Now that they found the Well of Ascension and released something called Ruin, ashe has come more hazardly down from the ashmounts and the world is really dying. How are Vin, Elend, and the rest of Kelsier's remaining crew supposed to handle the end of the world?
Vin, Elend, and Ham are down south helping gather villagers into the capital city where they are sure crops can grow. Then they head to the final cache location that the Lord Ruler had set up to supply his people. Though they are having a hard time with an obilgator playing king as though nothing bad were happening.
TenSoon went back to his people to pay for the betrayals he committed in telling Vin kandra secrets.
Spook is up north playing a spy where the fourth cache is hidden under city with a king who is killing most everyone who was nobility. But what is this? Is he starting to see Kelsier? Also, how did he suddenly become so strong? He is no longer someone who is just ignored or a common scout. He tries to be so much like Kelsier, the leader the powerful one, the Survivor... And they end up giving him a name: the Survivor of the Flames, which is cool.
And Sazed is having a crisis of faith. Now that the love of his life is dead, he doesn't know where she has gone. So he searches all of the religions he's collected to find the answers. This is a very interesting plot line to me. His search for truth and trying to find faith. Breeze tells him he wouldn't be a good atheist and it is very true for Sazed. I'm sure many people found this annoying if they weren't religious at all, but the way Sanderson explores the process of finding faith, and that it isn't normally some grand thing that everyone sees, but often times something small that no one else really notices, was interesting to read about. (PS Breeze is with Sazed and they venture up to meet with Spook.)
I do like the explanations of what is going on in this world, though. The chapter headings were super helpful in world building that just couldn't happen through the normal story. The world building, well...the world in general, is engenious. Ruin and Preservation and their battle with balance and the people of the world have to endure it, or at least try too.
Through some thought, I think this is my third favorite of the Mistborn series. Third because it is the last in the trilogy (though don't get me wrong it was a good book). I think it was because more of it focused on everyone else but Vin more a large portion of the time. She got her moments of awesomeness, but they weren't nearly as many as in previous books. I love Vin. She is my favorite! I wanted more of her or Elend. Sazed is cool, but I wanted more of them.
Also, the ending had me in tears, which is okay. I can take some well earned crying. But there were too many people killed in this final battle to make me happy. The way they beat Ruin was awesome, and the mythology behind it was extremely well thought out, but SO MUCH DEATH!!!!
Lack of Vin and in my opinion unneeded deaths. I mean, I'm sure they are all happy in the afterlife, which is illuded too, but they could have been happy now that they have (SPOILER!) grass and flowers again. Instead now they have to have someone else run the kingdoms and govern everything now that most everyone is dead. Ugh, I think there was too much death for me. While it wasn't a pretty sight to begin with and it ended up very much better at the end.... *shakes head* Also, there wasn't nearly as much witty bantering as there were in the other two books. It seemed for more depressing, which I get fits the mood of the end of the world but still.
Good book and it finished out the series so then I can be mostly content. Not completely, but well enough. I'm super glad that there are three more books in this world that I can hopefully be more satisfied.
