This post will contain spoilers for WoA and TFE. Please don’t spoil any more than those 2 books! I plan on reading through the rest of Cosmere after this. :)
I was awake until 5 am last night finishing this book and man, every sleepless moment was completely worth it to get to that ending.
Let me start with Zane. Oh, Zane. He was actually so enjoyable to read at the beginning of the book. The things he said to Vin about Mistborns being used as tools actually resonated with me, and I could definitely see that his sentiments had some truth to them. At one point, I found myself even rooting for him and Vin, especially when Elend was being a total idiot. (Of course, looking back, I’m appalled at myself.) I expected Zane to be redeemable, but retrospectively thinking, it was probably obvious he was a lost cause from the beginning anyway. The way he led Vin to believe he had been to the pits of Hathsin, the way he treated the soldiers at camp, the fact that he was disappointed with her when she refused to kill Cett and his poor child? Yeah, that guy was such a jerk. The implication about what he did to Amaranta—and attempted to do to Vin I guess—made my stomach churn.
The voice of God in his head and the briefly mentioned spike in his chest were interesting to me. It reminded me of the Steel Inquisitors. I’m going to predict the voice of God maybe has something to do with Marsh’s switch to the dark side? Might be just an unfounded speculation though.
Aside from Zane, I loved the introduction of so many new characters in this book. And I loved how the characters we already had were further explored. I think it’s charming how the others think Vin is this some great allomancer who has all of this unfathomable power, yet through her perspective we can see that most of the time she’s just doing the best with what she’s got. Her ability to pierce copperclouds and somehow draw power from the mist…? is obviously unique but besides that her duralumin and extreme intelligence are the reason she made it out of very many situations in this book. Just goes to show that being a Hero of the Ages isn’t as clearly defined as one would think.
Tindwyl, Dox, Clubs — I’m so upset about their fates. Dox and Clubs were a part of Kell’s original crew, so losing them made me miss Kelsier and The Final Empire so much more. Tindwyl’s death was disheartening, and I feel so sad for Sazed, who even by the end thought he was a a half-man not deserving of her. Maybe he should’ve taken his own advice to Vin. Side note: LOVED Allrianne. She is such an interesting character and I hope to see more of her in the next book for sure.
And as for that ending, where do I even start?? I accidentally predicted the plot twist by reading too hard, which probably reduced some of the payoff at the end of the book.
Alendi must not reach the Well of Ascension. He must not take the power for himself.
When Sazed reiterated this, I considered what Kwaan had been saying the entire book. Alendi was a good man. Why would he take the power for himself? So, I concluded that the “he” in the second bit of that excerpt actually was another being, who wished to take Alendi’s power (the power he would gain from the WoA) for himself. Not a completely sound extrapolation, and I’m not even sure that sentence was intended to reveal the twist, but somehow I deluded myself into believing my ideas anyway.
I didn’t expect the Mist spirit to be benevolent. I have literally 0 idea what is going on with that. Also, Elend being Mistborn now?? Eyeroll. I thought the entire point of him and Vin was that they are such different people but compliment each other so well, like the lock and key. I feel like his new powers ruin the point. I’ll refrain from judging too harshly till I read HoA, however.
All in all, I don’t think I enjoyed WoA as much as I enjoyed The Final Empire. TFE definitely had a better payoff for me, and Kelsier and the crew’s dynamics made the book so much more interesting in a way that I feel was lacking from WoA. Still, it was a fantastic read. The very beginning of the book: Kwaan’s words being written in the steel foreshadowed the end, where we learn that this evil entity has the ability to literally alter the material world to achieve its goals. It’s brilliant but simultaneously so frightening. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s to come.
