The Hero of Ages (Cosmere Universe) (Mistborn, #3)

by Brandon Sanderson

Tricked into releasing the evil spirit Ruin while attempting to close the Well of Ascension, new emperor Elend Venture and his wife, the assassin Vin, are now hard-pressed to save the world.

• ISBN13: 9780765356147
• Publish Date: 28 April 2009 (first published 14 October 2008)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 9 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tor Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 784
• Language: English

Reviews

[luddite]

Now that's a way to wrap things up neatly.

Neat character arcs. Lots of action. Sazed's repetitive contemplation sits in stark contrast to the pacing of the other characters, but the depiction of his depression and the payoff of it all is glorious.

I'm not a fan of Sanderson's prose, so I'm hesitant to pick up the other books in this universe. Even after the tantalizing setup at the end of this book.

PS: I still think Book 2 was largely pointless. So much could have been written on the psyche of the skaa and the nobility after 1000 years of stability and oppression, and the political questions that arise after that event. Playing out those questions only in Elend's head - punctuated by declarations from Tindwyl - made it terrible. The sparseness of Book 2 made for a tight Book 3 though, and I'm thankful for these small mercies.

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: THIS BOOK, THIS BOOK, THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! I just… on some levels I'm speechless and still gathering my thoughts. Also, it's 3 a.m. Yes, I stayed up to finish The Hero of Ages. I couldn't wait another day to learn how it would end. I don't think I've ever raved about a series this much. This probably (I'll check tomorrow) is the only trilogy of which I rated all three books with 5 stars. This one here deserves more than that even.

Now, I should mention that religions have always fascinated me, so it's only natural that I've come to love the Mistborn trilogy so much. Sociology of Religion was one of my undergrad courses that I enjoyed the most, though really, anything involving culture intrigues me. And that Brandon Sanderson should build an entire world (universe if you take the entire Cosmere collection of books into account) in its full complexity from science to culture to politics to religion completely blows my mind.

And the characters! Every one of them was amazing in their own right. Even as I mourn the inevitable deaths of some, I am at peace because they didn't die just because. There was a reason to everything that happened. Balance. That's the basis and its executed so well.

Most of all, Sazed, I loved him from the moment he was introduced and I couldn't tear myself away from his trajectory. It was worth following his every step, and I know I will do so again. I certainly will re-read the Mistborn trilogy in future. I'm not much of a re-reader, unless I want to refresh my memory before reading a sequel. These books, however, I will read again because they are amazing.

[KitsuneBae]

Did you have to do that, Sanderson? I am now worried in picking up the succeeding books because there's a good chance that the new characters will also face the same fate as that of Elend and Vin. Lord Ruler, no.

[leahrosereads]

What a bittersweet ending to a trilogy. While I applaud Mr. Sanderson’s conclusion to this story, I can see how he could continue creating other stories within his Mistborn world, and I know I’m definitely going to be interested in checking out the next books in the Mistborn world. Not now, because the pain/wound is too fresh from completing this trilogy.


I think what I loved most about what Brandon Sanderson created here was the characters. Yes, they were flawed. However, they were all important, and the ones that were heroes were flawed in the most realistic and beautiful ways. I was invested in every single one of them, and when one of the characters died, it was like losing a friend.

It hurt every time.


THE HERO OF AGES follows are wonderful heroine from the first two books, Vin, and her now husband and Emperor Elend as they work together with all the other characters to correct some pretty big issues from the previous book. I really don’t want to give anything away, but just know, it’s another epic quest, and it was just so fascinating to follow their story.

But that ending guys...I was just so completely devastated with it, because I really didn’t see it coming. Maybe I was just blindly ignoring certain hints throughout the other two books, but I thought the ending, while amazing, and it really did work for the story, it just shocked the hell out of me.


This was my first delve into Brandon Sanderson’s works and worlds, but it won’t be the last. He’s made me excited to read not only more of his novels, but I’m really looking forward to getting back into high fantasy in general again.

Thank you for the story Mr. Sanderson. It was a pleasure to read.

[Amber]

In short: Fuck my life.

This is my attempt at coherency, but we all know that I’ve never been very good at that so this review should be interesting since this trilogy, and especially the grand finale, HAS RUINED MY LIFE FOREVER. While it didn’t beat The Final Empire in terms of heartbreak (Kelsier, you guys… #neverforget), The Hero of Ages punched me in the gut and pulled out my intestines, then gave my heart a good squeeze for good measure. I’m pretty sure I’m missing several organs after reading this trilogy.


*deep breaths*

*pulls self together*

*fails*

Can I just scream about how Brandon Sanderson has the extraordinary ability to plant clues throughout his series and then pull everything together in the final instalment? BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT HE DID HERE AND IT KILLED ME. There were so many things that were mentioned in the previous two books that suddenly make sense or are more important that I thought they were going to be. I shrieked several times when I realised that Brandon Sanderson had been planting clues all along, every since the beginning of The Final Empire. This did mean that The Hero of Ages was a bit more predictable than the previous two books, because everything has now come together and I was able to figure things out pretty quickly. It was some amazing storytelling, and I only hope that his future and current series *stares at The Stormlight Archive* is just as epic as this trilogy.

Is it weird that I thought that The Hero of Ages could have longer? It’s over 600 pages long but I didn’t want it to end, and I would have loved it if Brandon Sanderson had gone off on a few tangents, perhaps written about some absolutely pointless things and had the characters take days to get to places. Because that’s how much I adore his writing and this world and these characters. I wasn’t ready to let go, and as soon as I finished I wanted to go back and reread the entire trilogy again. However, none of those said tangents or day-long and detailed treks happened because Sanderson’s books are packed full of action and there’s no chill. NO. CHILL.

I’ve fangirled about Vin a lot over the course of my downfall, but after The Hero of Ages she has become one of my favourite characters of all time. I loved her in the first two books and then The Hero of Ages cemented my feelings for her. Now I absolutely adore her, and I could read about her forever.

As for Elend, I still don’t like him. YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!!! I was hoping that he would grow on me because it’s no fun when you don’t like one of the protagonists, especially when you have to read from his point of view. And this is one of my favourite trilogies so obviously I wanted him to be awesome. But that didn’t happen. Everything continued to be handed to him and he was ~awesome~ at everything he did without even really trying. I don’t think he earned anything, and his character development was disappointing and almost non-existent in comparison to Vin’s.

The crew were, of course, lovely. While we’re missing some members (*cries forever*), we also have some new additions such as TenSoon. Spook’s point of view was an interesting addition too, although I thought his chapters were the least captivating for the most part. They felt very detached from the story. However, towards the end they did start to get better, and his point of view contains a couple of my favourite moments of the trilogy. It was really weird to see the crew so separated and spread out, but it was also a great choice by Sanderson because we got to see so many different things and events, and everything slowly came together with a giant bang.

The Kelsier stuff killed me as usual. There was one mention in particular that made me burst into tears because I loved Kelsier so fucking much, and I have been missing him since he died in The Final Empire. I want him back, damn it. But this whole religion that is being built around him is very interesting, and I loved seeing how different groups of people chose to interpret the religion and how they worshipped in different ways. The way they also misinterpreted Kelsier’s character and actions was painful, and also, I believe, very true to real life society. I don’t normally like religious stuff, but it worked very well in the Mistborn series and Sanderson had an interesting underlying commentary going on here.

I don’t think it’s possible to gush about The Hero of Ages enough, so I’m going to leave this here. I’m a little sad that I’ve finally read it because I hate that this trilogy is now over and I have had to say goodbye to my favourite characters. AND THAT ENDING. It’ll stick with me forever. I haven’t cried like that in a long, long time. When I die, can someone make sure this trilogy is put in my coffin along with my Spartacus DVDs? Thanks.

[adamfortuna]

The conclusion of the Mistborn series was also the most slow of all of them. A satisfying ending for sure, but somewhat repetitive in the path there.

[sstaley]

This was a fantastic read! If you are a fantasy lover and have not read the Mistborn trilogy, what are you waiting for? This was brilliantly written and woven together so well. I will warn you, these are not easy read books. There are many things, places and people to remember.

I talked to Brandon Sanderson and he said he wrote the three books simultaneously. This is very apparent as you read the books. The characters in this book are bright, intelligent and unforgettable.Even though this is a fantasy book, there will be some tears shed at times in this book; be prepared.

This third book in the trilogy wraps things up so well. I was very satisfied with the ending. The books in the trilogy are very long, but well worth the read.

This Hero of Ages also just won the Whitney Award for Best Speculative Fiction novel. He richly deserves this honor.