Since its publication, The
Mistborn trilogy has been well received by readers, and gained a
strong fan base. The trilogy's author, Brandon Sanderson, has become
a prolific author in the genre of fantasy fiction. Last week, I read
and reviewed the first book in this trilogy, The Final Empire.
Since then, I have read the second and the third book, and finished
this trilogy. They are titled “The Well of Ascension”, and
“The Hero of Ages” respectively. Today, I will like to
review these 2 books.
Synopsis:
At the end of the first book, The
Final Empire, Kelsier, Vinh and their crew managed to defeat the
tyrannical Lord Ruler, bringing the oppressive regime of the Final
Empire to an end. In this new era, Elend, a good natured, young
scholar with high ideals, was elected to be the new king at the
capital city of the empire. He brought equality between nobility and
skaas, while giving the power of government to back to the people.
However, with Lord Ruler removed, more
and more problems spawned across the land. Numerous political
uprisings caused civil wars and upheavals plagued the empire. Yet,
unstable politics and civil wars were not the only problems, while
Vinh and Elend labored to keep peace in the capital city, the mists
began to behave strangely. Rumors emerged where people were getting
killed or sickened by the mists. Every event seem to be leading to,
and converging at the mysterious well of ascension, where the fate of
the world rests upon the prophecy about the hero of ages.
What I think
about these books:
I have mixed feelings about these 2
books and the trilogy in general. On the positive side, I think the
mechanics behind these books are excellent; the worldbuilding is
masterfully blended into the story, featuring a very interesting,
unique magic system, the writings are clear and descriptive, and the
plot advanced at a very good pace. It is very hard to find fault in
the mechanics behind these books. I never felt bored when I was
reading these books.
However, at the same time, I didn't
really connect, or identify with the characters in the story. This
means for me, reading The Mistborn trilogy was a strange
experience. On the one hand, I thought these books were well written
and interesting. But on the other hand, I didn't feel involved in the
story, because I didn't really care about the characters, so while I
thought was reading an interesting story, but I also felt detached
from the story emotionally. For example, there are 2 protagonists in
this trilogy, Vinh and Elend, who also happen to be romantically
involved with each other. Vinh's character, is a young
woman with a past haunted by painful memories, while Elend, is a
good-hearted young man with high ideals, always trying to do the
right thing. From my perspective, I found Vinh's character a bit
annoying, and I thought Elend's character was a bit unrealistic, he
seems.. too good? It seems this trilogy is mostly targeting at fans of
YA, dystopian novels such as Hunger Games or Divergent,
so maybe it's just me, but I guess I am just not the audience this trilogy is targeting at.
These books also explored some
thought-provoking themes. I recall I once read an article, where it
mentioned Brandon Sanderson's religious background is Mormon. It
seems to me Sanderson, based on his religious background, blended
some interesting themes into these books, such as; the definition of
faith, the question of morality, and the idea that power corrupts.
Nonetheless, because I couldn't really identify with the characters
in the story, so these themes did not have great impacts on me.
However, I guess for the large number of Mistborn fans, these books
may prove to be both thoughtful and entertaining.
After reading The Mistborn trilogy,
I can see why Brandon Sanderson is an author accredited with high
regards. He is capable of writing very good books. While The
Mistborn may not be my cup of tea, but I do like Sanderson's
style of writing, so I would like to read other books by Sanderson in
the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment