Good Morning Folks! I stayed up fairly late last night to finish The Hero of Ages, the final book of the first Mistborn trilogy. This was the first series by Brandon Sanderson I had read, and I guess I can now say I am a fan. When I get into a series, it is often because I fall for the setting more than the characters, but in this novel, it was probably a combination of the two. I genuinely like the characters in this series, and they will be characters that I remember for eternity. I do find the original artwork a bit jarring because this is not at all how I pictured either character. I never would have pictured Vin as Battle Ready Shannon Doherty, and I always pictured Elend as Edgar Figaro from Final Fantasy IV. I guess that is always the challenge with books… your brain associates images with everything that rarely matches up to the later visualizations. Given that I consumed these in digital form, I was not quite so confronted by a book cover at every turn to cement a specific impression.
This has been a bit of a wild ride as far as years go because I went from maybe consuming two books in 2022 to now having finished my thirty-fifth. It feels like in many ways I am making up for lost time, because while I have always loved books and bookstores specifically… I never really forced a place in my life to read. I always had something else that was going to take priority and the only other time in my life when I really voraciously consumed books was when I got into the Dresden series several years back. It is bizarre how the simple act of wanting to get a current Library card created this chain reaction of getting access to the Libby App and then burning through a chain of books.
While I really want to read the sequel series that takes place after Mistborn, I think I am going to dive into something a little bit more chill for the moment. I just consumed two multi-book epics back to back, so I think I need to read a singleton for the moment. Given that I started with Scalzi’s lighter fare, I plan on giving Starter Villain a try tonight. I have no clue how long of a read this is going to be, or more so how quickly I will move through it. It sounds great though, and I have seen a lot of folks giving it praise on the Fediverse. After that, I think my plan is to probably pop into the next book in James Butcher’s Unorthodox Chronicles series as it released on the 10th. The first book was a bit of a mess and took me a while to get into it, but once I settled in I enjoyed it enough to keep reading the series.
Some other books that I am looking forward to are Rubicon by J.S. Dewes, because while I would rather have the next book in The Divide series… I enjoyed those books enough to try out something else by them. I have no clue when Alecto the Ninth is going to release, but whenever it does I will likely drop everything else and switch over to that as I am very sold on that universe and more specifically the characters of Gideon Nav and Harrowhark Nonagesimus. I thought book three of Linday Ellis’ Noemena series would be coming out soon, but while the book has cover art and everything… it appears that maybe it won’t be released until next summer. We have no clue at all what is going on with the Dresden Files series and while there is a tentative title for book 18, I’ve not seen anything regarding potential release dates.
There is always the Iron Druid Chronicles series that I could return to as well, and absolutely intend to at some point. I enjoyed Hounded quite a bit in a very Not-Quite-Dresden-Files sort of manner, but I’ve just never actually gotten around to reading the second book. I know in November I will make a beeline for Bookshops and Bonedust the next book in the Legends and Lattes series from Travis Baldree. There is also a bunch of stuff from N.K. Jemisin and Sangu Mandanna that I want to explore as well. After that, I have a whole slew of books that have been orbiting in the back of my brain and can essentially endlessly keep pulling forward as needed. This year really has been the year of the book for me. As always though you can follow my journey over on Bookwyrm.
I’m a Stormlight Archive boi through and through, but Mistborn was my first BrandoSando too! I think it’s a lot of peoples’ first and is a great intro to the Cosmere, because of everything I’ve read of his it goes the most in-depth about explaining the mechanics to the reader, not just the characters. Of course, I’m at a point in the S.A. where they’re beginning to apply similar scientific rigor to that series’ magic system, and I’m glad I have that Mistborn experience to fall back on.
All of the Iron Druids are great! Like you (I presume), I started them as a way to fill the time between Dresden Files, but they grow into their own thing very quickly, especially once the comedic voice (coughOberoncough) really gels. They’re weird books for me personally because I read them for years while living in another state and by complete coincidence now live in Mesa, so when I drive past Papago Park on the way to work it’s like seeing MacAnally’s on a street corner.
Also good looking out on the new Scalzi; I really enjoyed The Kaiju Preservation Society and could definitely use more of his lighter fare, I’ll check it out directly!
There’s a 2nd Mistborn series set a few centuries after the events of Hero of Ages. If you search the term “Wax and Wayne” you’ll find it easily enough. I enjoyed both trilogies, but i think I enjoyed the 2nd even more than the 1st, though I doubt I would have without the foundation of the 1st series either, so…. take that for whatever you will.
https://www.amazon.com/Mistborn-Wayne-Alloy-Shadows-Mourning-ebook/dp/B0786LGCNR
I loved the first trilogy but it’s nothing compared to my love of Wax and Wayne. I hope someday Sanderson follows through with his original plan to release a third series set in the time of space travel. He’s kind of already done that with the other Cosmere stuff but it would be neat to see how it presents in scadrial as a planet.