degree of internal cohesion.
Unfortunately, there is a drawback. The trilogy begins simply, as a heist in a fantasy setting. Layers are added, gradually revealing more of Sanderson's intricate worldbuilding, changing our perceptions until these entertaining books becomes epic without our noticing the transition. However, as the puzzle pieces fit together more rapidly in this final book they begin to overshadow the characters. What begins as character-driven fantasy ends as world-driven, leaving me somewhat frustrated, no matter how spectacular the finale.
There are certain to be other aspects of the ending that will frustrate readers. It's both unsparing and redemptive, validating Orson Scott Card's labeling Sanderson "astonishingly wise." But this shift in focus disappointed me. I fumed over it for some time. But I realized there was an even bigger problem driving my disappointment: the books were over.
It's been a long time since an author left me wishing their book wasn't over. Not since Robin Hobb's Assassin books have I felt it so strong. Oh, I've enjoyed books, been satisfied by many, praised some. But few inspire me with a fanboy's insistence: I want more. Movies, games, action figures, comics. I'd even like an Inquisitor plush-doll (though I'd still take a plush cave troll from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings over a plush koloss).
Happily, Kelsier's motto from the first book holds true: there's always another secret. Sanderson leaves plenty of them untouched, and has indicated these seeds for a related trilogy may take root sometime in the future.
So while the original brilliance of Mistborn: The Final Empire hasn't quite been matched, I can't help but give The Hero of Ages five stars. The trilogy as a whole is shockingly good--the best fantasy series I've read this decade.
To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin kills the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists called the Deepness is...More at Buy.com
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