Title: Mistborn – Hero of Ages
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Published By: TOR Fantasy
Published Date: May 2009 (Mass Market Edition)
ISBN-10: 0-7653-5614-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-5614-7
Length: 724 Pages
Purchased From: Amazon @ $7.99
The Story:
The Hero of Ages starts off much like The Well of Ascension and takes place after a years time has passed since the previous book. An this time, Ruin has been released from his prison by Vin as she attempts to do the right thing and release the power from the Well of Ascension in an effort to save the world.
Once Ruin is released from his prison, he begins to take apart the world. The ash mounds which spewed ash into the air in previous books begin to erupt more frequently. The pileup of ash quickly destroys any plant life already struggling to survive. Both animals and people are dying off from lack of food.
In addition to the falling ash, viscous earthquakes rock the land and split the earth apart. Lava leaks from these chasms and destroys towns and people alike. To make matters even worse, the mists are beginning to linger longer and longer, lasting well into the day. Some people who risk going out into the mist are stricken by seizures and deemed Mistfallen. Some survive only to be viewed as people with little faith in the Church of the Survivor.
With Ruin released to the world, Vin takes the burden upon her shoulders to try and save the world. She must learn how to destroy Ruin and correct the problems caused by the Lord Ruler from one thousand years of rule.
My Thoughts:
While I had trouble staying focused on The Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages held my attention in a much tighter grip. While there was just as much fighting, the battles didn’t seem to drone on and on with detail. I believe this attention to detail is what made me loose interest in the previous book. I simply had no interest in reading, at length, how Vin dropped a coin and pushed, then pulled on a window hinge, in order to push on a doorknob to attack her opponent.
While I generally dislike seeing characters spread about the world while major events are taking place, it just works in this book. Each character seems to have their own problems to deal with in order to achieve the final goal. With several things in motion, the bounding back and forth among characters makes the storyline feel fast paced and exciting.
I thoroughly enjoyed Hero of Ages and look forward to reading more of Brandon Sanderson‘s work. The next novel I have my sights on is Warbreaker. While it is available free online, I intend to purchase the book and read it in traditional form. While Well of Ascension may be slow going, the Mistborn Series as a whole was excellent.
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Hi, Walt. Thanks for the review. Having been very impressed with Brandon Sanderson’s work on Robert Jordan’s ‘The Gathering Storm’ I am thinking about trying the Mistborn Trilogy. I have just gone back and read Three books by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. The books are ‘Daughter of the Empire’, ‘Servant of the Empire’ and ‘Mistress of the Empire’. Just wanted to say that I really love these books and if you should ever get stuck for anything to read on your ongoing quest into the world of fantasy I think you may enjoy these. Cheers and take care.
Thanks for the recommendation. I just reloaded up n books but will add the Empire Series to my list for my next mass book purchase. Just a few days ago I picked up ~10 new books.
For a closer look into what I’m reading, you can take a look at my Goodreads profile. It is a site I wasn’t aware of until @dCamacho pointed it out to me on Twitter.
I forgot to mention, this was my first experience with Brandon Sanderson. The trilogy was great, just had some trouble with the second book. I decieded that I wanted to expand my horizons to more of Sanderson’s work and ordered his stand alone novel Warbreaker.
I’m interested in checking out The Wheel of Time but want to wait until the series is finished so that I don;t wind up waiting on the last couple of books. I believe Sanderson said something about 3 in all (The Gathering Storm being one of those three), so I’m assuming 2 years until the story is complete?
It was really interesting to hear how the 2nd book almost lost you but the third one brought you right back into the fold. I doubt I would have the patience to go through the second book, let alone try the third.
Mike