Mistborn 3 - The Hero of Ages, by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson did it again - not a disappointing end to the Mistborn Trilogy at all, and it's been the most exciting fantasy series I've come across since Harry Potter and Twilight. I'm usually pretty good at anticipating things, enough that a lot of stories seem predictable to me. I had lots of theories and predictions about this book, how it would wrap up the series, and they were, without exception, wrong! Which I think was awesome. The only author I've discovered who compares in his/her ability to interlink plot details, have unexpected twists, etc. is J.K.Rowling, and I can't give Sanderson much higher praise than that. Some of the things that happened gave me big AHA moments that were lots of fun.

As with the other books, the action is awesome. Allomancy is cool, and the battle sequences are awesome. You learn too about more about Ferrochemists and also about Hemalurgy, which is all unique to these books. Some of the details get a little macabre, so probably still PG-13.

I also love the characters in these books. They seem so real to me, with well developed personalities, and also with personal struggles and developments. This book especially shows Sazed and Elend as they deal with things that test their metal (haha - metal - ok so not funny unless you've read the books). As with the other books, the setting, subject matter, and way things are handled is original and amazing. Pretty much the only other thing I can think to say without spoiling anything is that you won't be left with much of anything unresolved in this one - only enough for Sanderson to someday write sequels, but they aren't needed to wrap up the series.

Top marks again for this one. Way to go, Brandon Sanderson, and thanks to Paul and Danny for recommending this series to me!

The Well of Ascension - Mistborn 2

Whoah! Yeah. Whoah. Not at all what I was expecting in The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. At all. If the first book of the Mistborn Trilogy, The Final Empire, hung on to fantasy genre stereotypes by a thread with an older mentor and an orphan hero with magical powers, that thread was cut completely as this book got going. Awesome story. As is often the case with trilogies, this is a darker story than the first, but full of unexpected twists and quite different from anything else I've ever read. The themes of betrayal, trust, love, belief, and friendship that were so important in the first book are back, the characters get more interesting (as if they weren't already so dynamic in the first book) and the things that happen, well, not at all what I was expecting.

One thing I have enjoyed a lot is the relationship/romance at the middle of this story. The romance doesn't take over the story like it kind of does in Stephenie Meyer books, or be simplified and silly like in Eragon and Eldest of the Inheritance trilogy, but is still critical to the plot, and the difficulties they have to overcome are, to me, very easy to identify with - thoughts about whether they deserve each other, each one trying to make self sacraficing decisions because of what they think is best for the other, etc. And it meshes seamlessly into the overall plot for a combined effect of me not being able to wait to find out what happens next.

As far as a production goes, I'm used to the reader now, though he's still no Jim Dale. I give it 5 out of 5 for story and 4 out of 5 for audio production for a 9 out of 10 total. The first book had some gore and violence that made me say early teen for age appropriateness. This book has a little more mature content including a libidinous bad guy so still probably PG13 or so.

Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson

I had heard good things about "Mistborn: The Final Empire and its sequels from my brothers, so I went into the experience with fairly high expectations. I think I got what I was expecting. It's not so cookie-cutter like a lot of fantasy is. Brandon Sanderson starts off with the question "what if the epic hero who was to overthrow the evil before it took over the world failed in his quest?" A thousand years later the world is not so pretty a place, and people are enslaved to the ruling class, and THEN a hero arises. That in itself wasn't enough to make a totally unique story line - it ended up kind of like Star Wars episode IV in some respects - you have an orphan hero who is awaken to latent powers the average person doesn't have, who rises from obscurity with a more experienced mentor who has suffered great personal loss to the evil ruler. So the basic framework is similar, but I was still pleasantly surprised with how it all came together. I think what made it more unique is the kind of powers this centers around - rather than your typical magic or dragons or the force or other such run-into-the-ground powers, this book centers on Allomancy - certain people can ingest metals and use powers the derive from them - some can have great strength, others hightened senses. Some can influence emotions, some can push or pull metals, and some can do all of it. That's just not something I've seen before, so it made it cool.

The audiobook production is not bad. I wasn't a huge fan of the reader at first - his tone seemed like he was trying to sound dry and witty all the time, but I got used to it pretty quickly and settled in to enjoy the story. He doesn't detract from the story like some do, but doesn't really add to it either. Still, all in all, an enjoyable book - probably 8 out of 10.

The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

This book totally took me by surprise - one of the most entertaining audiobooks I've come across, period. I knew from reading the Twilight series what kind of an author Stephenie Meyer was, and how the romantic storyline was central to the plot of those books, and kind of expected a science fiction book that was more romance than science fiction, but still entertaining. Instead what I got was an entertaining and gripping science fiction story that had me riveted and anxious right up until the end of the book. I kept wishing I was reading the book instead of listening to the audiobook, not because the performance was lacking (it was top quality) but because I wanted to be able to get through it faster. Many times I realized I had been holding my breath when it was tense, or laughing, or gasping.

I thought Orson Scott Card had the prize for a wacked out romance that I could enjoy when, in Children of the Mind, Miro was in love with a bodiless soul that lived in the computers, and at the same time, with a soul-less body that was animated from afar by his stepdad. Weird, right? Well, in this book you have an alien parasite not able to entirely subdue the consciousness of its host human body who is in love with a member of the resistance and has a brother there too who she also loves and misses terribly, and then they get involved with others and it gets messier. Don't worry though, it's also got giant clawbeasts, underwater dragonfly dolphins, alien vivisections, mutilated bodies and brains, and all the gooey stuff you expect from science fiction, and yet somehow Stephenie Meyer managed to make it not seem gooey. It was awesome.

I give this one a ten all around - the story is awesome and the audio production is flawless. The characters are believable, sympathetic, and realistic, and the story is intriguing and enthralling. It's clean too - little if any swearing, sex, or other material I'd have to shelter my children from. Way to go Stephenie Meyer!

Children of the Mind - by Orson Scott Card

Other than Ender's Game, this is my favorite of the Orson Scott Card books that I've read. Of course, that would be like saying that Return of the King is the best of Tolkien's books - neither book stands alone and is only great because of the earlier books in the series that build up for it. This book is a lot of fun though. It neatly wraps up the Ender story, it deals mostly with the death or survival of one of my favorite characters (Jane), and keeps going with the nature of the soul and faster than light travel and all that that is developed in Xenocide. Still, remember the frog in hot water analogy - in Ender's game it all seems pretty normal - not a far stretch. By the time you get done with this book, you'll have swallowed a romantic storyline involving a guy who is simultanesouly in love with a disembodied genderless soul existing in the computer network and a soul-less woman body operated from a distance by a man's soul--yeah, it's wacko, but somehow it seems not so wacko in the storyline. Makes me laugh, but somehow Card pulls it off and makes it quite interesting and entertaining.

The audio production is great - adds to the story nicely, making this a great audiobook.

Xenocide, by Orson Scott Card

For me, Xenocide is a fun book. It's like the parable of the frog in cold water that will stay in while it heats up - the science fiction starts out pretty easy to swallow in Ender's game, and gets deeper and deeper through Speaker for the Dead and now Xenocide. It's off the charts in the next book. The thing is, I like where Orson Scott Card took it. He talks about philotic physics in Ender's Game, and again in Speaker For The Dead, but only as a way of communication. In this book, he delves deaper into it, including discussion on the nature of life, faster-than-light travel, the nature of the soul, unity or one-ness, and other things like that. The thing that I find secretly entertaining about it, though, is that what he's actually done is use some obscure Mormon scripture references about the nature of truth and intelligence and matter and make them a basis for the science fiction in the book. He says he wasn't serious about it, that it was just having fun, and that's what it is. I read criticism that he makes some logical leaps that remove it from real physics and put it into metaphysics, but honestly, it's fiction, people, and the grasp on physics as we know it was thrown away for Ender's game, let alone any sequels. What he has done, in my opinion, is make a universe where instant communication and travel are possible within the logic and rules of science in that universe, and where there's a scientific basis to believe in the soul.

There is a storyline in the book - a few characters on a parallel world with Chineese culture - that bogs down for me a little, but fortunately, that is dropped after this book and the next one focuses on the root of the story, except for one character who comes from that world who is central to the next plot.

SO I enjoy it, and it sets the stage for the next book which is also very fun, and wraps up the whole rebellion of Lusitania, and impending death of Jane storyline quite well.

Speaker for the Dead - by Orson Scott Card

I really like the audiobook production of Orson Scott Card's books. They have probably 6 or 8 different readers, and it alternates between them depending on whose perspective the story is being told from at the time, and it has the effect of giving real voices in my mind to the different characters. No cheesy sound effects, and unabridged, and read very appropriately without overexcitement, and yet without monotone.

As far as the story, this is heavier science fiction than Ender's Game - I like to tell my kids that the aliens in it are called buggars and piggies. They think that's pretty funny. Though it is a sequel, it is a completely different story, more removed than, for example, the Lord of the Rings is removed from the Hobbit. Still, no laser guns, no sex with aliens, no green goo, none of the things that science fiction is made fun of for, it's more like historical fiction set in the future, and involving aliens. What I like about the book is that it is about discovery - the discovery of a family's secrets that have been causing pain until they get exposed and dealt with, and the discovery of the thought and culture of an alien species that was not understood at all, not because the information wasn't there, but because viewed through our human perspective and forced to fit into our way of thinking, it made no sense at all. If you want gun battles and explosions, this book is not for you. But I find it intrigueing and interesting, and it sets the stage for the books that come afterwards, which I find even more so.

10 points for the audiobook production, 8 points for story, for 9 overall.