On disappointed expectations

The book I am currently reading is The Hero of Ages, third part of the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Actually, Goodreads tells me that I have been reading this book since 12. September - or in other words, for one month and almost two weeks. And I still haven't reached the middle.

To recap, I loved the first book of the trilogy, Mistborn. That fact, and the majority of the reader reviews, meant that I had high hopes and expectations for the second book, which according to some people was better than the first one. Then I read The Well of Ascension. Can't say I hate it, but I don't really like it for several reasons (which you can read about here, if you want to brave the spoilers.)

Now I have started book three - and have simply no motivation to read it. And this, I think, can mostly be blamed on my disappointment with the second book. Because now my expectations have done a one-eighty, Vin is still annoying, Sazed is turning out to be too emo for anybody's good - on the upside, there's Spook. And TenSoon, and oh, how relieved I was to read about him again. But that's not enough to make me pick up this damn book and read more than five pages of it at a time.

I want to like this book. I'm just not sure I can.

Brandon Sanderson - The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2)

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Spoilers are blacked out, highlight to read.

Oh ye gods, I'm done! While I really liked the first book in the Mistborn trilogy, this one was... a serious letdown. Let me count the ways...

The Characters.
Vin should be renamed to Mary Sue. That's really all there is to it. While the tendency was already developing in book 1, it really came to the fore here. And without Kelsier as a counter point to Vin it really became too much. Vin is just too good. It doesn't matter that she gets hurt, in the end she always wins without any dire consequences. Be it luck, amazing skill, or a brilliant idea that comes to her just at the right moment, you know every time that she'll get out of it alright. Which takes pretty much all the suspense out of any fight and conflict she's in.
Her teenage angsting about Elend and their relationship just makes her all the more annoying.

Which brings me to Elend Venture - and I'm still hung up on the name, I'm sorry. But Sanderson really should've checked first what Elend means - and I sincerely hope that he didn't and the name isn't intentional. (For the confused ones, Elend is a German word and means misery.)
Aside from that... As with Vin, it only gets worse in the second book. We already knew that Elend is an idealist, but I didn't think he would be that much of a naive, stupid idealist. The man grew up as the heir to one of the most powerful noble houses, and he still behaves like a bumbling idiot who knows nothing about real politics and human nature. Elend, of all people, should know that in the end almost everybody does what's best for themselves, not the 'people'. The only surprising thing about the council getting rid of him, is that it took them so long.
(Or not, I guess having a king who lets his council walk all over him wasn't the worst situation for them.)

Sazed; I have to say, I wish there'd been more about him. He and Breeze are about the only the characters in this book that experienced some development. I enjoyed learning more about Breeze and his thoughts and motivations, but as with Sazed, there should've been more.

Zane had, without a doubt, a lot of potential, and that made me miss him all the more for the last part of the book. I don't believe he's gone though. Come on, you think Sanderson would throw a revelation like that at us and then just kill him off? Especially knowing that there's pretty much only one way to kill him, which Vin didn't know and therefore didn't use?
I hope to see a lot more of him, and please please go deeper than just the surface. All the potential in the world doesn't do any good if it's not realized.
(If he actually is dead, then I can only wonder what the hell his purpose in the story was.)

The most interesting character in this book was the Kandra. And that was even before finding out about TenSoon. Again, I'll hope he'll be back in book 3, or that at least there'll be more about the Kandra in general.


The Story.
Over all not bad, though given how much the two main characters annoy me that's not much of a saving grace. I think there was exactly one thing in this story that came as a surprise, and that was TenSoon. Well, and Zane's secret.
Aside from that...

Zane turning against Vin? Don't tell me you didn't see that coming.

Vin finding a way to control the Koloss? Do I have to mention the Mary Sue factor again?

Marsh turning on them? Please, it was mentioned right from the beginning that he was changing. And after finding out what it was that caused Zane to go around the bend it really wasn't that much of a logical leap.

The Well not being the salvation everyone thought it would be? Now there's the least surprising thing of all.

Or maybe the least surprising thing was Elend becoming an Allomancer. No really, I was expecting that since the beginning of the book.

I'm sorry to say this, but I just could not get into this book. The characters were mostly too flat or annoying to get invested in them, the story didn't really hold any surprises, and the whole thing dragged like old chewing gum. I sincerely hope that the third book will be better than this.

View all my reviews

Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn #1

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Spoilers are blacked out, highlight to read.

Wow, okay, after the book I read before this, Mistborn really was a breath of fresh air. It has heroes that are likable, not perfect, do in fact make mistakes, and are aware of not being invincible. It has magic that doesn't automatically make the good guys better than everyone else. It has a fast paced plot, filled with action, while still making time to ask some important questions and take a closer look at society. (Theirs, not ours. ;)) What's more, you have to respect an author who isn't afraid to kill off their hero when it is necessary.

I admit that, the closer I got to the end, the more I started wondering what was left to tell of this story - considering that Mistborn is the first part of a trilogy. But once I had finished the book I knew that this was only just the beginning. There will be no fade to black and a happy ending yet, fortunately for the readers, unfortunately for our heroes.

View all my reviews