The Hero of Ages

What I really enjoyed about this book was how “complete” it was. The final book in the series leaves no stone unturned, no emotional state unchecked, and no page left unturned without some sort of visceral reaction. Brandon Sanderson stated in the notes that he was fearful of this book because he actually had to end a series. Well, fear not, this ending was fantastic! Everything comes together like a grand puzzle. It's bold, clever, and satisfying.

What stands out to me is the flow of the book and the dedication to flesh out certain character traits in a methodical manner. No tricks here; just pure, exciting fantasy lore that has a quick pace and has something for everyone.

From here, I'll just say that I am not going to mention any characters storylines or plot points because, if you made it this far in the series, you are probably invested enough to give this last book a go. And if you do, it's best to go in without any knowledge, so it will probably be scatter-brained and vague from here on out.

I will say, however, that it is epic! There is such a fantastical density to the series. It ebbs and flows from one chapter to the next, adding memorable moments to characters while at the same time focusing your imagination on nostalgic moments and fully realized landscape eye-candy.

Initially, the draw of the first book is the hero's journey, the action, and the fun allomancy system, but those aspects are just a small fraction of what makes this book so great. It moves along at break-neck speeds, and although it is long in terms of page numbers, it never feels like it is too long or too short, if that makes sense. I even really enjoyed the action sequences in this novel as well. This is something that kind of irked me in the first two, but the large-scale descriptions worked better than the one vs. one fisticuffs.

Brandon Sanderson has done something special with this series. I know this isn't really a review, but I hope these ramblings will be the boost you need to check out the series if you are in the mood for a fun journey.