The Hero Of Ages – Brandon Sanderson

The end of a trilogy is upon me and after what has been a very hyped up series on YouTube, did it live up to the expectations that they had set? Am I to be an outlier and not rate it, or does it deserve its hype? Well let’s dive into it shall we?

In The Final Empire we see a motley crew foment revolution and overthrow the Lord Ruler. The Well of Ascension sees the survivors of the revolution trying to establish their rule for the benefit of the people, whilst dealing with potential usurpers, which leads us onto The Hero Of Ages. Ruin was released from the Well of Ascension and it is intent on bringing destruction to the world. Vin, Elend and the rest of their crew are trying to prevent this from happening and it focuses on the struggle to persevere throughout this.

It is undeniable that Sanderson has a wonderful ability to create a unique and intricate world that you can get lost in, along with a magic system that whilst complex, is easy to understand. We learn more about the various magical creatures that have appeared in the story, from the koloss to the kandra, which adds that extra depth to the lore. It’s clear that Sanderson wanted to discuss faith, both on a personal level, but also as a wider whole in this book. In Sazed, we see him question his own faith and why any god would allow such pain and misery and his own journey in rediscovering what it means to him. He also discusses both religious and political fanaticism and the cult-like status the leaders and groups can be, whether it is radical or conservative. This was probably the highlight of the book, as it dealt with the topics in quite a nuanced manner. It was also nice to see more development of minor characters from the previous books, though ultimately served no real purpose. The conclusion to the book and series was absolutely nailed and ultimately was the perfect finale to this series. It left an extra little something to pique your interest for the next trilogy in this world.

In this book, I felt that the characterisation on the whole, was the weakest it’s been in. If Sanderson hadn’t told us that Vin and Elend were married, you wouldn’t have believed it. There was a ton of melodrama between the two of them in the Well of Ascension and practically no sort of a relationship here. The new characters and the building up of a previous one, honestly felt something more of a minor plot point than anything of genuine importance, but consumed so much of the book. People rave about the so called “Sanderlanche” conclusions and when you’ve been put into a comatose state by the previous 500 pages, is it any wonder you end the booking by thinking it’s incredible… The other factor in this, is that there is so much introspection from the characters, looking back at what we’d seen them do previously, it felt like I was being treated like an idiot. It wasn’t once or twice, but multiple times with at least four of the characters.

So has it lived up to the hype around it? For me, no. The three books were fun and easy reads, with the Final Empire being the strongest of them all. Would I recommend them to anyone? Maybe, it all depends on where you’re at in your reading journey. As someone just starting out reading fantasy, it’s probably a good place to start. Will I read any Sanderson again? Honestly, I don’t know.

3/5