The Hero of Ages

The Hero of Ages is the third novel in the high fantasy Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

This is a highly, highly serialized trilogy – so I strongly recommend you read Mistborn and The Well of Ascension before The Hero of Ages, or even this review of The Hero of Ages.

It has been a year since Vin located the legendary Well of Ascension.

A year since she made the fateful, selfless decision to free the power that was imprisoned there.

A year since she found out that was the wrong choice.

Now, earthquakes shake the land, ash pours from the sky heavier than ever and the mists have grown larger, stay longer and are killing people.

Vin, Elend and the rest of Kelsier’s crew have overcome the thousand year reign of the Lord Ruler, fought impossible battles and sought freedom for Skaa and Noble alike – but how can they fight this?

Shaken and frustrated that the answer they had been seeking at the Well ended up being trickery that only worsened everything – all they can try to do is attempt to follow clues left by the Lord Ruler himself that will hopefully give them direction on how to save the world.

Hope is a difficult thing in the face of doom…

Wow – what a trilogy!

At a whopping 740 pages, this is yet another test of, “Will this be gripping enough to keep me interested for that long?”

And yet again the answer is a resounding, “YES!”

As I entered into The Hero of Ages I was very interested in how it all could possibly end – how everything could be wrapped up, fixed, explained, etc.

Brandon Sanderson truly excelled here.

The Hero of Ages has numerous great twists and surprises, ongoing character growth and an ominous, forbidding sense of doom throughout the entire novel.

I found myself saddened by the changes in Sazed, alarmed by the changes in Spook and fascinated in the advances of plot and character for every aspect of the book.

Somehow the author manages to distract me from certain plot points and then - WHAM! – hit me hard with them when I least expect it. Wow!!! (Yes, that is my go-to word in this review, forgive me.)

These are strong, anti-cliché characters and an epic, intricate plot that STUNNED me.

All I can say is: perfection.

Or as close as you can get to it, really.

A satisfying, thrilling, suspenseful, breathtaking, imaginative, memorable trilogy!!!