Ooh, seeing you read this is fascinating. Just think how much worse high fantasy is if this is considered so different. The lightness in the writing that makes for easy reading, a male author writing a female character that is a full person, the very unique, hard magic system and the twists towards the end. That is what makes it very different, sadly, from a lot of popular high fantasy.
Book 2 reading vlog please. You have probably already started but it's much slower. I loved the detailed time we spent on the heist in this. Hate those montages in movies, lol. But there is a lot more of that sitting around and waiting or seeing their every day activities and thoughts in book 2. However, we also get a lot of what you said you were hoping for or wished had been in this book. And more female characters. I am hopeful to see what you think about the post-revolution, the feruchemy, the romance, the religions, and more. I hope you enjoy the next at least as much as this one.
I don't have a 'big book' fear but I totally have a 'series longer than a trilogy' fear! I will only start a massively long series if I *love* the author, and/or if the books are short (ie. Murderbot). On long series + long books, totally agree -- that length has to be earned (ie. I'm not happy if I feel like a lot of it is filler). I am really loving fantasy lately - enjoyed your review. ❤😊
I felt very much the same with the first book. I was frustrated with many elements but overall it was a really entertaining book. Are you going to do a video on the second book? I'm itching to hear your opinion.
I finished reading this book last night (haven't read the other two) and have just finished watching all three of your videos on this Mistborn Era 1 series (all of which are great!). I have a ton of the same thoughts you do but am surprised you enjoyed this first book as I saw a lot of the same behaviors/tropes here that you saw in books 2 and 3. I'm particularly bothered by the casual racism and misogyny that is only used as "world building" while also not being really interrogated by any of the characters. Vin being one of three women here (outside of the multiple fridged women looming behind all of the men, creating their tragic backstories) was annoyingly predictable. Vin conveniently forgetting how horribly female skaa are treated (see: routinely sexual trafficked, assaulted, and killed) just so she can be shocked about learning(?) all of this from Dox, then go cry in front of Elend because he may be a rapist like the rest of them? It felt disingenous and nauseating to her character. There were other examples via Vin and outside of her I could name but oooof. The weird sexism kept jumping out. Everything surrounding how the skaa were described was nasty and for the most part uncritical. It seemed to me like Sanderson wanted a backdrop of oppression but wasn't able or willing to actually unpack any of it or interrogate things. The amount of handwaving the oppression away just so we could spend large amounts of time either sitting around planning or sifting through push/pull action sequences was very much present in this first book. There's no way I could read the other two books if things like this only escalate as you've said!
You’re totally right! I have had all of these thoughts and considered removing this video for that reason. It’s not a good excuse, but I think I was caught up in a few flawed thought patterns. First, I was excited by the hype around Sanderson and I genuinely went in to this wanting to get in on it, which I think made me overly generous for too long. Second, I kind of assumed that the icky parts of book one were either due to the age of the book (not a great excuse and again I was too generous here) or that it would be fleshed out/addressed in future books. And third, I remember feeling frustrated with the things you’ve mentioned, but I couldn’t find anything except unadulterated praise for this book. I felt like I must be reading into something too much, or that I was just being sensitive, or because I was new to the genre I was missing something… whatever. When I got to book two and it just continued, that’s when you see the shift of me being just flabbergasted and so frustrated with the discourse around these books. A lot of that was just the shock that this isn’t something I’ve heard talked about, despite me watching soooo many people who love and talk about these books. So yes, you’re entirely right and I would not recommend reading this series. And while not good excuses, I hope that helps you make sense of my failure to address those in this video. I can be slow to process my thoughts and feelings, but since this video and reading this series, I have made more of an effort to trust my gut on things that bother me in books. Thanks for your comment :)
@@KateyOneMoreTime hey! I say don’t delete this video because honestly, it’s overall a fair take on the book from when you read it. Even though I had some biiiiig issues with it myself, it was far from the worst book of its kind/genre I’ve read. There are things to like and you were excited by them at that time! The disappointing thing, outside of some troubling tropes, is that Sanderson just… does all of them again and more aggressively in books 2 and 3 from your reviews. All three of your videos are solid and your now fully formed view on the whole series may alter how you felt about book 1 (and all of that’s okay).
To me the romance between Vin and Elend seemed real. Like Vin ain’t an adult, even with experience with romantic relarionships. So she was innocent in that area. Plus going from being an underworld girl ska to a noble young woman was a huge deal to her. To that add the fact that she had a lot of stress she was dealing with. Plus in a way their friendship seemed pretty organic. When she cried out remember it was after that other lady had put her down pretty badly plus trying to recruit her to sabotage Elend. She was emotional. She was a young woman that wasn’t raised to deal with those emotions, except for hurrying them deep. But she had started to feel. And she had started to become less numb. And she had started to actually care for people. That’s why she cried. It was explained and made a lot of sense and at the same time it didn’t because real people don’t act predictable because people are emotional at times and make irrational choices too. She was written well and I felt her pain each time. It was actually the parts that I think were the best. Specially when she said to herself: “I love him” and then went to do something super insane. That was like a huge deal to the story and you could feel it like OMG wtf! So I disagree.
Ooh, seeing you read this is fascinating. Just think how much worse high fantasy is if this is considered so different. The lightness in the writing that makes for easy reading, a male author writing a female character that is a full person, the very unique, hard magic system and the twists towards the end. That is what makes it very different, sadly, from a lot of popular high fantasy.
Yeeesssssss!!! Vlog book two please! I love love love The Final Empire trilogy 😍
Book 2 reading vlog please. You have probably already started but it's much slower. I loved the detailed time we spent on the heist in this. Hate those montages in movies, lol. But there is a lot more of that sitting around and waiting or seeing their every day activities and thoughts in book 2. However, we also get a lot of what you said you were hoping for or wished had been in this book. And more female characters. I am hopeful to see what you think about the post-revolution, the feruchemy, the romance, the religions, and more. I hope you enjoy the next at least as much as this one.
I don't have a 'big book' fear but I totally have a 'series longer than a trilogy' fear! I will only start a massively long series if I *love* the author, and/or if the books are short (ie. Murderbot). On long series + long books, totally agree -- that length has to be earned (ie. I'm not happy if I feel like a lot of it is filler). I am really loving fantasy lately - enjoyed your review. ❤😊
3:44 personal bookmark
I felt very much the same with the first book. I was frustrated with many elements but overall it was a really entertaining book. Are you going to do a video on the second book? I'm itching to hear your opinion.
Definitely working on a vlog for book two... Hoping that'll be up in the next week or two. The Sanderfans aren't going to be happy with me! 😅
@@KateyOneMoreTime They weren't happy with me either 😆
I finished reading this book last night (haven't read the other two) and have just finished watching all three of your videos on this Mistborn Era 1 series (all of which are great!). I have a ton of the same thoughts you do but am surprised you enjoyed this first book as I saw a lot of the same behaviors/tropes here that you saw in books 2 and 3. I'm particularly bothered by the casual racism and misogyny that is only used as "world building" while also not being really interrogated by any of the characters.
Vin being one of three women here (outside of the multiple fridged women looming behind all of the men, creating their tragic backstories) was annoyingly predictable. Vin conveniently forgetting how horribly female skaa are treated (see: routinely sexual trafficked, assaulted, and killed) just so she can be shocked about learning(?) all of this from Dox, then go cry in front of Elend because he may be a rapist like the rest of them? It felt disingenous and nauseating to her character. There were other examples via Vin and outside of her I could name but oooof. The weird sexism kept jumping out.
Everything surrounding how the skaa were described was nasty and for the most part uncritical. It seemed to me like Sanderson wanted a backdrop of oppression but wasn't able or willing to actually unpack any of it or interrogate things. The amount of handwaving the oppression away just so we could spend large amounts of time either sitting around planning or sifting through push/pull action sequences was very much present in this first book. There's no way I could read the other two books if things like this only escalate as you've said!
You’re totally right! I have had all of these thoughts and considered removing this video for that reason. It’s not a good excuse, but I think I was caught up in a few flawed thought patterns. First, I was excited by the hype around Sanderson and I genuinely went in to this wanting to get in on it, which I think made me overly generous for too long. Second, I kind of assumed that the icky parts of book one were either due to the age of the book (not a great excuse and again I was too generous here) or that it would be fleshed out/addressed in future books. And third, I remember feeling frustrated with the things you’ve mentioned, but I couldn’t find anything except unadulterated praise for this book. I felt like I must be reading into something too much, or that I was just being sensitive, or because I was new to the genre I was missing something… whatever. When I got to book two and it just continued, that’s when you see the shift of me being just flabbergasted and so frustrated with the discourse around these books. A lot of that was just the shock that this isn’t something I’ve heard talked about, despite me watching soooo many people who love and talk about these books.
So yes, you’re entirely right and I would not recommend reading this series. And while not good excuses, I hope that helps you make sense of my failure to address those in this video. I can be slow to process my thoughts and feelings, but since this video and reading this series, I have made more of an effort to trust my gut on things that bother me in books.
Thanks for your comment :)
@@KateyOneMoreTime hey! I say don’t delete this video because honestly, it’s overall a fair take on the book from when you read it. Even though I had some biiiiig issues with it myself, it was far from the worst book of its kind/genre I’ve read. There are things to like and you were excited by them at that time! The disappointing thing, outside of some troubling tropes, is that Sanderson just… does all of them again and more aggressively in books 2 and 3 from your reviews. All three of your videos are solid and your now fully formed view on the whole series may alter how you felt about book 1 (and all of that’s okay).
To me the romance between Vin and Elend seemed real. Like Vin ain’t an adult, even with experience with romantic relarionships. So she was innocent in that area. Plus going from being an underworld girl ska to a noble young woman was a huge deal to her. To that add the fact that she had a lot of stress she was dealing with. Plus in a way their friendship seemed pretty organic. When she cried out remember it was after that other lady had put her down pretty badly plus trying to recruit her to sabotage Elend. She was emotional. She was a young woman that wasn’t raised to deal with those emotions, except for hurrying them deep. But she had started to feel. And she had started to become less numb. And she had started to actually care for people. That’s why she cried. It was explained and made a lot of sense and at the same time it didn’t because real people don’t act predictable because people are emotional at times and make irrational choices too. She was written well and I felt her pain each time. It was actually the parts that I think were the best. Specially when she said to herself: “I love him” and then went to do something super insane. That was like a huge deal to the story and you could feel it like OMG wtf! So I disagree.