The Great Mistborn Read-along of 2019/2020 *Bands of Mourning*

[Kassina Tendar]

Oops. I'm still on Hero of Ages. :facepalm

 

[Thaddius al'Guy]

Oops. I'm still on Hero of Ages. :facepalm

How much do you have left? We can hold off until you're done, don't speed on our behalf. I thought you were all done already

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

I am only halfway through Hero of Ages

But I recently read Alloy of Law, so I can certainly discuss that too

 

[Thaddius al'Guy]

It's been almost a month. Is everyone ready to move onto Alloy of Law or do we need more time for Hero of Ages?

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

I just finished Hero of Ages last night

But can I make a suggestion? We really should read Mistborn: Secret history before Alloy of Law

 

[Kassina Tendar]

I'm almost done! I have about 10% left. I should be ready to start next week. Just need to finish this book and type up my thoughts.

 

[Thaddius al'Guy]

I just finished Hero of Ages last night

But can I make a suggestion? We really should read Mistborn: Secret history before Alloy of Law

I've never read Secret History...and I have the Arcanum Unbounded too...

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

I highly recommend it! We really should go through that one, it explains a llt of the smaller details about things that happened in Hero of Ages...

 

[Thaddius al'Guy]

If everyone has access to it then we should!

 

[Kassina Tendar]

We should definitely read it! It looks like the kindle version isn't available for some reason. :scratch But I do own Arcanum Unbounded, so I could read it there. (maybe it was removed from kindle after it was added to the Arcanum Unbounded collection?)

 

[Elia LePhant]

I finished The Alloy of Law! It was my first time reading it, and I loved it so much. I've been struggling with reading since this virus nightmare started, but this went by so quickly. I already have Shadows of Self checked out from the library.

ETA: Oops just saw about the suggestion to read Arcanum Unbounded first. I'll start on that too then.

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Just finished rereading Hero of Ages tonight! Still need to type up my notes, but then I'm ready for whatever we want to do next.

 

[Thaddius al'Guy]

I think we're gonna do Secret History, then move onto Alloy of Law.
No idea how long Secret history is, so I'll check it out and see page average and all that.

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Hero of Ages Ch. 31-40 (note: there are spoilers for the end of the book in my notes)

• Sazed thinks to himself "I am, unfortunately, in charge." This mimics the wording at the start of the epigraphs: "I am, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages."
• Sazed acknowledges that the Citizen really is following Kelsier's teachings to the letter... even though he's only doing half of the things he's doing because of Ruin's influence. :\ Proof that Kelsier's ideals don't necessarily hold up in peacetime.
• It's amazing how quickly Spook believes that it really is Kelsier appearing to him and watching over them. I mean, I don't think it's out of character and,given the religion that spawned around Kelsier and the fact that Spook had no other explanation at the time, it makes sense. It's just kind of chilling how quickly Ruin was able to influence Spook's thoughts and actions via Kelsier.
• Elend and Vin dancing together with Allomantic grace is such a lovely image.
• Spook is so used to constantly flaring tin that when he gets pewter, he takes to constantly burning it, as well, and just stops sleeping and pushing himself really hard. I don't think he's flaring it constantly, but he's using it all the time, which isn't necessarily great for your body.
• People just kind of accept that weird things happen around Kelsier's crew, so no one int he city really thinks too hard about Spook wearing the cloth over his eyes. It kinda gives him away, though.
• Ughh, the prejudice over the mist sickness is maddening. :facepalm It's so realistic, though. When something goes wrong, everyone always looks for another group to blame. Preservation meant for the 1/16 thing to be a big clue and a positive thing for the people who got sick (though not so much for those who died ) and instead everyone assumes it's because those people are flawed. :desk
• I'm constantly taken aback by how deep the ash is. Like at first it's up to their calves and then up to their thighs. :eek And Vin notes that it would be hard to walk in without pewter... man.... I know it's the end of the world, but still.

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Hero of Ages Ch. 41-50 (note: there are spoilers for the end of the book in my notes)

• I'd forgotten that Inquisitor spikes could double as Feruchemical metalminds! :eek That's very cool. (if very creepy, just like everything about Hemalurgy)
• Vin is confused about Yomen for a long time, thinking that he clearly has a Mistborn working for him. She jumps to a lot of wrong conclusions based on that assumption. (the assumption that's born because of Ruin's shadow following her around, who she thinks is an enemy Mistborn)
• It's really frustrating how long it takes them to realize that Atium Mistings must exist. :facepalm :facepalm Like I know they were always told that they didn't exist and that's pretty ingrained and I know that Sanderson talked about how he couldn't find a good time earlier to have them realize it. But it's still frustrating to have them constantly stating this wrong assumption about Yomen, since I found it so obvious even on my first read through....
• When near Ruin, Vin feels Allomantic pulses from him, but they're not distinct. Interesting. I guess Ruin's pulses would feel similar to Preservation's, but since Ruin's obviously not using Allomancy, it just feels vaguely Allomancy-ish to Vin.
• I also had forgotten that some of Reen's voices in Vin's head was Ruin all along.
• After all the 'impossible' things Sazed has seen, he still dismisses the idea that anyone can gain new powers and, until the end, believes he must've just been imagining things when he thought that Spook was burning pewter. Though I'm rather happy to think that he now knows the truth since he's a god.
• Sazed goes on about how he can't use his metalminds because he doesn't think the knowledge in them is actually useful. (referring specifically to the religious information) Then Spook tells him a concrete reason why they would be useful (engineering knowledge) and Sazed still takes some convincing to actually use them. That proves that Sazed had more reasons than just that for not using the metalminds. (which we already knew 'cause we're in Sazed's head, but it's still interesting)
• Even though Ruin is different from Allomancy (which is from Preservation), his powers can mimic Allomantic-like powers. Vin compares his emotional manipulation to zinc/brass.
• Spook casually mentions that the nobility never got taken by the mists. An important clue! But due to the structure of the society, very difficult for skaa to notice.

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

Spoiler: HUGE Spoiler for Secret history

If I remember correctly, it actually IS Kelsier appearing to Spook some of the times... Because Ruin focused so much on Vin and Elend, Kelsier was able to get through to Spook when Ruin wasn't actively blocking...

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Ch. 51-60

• Vin is apparently puzzled that Elend couldn't figure out the horseshoe trick. At the time, though, I remember it did take her a bit to figure out how it would work and made a lot of mistakes at first. Given how naturally Allomancy comes to Vin, it makes sense that it would take anyone else much longer.
• Elend also comes up with his own cool tricks, though! He's able to push on some of the coins and pull on others in the same bag, ripping it apart and spraying coins in both directions. Cool idea!
• Spook asks Kelsier what to say when talking with Beldre. He attributes his silence to him not knowing how to answer questions that didn't relate to securing the city. However, he also does not actually say his question out loud and Ruin can't read minds.
• Vin feels an intense craving for metals and notes that Allomancy is not suppimposed to be addictive. Could she experiencing a side effect of burning her metals so consistently? Like Spook's dependence on Tin.
• Elend talking to the mist spirit: "Bounce around for a yes." Does anyone find this image really comical? I love Elend telling a god to please bounce around for him.
• Spook's influenced by Ruin and we see him think to himself that he was the one overthrew the Lord Ruler, despite previously telling everyone that he only had a small role to play. He's getting really cocky and power-hungry due to Ruin's influence.
• Ruin as Kelsier tells Spook to kill one of the guards in the burning house and, without a second thought, Spook complies, despite that not having been his plan. Sanderson does a good job at showing Ruin's insidious effects on people.
• Then Ruin starts getting creepily specific, which probably also helps Spook 'snap out of it' when confronting Quellion. Ruin starts telling Spook to kill Beldre by stabbing a spike through her heart into him. Very subtle, Ruin.....
• I love Spook's climax here, realizing about the metal in his own body that Ruin had convinced him to ignore and then saving Quellion by removing his spike, too! :joy Such a cool scene!
• Kelsier (not Ruin as Kelsier, but actual Kelsier) speaks to Spook and tells him "I named you, Spook. You were my friend. Isn't that enough?" Such a sweet moment.

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Ch. 61-72:

• I love Kelsier telling Spook that he has to deliver his message. And it ends up saving the world after all! I'm glad Spook got that validation from Kelsier and ended up supplying that crucial bit of information. Sanderson's note about this in the annotations: "Spook was the only one in the crew he could speak to. That’s because Spook truly has faith in Kelsier as a deity—which, for these few weeks between Preservation’s death and the coming of the Hero of Ages, Kelsier is." That's sooo cool! :joy That Kelsier gets a few weeks of using Preservation's powers and that, in the end, Spook's dedication to Kelsier as a deity (even though it's partially fuelled by Ruin himself!!) is what ends up saving the world.
• "There was someone standing above him. A face. One...quite a bit uglier than the face he'd hoped to see. 'Breeze?'" Poor Breeze! In my head, Breeze is quite handsome.
• Vin and Elend both independently conclude that the other one wouldn't attack the city because the other one's a better person than themselves.
• The kandra prophecies say that the Hero of Ages will bring an army of Allomancers to the Homeland to save everyone. In the end, neither Vin nor Sazed really end up doing that. The one who brings the army is Elend's officers and then Elend himself.
• Getting to see the First Generation after all this time is really cool! That's very inconvenient to be a kandra who's not great at digesting and forming new bodies.
• Sazed is insistent until the end that Vin is the Hero of Ages, even after one of the First Generation suggests to him that she may not be.
• It's amazing how knowledgeable the First Generation is about Ruin and Preservation. I'm curious how they came by this knowledge. They're talking about the pacts between gods and the gods' motivations. Did Ruin/Preservation tell them directly what was happening? How would humans find out about that kind of stuff? :scratch
• Sanderson does a very good job at portraying how hopeless everything becomes at the end of the world. Even TenSoon's journey to find Vin gets interrupted by a huge field of flowing lava.
• Sazed's certainly right that it's good that Ruin had such a hard time giving duralumin to his minions. That would've been disastrous.
• I'd forgotten how insanely powerful Marsh was and how many more spikes he has than the other Inquisitors. He has so much powers! And even with so many spikes, he was able to resist Ruin at the end. That's incredibly impressive. I looove the scene of Marsh realizing what Spook's message meant and ripping the earring out of Vin's ear. :joy :joy Yay Marsh!

A Sanderson annotation that I really want to learn more about:

As has been established, Ruin’s control over creatures—and, indeed, an Allomancer’s control over them—grows weaker when that creature is going through some extreme emotions. (Like the koloss blood frenzy.) This has to do with the relationship between the Cognitive Realm, the Physical Realm, and the Spiritual Realm—of which I don’t have time to speak right now.

Suffice it to say that there are people who have Snapped because of intense joy or other emotions. It just doesn’t happen as frequently and is more difficult to control

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Ch. 73-End:

• Kredik Shaw literally exploding is such a cool climactic scene. :joy
• And I love Ruin realizing that Marsh betrayed him
• As always, I find it really cool how Sanderson ties all the threads together. We don't think it's that odd that Vin is so attached to the earring she always carries around. After all, it' the only thing she has left from her mother. But even that was Ruin's influence all along.
• I like the little touch that the First Generation still call Rashek by his first name, since they knew him personally.
• Penrod killing himself to stop Ruin from destroying everything is impressive. He realized that something was seriously wrong and, despite Ruin's influence, was able to kill himself and prevent any further harm from that influence.
• Ughhh KanPaar :facepalm :facepalm "The foolish Firsts have sat on this treasure for far too long. With these riches, we could be ruling, not serving mankind." Yeah, it's clearly just the Firsts being stupid and greedy. surely they had no other reason for keeping the atium hidden. Is KanPaar being influenced by Ruin here? I know he's not the most sensible kandra anyway, but this still seems pretty extreme.
• Awww, I like Vin thanking the Lord Ruler at the end for all he did for humanity.
• Man, the scene of the Resolution with the kandra pulling out their spikes it chilling. And incredible how many of them so readily followed Haddek's simple command. Even though they'd been trained to do this, it's still a gigantic sacrifice to take on a moment's notice. I agree with Sazed that it's impressive how many of them obeyed the command so readily.
• Sazed about the kandra: "They were of Preservation all along."
• TenSoon appearing to people in Luthadel as Kelsier ended up encouraging them to flee to the Hoomeland and he ended up saving a lot of lives.
• Seeing the mistwraiths with bones of stone, metal, and wood is so heartbreaking. :cry The remnants of a rich kandra culture destroyed in an instant leaving only mistwraiths.
• Ughhhh :facepalm Stupid Seconds. Marsh ends up getting atium from one of them 'cause they were "carrying it, looking to sell it." :desk
• Vin Snapped while her mother was giving birth to her. I'd forgotten about that. I hadn't even realized that was possible, honestly, to Snap during your first moments of life. So Vin doesn't even remember her own Snapping, which helps explain how she had no idea she was Mistborn.
• Sazed providing the stack of books containing all the information from his metalminds. :joy :joy In the end, all the knowledge that the Keepers had managed to obtain over the centuries didn't go to waste.
• And Sazed making Spook Mistborn is great, especially since Kelsier asked him to. :joy Hopefully Spook doesn't mind Sazed repairing the damage from flaring his Tin. That's gonna be weird for him to get used to, I'd imagine!

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

Yes, I find the idea of the kandra very fascinating. I think the Seconds reluctance is that they were the ones with the power, and they were very happy and content with the status quo. Probably a bit of Ruins influence too, but Ruin are always more able to influence greedy and ambitious people.
You see the same in RL cultures, which the highest levels of a society is always the ones most reluctant to change, especially if that means a reduction or loss of their privileges. You see the same in the humans in the books to, with the noble and obligator classes refusing to believe that the Lord Ruler is dead, or taking power but keeping everything the same...