Tag: Mistborn

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Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson

Finished listening to the second book of Mistborn.
Brandon Sanderson gets the framing right, but everything else wrong in this one. What was the point of building Straff’s poisoning/addiction, if he just ended up being sliced in half? And I do hope that Zane’s voices and him having one of the spikes are explained in the 3rd book…
It is a very interesting decision to introduce a villain that is able to change the writings, thus affecting the prophesies over time in an attempt for people to release him from his prison. And the same goes for introducing The Deepness, and external danger that prompts people to try and fulfil the prophesies. Almost like Russia threatening the world with hunger unless its demands are met.
But characters like Eland and Vin are just annoying. Their virgin love and perfectness 🤢
Vin is the strongest “magic” user, and Eland is the heir to the most powerful house, that oh just so ends up an emperor by the end of the 2nd book, poor boy. And he gets superpowers as well, in order not to feel bad about becoming an emperor.
The politics were good. That, and the framing story were the only parts I enjoyed, though. I’ll probably listen to the 3rd book at some point, but now I need some rest from Vin’s “oh, how I love Eland”, and “Eland is a good man”.

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Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson

There are good parts to this book. Hunting for a doppelganger among King’s advisors. A city besieged by multiple armies, and not just one. Very reasonable politics: traders want titles, nobility wants to end the siege so everything will go “back to normal”, commoners are just terrified.
But then there’s this “girl can’t choose between two boys” part. I can’t count how many times Vin just labels Eland, her boyfriend, “a good man”. Then there’s torment of “he thinks I’m a monster now, he’ll leave me”.
Also I noticed that I became totally uninterested in fight scenes. Or maybe those aren’t very good.
Interesting that even the best modern authors, such as Joe Abercrombie and Sanderson himself couldn’t avoid adding some kind of “orcs” to their universe. In Mistborn they’re called koloss, but it doesn’t change the brutish nature. Another similarity: both in Abercrombie’s and Sanderson’s universes those were created as by a magician for their needs.

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Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson

Finished reading Mistborn.

Reminds me of Hunger Games a lot. It’s enjoyable as long as you read it, but once you stop, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Not much to add to my previous post, really. The most annoying part is how Vin simply states that “Eland is a good man” and she “loves him”. And the rebel leader makes some strategic decisions based on that. Yeah, sixteen year old girls in their first ever relationship are known to be such a good judge of character.
There are some good twists at the end:

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Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson

I tried to figure out why the entire Vin/Elend Venture love story annoys me so much. And it feels like Shallan/Adolin Kholin all over again for me. Slightly damaged but oh just so slightly teenage girl falls in mutual love on first sight with a son of the most influential House. Vin, who suspects everyone, but Elend is immediately and immutably “a good person” for her.
I guess this type of Disney-level relationship works for certain people (they’re called teenagers). But not for me. Abercrombie gets it, but not Sanderson. Relationship is struggle, and without struggle there is no meaningful relationship. Relationship is compromises, and neither Vin/Shallan nor Elend/Adolin need to compromise on anything.
This frustrates me, because Sanderson does get so many things right. Like the idea of an empire stagnating. But not relationship.

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Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson

An earlier series from the author of Stormlight Archives.

Interesting that it was published same year as much weaker “Lies of Locke Lamora”, that has a very similar theme of thieving crews stealing from the rich.
The world is a mix of Industrial Britain and colonial America. There’s mist at night, and there’s ash falling from the sky during the day, and most of the population are slaves, working on plantations.
There are recognizable “Witcher” elements as well: as a good-hearted middle aged assassin trains a talented 16-years old girl. Also, they are constantly drinking potions to support their superhuman abilities.
Mistborn are superhumans that get their abilities from consuming (or “burning”) metals.
You can recognize Sanderson’s style – he’s very structural in his descriptions of different abilities: which metal gives which ability, and the different combinations of those. In Stormlight Archives this structure will turn into different types of “lashings” and “spren” and all that.
On one hand, the story seems to be quite a banal combination of “coming of age” from the 16-years old perspective (“Am I a kid, or am I already a woman?” and all that), and a “Count of Monte Cristo”-like story of long-lasting revenge over some powerful people on the other.
But Sanderson wouldn’t be Sanderson if there weren’t at least some interesting twists there. The entity the heroes seek their revenge on is called just Lord Ruler, and he has ruled the Empire for thousand years. Sanderson muses that a country that is controlled by the same person for too long becomes mismanaged, because the oversights of that single person have impacts on everyone. And there’s no way of replacing someone who’s immortal. Story of any dictator.