Is this an error or am I simply not quite getting this?

[nightwriter]

Book: The Well of Ascension

Page: 41

    She nodded. "There's something else, Ham. I'm out of atium."
    He stood quietly in the mists for a moment, and then she heard him mutter a curse.
    "I'll die the next time I fight a Mistborn," she said.
    "Not unless he has atium," Ham said.
    "What are the chances that someone would send a Mistborn without atium to fight me?"

I'm reading this trilogy for the first time and LOVE it. One of the things I was thinking to myself yesterday was how great the editing seems. And then today I come across this section and found it jarring... shouldn't the section I put in bold say something more like "Not unless he doesn't have atium"... ?

[Quantus]

I dont think so?  In this context "Not Unless" = "Only If".  So "Ill Die Next Time/ No you will not unless he has atium." works but your version adds one too many negatives.   

[Aredor]

Vin's stating that she'll die the next time she fights a Mistborn. Ham's basically saying "No, you won't die unless he has atium."

Hope that helps!

 

[Treamayne]

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4 hours ago, nightwriter said:

Book: The Well of Ascension Ch 22:

Spoiler

Page: 41
    "Not unless he has atium," Ham said.

I'm reading this trilogy for the first time and LOVE it. One of the things I was thinking to myself yesterday was how great the editing seems. And then today I come across this section and found it jarring... shouldn't the section I put in bold say something more like "Not unless he doesn't have atium"... ?

@Quantus and @Aredor have already answered, but I'll just point out. . . this is Ham. A normal person would probably have said something like "No, unless he has atium" but Ham and he likes to sound smart. This is a verbal tick of Ham's, also used in other places (e. g. TFE Ch 35)

Spoiler

“He planned this all from the start,” Ham said with wonder. “Kelsier knew that the skaa wouldn’t rise up. They’d been beaten down for so long, trained to think that the Lord Ruler owned both their bodies and their souls. He understood that they would never rebel . . . not unless he gave them a new god.”

“Yes,” Renoux said, stepping forward. 

Generally speaking, each character's individual syntax is important in Mistborn, there is foreshadowing to be found in the way people speak as well as what they say. 

[nightwriter]

Despite what I said not being the correct phrasing, the phrasing as it is still doesn't work. The current phrasing is contradictory.  Paraphrasing the current bolded part, Ham is saying, if the Mistborn that comes against Vin has atium, she won't die - this is not correct.

Hopefully I'm making some sort of sense with what I'm trying to say here lol.

EDIT: Just saw the other responses.  Thanks for those. The problem is me. I tend to have a critical, editorial eye even when just reading casually and I found the phrasing here - in character or not - to be personally quite jarring.

Thanks for the follow-ups and explanations, I appreciate it!

Also, as an avid fantasy reader for a very long time, I can't believe I never came across this series before. Love it!

Edited May 3 by nightwriter

[Treamayne]

22 minutes ago, nightwriter said:

Also, as an avid fantasy reader for a very long time, I can't believe I never came across this series before. Love it!

Glad to know you are enjoying the ride. Have you read any other Brandon Sanderson? You might post in your profile, or an Intro Thread what you have or have not read, in case spoilers become a factor in any other questions you may have. 

Slight Spoiler

Spoiler

Many of his Fantasy works are connected in what is known as the Cosmere. So if you have read things like Elantris, Warbreaker, Stormlight Archive, etc.  - they are all connected, but designed so they can be enjoyed independantly. 

One of many Reading Order threads

 

[nightwriter]

Well, I read the Wheel of Time series four times, so I guess you could say that I've technically read other stuff he has written. But this is the first of the books that are completely his that I have read so far. I'm only on book two of the Mistborn trilogy, about half way through that book.

I will update my profile accordingly, thanks for the suggestion.