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

Ignis al'Caleum

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Oh it's ok, just clarifying what I meant ;) No need to apologize, sorry if it sounded that way!

No worries - I'm just really tired from rehearsals and what not - so sometimes I'm worried what I say sounds snarky lol. Just wanted to cover my grounds :D
 

Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum

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I have read the prologue and first chapter of HoA! :D Woulda been more, but my kitty getting sick made me worry. He's on his way to getting better now, though, so I'll be back on track soon. :pleased-1:
 

Ignis al'Caleum

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I have read the prologue and first chapter of HoA! :D Woulda been more, but my kitty getting sick made me worry. He's on his way to getting better now, though, so I'll be back on track soon. :pleased-1:

He needs more boops from me!
 

Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum

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Kassina Tendar

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Why are the mists starting by killing people in the Outer Dominances and moving inward? I forget. :scratch
 

Leira Galene

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On both of my rereads of this book now it's been really fun comparing the epigraphs and the rubbing Sazed and Tindwyl are studying.

Also, if this were a true YA novel, Vin would definitely end up with Zane because uh hello broken misunderstood bad boy version of her boyfriend? YA love triangle written alllll over it. They do legitimately have chemistry, though.
 

Leira Galene

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Also, I can't remember if I've said this already, but in a lot of ways Tindwyl reminds me of Cadsuane.
 

Alyria Ess

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I just finished reading it for the first time and I just ugh'd over Vin and Zane. It wasn't developed as a love triangle, and if you're not going to develop it why bother. He could have existed as is without the romance factor, or with the full fledged romance factor, but instead he was just kind of there. Liked the character, didn't care for the execution. In more ways than one.
 

Leira Galene

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I'm binging it today to try to finish, sorry for all the posts. Sazed is a clever bastard, and the end of Part Four is my favorite part of the book so far, I think. The fight with Zane and then the marriage ceremony while getting stitched up are really nice.

Alyria, I agree. But Brandon is never very good at writing sexual tension, which there really should have been more between Vin and Zane.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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I am falling behind, but I also love Tindwyl :pleased-1: And while I am glad that Zane and Vin doesn't have that sexual tension between them, and how Elend and Vin has such a strong relationship, Zane is a bit of a wasted character. He is introduced mainly as a distraction from Vins musings while out in the mist, and a bit of an excuse for how Vin gets better at Allomancy...
 

Aduiavas Ida

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That is true. But how is Ruin able to do that when he is still under the Well of Ascension?
 

Kassina Tendar

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I have read it. :look: I just forget and am enjoying re-reading it with knowledge of future events :cheeseeni:

I think I did remember it on my own, though.

Notes from ch. 28-38:
  • OreSeur starts joking around with Vin. They're actually becoming friends! :giggle
  • Even before all the craziness that happens later, Vin is already burning pewter just to stay awake, sleeping only a few hours a night.
  • I like OreSeur comparing Elend's devotion to the city with kandra devotion to their master.
  • Elend simultaneously tells his friends that he doesn't need to listen to the council because it's not a formal parlay, then literally tells them "When facing down my father in parlay, I realized..." :arch
  • Elend just knows Zane as 'his father's allomancer'.
  • Cett tells the assembly that he'll oppress the skaa again, except for the ones in the Assembly.... :facepalm And, of course, to the skaa assemblymen that's great! They'll get titles and become noblemen, so it won't matter to them that the skaa are oppressed anymore. :rolleyes (of course, not all the skaa on the assembly think this way, but Cett plans to win them over with this argument)
  • We learn about the kandra religion, which is interesting! Humans use koloss to destroy the world, since they're of Ruin. Though they also think positively of the koloss, since they're related. It's cool to learn a bit about kandra culture and mindset.
  • Vin carries 'padded coins' around for stealthy jumping. :shifty
  • We learn more about the Church of the Survivor. Vin think the people sound rational (even with how they deify Kelsier) until they talk about her. A normal thing for anyone involved with the (unintentional) founding of a religion, I would imagine. The beliefs even got pretty specific, with green grass, stopping the ash, etc. possibly because of the rumors Kelsier found and the things that Sazed remembered pre-Ascension.
  • Demoux 'knew' that Kelsier would come for them after the army's betrayal in the last book. Vin pulling Kelsier back makes people deify him even more.
  • Vin pulling Elend's sword from its sheath with Allomancy seems super dangerous. :look: She could easily cut Elend that way.
  • OreSeur doesn't just obey the contract; he actually enjoys helping Vin. :)
  • It ends up saving people's lives, but it seems so weird to me that Vin doesn't tell anyone else (except OreSeur) about duralumin. Like... even Elend? He was there when she got the new alloy and found that it wasn't poisonous. I feel like she would've told him at some point. :scratch

I finished the 2nd book and am in book 3 again now, but I'm gonna type up my notes piece-by-piece still.
 

Kassina Tendar

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Notes from ch. 39-48:
  • TenSoon helps Vin during the fight at the Assembly Hall. He doesn't actually break his contract, but it's a hint of what happens later. He's increasingly loyal to Vin on a personal level and will eventually end up breaking his Contract. Brandon does a good job at building up the kandra Contract so that it's quite a shock that he's actually willing to do it.
  • Vin is very smart and able to piece together information. She figures out that the Lord Ruler created the kandra. She also realizes some about the true nature of the Well of Ascension and the Lord Ruler. It's quite impressive.
  • Vin taking control of TenSoon is painful to read. :\ Poor TenSoon.
  • I like learning more about Keeper society. It takes years for Keepers to transmit their own knowledge to future Keepers. I imagine they have to do this in groups. One Keeper transmitting their knowledge onto 2-3 Keepers. I know there aren't a ton of Keepers, but it'd be very dangerous for them to just do it one-to-one. You could spend 1 full year starting transmitting your knowledge and then something could happen to your pupil and you'd have to start over again with someone else...
  • Jastes using fake money to bribe the Koloss is quite clever... even if trying to control a Koloss army is rather reckless.
  • Elend's very lucky that he survived that attack on the Koloss. :brown-blink: :brown-blink:
  • Zane explicitly tells Vin that Demoux is the traitor, saying that he went to Straff to offer a deal. Zane is very blatantly lying to Vin to manipulate her.... good thing Vin doesn't actually end up leaving with him.
  • Vin and Zane going full Mistborn murdery on Cett's keep is a throwback to Kelsier. Vin ends up going back to slaughtering everyone like Kelsier used to.
  • To Zane, 'Mistborn' and 'murderer' are equivalent. When Vin refuses to kill Cett, he tells Vin that means that Elend controls her and she's not truly free. To Zane, you can't be a true Mistborn if you're not slaughtering people with your true power.
  • Ham realizes that Vin is hiding things from them. Good. He notes that even with pewter, she's doing impressive things. Elend brushes it offer as her being 'special', but Ham knows pewter. She hasn't told anyone about duralumin.
  • Dockson suggests joining Penrod since he's the new king... which seems weird to me. I mean, they were originally a thieving crew. They only were helping Elend 'cause Kelsier helped them create this and they ended up becoming loyal to what he created. But it's not like they're a group of official royal assistants. :scratch There's nothing to say they have to all stick together and join the current king...
  • I like Ham requesting that Breeze Soothe him and give him some more confidence. :) That sounds helpful to have a Soother friend sometimes.
  • Even way before Vin realizes the truth about the Well, she notices how incredibly loud the thumpings are when standing in the Lord Ruler's private room in Kredik Shaw.
  • Despite everything, Zane is dedicated to helping his father win the throne.... while telling Vin that he's helping Elend by having her leave the city with him. Zane thinks he's what's best for Vin, while lying to her constantly. And even gives her fake atium, which could've gotten her killed...
  • I'd forgotten about the spike in Zane's chest!a
  • Poor TenSoon, forced to betray Vin. :cry But the end of the fight is awesome! :joy And I love him subtly helping Vin without physically intervening at first. :) TenSoon is great.
  • In the end, the only person Vin actually shared what she found out about Duralumin with is the traitor. :\ I still think it's weird that she didn't at least tell Elend or someone else she was certain about trusting about it....
chapter 43 said:
She spun on the floor, whipping out her legs and flaring pewter, tripping a good four men.
Did anyone else imagine Vin break dancing in this sentence? :laugh:

Major spoilers for book 3:
  • The hero of ages, according to the prophecies, isn't from Terris. But the original writings just said that he would be 'separate' from Terris, which Sazed certainy is. He's a bit of a rebel.l


Spoilers for book 3:
  • Vin notices that the mist around Zane swirls around him, but also kind of pulls away. Because of his hemalurgy, I assume.
  • Ruin tells Zane that it never told him to kill Vin, because it was still planning to manipulate Vin to release it from the Well.
 
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Kassina Tendar

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Notes from chapters 49-Epilogue:
  • Elend makes Vin ride instead of running when they leave Luthadel. I find it a kind funny image that she would otherwise prefer to just job beside Elend for hours. :laugh: I mean, it makes sense, but it's an amusing image.
  • Vin is really clever with her allomancy, using pewter dust for several innovative uses. Using it to throw into the fire and blow ash in everyone's face, for example.
  • Allrianne recruiting her own pet bandits who tried to murder her is funny. :laugh:
  • Allrianne does what she can to bring Cett's army to (hopefully) the aid of Luthadel all for Breeze. :)
  • Straff is amazed that Zane did actually do something to help him, but still believes that Zane was trying to kill him. (I guess he figures that Zane is crazy, so those can both be true)
  • Vin does notice that the thumpings of the Well are getting softer as she goes north, despite (for awhile, at least) being unable to pinpoint a direction for them. They're getting louder, but also more precise, as she's eventually able to follow them to their source.
  • Vin interprets the mist spirit's eyes as hateful. Interesting.
  • Poor Spook, having to face Vin's ire for listening to Sazed and his uncle. :(
  • Vin uses her Pewter dust really fast and is already out of it. I guess she figured she wouldn't need it much in the Terris mountains and just needed it around Luthadel as they were escaping.
  • Sazed wears a loincloth instead of underwear? :scratch Uhhhhh.... why? Or is it just that his bulk ripped up his underwear so it's now just functioning as a loincloth?
  • Elend doesn't understand how Spook can see through the mists even with Tin. He has heard that Tin also allows you to pierce the mists. But it makes sense that he would be confused. Mist is very different from normal fog. I imagine that Tin would not 'pierce' normal fog in the same way.
  • Despite Ruin's best efforts, there are still contradictions to find between the prophecies, even if some of them are small, such as the height of the Hero.
  • Vin is very smart and quick to realize what the location of the Well means: that the Lord Ruler was able to use the power from the Well to actually change the world and move its location. I don't think a lot of people would've come to that conclusion so quickly.
  • Sazed doesn't know what's going on outside when he hears voices and so taps his tinmind to hear better, instead of just.... going to look out the window. :laugh:
  • The Lord Ruler has a map from before the Ascension, before the land changed in the basement of Kredik Shaw.
  • Poor Marsh. :( :cry
  • The mists are actually pulling away from Vin as she enters Kredik Shaw. Interesting....
  • We see (for the first time?) as Vin holds the Well's power that all life on Scadrial is limited to the poles of the planet.
  • Ruin's even able to change the information in Keepers' metalminds! :brown-blink:
 

Leira Galene

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I finally finished! I noticed the things you pointed out, too, Kassina. I do quite like the end of the book.
 

Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum

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On the topic of Zane, he started out interesting, and made me more and more uncomfortable the more we found out about him. :look: I definitely felt sorry for him to an extent, but...yeah, no. No in a very big way.

I'm a few chapters into Hero of Ages now. Sazed needs so many hugs. :(
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Ok, finally finished this book :)

I remember now why I feel that this is among Sandersons weakest novels. I LOVE Final Empire/Mistborn, but this book is too slow. Especially towards the end. It is almost like I read Robert Jordan :look: :P It's like "just get to the stupid Well of Ascension already!" But it does have a lot of things happening that I had forgotten. I think I have only read this book once or twice, since I didn't really like it :look:

Zane starts off great, but I agree that they could have had it end without romantic tension. I enjoyed reading about the two of them attacking Cetts mansion, and their final battle, when Vin beat him even without atium, but the sexual tension is cringy.

Yeah, I really feel sad for Sazed :( Finally finding some love in his life, only to loose it like that? :cry

You know, the last fight in this book, when Vin suddenly turned up out of the sky like that and subdues all the koloss? It is not going to help her convincing the skaa she is not a goddess, or someone to worship :P

And poor Spook :( Everyone tends to forget about him, and I think he feels that he is not really a part of the "original" crew. He is not present at their meetings for instance :(

Oh, about how the mists pulling away from Vin? HUGE Spoiler for the end of the Hero of Ages:
It is because Vin is still wearing her earring, a Hemalurgic spike.
 

Kassina Tendar

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Oh, about how the mists pulling away from Vin? HUGE Spoiler for the end of the Hero of Ages:
It is because Vin is still wearing her earring, a Hemalurgic spike.

I did wonder if that was it, but is that something we see happen elsewhere in the books? Like I know she spent a lot of time in this book not wearing the earring, but I don't remember the mists regularly pulling away from her whenever she wears it. Am I misremembering? Or does it have to do with the amount of allomancy she's doing? Like it's only noticeable if she's using a lot of power?
 
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