A Review of Sorts for The Hero of Ages: Book Three of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

This is going to be more a “how I felt about the book,” than a real review, not because there isn't much to talk about or I didn't like it much (I thought it was great and want to buy the trilogy) but because I just don't think I can write much, if anything, about the plot without giving away major spoilers for the first two books.

If you've read my review of the first two books or read the books themselves, you know a major theme is trust. In the third book this theme continues, with Vin and Elend having to learn to trust each other even further in their relationship and how they respond to situations around them. It also deals with the flip-side, how some can develop a sense of trust only to use it for their own goals benefit.

In my last review I'm not sure how much I discussed that there is also a theme of self-sacrifice, especially putting the needs of your followers/people ahead of your own.

The third book develops the theme of sacrifice tenfold. Elend continually questions whether he is being too ruthless, that he is requiring his citizens to give up too much for “the greater good” but he gives up just as much in his own life. He is compelled to use force to relocate citizens to where they will be safer, asks his soldiers to expose themselves to a potentially deadly enemy they cannot fight (but allows those who wish to go the freedom to do so), and fears he is becoming like his ruthless father or even the emperor he helped to overthrow.

There is also a strong theme of servant leadership, with Vin, Elend, and Sazed (and other characters as well) putting aside the selves they are most comfortable being, what perhaps they even view as their “true selves,” to be instead the people those they serve need them to be because of their potential and the abilities they possess. This theme hit somewhat close to home with me, there are some jobs/volunteer opportunities I know I would excel at, in which I know I could do great good, but I shy away from those things because I know they would hurt me (emotionally) and they scare me (I'm scared I may break). The three individuals previously mentioned give their all for others, for those they know and those they don't. They know themselves well enough to know recognize their talents and, though it costs them tremendously to use those talents, they do so for the sake of others. And perhaps, as Christians or even simply human beings who feel called to give the best of ourselves for the benefit of humanity, the way we can most deeply fulfill our purpose is to seek opportunities in which we can most fully use our gifts...even if it will eventually use us up. I suppose the comfort in being a Christian is that, if or when we break, God can put us back together and, even if this world uses us up, we will be restored and made new in another realm.

Yet another theme is hope. How people can come to depend on you when you are the hopeful one when their own hope is lacking. How it is easier to face trials when there is a hope to hold onto and how it can give you strength.

As you can tell, though these books are fantasy, they are deep enough to cause one to think and wonder. The characters continue to grow throughout the trilogy, in themselves and in relation to each other. I highly recommend them and venture to say that those normally not particularly fond of the fantasy genre may find enough depth and character development to reconcile you to this fantastical realm.

A word of caution to all readers: Sanderson isn't scared to kill off important characters, so if that is a deal-breaker, consider yourself warned. Some authors kill characters off in such a way that you feel cheated and empty but Sanderson does it in a way as to leave you somber and thoughtful.  

For those interested, here is my review of the first two books in the trilogy...also, it's a little more of an actual review. :) http://almostignoramus.blogspot.com/2013/10/book-review-for-mistborn-and-well-of.html

The Conqueror of Monsters

The idea of this first began when I saw the picture you will see if you follow the link at the bottom of the post. Well, I suppose it goes back further to when I did a storytime at the library about “friendly monsters” but the picture brought the idea above my subconscious. The picture then caused me to think of Frankenstein's monster and how he became a creature of terror, for he didn't begin that way. Then, after the idea was underway, someone called MicroSFF who I follow on Twitter had this post:

"Are you a monster hunter?"

I look up from honing my spear and nod.

"You kill them?"

How to explain not all monsters are bad? "Yeah," I say.

After that, I decided I should take the idea and run with it. Maybe someday I will turn it into an actual story and not simply what it currently is. Without further ado:

They call me the Conqueror of Monsters, they think I break their wills, subdue them to my wishes but really all I do is talk and, more importantly, listen. I speak softly, calmly, and bring gifts. Nothing fancy, just things I know the “monsters” need. Yeah, the villagers bring “sacrifices” but they often run the other way screaming after they drop the present off. Not exactly an endearing behavior.

I first go amongst the villagers without letting them know who I really am, as if I'm just passing through and I begin to silently recruit. Though all I recruit are brave, they may not be whom you would expect. I get the soft spoken ones, the ones who when they were a child mended broken wings and the broken souls of those who others had given up on long ago. I get the ones who don't shy away from the pain and suffering of those around them but instead steadfastly attend the wounds that are both inside and out.

The idea of sending virgins has some merit behind it for, ideally, a virgin still possesses innocence and with innocence there is sometimes a willingness to love and care despite outward appearances. But, most of the time the villagers expect the virgin to be eaten and they beat this idea into the poor girl's head so she screams and screams into the monster's face until monster is reminded of all the reasons why they hate humanity...so they often end up killing her or leaving her for other beasts to happen upon. It is a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy. Every once in awhile their innocence wins over their misguided ignorance which the villagers have put in place and when the “monster” comes slowly and cautiously towards her she realizes that perhaps it doesn't want to harm her and she succeeds in taming the “monster” and, thus, the idea of offering of a virgin is reinforced. Or sometimes the monster is so disgusted by the screaming child and the idea which put them there that they move on. But again, often the wolves or bears eat the poor thing so the villagers think it was the virgin that appeased the beast and made it go away.

This type of success is actually what started me along my present tract (the taming, not the leaving). I used to be the typical old-fashioned monster killer and was quite good at it, traveled far and wide, but in my travels I began hearing of these tamings. So I started interviewing the successful virgins and was surprised when the first few asked if I also wanted to interview the monsters as well.

I began to find out that there was something all of these monsters had in common, they had all been desperately lonely and their deepest longing wasn't for blood or pillage but for companionship. They had become monsters because throughout their lives they had been repeatedly spurred and rejected by humanity. When they were young they would often try and save humans from drowning or wolves or some other predicament but instead of thanks they saw fear and sometimes disgust.

I'm sure you remember the story, how Frankenstein's monster saved the little girl, when she realized what had saved her, she just screamed and screamed; then Frankenstein's monster realized just how alone he was, how despised he was, so he began to despise.

Basically the thing all monsters have in common is that they are truly unique, either one of a king begotten of mad scientists or mislead magicians or, as in the case of the dragons, endangered species. Most of the time they are very aware of their appearances, perceive themselves as scary, so they are shy and keep to the shadows. Well, though I can say truthfully that some are quite beautiful once you get to know them, they are often quite intimidating and impressive so when most people happen to notice them “lurking in the shadows” they're quite startled which leads to fear, which reinforces the monsters whole idea about themselves.

So over time the monsters, in their loneliness and rejection, become bitter and finally hateful. In other words, they become a monster, they didn't start out as one.

Can you guess why I recruit the villagers I do? Because how I deal with monsters, how I defeat them, is to become their friend and then help some of the villagers to do likewise.

Yeah, it's more tedious and time-consuming than chopping their head off but it's more challenging and I never really liked killing anyway.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/311311392965069448/

Book Review for Mistborn and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

The Final Empire is a world during a medieval-type era ruled by an immortal self-proclaimed god. It is a society consisting of nobility, slaves (Skaa), and those slaves brave enough to break free to become thieves and black market merchants. Some of the nobility and those with the mixed blood of Skaa and nobility can “burn metals,” which allows them to have powers that enable them to control the emotions of others, increase their strength, push or pull metals, heighten their senses, or shield those whom are burning metals from the prying eyes of those who can sense it. Most do not have any powers, of those that do, the majority only have one; then there are the Mistborn, who can burn all the metals and, thus, make the perfect assassins.

The Final Empire is a world shrouded in nightly mist and falling ash. A world whose sun is veiled, where the plants are brown and only the oldest legends hint at their once being green. Most are scared of the nightly mists, but that is where the Mistborn like to live and go about their work, for they can more easily hide their identities and the mist seems to embrace them as they use their powers.

Sanderson does an excellent job of creating a world a little different from our own, a world containing mists with things shrouded there that are different than anything we know. He does a good job of creating interesting characters that continue to deepen as you “get to know them” and who continue to better get to know themselves, as well. The fact that I cannot really come up with another story to compare it to speaks to its originality, for I have read quite a few stories.

Though Mistborn and The Well of Ascension have a main character who is a teenage girl, I would not consider them “young adult” books (though young adults would probably enjoy them, too). I guess they're a little deeper than most young adult books.

Mistborn is about Kelsier, a madman bent on overthrowing the Lord Ruler, the god who killed his wife and enslaved his people. He may be mad, daring, and reckless but he trusts his thieving crew, his friends, those he loves; even though his wife may have been the one who betrayed him. Even though the one he loved the most may have betrayed him, he chooses to trust, for he knows life is better that way.

It's also about Vin, a girl who tries to stay in the shadows and go unnoticed, who grew up on the streets and drifting from thieving crew to thieving crew with her brother who, above all else, tried to instill in her a sense of distrust, because he thought that was the best chance of her staying alive. To instill this lesson even further, he would beat her and finally abandoned her in a thieving world dominated by men of less than noble character. Kelsier finds her, suspects she is Mistborn, and takes her under his wing. Even though Vin thinks Kelsier is mad and that his plan will never work, because Vin is all about survival and Kelsier can show her how to be stronger, she decides to accept his mentorship. Also, Vin is attracted and bewildered by this thieving crew who seems to trust each other, she wants to wait around to see if it's real.

Mistborn is about a girl discovering her powers, it is about overthrowing a god, and making a 1000 year empire fall to the ground.

The Well of Ascension is about Vin growing up a little more, stabilizing a newly born society, and fighting off previously unknown enemies. It's about help from unlikely places and betrayal from others. It's about changing perspectives and trying to befriend others who are very different from ourselves.

What are these two stories most deeply about? Trust. Learning to trust and how a life filled with trust, though it makes you more vulnerable in some ways, is a better and more fulfilling life. In Mistborn Vin learns to trust her friends, to trust those she comes to view as family. In The Well of Ascension she continues to learn of this trust and also the trust which must accompany a more exclusive love.

These stories are about how trusting relationships can allow you to grow, discover who you are, to laugh freely, and let your guard down both physically and emotionally. They are about overcoming a very dark past, full of mistrust and valid reasons to distrust. They are about questioning whether we are being used, whether we can be loved and be useful, and being willing to be used because we love the one who needs us.

Here are two of my favorite quotes from The Well of Ascension concerning love (unfortunately I don't have access to Mistborn, because it was a library book):

“Honestly, Saze, sometimes I just think we're too different to be together...”

“At first glance, the key and the lock it fits may seem very different,” Sazed said. “Different in shape, different in function, different in design. The man who looks at them without knowledge of their true nature might think them opposites, for one is meant to open, and the other to keep closed. Yet, upon closer examination, he might see that without the one, the other becomes useless. The wise man then sees that both the lock and key were created for the same purpose.”

Another qoute by Sazed (one of my favorite characters):

“I simply offer counsel. Those who take lightly promises they make to those they love are people who find little lasting satisfaction in life.”

Both books are a decent length, but if you enjoy reading, I think they are enjoyable and worth the read. I would rate them PG-13 for violence, gore, sexual references (it doesn't go into details, but a lot of the nobility take mistresses from the Skaa) and some disturbing elements (Vin gets beat up a few times and the Skaa mistresses, by order of the Lord Ruler, have to be killed before they can have mixed blood children). Because of the violence, I would maybe place it between a PG-13 and an R.

Book Review for The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card

Jason Worthing comes from a planet totally covered over with steel, where the elite take a drug that causes them to sleep agelessly for years at a time, “skipping through time as a stone skips over water,” so they can pretend to live forever. Lared comes from a planet roughly technologically similar to medieval times, a planet that until recently, until the Day of Pain, did not have true pain, fresh grief, or accidents with consequences.

Throughout time some have thought Jason was a god, after all, he came out of the starship which brought forth man, animals, and crops. He came from the heavens and walked on water, along with his companion, Justice. But really Jason is only a man. True, he is a man who reads minds and memories so thoroughly that he sometimes confuses others memories with his own, but he is still just a man. Lared is just a boy, a boy who helps around the farm, but he can read and write. He can receive dreams and can tell a story.

Jason needs someone through whom his story can be told, Lared is chosen because through his mostly unlearned quill, the story will be simple and, hopefully, have the simple ring of truth. Jason needs to explain why the Day of Pain occurred on this and every world and what his part in the story was.

Lared is becoming a man and, in this new world which contains pain, that means more in more ways than it ever has before.

What is it about? It is science fiction and also somewhat fantasy. It is about growing up, memories, defining moments, pain and joy and sorrow. I think it is most deeply a philosophical book. It is a book which seeks to answer why some pain occurs; why grief, betrayal, and want can be a blessing. It strives to show how living one day at a time, instead of trying so hard to live forever, is really the best way, because it is lived side by side with others that we love.

It is a little slow at times but it is also really and truly interesting. Also, some of it is quite thought provoking. Though it certainly doesn't make sense of all pain, suffering, and hardship; it does, perhaps, make sense of some and seeks to explain why a god would allow these things to come to man.

I would rate it a strong PG-13 or maybe an R for violence, gore, sexual content (it doesn't go into details), and tough subject matter.