Pardon me ladies and gentlemen. It is indeed Monday. No need to adjust your calendars. After last week’s edge-of-your-seat developments in Mistborn: The Final Empire, the majority of us lost all sense of self-control and rushed ahead to read the ending section of the novel. The discussions for Part Four bordered on the spoiler-ish with so many (myself included) aching to talk about the remainder of the novel.

And so we’ve moved the discussion up by a few days.

For any interested, I will be leaving for the first part of my vacation today, a visit to the in-laws, and will have limited access to the internet. I will join in the conversations as much as I possibly can and wish everyone else a wonderful time mulling over this final section of this very good novel. If you haven’t read it, add it to your list. It will be worth the time.

Major spoilers ensue, so for those who may have an inkling to read the book I will say my goodbyes now. Have a wonderful week everyone.

1. So, what do you think of Kelsier’s plan now? Or his ‘plan within a plan’? How do you feel the late introduction of the kandra and how it fit into Kelsier’s plan?

The shock of Kelsier’s death drove me to keep reading right into the next chapter, and I was surprised to see that death was actually a part of his plan, or at least was a back-up plan that he had in mind if defeating the Lord Ruler did not go off as he planned. I thought it was brilliant how Sanderson worked a brief mention of the kandra in before this section. It was instantly mysterious and strange to find out about these creatures and was both surprising and sad to see it take on Kelsier’s form in order to reinforce in the mind’s of the skaa that Kelsier’s message–hope–should not die.

I had a couple of different reactions to the back-up plan. First, as I’ve mentioned, I thought it was a brilliant part of the book. It was unexpected and very interesting to see that despite his impulsivity, or perhaps because of it, Kelsier had a layers of planning and preparation going on. He wasn’t just lucky and charismatic, he was a planner. It was also very sad because it reinforced the fact that Kelsier was actually dead. There wasn’t going to be a comic book resurrection in the next chapter. Nope, he was dead.

My second reaction came about later after I had finished the book and that was to compare what Keslier did to the manipulation that happened in the Foundation Trilogy. Because that is what happened. No matter how you want to paint it (and I’m not complaining here, just making a comparison), Kelsier used his powers to build up an image of himself and then concocted a resurrection plan that would inspire his ‘believers’ into action because of their belief that he was invincible. No matter that it was for the good of the skaa. The Foundationers and the Second Foundationers also believed that what they did was for the good of the people and the sustaining and rebuilding of the Empire. It is an interesting ‘the ends justify the means’ way of looking at things. And I think it works great for the type of character Kelsier was. He was a rebel, a thief, a survivor, and this type of ‘honor’ and ‘morality’, for lack of a better way to say it, is so consistent with the character. I give Sanderson such kudos for these moments when he gets it right, when there is an internal consistency within the book. It is so well done.

Anyway, I’ll be interested in everyone else’s thoughts here, particularly if you were a part of the many discussion on manipulative religion/politics that we had when reading the Foundation Trilogy.

2. The final section of the book was very Vin-centric. How do you feel about the choices she made and did you have any worries/fears about what might happen to her before everything was resolved?

Let me preface this by stating unequivocally that I have liked Vin from the start. Given that knowledge, I want to state that I felt she grew more and more interesting as a character as the novel progressed. The more I journeyed with her the more she grew on me, the more fond I became of her. I could feel her devastation over the death of Kelsier–heck, I was devastated too! And her reaction to this death was partially impulsive, which was so in the spirit of honoring Kelsier, while also being just slightly more calculated. To this point I think we would all agree that Vin has no idea of her true power, but she has started to have some idea that she is different and I think that revelation coupled with ideas brewing in her head gave her just the right level of confidence that she just might be able to pull off what Kelsier couldn’t.

I wasn’t worried that Vin would die. I didn’t expect Sanderson to do that to us so quickly after Kelsier’s death, but when she and then Sazed ended up in prison I was really worried that when the book came to a close we would be left with a weak and battered Vin lying in some Lord Ruler dungeon. I can tell you for a fact that I was not excited about the idea of Vin and Sazed going through some long torturous process.

3. After all that we find out that the Lord Ruler wasn’t the prophesied one after all. Surprised? Had you figured it out? What thoughts do you have about the big reveal, including how it tied into Sazed’s people?

I was duped right up to the big reveal. I never once thought the “Lord Ruler” might actually be someone other than the person who had told us their story through the vignettes. Instead of the Hero we got Rashek. If I suspected anything at all about Rashek is that at some point the Hero would have killed him and that perhaps that first move against the Terrisman was what caused the Lord Ruler to become what he was. We often speculated about how someone who seemed like he had some good traits, based on his journal entries, could have become this skaa-murdering Lord Ruler. And now we know. Wow! I haven’t spent a lot of time yet thinking about how Rashek treated his own people, but it bears considering. How awful that he not only couldn’t accept the prophecies about the Hero being from another race but that he evidently went on a campaign of genocide to what–make sure he stayed on power? Stopped the Terrisman from figuring out his secret? It really is horrible to think about what Rashek did to his own people and to the skaa.

And yes, perhaps he was doing one good thing, keeping the Deepness at bay, but what if the real Hero could have wiped it out entirely? If the Lord Ruler was truly keeping some horrible thing in control then I would have to believe he had much more self-interest than interest in the people.

What a perfect, uncaring and cold-hearted villain he was. I’m almost sad to see him go. Almost.

4. There was some back and forth about Elend throughout the story and we finally got to see him take a greater stand. Any predictions about what might happen in book two with Elend taking on leadership duties?

I was pretty neutral about Elend at the beginning. I like romance in my genre stories and I wasn’t sure I wanted to trust him early on to be a good love interest for Vin. Sanderson wrote him in such a way that he kept the reader guessing for awhile, wondering if Elend was just a spoiled noble playing rebel or if he was someone whose reading was generating a true passion to change things. And it appears that it is the later and I’m happy to see that. Of course the real test of Elend’s character is to come. It is all very romantic to dream about changing things but the reality of being a leader is so much more difficult. I’m not sure what will happen with Elend in book two, but I’ve got to believe that he is in for some rough times now that he has been thrust onto center stage as the new leader of Luthadel. I’m crossing my fingers for him and for Vin.

5. Lastly, provide a little wrap up of your experience with the book. What do you think Sanderson’s strengths are? How does this book stack up against other fantasies you’ve read?

I did enter the read with a slight amount of trepidation only because The Way of Kings was such an excellent, stunner of a novel. Knowing this was one of Sanderson’s earlier works made me wonder if it would pale in comparison. And it does ever so slightly when looking at it with a critical eye. There are some errors here and there (all the eye-rolling, the rushed nature of Vin’s attraction to Elend) but they are so minor compared to the overall quality of the book. It is easy to see Sanderson’s skill and how that skill developed between writing this novel and eventually making it to penning The Way of Kings. Sanderson does a good job of balancing the use of well-worn fantasy tropes and turning those tropes on their ear. He isn’t trying to reinvent the genre from the ground up, instead he is drawing inspiration from some great sources and crafting a gripping story in his own voice. Count me as a fan. I was very impressed with this one and thrilled to see that it generated as much discussion as the last Sanderson group read that I participated in. I highly, highly recommend this book. It is a winner.

A BIG “THANK YOU” to all of you who participated. To TBM, Grace and Lynn, you ladies ROCK! Thanks for helping with the questions and for coming up with such great ones. To those who had already read the book, I commend you for your self-control and your skill in being able to engage us with insightful conversation without spoiling anything. And to everyone who participate: you are GREAT! You are intelligent and bold and you provide though-provoking book discussion. I wish I could sit down with each and everyone one of you in a big room and raise a glass of your beverage of choice in a toast to you all. Thank you! I’ll be picking up my own copy of The Well of Ascension sometime this week and will get a group read schedule and questions schedule for the next two books out via email and blog post. Until then, enjoy a bit of non-Sanderson reading and get ready for the rest of our roller coaster ride! 🙂

Please post your discussion links below, gang.