What’s this Book About? Vin and Elend now rule the Central Dominance as Emperor and Empress. And they’re slowly expanding their domain. Elend has mastered his new mistborn abilities, as Vin is still a mountain of sorcery and power, greatly contrasting from her days as a simple thief. Even smiting the Lord Ruler himself is child’s play compared to Vin's growing power and the events that befall The Hero of Ages.

My Review: This is a brilliant third installment in the Mistborn series. Elend is a confident leader who’s cast off some of his more ideological approaches, whereas Vin continues her journey as a Mistborn and discovers frighteningly new sorcery as her power grows. Their story is being recorded by someone who knows them well but doesn’t quite know who the “hero of ages” will become. Elend? Vin? Whatever the case, their problems only swell as mist and ash increase, covering crops, creating disease, and signaling the end of the world. Despite this book's sheer apocalyptic nature, I also enjoyed a few of the simpler scenes that hail from the days of balls and witty banter. We also get an emerging major development in Spook’s growth and evolution into manhood, even as a major operative for the expansion of Elend’s empire. And all of this barely scratches the surface of what happens. Overall, this is a grand and fitting conclusion to the first age of the Mistborn series! ( )

My blog! Hi Books! It's me Jethplain

“For now, I only wish to make a simple acknowledgement of the woman who held the power just before me.
Of all of us who touched it, I feel she was the most worthy.” - Sazed

I will certainly miss the characters in this series. They've grown one me , I can't help it. I was there every step of the way Brandon Sanderson's writing made me feel like I was there , a part of Kelsier's crew in their failures and victories. We've surely lost a lot along the way, fallen crew members nd soldiers but their sacrifices have been worth it in the end. The world reborn, the sky blue, the grass green and flowers blooming. I'm sure Mare would've loved it. Kelsier's dream of making hers possible finally happened. Clubs and Dockson would snort and smile, thinking it was all damn worth the trouble and Vin and Elend would finally be at the peace after finding the balance between the versions of themselves, knowing that for all their doubts , the world and the people of the empire they cared so much about made it. Sazed, Breeze and Spook will take care of this new world their friends died for. This final book in the trilogy was definitely and information overload at times , as it answered the questions from the first two books. I was hoping that we'd get more from Ham aside from his philosophical questions and military support but I think the surge of information made up for it, and he was finally able to make a conclusion on one of his questions.

“Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.” - Elend

Check out this awesome Mistborn artwork from BotanicaXu
click on her name to get a better view

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My first impressions (Writing down my first impressions of the book. NOT an in-depth review. Reviews are based on personal enjoyment.)
RANK: Superb
What a way to end Era 1.

Without a doubt, that Mistborn (Era 1) is one of my favorite fantasy series I’ve read. The trilogy is well written, paced, and just a fantastic series.

The Hero of Ages sticks the landing. Things that were building up in the last 2 books, paid off in the 3rd book. Character arcs feel well deserved. The plot was well written. The world building is just amazing. Should you read the 3rd book? The answer is yes. Worth the hype and the time. Now to the Spoilers

My favorite part of this book is the mythology behind Ruin and Preservation. Their concept as a force works really well.

Ruin is a good antagonist. I wouldn’t call him a villain. Ruin is the Man vs Nature story arc.

Sazed is the character that I like the most. I related to him because I to struggle with faith and religion. The arc that he goes through is moving and emotional. I do agree that faith makes someone vulnerable but is that vulnerability that one gains trust and hope.

Vin fighting 13 Inquisitors near the end is an amazing fight scene.

Hemalurgy is interesting. The simple act of placing spikes into current parts of the body could lead to so many creatures and abilities to be born. It relates to Ruin. The fact it was able to influence Vin with just her earring is terrifying.

The way how Lord Ruler (Rashek) plan as much as he can, shows how powerful Ruin is. Even the Lord Ruler was afraid of it.

My boy Spook got his moment.

Overall, This series was worth the read. One of my many favorite series. Can’t wait to read Era 2 next year.

Серията за мъглородените е що-годе забавно фентъзи, но изобщо не мога да кажа, че отговаря на целия хайп който четох и чух за нея. Първата книга не е лоша, но следващите стават прогресивно по-елементарни и бедни на идеи. Ако бях тийнейджър вероятно щеше да ми хареса доста повече. ( )

The conclusion to this first trilogy in the series was a fantastic read.

So many things were explained and wrapped up--hemalurgy (I guessed about some characters, but others things I completely missed), the mist spirit, the nature of the relationship between Ruin and Preservation, the kandra's First Contract, and more.

I realized after reading this book that the first one was more complex than I gave it credit for. Yes, it was a straight hero's journey story, but Sanderson clearly knew where it was going and what the secrets were. My respect ratcheted up when I realized how much pre-planning must have gone into that first story.

My favorite characters by far were Spook and Sazed. Spook struggled with an internal desire to be noticed and to be important, but realized just in time that there was something slightly off about it (but at the same time... "Survivor of the Flames"... heck yeah!). Sazed's quest to find the perfect sense-making religion mirrored my own feelings at some points in my life--his conclusion that essentially you just have to have faith was a little dissatisfying in some ways, but in others was also a good reminder that faith in something is a conscious decision. Nobody is going to find absolute proof that one religion is truer than another--you have to go with what makes sense to you, even if sometimes that means leaning into imperfect traditions.

The twist about the Hero was masterful. I did not see it coming at all. The resolution about why the mist was killing certain people and why some got sicker than others also blew me away, along with the climax involving where--and what--the atium truly was.

It was great to see the struggle in Marsh's character, too. Things did not go the way that I predicted with him either.

Probably the only reason I don't give this book five stars is that I found the stakes of the story and how long and how close the world came to destruction to be really emotionally intense for me in a negative way. This kind of thing used to be exciting for me to read, but now for some reason it just feels heavy. Sanderson softened the fates of some of the characters with the idea of an afterlife where they were happy, yet I still found their sacrifices to be a downer (although one that made perfect narrative sense), and I had trouble not dwelling on violent deaths. It was still a great book, and I recognize that this kind of thing doesn't bother everyone.

Despite my personal trouble with violence in fiction lately, I'm still not feeling ready to switch to a diet of chick lit any time soon. ( )

The Hero of Ages is a darker book than the first two in the series, and not just because the ashfalls have worsened. Self-doubts, loss of faith and hope, and depression plague all the major characters. But we see Elend Venture mature, integrating his various roles into a coherent person and strong, compassionate leader. We see Vin accept the burden of her gifts. We see TenSoon, Sazed, and Sppok strive to find the ways to carry on in this ever-darkening, failing world.

Brandon Sanderson ties the trilogy up in a neat bow at the end, a little too tidily in some respects. It is a surprising and yet fitting conclusion to the series.

On a 1-10 scale, this would be a 9, highly recommended. After completing the Mistborn trilogy, I have moved Sanderson onto my list of "must read" authors. ( )

*mic drop* ( )

Bueno... pero no tan bueno.

Sigue una estructura similar a El pozo de la Ascensión, con un 70% inicial muy tranquilo y un 30% final mucho más movido, pero con la gran diferencia de que este 70% inicial es bastante irregular. Nuestros héroes se la pasan mucho tiempo "esperando" de diferentes formas, lo cual aburre y solo continuas leyendo para obtener respuestas y no por disfrute.

El final ha estado bien. Un buen cierre de tramas. La mayoría de las respuestas a los enigmas planteados en la saga han sido muy satisfactorias.

La saga en general es muy buena, entretenida y adictiva. ( )

Once I finished the first two books I needed to move on to this one. The story and the characters really dragged me into this world, at times it was slow, but the exciting bits made up for that. Can't wait to see what happens after the original trilogy. ( )

Liked it aside from the absurdly religious parts. Overall the story was entertaining, just way too religious for me. *shrug* ( )

I don't need a book to sweep me off my feet with poetic prose. If a writing style is imperfect, I just need to not notice the flaws. Sadly, for whatever reason, the lack of good prose in Mistborn ruined an otherwise good series for me. I can still understand the hype around Mistborn. It has a creative plot and world, and the magic system is as interesting as everyone says it is. I can also see why people like the characters. I just had trouble enjoying it, because the writing is repetitive. It feels like Brandon Sanderson doesn't trust readers to understand subtlety, so he adds unnecessary explanations about the setting and the character motivations. Normally I appreciate digestible prose, but the constant handholding by the author in this series just gave me a headache.

I kind of hope Hollywood picks this series up. I honestly think the movies could be better than the books. ( )

I am severely unwell. 10/10 ( )

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: The Hero of Ages

Through manipulation and decades of planning, Ruin does all it can to sway lives into the path of destruction. Its counterpart, Preservation, is drained as it tries to combat Ruin’s actions. Vin, Eland, and the team must figure out the hidden meaning of messages left by the Lord Ruler, who knew this day would come. But is it too late to turn back the devastation that Ruin has unleashed?

There are so many revelations taking place within The Hero of Ages. Careful planning and foundations of misdirection went into the previous books. When the truth is finally revealed readers will be hard-pressed to see it coming amidst the twists and turns. As things begin to click into place both the characters and readers will be left stunned.

The Hero of Ages touches upon recovering from grief and the battle against depression. As Sazed works to overcome his loss from book two, he begins a downward spiral. The religions he took such care to research have become meaningless. Readers will witness Sazed’s struggle to understand the circular nature of what he studied and how religions are formed over years of individual understanding and contribution. Sazed will come to a startling discovery about the history he holds close.

And then there is Spook. He goes through such an intense stretch of character development. Spook is no longer the boy crushing on Vin and lingering in the background. He makes it his goal to be a more effective part of the team. Even though all his choices are not wisely made, and he is influenced by darker intentions, Spook truly makes his mark on the world. And while not everything is perfect, he does discover self-worth and purpose.

The Hero of Ages is an intense conclusion to the original Mistborn novels. It leaves behind lingering mysteries the main cast could not discover and opens the door for even more adventure. Yet at the same time, it neatly concludes all the current character’s stories. Each of these novels was intense but easy to read. The politics are simple yet complex enough to influence the character's actions. This trilogy is for those who enjoy epic stories and well-developed characters and worlds. ( )

This book was a disappointing closer to an otherwise marvelous series. With a 'ball dropped' or 'no sell' ending, I left cold. I think Sanderson spent too much time on his 'magic must have rules' explanations and the human element that had made the first two books so enjoyable was completely forgotten. Too grim, too much science (!!!), and the ending was a complete and utter cop-out on the 'prophecy' we'd all been following for three books.

While some details were nice, most of the characters felt, at best, like hollow echoes of who they were; even at a time of crisis. About the only character who I felt emotionally involved with was Spook (while Sazed remained a distant, very whiny second), and the TenSoon plotline was messy and ugly, finishing on a dire note. I won't even get into the let down with Elend and Vin and their flattening of their romance into a single-note ruthlessness King and Queen pairing.

In short: Boring, barely readable, and lets us down miserably with an ending based all upon semantics. I'm fairly certain there's going to be better written fanfiction then this. ( )

There are a lot of things I could say about this book, but there are two that I think are important. First, this book had the best resolution of any book I have ever read. Second, this book (and the other two, though I never mentioned it earlier) makes fantastic use of the "quote" section at the beginning of each chapter. Overall, a fantastic novel, and a great series: in all honesty, my favorite fantasy series to date.

EDIT - Reread on November 30, 2011

In keeping with my reread of the Mistborn series, I finished this book today after procrastinating on it for thanksgiving, and I have to say it's as good as I remembered. As always, my favorite part of the book was the use of the Hero of Ages' writing at the beginning of chapters as a literary device for Sanderson to explain parts of what were going on that were not immediately clear. The tone of these, and the way that each one solved a little mystery that Sanderson had planted earlier in the story was pretty amazing. Perhaps my only issue with this book is that the plot itself is slightly lacking - definitely less detailed than the plot of the first two books. This is because Sanderson needed time to fit the series' conclusion into the story (which is, of course, fantastic), but it made the whole issue with Fadrex and whatnot seem a bit underdeveloped. Overall though, a great series, and one that I will continue to recommend as much as I have in the past.

EDIT - Reread June 16, 2022

Still really enjoyed this. First half is a bit scattered and Elend’s story really peters out a bit, but the wrap up of the series is still good fun. Reading now with a bit more of a memory of what happens, I found it startling how much TenSoon knows (he probably could have just solved the whole puzzle on his own?). The kandra in general are a cool surprise in the story, but generally don’t make too much sense on the logical consistency side compared to how much Sanderson tries to tie everything else neatly together. ( )

239000

F/SF

I think the speed at which I finished this book, despite being on holiday for half the period, goes to show how much I enjoyed it.

It's hard to think that this is Brandon Sanderson's debut trilogy. The worldbuilding and magic system are amazing, the characters are unique and well developed, and the plot is engaging. Though people seem generally to have issues with the first part of the books being 'slow', as usual I didn't really find this to be a problem, and largely felt the additional information added to the character development, continuity and immersion in the world, even if there was indeed some repeated informarion. As is the overall consensus though, the climaxes are definitely the shining points in each of the books, and the final one provided these in spades.

I particularly enjoyed the elements of the trilogy that dealt with politics and religion in ways that I feel I haven’t really seen in other fantasy series, including the birth of a religious icon, the ideological impacts of a regime change, and the difficulties of reshaping an empire instead of conquering or inheriting it. The way that these considerations integrated rather seamlessly into the overall plot and contributed both to character development as well as worldbuilding was extremely well done.

Of course, it wasn’t a perfect book or trilogy, and my main complaint (if it can be considered one) is that, as others have pointed out, the prose isn’t the prettiest and some of the dialogue is a bit clunky. However, there is also something refreshing about having straight uncomplicated language that only serves to be highlight the strengths of the books and made the read itself largely effortless. Sanderson also certainly improves as the series goes on, and there are passages in The Hero of Ages that show his potential to exploit the emotive impact of his words.

And when it comes to continuation, there's still plenty more to unpack about the world of the Final Empire, especially given how the trilogy concludes. While there are things to read before grappling with the next era of the Mistborn books, this first taste of Sanderson's own work has definitely whetted my appetite for more, and I'm looking forward to dive deeper into his Cosmere universe. ( )

Hacia mucho que no me enganchaba tanto una saga de libros. Los temas que trata Sanderson, el modo en que hace fluir la trama y los personajes que crea hacen que viajes al propio mundo de Mistborn.

No tengo palabras para explicar lo que me ha gustado esta trilogía de libros. Y todo lo que queda por descubrir y leer. ( )

a very satisfying end to the mistborn trilogy. I thought the ending was excellent and really paid off the entire story. The only thing i didn't care for was how Sazed came off whiney for the entire book. ( )

This was….such an amazing conclusion to the Mistborn series. It was devastating yet brilliant. I finished it feeling incredibly sad but it’s hard to be mad at how expertly the plot was laid out. ( )

***Spoilers for both Mistborn and Elantris below***

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this trilogy. There was a lot of stuff I liked, some I didn't like, and some that I just wasn't in the mood for.

The world building, as always, was great. Sanderson is a master at setting up worlds and cultures and religions that are all broken and hurting, but which fold together into a beautiful cohesive whole, usually through a clever rube-goldberg progression. I really enjoyed our evolving understanding of the Lord Ruler's plan, and I absolutely didn't see the importance of Sazed's copperminds until the end. Even little details that bugged me early-on (e.g. super vision shouldn't let you see further through mist) got their little explanations.

What weren't so satisfying, to me, were the characters. I wasn't crazy about Spook's storyline at all, and felt the plot would have largely been fine without it. I didn't feel like anyone really earned their character development but Vin and maybe Sazed. A lot of the Crew were indistinguishable from each other for a majority of the trilogy. Sazed's struggle with atheism didn't really hit for me the way Hrathen's crisis of faith did in Elantris, and I missed the duel-of-wits style intrigue between Sarene and Raoden.

A lot of my gripes are very subjective, though. I'm kinda sick of superhero stories, and especially superhero fight scenes, likely from the flood of MCU movies these days. The ending wasn't bittersweet enough for my taste. I find Sanderson's writing style, at least so far in his early books, a bit heavy-handed. He exposits things that I feel are already clearly established, his characters use each other's names in conversation far more often than is necessary, etc.

Maybe the religion, the intrigue, and the characters were worse than those in Elantris, the only other book of his that I've read. But maybe I just wasn't in the mood for superhero combat, or maybe I don't like his writing voice and the more time I spend with it the more I want to pick his stories apart. I want to keep trying his books, though, because his worldbuilding is consistently delightful. ( )

wow! sanderson can write good series endings ^_^ it was quite impressive considering how big the stakes were already in the first two books and how ridiculously complex the plot is! i mean, so. many. layers.

other than epic lore, i love the development of the characters too. and not just for the main ones, for the side characters too (and the villains!). i was just really wishing the best for each and everyone (and arguing with myself not to fall for the bad guys!).

i cant wait to re-read this series, but i hear there are more books in this world... ( )

I'm gonna say this, it took me MONTHS to read this book. I'm not exactly sure why? I was interested the whole time but I just couldn't read it.

That being said, I really enjoyed it. The last like 20 pages were A LOT. ( )

I don't know what to say anymore. I feel I've said it all in my reviews of book 1 and 2. Again, good story, good characters, good world, great magic. Amazing how Sanderson makes all pieces come together. I'll admit, I got a little impatient with Sazed, one of the characters who doubts his faith. And I think the last chapter could have been left out, because the one before that ended perfectly. My biggest issue is with the little pieces of text at the beginning of each chapter. In book 3, they contain a lot more information than they did in the previous books, and often gave information that the main characters had still to discover. I would have preferred to find out things with the main characters.

But these are small issues, and overall, this book is again great, and Brandon Sanderson is now one of the authors I would buy books from blindly. ( )