The Hero of Ages is the third book and the conclusion of the Mistborn series, by Brandon Sanderson.
This is an old-style fantasy series - the books tell a single long story and you must complete the trilogy to get any sense of closure. The initial Mistborn book was of a standard length but the second book was almost twice as long, which surprised me in a publishing culture focused on keeping books "a reasonable length". Sanderson commented on his blog: "When I'd turned in Mistborn 2 (revised and already trimmed) at 250k, production and marketing had nearly had a fit, complaining that the book would cost more to print than it would make." Personally, I was thrilled to see that the books told one long interwoven story (although Sanderson did repeat key elements in order to refresh the readers' memories) rather than a half-hearted attempt to make the novels stand alone.
As I was reading the second book, I wondered if the series could be shortened - subplots dropped out and the story streamlined. I'm pleased to say that when I reached the end of the trilogy, the Hero of Ages, I was not disappointed.
It is important to me that a fantasy world hangs together and there is no inexplicable magic without an explanation and basis. I will accept the most fantastical of elements but they must have a logic and once rules of the world are established, those rules need to hold true. Sanderson uses this to his advantages. Rules are broken and his fantasy physics act erratically but in every instance the characters are more shocked than the reader is, and there is a strong focus on finding out why the world isn't acting as it should. Never was anything dismissed with a wave of the hand and thus the author kept me reassured that he wasn't going to forget his own world-building for the sake of plot.
The magic system within the book is clever and incredibly detailed. My 14-year-old son (who has enjoyed the first two books of the series and is waiting for me to relinquish the third to him) was completely intrigued by the "science" of the magic and we enjoyed long discussions about the properties and effects of different metals and possibilities for taking advantage of them.
The ending to the story is surprising but Sanderson has been building up to his conclusion steadily throughout the series. The slow progression of separating the truth from the Lord Ruler's lies is skillfully shown and as reader, we learn to distinguish between witnessed information (what we've actually seen through the characters' eyes) and 3rd-party information (told to the characters without direct experience). Sanderson shows real talent by retaining our trust: the author remains completely reliable through-out a story filled with half-truths and misinformation. I shared in the frustration of the characters but at no point did I feel the rug was pulled out from under me.
More importantly, at the climax of the story, everything mattered. Perhaps there were threads that could, under duress, have been left out but at the end of the story, the strands came together and I think I must have said "Ohhhh..." out loud as the final pieces of the mystery of the Hero of Ages clicked into place. I think every major question that I had was answered. I can't help but suspect that Sanderson wrote twice as much as we have seen in order to bring these books so perfectly to a climax.
My only complaint is that I didn't feel the strong emotional connection to the characters as I had in the first book. I would go so far as to say that the promise of the first book, with its incredible heist driven by the exuberant personality of Kelsier, is not fulfilled by the rest of the trilogy. But by the time I realised that we were drifting away from the initial adventure, I was already so entranced by the world and its magic, I was willing to be led into a new direction. Unravelling the secrets of the Hero of Ages ending up being a mythic tale than a fantastical romp but I felt content and sated at the finale. Still, the only character I could imagine taking out for a beer was the one done away with at the end of the first book.
Brandon Sanderson has done detailed chapter annotations for Book 1 and 2 on his []Mistborn Trilogy Portal</a> which makes for a fascinating read of the story in progress as well as shed light onto Sanderson's thinking process.
I had previously read Firstborn, a novella by Sanderson which is available to read or download on []. I had glanced at the web page, planning to print out the story if it looked to be any good, and found myself riveted to the screen. I bought the initial Mistborn book as a result of this experience and went into it with high hopes. Having finally completed the trilogy, I can say that Brandon Sanderson did not disappoint.
