Hey everyone! Thanks for coming to read my blog. Here we are, at the end of Part 1, but it feels like the book is just beginning. I'm really looking forward to what comes next, so, let's get going.

Part 1

Chapter 10

This chapter starts from Vin's point-of-view. Elend is having a meeting with the assembly. He's finally going to present his proposal to them.

Vin is sitting with Ham at the back of the stage. The two of them are in charge of security for this event. Vin doesn't seem to like the idea of having an Assembly, and she tells Ham just that. She basically says they're just a bunch of whingers, and she complains that they're always taking power away from Elend. She also shares her concern that Elend might actually want to make everyone into a nobleman, which isn't possible. Ham, intelligent thug that he is, replies that Elend has a "civic duty to uphold justice", and that pretty much ends their conversation.

Ha! I doubt Vin even knows what "civic duty" means.

Once everyone has settled in, Elend begins the meeting. While he's giving his riveting opening speech, Vin notices that there are a few Obligators is sitting in the back. -I thought all the Obligators had gone to the Conventical of Sarand? Or did Marsh say that only the High Obligators went there. Hmm, I'll have to go back to check.

Anyway, Vin doesn't understand why Elend hasn't kicked them all to the curb, yet. If she was in charge, she says she probably would have had them executed long ago. I can't really disagree with that. They could end up causing some serious problems for Elend if the Lord Rulers Inquisitors come back.

At long last, Elend finishes his speech and presents his proposal to the Assembly. It pretty much requests that they don't do anything until he gets the chance to parley with his father. They clearly don't like the idea very much, and Straff apparently already rejected all of their previous messages. One of the noblemen even thinks they should beg Straff not to annihilate them all--makes sense to me. Honestly, what chance do they have? If Straff wants the city, he'll take it. One way or another.

The Assembly quickly degenerates into mindless squabbling, and Elend has serious difficulty calming the room. Seriously? He's the king, and he lets them treat him this way? What's wrong with him!? He needs do something about this blatant display of disrespect.

Something drastic.

Once things have calmed down a bit, Elend asks them to make a decision on the proposal. Philen, one of the merchants, says they should just invite Straff to take the city, because they're finished anyway. --Isn't this what I just said? Elend says that Straff may listen to him because he's his son. Of course, he doesn't actually believe this...right?

Right?

Some skaa, going completely off topic, brings up the food problem, and the squabbling begins anew. Elend just slumps in his chair, making no effort to stop the arguing this time. By all the... Vin was right! They are just a bunch of whingers. If all Assembly meetings are like this, I don't see how they ever get anything done.

Eventually the room cools down, and Elend, rather unenthusiastically, prepares to take the vote. It looks like the proposal is doomed, but a nobleman named Penrod speaks up. Just like everyone else, he believes the city is doomed, but he says that instead of just handing the city over, they should at least try to gain as much from Straff as possible. Thanks to his support of the proposal, Elend gets enough votes for it to pass. The Assemblymen actually seem to respect this Penrod more than their own king. Something needs to be done about this.

Something... drastic.

Now that the proposal is out of the way, the Assemblymen are free to argue about other matters, and argue they do; all the way up to the lunch break. Guess how much they actually accomplished during this time. That's right, nothing. Bloody politicians.

Anyway, everyone's up and about, and Vin notices that this would be the perfect time for someone to make an attempt on their unassertive ruler's life, so she rises from her seat and takes a look around.

Elend is busy kissing Penrod's shiny noble buttox when Vin approaches. She tells him she saw a suspicious Terris woman in the crowd watching him. She's suspicious of the woman because she's never met her before, and all Terris people apparently come to her--to thank her for killing the Lord Ruler--the moment they enter the city. Elend, once again chalks her suspicions up to paranoia--I just know that's gonna get him killed one day.

The chapter ends when a messenger from clubs arrives. Elend is afraid that Straff has mounted an attack on the city walls, but it turns out to be something possibly even worse. A second army as arrived outside the city.

An extremely optimistic person would say that they've come to fight off Straff and rescue the city, but I seriously, seriously, doubt it.

Chapter 11

This chapter starts with an Elend PoV. It's the last chapter of Part 1, so I'm gonna assume that it's going to provide some sort of climax or turning point to this whole ordeal.

Elend is standing atop the city wall with clubs, Vin, and a few others, looking out at this new army. It's about the same size as Lord Venture's, and is lead by none other than Ashweather Cett. Remember him? The guy who sent those misting assassin's after Elend all those chapters ago? Yeah, I think it's safe to assume that he hasn't come rescue them. Fortunately, he hasn't come to assist Straff either. They could make some use of that, right?

Elend is starting to panic--I would too, in his position. His death is all but guaranteed now. Maybe he could pay one of them off if he finds the atium, but, seeing as he hasn't had any luck finding any before, I doubt he'll just miraculously run into some now. Yup, things are looking pretty bleak.

As Elend dwells on thoughts about how pathetically doomed they all are, Vin, using tin, spots a rider breaking off from the army. Wait a second...it's Breeze! So he's been with Cett all this time, that explains why no one was able to figure out where he was.

Breeze is being chased by nearly two-dozen archers, and Vin notices that, without some assistance, he's never going to make it to the city walls alive, so, using duralumin's awesome power, she launches herself all the way from the wall over to where Breeze and his assailants are riding. She's forced to use two of her vials, but, thanks to the epically powerful duralumin, she and Breeze are able to make it back into the city without any injuries.

Once inside the walls, Breeze reveals that it was actually he who brought Cett to Luthadel, and he was also the one who re-started the rumors about the Lord Ruler's atium. Just as I'm thinking "What treachery is this?!", he shows them that it was all part of his ingenious plan to save the city. You see, with Cett's army here, Straff will have to think twice before attacking the city. Assuming that they don't agree to take the city together and split the spoils, Straff and Cett are both pretty much stuck. Breeze has, practically singe-handidly, caused a standoff between the three kings, thereby buying Elend some valuable time to plan, and showing once again just how much smarter than everyone else he is.

After the rest of them catch up with breeze, Elend and Vin return to the Venture keep to be greeted by Demoux, the captain of the guard. He's giving Vin some strange looks, and has some interesting information for them. Apparently one of the cleaning women found a corpse in Vin's quarters. Golly, why would there be a dead body in Vin's chambers!?

They follow the captain to her chambers and, sure enough, there's a corpse lying of the floor--picked completely clean of flesh. It's not a murder, though. The skeleton is actually Oreseur's doing. Apparently, when a Kandra changes forms, it....excretes the remains of the last creature it imitated. Vin knew about the skeleton, but, instead of disposing of it, she just tossed it in a basket. Now everyone probably thinks she's some sort of cannibal--serves her right, she should've known better than to leave a dead body in her room.

The mystery hasn't been totally solved yet, though. The captain mentions that they found a second skeleton in her closet, identical to the first. They take a look at it, and Oreseur says it has just recently been excreted by another Kandra, which means it must have eaten someone not so long ago.

Someone in the palace has been consumed and replaced by an impostor, and it could be anyone--even someone from Kelsier's crew.

End Of Chapter 11

End of Part 1

Well, I was expecting something big, and I was certainly not disappointed. Who could the Kandra be posing as? The corpse was found in Vin's chambers, so I'm assuming the person was murdered there, which means whoever it was must have had some reason to be in Vin's rooms at the time. I can only think of a few people who would have any reason to go there at all. There's the cleaning crew, of course, but it seems like kind of a waste to replace one of them when you have so many more influential people to transform into. Could it be Ham? He and Vin seem to work together pretty often. Perhaps Lestibournes snuck into her chambers to try to get her to leave Elend, and got a nasty surprise. Or, just maybe, Oreseur was lying, and he's acquired an appetite for human flesh.

Whatever it is, I cannot wait to find out.