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sleepysamreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Anyway, the first half of this one was suuuuper slow. I wasn’t enjoying it very much, which was seriously disappointing me. Thankfully, it picked up right after that and the action got wild.
I didn’t expect the end at all! I’m always happy when this happens. So far I’m really loving this universe and I can’t wait to read more!
All that being said, the biggest disappointment for me from this series so far is the lack of complex female representation. Yeah, we have Vin. She’s Awesome! But she’s practically the only female character that doesn’t feel like a plot device. Only other female characters to survive are Beldre and Allrianne, but they feel more like background characters. Very disappointed in that.
Moderate: Animal death
jawclencher's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
ecmcmahon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
augustrogue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Mistborn's worldbuilding and magic system continued to be excellent and original. However, Sanderson has a nasty habit of overexplaining and not trusting the reader to remember what is going on. Yes, we do remember that Vin is "wearing her usual trousers and shirt and carrying vials of metal with her to replenish her powers." We are hundreds of pages into the third book of the series at this point. All the references to Pushing and Pulling got really tedious, too. You wouldn't describe walking like "he put one foot down and pushed himself forward, then put the other foot down and pushed himself forward again" - but that is what this book often felt like it was doing, when describing Allomantic actions.
As with Book 2, there was often some contradictory morality that felt colored by the author's Mormon faith - perhaps understandable, but sometimes frustrating as a non-religious reader. There are overarching themes of empire and divine right to rule that create some shaky moral high-ground that isn't really challenged, which felt uncomfortable at times. *Why* does Elend have the right to have power over everyone else? And then there are moments like when Vin, our protagonist we're supposed to root for, is fine with killing Yomen's innocent servants if it would have gotten her free.
And then there is Sazed's storyline of dismissing every religion in the world as false, one by one, because they all have internal contradictions - until the big moment that he just... decides to believe in his own people's religion, for no other reason than "he wants to" and "faith isn't about logic, you simply must believe in it." Hmm, okay.
At any rate, it was slow going to get into this book, but it did get more exciting near the end. TenSoon's parts were especially interesting - I find the kandra culture absolutely fascinating. I don't regret reading the Mistborn series by any means, it had a lot of interesting ideas, but overall I found the experience to be an uneven and often frustrating one.
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent
morganpupper's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Addiction and Slavery
Minor: Animal death, Suicide, and Alcohol
shamaramill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
peasandpancakes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
And I did love how this whole trilogy was set up. You think you know how the world works and this book shatters it all, and I loved it!
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol
jayinbee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Violence, and War
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
bel017's review against another edition
The sexism was just so frustrating. Here's one non-spoilery example:
"The Allomancer following her obviously believed himself--or herself--invisible to Vin's senses. He moved with quick, easy bounds, following at a safe distance. He ... He ... He ... He ....". Vin acknowledges that the person following her may not be a man, then calls them He repeatedly. The characters call 'natural forces' He. Everyone with power is He. Humans are 'man', all the soldiers are men. The women and children must be protected by the men.
The argument that Vin is a Strong Female TM does not detract from the sexism of the book. She's not the character that the intended readership want to be, she's the one they want to be with. It's actually more gross. The only other named women are love interests.
It's such a shame, as I enjoyed the rest of the story. Such creative world building. And yes, the prose are simple, but that makes for speedy reading. The books are unnecessarily long so speedy reading was important!
I (accurately) guessed the 'twist' on the
I've been told that Sanderson's more recent books are much less problematic. I really did enjoy the world building and the story so I might check out something more recent.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, and Suicide attempt
ctara2123's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicide