Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

11 reviews

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I did it. I finished Mistborn. And in the end, it's a mixed bag that highlights the best and worst parts of the series. The last one-hundred pages are cool, but before that? I found it a real slog - 600 pages of it. Things just take a long time to pick up because we spend a LOT of time with the main characters (What if I told you that one of them is imprisoned for 2/3rds of the book and we're waiting for them to break out the whole time?). And that wouldn't at all be a problem, except that there are just bits of tonal shifts in each new book. During each entry in the series, it seems like Sanderson thought 'I feel like putting a lot of narrative focus on this character' even though we didn't get much of them before. In particular I had a problem with the two main characters, one smart and one strong: one of them gets a sort of 'powerup', to the point where now they're both strong, somewhat casting away the dynamic of them looking at situations differently. So a lot of little instances of those sudden character shifts make the book feel disjointed and unplanned. And yet, the series definitely has many through lines; but I think perhaps that Sanderson started out with a big outline, and decided where he wanted to start and end. So oftentimes there are character arcs that appear or shift radically to help us get from point A to B. However, if you've been enjoying the series for the first two books, I can guarantee that the resolution will leave you fully satisfied. 7/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Grief, War, Child death, Confinement, and Genocide

Minor: Suicide

unluckycat13's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

With the mystery solved we're left to a paper thin set of characters and bad tropes that are often ill considered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

destiny_jay's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Violence, Torture, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Animal death and Grief

Minor: Confinement, Abandonment, Slavery, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

iono's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, Suicide, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Body horror

Minor: Child abuse, Ableism, Child death, and Slavery

stone_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Blood, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Minor: Child death

oldladysadie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• 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

A masterpiece, and a beautiful ending to the Era 1 Trilogy. I found myself constantly flitting between being swept up in the narrative, and pulling back to marvel at the whole tapestry of the series as more and more mysteries became clear. I’ll be rereading this series for years to come, I’m sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, War, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Confinement, Kidnapping, Animal death, and Grief

Minor: Racism, Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Death

fanboyriot's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• 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

I did not expect to get through this book so quickly.  It was beautiful and heart wrenching and a lovely ending.  Having said that I have no idea how to form words for most of what even happened.  I have no idea how people are able to write reviews without screaming into the void.  I will say the ending was very peaceful which was something I was not expecting.  Definitely going to re-read this.  This series might be the only fantasy trilogy that I actually liked all of the books, the plots and characters are just so beautifully written I now have even higher fantasy standards.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide, Animal death, and Grief

Minor: Ableism, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

categalafassi's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Blood, Gore, Torture, Grief, Murder, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, Genocide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Ableism

laurajeangrace's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide and Alcohol

Minor: Child death

v171's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

What an exciting end to an enjoyable series! This was emotional, intriguing, tense, exhilarating, and reflective. There was a lot to tie up in this book, and I found it surprising that Sanderson did it so well while also introducing new storylines and tying those up as well! It really speaks to his command of writing and storytelling. 

As I generally say with Sanderson books, many of my past criticisms hold true. I felt that is was pointlessly long, and the excessive exposition was particularly noticeable in this book compared to the others. The pacing was fairly touch and go, though I commend Sanderson for getting to the action slightly sooner than the final 80 pages of a 400+ page book *cough cough* *Stormlight* *cough* *and also the first two Mistborn books too*.... The world building was great as expected, and I really liked how most of the characters (new and old) completed their character arcs. 

All in all, this was a fun trilogy to read! I definitely think this was my favorite one of the three, which is saying a lot considering the monumental task of wrapping up such a large story, but he did it again! Onto the next one. Now if only I could read his books as fast as he writes them... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts