Sean

The Hero of Ages was the perfect conclusion to the mistborn trilogy. This group works better as underdogs trying to solve an impossible challenge than as rulers like they were in book two(technically they’re in control in this book but their backs were to the wall the entire time). Where the first two books had concrete villains in them, in the hero of ages the world itself is the villain until it is revealed who/what is controlling the world and it does terrible things to the people living in it. Vin’s storyline is as great as always. She’s one of my favorite characters ever. What really surprised me about this book, though, and the storyline i was most engaged in was Spook. I’d honestly pretty much forgotten he existed but his transformation and role in Urteau filled the void left by kelsier in book one. I constantly found myself waiting for more spook chapters.

Last, the avalanche in this book starts early and never slows down. Sanderson avalanches are my favorite thing to read and this might be my favorite of all of them. So far…

The Well of Ascension was a great read, it just didn’t quite live up to the insanely high standards set in book one. Vin really carries the story and is amazing. She grows a ton from where she started the series and where she started this book to who she is at the end of it. The problem with this book was that she didn’t have great support. It really missed Kelsier. The rest of the crew falls off without him and Elend doesn’t fill the gap like he was supposed to. At the end of the day, this was still a great story in such a cool world that any flaws didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment.

Brando Sando did it again. Stormlight is my favorite series, but Mistborn might take over if it keeps going like this. It was fast-paced, constant twists, incredible world building and magic. It had my thinking about it nonstop. Kelsier and Vin are two of my favorite characters ever. Vin grew through the book and how she is at the end is incredible and so we’ll deserved. On the other hand, Kelsier is mysterious and a little less available but that also works for his character arc. The best part of this book is, to quote Sanderson from a blog post I found from when he was writing this, is the Brandon Avalanche. About halfway through part four to the end of the book is exhilarating and shocking in a way only Sanderson can do.

Arctic dreams took me a very long time to read but I enjoyed every second. This book covered ecology, indigenous knowledge, arctic exploration, and more. Throughout it Lopez’s sense of place conveyed strongly and left me with a sliver of understanding of the arctic and a strong desire to travel there and experience the things that he did.

Read for class. It was a good overview of the history of the public land system and was a surprisingly easy and enjoyable read.

This might have been the most excited to read a book I’ve been because of how great Jonathan Strange by the same author was. It lived up to the hype. Piranesi’s house is the most incredible setting I’ve ever read about and felt like a character as much as the others in the book. The journal entry style made it feel like I was watching the events and mystery unfold exactly as Piranesi did. This was one of the quickest, most immersive books I’ve ever read and I enjoyed every page of it.

The Rage of Dragons is as action packed as any book I’ve read in my life. It was really well done and I was engrossed in it the whole time, but I wish that sometimes it just chilled out for a chapter and built a story outside of fighting. Tau is a frustrating main character at times, which I think is purposeful to show his flaws but sometimes he’s just plain stupid and he definitely doesn’t deserve Zuri. Although, if you just look at him as a fighter he’s perfect and the way the fight scenes are written make it so easy to visualize exactly what he looks like doing it. The ending sets it up well for him to grow in the sequel and although I don’t trust that he will, I’m excited to read it and find out.

Assassin's Quest was not a perfect book, but was the perfect ending to the trilogy and left me feeling extremely satisfied with the time I spent with Fitz, Nighteyes, and all the rest. Starting with the good, I love the quest aspect of the second half of this book. It had a sort of Fellowship of the Ring feel to it and I felt a genuine connection to the mission and all of the characters on it. There were real stakes, suspense, and growth for that portion of the book. The final part in the quarry(and beyond) was where the real payoff came. I won't spoil anything, but the ending put each character(except for Regal, I didn't love his ending) in the place that I felt they were meant to be all along. The bad part of this book, was Fitz and Nighteyes' solo travel in the first half. It wasn't all bad, but it felt like a tv show where they have to put some kind of action in each episode to make people watch, but none of it is particularly relevant to the main story. That can be entertaining, but in this case it felt repetitive with Fitz essentially getting his ass kicked every time. The poor guy just couldn't catch a break and I didn't feel like that was necessary. Overall, just like in the first two books, the strength of this book is Fitz. He was a character I thoroughly enjoyed spending a couple of months reading about and the reason I would certainly recommend this entire series.

This is classic, epic fantasy at every level. Good battle scenes, interesting magic, with a side of political intrigue. It only gets 3 stars because there was just too much going on that it made it difficult to really engage with any one part. Viktor is a strong character but I wish this had been more focused on him and maybe one or two others rather than there being 20 different narrators. I checked the cast list at least once a chapter for probably the first 500 pages. That being said, it’s a fun, fast read in an interesting world and I’ll consider continuing the series.

Royal Assassin was a strong sequel to Assassins Apprentice. I felt way more connected to Fitz and the stakes felt higher throughout the book. His character has really grown through the first two books and I love how that growth is communicated through his changing relationships with the other characters. From when Burrich returns to Buckkeep until the king-in-waiting ceremony is some of the most exhilarating reading I’ve done. The conclusion didn’t quite live up to the buildup, but it left me wondering where the story goes from here and more excited than ever to find out what Fitz does next.

This was a good book, but not a great one. It was a light read and fitz is a likeable main character but I didn’t find myself entirely immersed in the world or that I fully grasped the stakes of the action that would make me care about it. That said, I enjoyed reading it and will be reading the second as well.

The most gentlemanly take on magic I’ve ever read. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell are engaging and interesting protagonists and the contrast between them makes for a great story. The plot was not entirely clear at points but this book was more about its characters and their world than specific actions or storylines.