"You can tell a much more intimate story when the world isn't at stake" - I loved these books, but yeah I feel this line. Also, in defense of Sazed, I think he was essentially clinically depressed (if that existed in this world), and that involves SEVERELY warped thought patterns. Kind of a slog to read about, but pretty on point with the illness.

@holdenpop12

2 ай бұрын

Came here to say something very similar about Sazed. Yes it was a bit of a drag to read his parts, and no I did not like the changes that he went through. None of that really made any sense, but that is kind of the point. Severely warped patterns as you have worded it.

Allen: *ranting good-naturedly Me: *nodding along Allen: Hemalurgy is dumb Me: How dare you?!

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

10 ай бұрын

Hahahahahaha

It exists holy moly

This was a great review. I just finished reading this in February (I know super behind). I did not feel the same way as you did about Sazed. While he did step back to being an edgy teen I thought it was an interesting way to show his struggles and how others needed more from him. I do agree with you about the ending. Vin and Elend dying was a bigger shock than anything else.

Sometimes it's fun to jump around your videos before watching them through and trying to pick up by context what you're ranting about at any given point. Weirdly, I think the thing got me most in this book, admittedly as more of a "wow, I'm stupid" moment than a mind-blowing one, was that freaking earring.

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

That was the coolest reveal for me

I read this book about 7-8 years ago and was blown away by the ending like everyone seems to be. But the thing is I didn't know what to expect, I didn't even know that booktube was a thing. I'm a Ukrainian who mostly reads in English, and because of that the books I read are largely unknown by the majority of my friends people around me. I didn't even have anyone to discuss books with back then. I think that's why I had such a reaction to the ending of Mistborn trilogy. And now everyone is talking about how great Mistborn ending is, and that just tempers with expectations. I think that's one of the reasons why this ending doesn't hit as hard those who read it now. Also, loved yourreview, and a little rant as well. It fits the book and adds to the conversation about the series.

😂 I loved this review. Seeing you get heated about things that just slid past me on both of my reads of this book just pointed out how passively I often read. Thanks for finally getting this out for us!

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Hahahaha thank you for watching!

That makes sense about the ending for you. I read the series years ago without knowing anything about it. It was also the second series I read after getting into reading again as an adult so it blew me away.

Thanks for an interesting review! I love your passion and you bring up some points I haven't heard or thought of before. You raise some interesting points. I would say that the whole council thing was not useless but necessary to have Elend develop from a fledgling book reading idealist to a more realistic phase. And I think him becoming a mistborn has two purposes. First to make him more useful in a more military scenario (it would be boring for him to sit in a tent for another whole book). Secondly Like you said, giving him a sudden increase in power makes him understand even better the difficulties and choices that the lord ruler faced.

This cracked me up. I was like I forgot the part of Hero of Ages where Sazed thinks about becoming an HVAC technician haha.

Winds of Winter of reviews finally came out!

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

🤣🤣

Great takes!!!! I'm sure tou heard this plenty but I would love to hear your review for Era 2

Can't believe you kept all this insight and goodness away from us for more than a year 🤌💚

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Hahahaha thanks

It's been a while since I read Mistborn. While watching this review I realized I don't remember a lot of what happens in this book, but I definitely remember not liking Sazed. He moped around a lot and I did not enjoy his chapters.

Just finished the well fo ascension and will start this next. I am excited to read it.

Sazed is cool, Allen is not. But yeah Sazed was a lot in this one. I think the point was though that he was being too literal because he had lost his faith. So yeah, him trying to logic his way into having faith wouldn't work. It was annoying to read about though. Also, he grew up with Tindwyl, I believe. Idk what your dang problem is with my boy TenSoon, though. Regarding the ending, I don't think "the thing" is just that Sazed is Harmony. I think it's how well everything from the entire trilogy comes together and that all these pieces end up mattering, like the religions, Vin's earring, the atium, the mists, etc etc. It was a very well plotted ending and was also highly emotional, and didnt lean in to the idea of Vin being the HoA like most fantasy would. Plus the sacrifice of Vin and Elend made a lot of people sad, although that didn't hit me as much. Glad you finally got the review out! Absolutely loved the ranting 🤣 Can't wait for Alloy of Mid.

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Didn't I say I loved TenSoon? I thought I did and just didn't like the events with him. And if that's the case about Tindwyl, I still need him to shut up 😛

@readbykyle3082

Жыл бұрын

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria oh I thought you said "I don't know if I like TenSoon" but maybe I misheard. Also I added some stuff about the ending if you didn't see it 🤣

I think the ending that everyone is talking about is Vin and Elend dying, I mean that’s what made my hair fly back haha Great review. I don’t agree with everything but I understand all of it 😂

This was a great review. I read this series once like 8 years ago and I don't remember any details anymore. I can't bring myself to reread it either, because I remember that gloomy, dark feeling throughout the books and I just don't feel like expending the emotional energy on Mistborn.

This was brilliant, Allen! 🔥🔥🔥

It's been a while since I read this one, but I see the word "Review" in the title, so you get a full view, a like, and a comment, buddy!

Feels like Christmas morning haha. Never thought it would see the light

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

I'm just slow to edit lol

@tannersturgeon2448

Жыл бұрын

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria just joking sir. Love your videos as always. Join a Books of Babel reread with Evie and myself!

Am back to say that Sazed is the goat

Late comment but great review. Still watching but had a quick comment. I see your point about so much in book 2 being irrelevant for this one - Penrod, the Assembly in Luthadel, but then you said Elend learning to rule was ALSO irrelevant and I… disagree! His character arc, both internal and external, absolutely continued and built off what he learned in book 2, imo. And being Mistborn might seem cheap or whatever but I think it played in too. In book 2 he still relied too much on the will of the people, I think, which of course is GENERALLY a good thing, and ideally is a good thing, but in this specific scenario they needed someone to make decisions and RULE them. Which is what he learned to do! (Side note - making him Mistborn was the only way to save him from death after Preservation stabbed him at the end of book 2. You could argue he didn’t need to be stabbed I suppose, but once it happened… yeah 😊)

Another fantastic video!!! Thank you!

Had to check the calendar just to be sure this wasn't an April Fools prank before clicking on the video lmao I seriously did not believe this was real at first XD Kept waiting for the Rickroll or something along those lines to kick in for the first couple of minutes too lol Any way, great review as always man! So can we expect your review for The Way of Kings when? 2025? 2028? lol :P

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Oh that would have been awesome to just rickroll.

God that was a passioniate review and im glad that overall you enjoyed the book. I didnt go straight to era 2 when I finished Mistborn. I tackled Warbreaker and Elantris. Era 2 is very different to era 1 although there are lots of nods to the first trilogy and I liked it more than I thought I would . However for me , its the weakess thing Ive read so far which doesnt mean there werent aspects of it I didnt enjoy.

@thomasbromley3679

Жыл бұрын

Theres shedloads of fun in Mistborn era 2 but give me gloom everytime lo

Having just finished this trilogy a month or so ago, I think you nailed it with just about all of your criticisms. I don’t like the direction Sanderson took Elend’s character in this book. It was still an enjoyable 4⭐️ book, though I doubt Sanderson will ever be a 5⭐️ author for my tastes.

Who stopped asking you ?! Never … I try think you just decided to ignore us 😂 Glad to have the review finally 🤩

I'm sure it's not even a blip on the TBR radar, but some of that Lord Ruler and Kelsier ghost stuff gets explained in the Secret History book. It only really adds stuff if you care to go super deep into Cosmere lore. Last question, are you Elend in the thumbnail? Great thumbnail btw.

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

I am and my wife is Vin. Theoretically.

Very entertaining review, Allen! I, like you, hated the ending to book 2. Although I think I disliked it much more than you seem to. If you are going to do that type of ending I want "empire strikes back" level of total devastation and I feel he copped out. Not only did he not logically kill Elend, he made him a Mistborn, to quote you "its the worst!" The one thing I will push back on what you said was the Hemalurgy stuff. It wasn't retconned at all, in fact on a reread you will see just how brilliantly he plotted these 3 books. The voice she was hearing, she thought was her brother, was Ruin the whole time. Why? Because she was spiked as a child with the earring(which is also the reason she bests The Lord Ruler when he pushes her so hard it rips her earring off which is what allows Preservation to fill her and heal her.) There is also the scene in book 1 where they think Marsh is dead and all the mashed bodies and blood, clearly describing the process of him being made into a Steel Inquisitor through Hemalurgy. There is also the stuff with your favorite character Zane ,from book 2, where he (Sanderson) also very clearly tells you he (Zane) has been spiked and it was his father experimenting with it to try and create soldiers. Now you didn't get all the details up front and have it named but the process was very clearly set from the start. How it worked and what it did was always there. So much so it was literally the glue that the whole series was plotted on from the beginning. For me the first book was clearly my favorite with 2 being very good till the end and that soured me on it. Book 3, while it is tainted with the ending to book 2, I thought wrapped up the series nicely overall. Cheers!

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Yes thank you for those bits that I definitely missed! As I said, I KNOW it wasn't reconned but if you don't remember all those things it definitely FEELS that way.

I love Mistborn. Conversely I started Way of Kings back on the new year and I'm still only a little half over that book. I really like Sanderson, but Man, talk about a book just dragging on. So I'm thinking about coming out of the closet and changing my youtube handle to TheSandersonHeretic or something and just admitting I don't like his writing that much Except for Mistborn, which is wonderful.

"Cause she had to save freaking Elend... or whatever" 😂 I agree. What made Elend compelling as a character is that he was physically average or less than. He was gifted intellectually. I loved Well of Ascension the most of the three and the politics was the best part of the series for me and I was a disappointed to see the lack of it in book three. Hero of Ages was my least favorite book of the series. While there were endearing aspects of the story, I found the ending to be really lackluster overall. Mistborn Secret History kind of makes up for it but you shouldn't need supplemental material to make me rethink the end of your book. Also- Plato not sounding like Socrates later in his career is what makes him readable. Had he continued to sound like Socrates, he would have been almost an unbearable as Aristotle. Great review, Allen!

This was excellent! I agree with all of it. I absolutely hated the fact Elend got Mistborn powers, like WHY. Dude went from an endearing philosophy nerd to the second coming of Jesus and I just hated it. When he did die I was like yesssssssssssss. The first time I read this yearss ago I loved how it all came together at the end and it was my favorite of the three. I reread it last year and I appreciate book2 the most now. Book3 was just depresso country.

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Yes for WoA!!

Great review! I did like this book a lot, but Sazed was way too annoying.

Ill be honest, your frustrations are exactly why I have drifted away from Sanderson more and more lately. I enjoyed Mistborn and Stormlight on my first reads, but on a reread I am struggling A LOT. Currently suffering through Oathbringer for the second time and I didn't think I would agree with Andy as much as I do. His exploration of theme is mostly shallow and sloppy. And because I strongly care about theme, I can enjoy a cool battle and piece of the world all I want, but an awkward and lazy attempt at some kind of depth always sticks out like crazy to me. I always prefer a straight and fun story that is not trying too hard to be edgy and "complex" to a narrative that just tried too hard. The characters are also not THAT well written either. They are good characters, but people act like Kaladin or Dalinar are like the best written characters in fiction. Ugh. The example with Elond is not at all uncommon with Sanderson IMO. Lastly, his style is just boring. I get it it is supposed to be accessible, but I just think the story loses a lot here. I strongly agree with Le Guin on this. One Piece is also one of my favorite stories ever! I actually have it next to Malazan and Berserk as my favorite! It is an example of a story that is very accessible and not as "pretentious", for lack of a better term, as Malazan, but is just masterfully written. Oda handles his theme with laser precision and great depth, just like Erikson and Miura do! One can discuss the oppression of fishmen for ages, for example. Mannn, you should really do some OP videos, especially because a lot of what you care about is explored so well in OP!

Defiling sazed, that my friend is heresy.

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

I'll accept my imprisonment lol

great rant - thanks for the review Allen!

I watched a video that sorta gets to the crux of the matter with Sazed's issue. It was about intelligence and A.I. Ppl were bashing the A.I. because it's goals were stupid, while ignoring all the ingenious ways it invented to meet those goals. Your goal doesn't have to make sense, it can be just a goal, where intelligence keeps asking...Why? You can be the most learned person in the world but if you can't assume life is worth living then what good is the intelligence?...assuming you can do good. Good and bad, are I think, relative. I'm an electrician, if a hurricane comes through and I get more work off it, it's good for me, but not so good for those folks that NEED it to survive those days, or have to pay for unexpected repairs. Evil on the other hand isn't relative, that has to do with intent. Murdering slews of innocent ppl because they got one over on you, is evil, regardless if it brings stability. Good Rant!

I LOVE this review! Totally worth the wait. LOL SAZED.

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Hahahahah he's the worst in this one

I agree completely with your Sazed assessment. Also, if we can get people to stop saying, this is science-based, that would be great. They can keep repeating that crap all they want, but it doesn't make it true.

is that the yakuza font?

I have never agreed more with a review in all my life

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

Yessssss

I know you are having some issues with The Way of Kings but I think Dalinar in that book is a MUCH better execution of the same politival discussions brought up with Elend in Mistborn. Hopefully you enjopy those too, I think Dalinar is by far Sandersons most complex and nuanced character!

I'm with you on the ending.....

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

It was good and it was cool but it wasn't the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I mean, there was a similar ending to the FR Avatar trilogy from the 90s, with the heroes ascending to gods.

Amazing review! :D

Hallelujah Allen 😂😂😂😂. About Damn Time 🎉🎉

I agree with most of this. I had very similar thoughts while reading through - the constant review of previously known information made it more of a slog than the others for me. I think I was a little more forgiving of Sazed; depression can definitely make you gloomy to a point that the people around you feel worn out. I'm not sure if I'll go on to Era 2, but I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts about it regardless! Thanks for the great review :)

AGREED ON THE ENDING!!! Well of Ascension is the best Mistborn ending no question. Hero pf Ages ending was really underwhelming for me

I still think there’s some kind of allegory for Mormonism in this book. That’s my hot take 👀

Yay!

7:59 oh my dude have you read Mistborn Secret History yet?

I agree that One Piece misses some of its more intimate character moments in favor of the world events. But the world events are so good! There have to be priorities and I'm very happy with Odas way of doing things overall though. Can't please everyone. Allen, please do yourself a favor and try the manga at some point. It's a different way to experience the story and the panneling gives you just the feel Oda intended. Not to say that it's better than the anime, but it would complement it in a way you might not expect.

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

So I'm actually in the manga now since the anime hadn't finished through Wano. I'm not caught up but I did finish Wano!

@marcweber8509

Жыл бұрын

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria Nice! You should straight through. Lots of exciting news!

I am so glad you decided to review this, because you ABSOLUTELY had something to add to the conversation here. Your reviews are honestly just the best, I love all the side tangents and slightly ranty discussions. I am so glad I am not alone in feeling like the ending wasn't all that impactful as everyone makes it out to be, it was honestly quite underwhelming after all the build-up and hype. And YES Sazed just needs to go to therapy already, he was insufferable in this book 🤣🥲 Amazing review Allen, thanks for sharing 🤩

@anishpandita2916

Жыл бұрын

Na bro you hurt my soul after that attack on sazed... I thought the ending was cool and a really clever conclusion but the lines are blurred and a bit shady. However i was really shocked when i put the pieces together 😅. I guess we have to agree to disagree

LOL it has been awhile since I read this but the things you are frustrated about has reminded me that I had the same gripes. A solid book three, but maybe a little too much Desu Ex Machina for me by the end. Still, I'm quite fond of the trilogy as a whole. But I'm not ignorant of the flaws.

if you throw Sazed in a sack, what does he become? a SACK OF WHINE!

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

It's been so long since I read this book. I don't remember any of it. Probably says enough of how much impact it had on me. 😅

@TheLibraryofAllenxandria

Жыл бұрын

🤣

I liked Mistborn very much but the farther I got the more mixed I got on it. The ending of the trilogy was not my favorite and book 3 Sazed is as you said :D The magic system (not a fan of the term but for Sanderson it's appropriate) was great but as you said a little overexplained. I guess part of what rubbed me the wrong way was the YAness at times cause I did go into it thinking I'm getting some adult fantasy and didn't really know where to put my finger on until after the fact (nothing wrong with YA though, just my expectations).

:Dd

This is easily my least favorite Cosmere book... I loved book 1, liked book 2, and don't really care for book 3. And unpopular opinion, I love era 2 more than era 1. Era 2 is so much more fun than era 1!