Dat Doge Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) Hola, internet folks! I have never partaken in a forum before, but I have just finished reading The Well of Ascension, and I am torn in many directions by the plot, the writing, the editing, the intrigue and the contradiction of it all. I read The Final Empire when it first came out, as a youth; I had read Elantris and happened upon a book signing Sanderson was having at my local bookshop, so acquired his then-new Mistborn novel. I remember absolutely loving TFE, and I eventually acquired the rest of the series, but hadn't had a chance to read them all until now. I immediately delved into TWOA after finishing TFE last week, and having finished the two, I am both loathe and compelled to get to The Hero of Ages. So, am I in the right place to air my grievances and hash out my queries? Edited January 28, 2014 by peninhandreader 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamma Fiend Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) Welcome to the Forums!And yes, this is a good place as any to air any grievances or hash any queries.what problems did you have with the books, exactly? Don't be afraid to voice any or all opinions, as long as they're respectful and in good nature it'll be okay. (You can totally explain your stance without any fear of harmful backlash, everyone on this board seems to be pretty level-headed and overall pretty friendly)Edit: oh yeah, except for that Kurk. He's the worst. Edited January 28, 2014 by Gamma Fiend 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) (You can totally explain your stance without any fear of harmful backlash, everyone on this board seems to be pretty level-headed and overall pretty friendly) Except me. I am not friendly. ( ) Edited January 28, 2014 by Kurkistan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardbearer Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Welcome to the forum. Have an upvote! What are your hangups about finishing the trilogy? What didn't you like? Why are you hesitant? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dat Doge Posted January 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Thank you so much for the welcome! I'm stoked to be able to talk about this. I have always remembered Mistborn as being one of my all-time favorites from my teenage years, and now that I'm reading the whole series, I don't know anyone else who's even heard of Brandon Sanderson. (Calls into question the company that I keep.) So, let's begin. While reading The Final Empire, I ended up keeping my pen handy, because I encountered some minor discrepancies in the plot (and some editing mistakes with spelling/grammar/punctuation). I don't glare at pages looking for these things, I just catch them while reading. Don't judge me! Haha. It just helps alieviate my anal retention if I mark it and move on. Anyway... When I got into The Well of Ascension, I had lost my pen and ignored discrepancies until page 290 (hardcover), where chapter 31 ends as Lord Cett reveals himself in the crowd, wearing "a suit". The uptake of the scene in chapter 32, from the same perspective - that of Vin - contains a quote from her character: "He's not wearing a suit." This is just one example of minor plot discrepancies of this kind. Not that big of a deal. I again stopped annotating the book shortly thereafter, having lost my second pen. However, it's these slips in the plot that drive me crazy and interrupt my immersion in the story. There are some larger discrepancies, I think, in the last half of TWOA. I need to go back through and try to figure out exactly where (that is, if you kind people are interested in discussion on the matter). I have started reading The Hero of Ages now, but I was hesitant because I felt that Sanderson took advantage of his own plot twists in TWOA: The moment when Vin proposes to Sazed that the mists are, in fact, the Deepness disappointed me. It felt as though that passage was meant to be a striking culmination of the story thus far, but it seemed very obvious to me that it was a logical conclusion, and I had been expecting it for chapters and chapters. Not that I had it all figured out because I am oh, so observant - but that the writing up to that point seemed to make it obvious - not only for an observant reader, but through the perspective of Vin. There wasn't appropriate suspense, in my opinion, and it made me feel like I had eargerly read through that entire portion of the story only to be let down by the mid-plot climax. By the end of the vollume, I was less fascinated than irritated with the resolution of the mysterious stolen sentence from Sazed's transcriptions. I know there was appropriate foreshadowing by means of Kwaan's, "I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted." However, that the resolution of it all was that the transcription had been totally tampered with by the mist spirit, or Ruin (as the opening of The Hero of Ages is starting to explain), but the metal etchings in Kwaan's original steel tablet were then re-rendered to their original form again... It just seems a convenience, and doesn't compell my curiosity very much. Why would the steel etchings, inside the Conventical of Seran, return to the original wording after Ruin has been set free? Why was the mist spirit able to rip pages apart, but not perform other corporeal communication to reveal the problem of the research? These are only some of the things driving me nuts, but it's probably more than enough to start a conversation, right? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) So far as WoA plot twists go: -I don't think Brandon was really going for any culmination when Vin proposes that the mist is the Deepness. The fact that Sazed immediately mentions the half-dozen theories that have said the same suggest that, I think. -I think you may have misunderstood how the alteration of records work. This isn't spoilers because it was meant to be somewhat clear in the book itself (though your lack of understanding of this point may very well be the book's fault), but things written on metal and only metal are immune to tampering by Ruin. So Kwaan's tablet was never altered: just Sazed's rubbing of it. Spoiler on HoA So far as what the mist spirit could have done, his failed attempts to communicate in HoA illustrate why he was limited in what he could do. Edited January 29, 2014 by Kurkistan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dat Doge Posted January 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 AHA! That would make more sense. Okay. Thank you. Yes, the rubbing being altered... Oh, the logic. It smacks me in the face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claincy Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 The moment when Vin proposes to Sazed that the mists are, in fact, the Deepness disappointed me. It felt as though that passage was meant to be a striking culmination of the story thus far, but it seemed very obvious to me that it was a logical conclusion, and I had been expecting it for chapters and chapters. Not that I had it all figured out because I am oh, so observant - but that the writing up to that point seemed to make it obvious - not only for an observant reader, but through the perspective of Vin. There wasn't appropriate suspense, in my opinion, and it made me feel like I had eargerly read through that entire portion of the story only to be let down by the mid-plot climax. Aside from what Kurkistan already said I do have a couple of comments on this. To us, the mists being the deepness was obvious. The mists, such as they are, are very different from anything on our world so it is fairly easy for us to perceive them as some magical threat. But to the people of the final Empire the mists are just normal, a part of the world and they are constantly told by the ministry that the hero defeated the deepness. Sure the skaa fear the mists and that was a clue. However for Vin, remember that Kelsier's first lesson to her was about the mists being theirs, "They hide us, protect us, give us power". Vin's shift from loving the mists to somewhat fearing/distrusting them so this was more of a character climax than a plot climax. Did that make sense? (Or was I just rambling around the point I was trying to make?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamma Fiend Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) Besides what everyone else already pointed out, about those minor discrepancies and small errors, I do think pretty much most of them got fixed in later reprints of the book. Just those stupid, insignificant details that get overlooked. And then there's things that Brandon changed from while writing it to the complete version.One example I can think of, and thinking about it I can totally be wrong, but In HoA, one of the epigraphs mentions the healing powers of pewter feruchemy, didn't this get later switched to gold? And really, my advice, most of your problems I think we'll be nicely resolved by the end of Hero of Ages. Just one of the strongest endings of any trilogy I've ever read, and so many questions get answered and so much more becomes so clear.I'm actually on my first re-read of the series, and am almost done with HoA, and man! There's just so much small foreshadowing and hints at stuff to come in there, it's almost better the second time through. (Save for the mind-blown parts from the first read through)Edit: and as clancy mentioned, the Mists = deepness wasn't that big of a revelation, exactly. At least not for the readers. It is a huge step for Vin's character, as Clancy points out. It's a real turning point in how the characters view the mists.Us, as readers, have so much more knowledge and appropriate scope on the situation.Double, consecutive edit!: But, considering, these have been REALLY good questions and definitely show you have a nice scope/idea of what is all going on in the Mistborn world. These are nice, deep reader questions.UGH, and how about that Kurk?! He's just so rude... right? Edited January 29, 2014 by Gamma Fiend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlet Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Welcome, Doge! Shiba Inus are cool. You must must must read Hero of Ages. Excellent finale. Then you must rush out and buy the Way of Kings, excellent vanguard to an, by all appearances, astoundingly good series. After you finish with those, you must then rush out and buy Words of Radiance, the eagerly anticipated follow-up novel to WoK. We are all aflutter waiting for the release date (Mar 4). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 I love hearing people's reactions to series, even to stuff they didn't like; to my mind, being a fan doesn't mean being uncritical of something. But, as a Sanderfan, I still have to encourage you to go out, and buy Hero of Ages. I also noticed no one threw out any suggestions for Alloy of Law or Warbreaker, so I'll add those to the pile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 so welcome much post wow very forum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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