Year of Cosmere discussion

This thread is to discuss Part 3 of The Final Empire which consists of Chapters 16-25!

We're over halfway through the book! How are you feeling about it at this point? Has anything particularly surprised you? Are you excited to continue on?

The part 3 was especially humorous thanks to the balls and the encounters with Elend.
By getting this far in three days, I feel like I actually know the characters and they are my friends, they are all so likeable and feel real.
I get overwhelmingly sensitive when there is the topic of rape discussed, and it made me happy Vin feels just as strongly about it.
The romance part feels all too hasty, like from a romance novel and just like the romantic scenarios I used to imagine when I was fourteen, but I am enjoying it nonetheless and it makes me flustered still. So far Elend just feels like a hipster version of a nobleman and it seems a bit unreasonable that he is so distinctively different from all the other noblemen, but that's just the common trope.
The last scene was surprising in a negative way, I don't understand the reasons behind Yeden's actions and I am sure there is no good reason.
I still want to give this book ten stars out of five!

Up until this part I started to have some worries about the book. I was thinking during the first 2 parts that I was enjoying it but I wasn't really connecting with the characters. During this part there was a lot more character development and I really loved that. A lot less flying around and more getting to know everyone. Vin getting hurt was the best thing for this book. It grounded the book, both figuratively and literally. I loved hearing about Dockson's background and what happened with him.

All that said, there is still something that is holding me back from really connecting with Vin. I believe I need to look at her character more about how she acts and less about how she thinks. Because sometimes her actions don't match up to her thoughts and I think that is mostly because she is just a girl, a girl that is thrown into a life with attention, and she just doesn't know how to act, because she never got any attention before.

This part seemed a little slower because of the balls and Vin recovering and then it got back into action again. I am liking all the characters so far.

I always forget they are 16/17, but then again they don't act it, so it's justifiable to expect the romance not to be so forced and cliche (even though I can't say a big part of me is not enjoying it).

I actually really enjoyed the slowing down of this CHAOTER. It really allowed for some great character development. I actually was very interested in all the court intrigue in this section. But boy is Shan a witch. I want to slap her every time she talks. I am worried about how much Vin said during her break down to Elend. Hopefully no one was listening, or he is smart enough to keep his mouth shut about it. Still routing for a Vin Elend romance though, hopefully not a star crossed lover one. Personally I hope he gets involved with the rebellion.

I thought it was great that Vin is training with the other crew members. Really let's is know more about the details of each power and added a lot of depth to the side characters.

But in the end WTF WAS YEDEN THINKING!?!? Why would he ruin it. But I guess that makes it more realistic, Kel would never get it right the first time. Interested to see what this new betrayal does to his character.

So far this has been my favorite section of the book, getting to see their plan start to fall into place. Everyone doing there part and getting to see Vin become more comfortable in her role in the team.
Starting out with Vin recovering from her near death experience with the Inquisitors and ending with Kelsier finding out that his army has been depleted down to only 2 thousand and that all that work for the past 6 months has been for nothing. I liked all the back story that we got from Dockson. Personally my favorite parts were when Vin was at the Balls and socializing with the other Nobles, I like her banter with Elend and I am hoping he turns out to be one of the good guys.

Skye wrote: "I thought it was great that Vin is training with the other crew members. Really let's is know more about the details of each power and added a lot of depth to the side characters."

Well said, Skye!

I love how Sanderson foreshadows events, but does so in a way that leaves many possibilities open. I NEVER saw Yeden's decision coming. Is Kell responsible? What in the world is Kell's ulterior motive with this job? Agh, such a good book!

It's nice to see Vin finally take an interest in her crew members, and I definitely enjoyed learning a bit more about everyone. I've had a major issue with Vin for the first half of the book, but she might be growing on me now that she seems to be breaking out of her shell a bit more. Really interested to see how it'll all play out.

I like how this part of the book really provided depth for the crew members. It was slow but definitely not unenjoyable.

The snippets we get of Elend make me both like and hate him. I can't tell whether he's being sincere due to Kelsier's distrust so I fear for Vin's feelings. Though he does seem interested in changing the way things are and I hope that he becomes a part of the plan. At the moment though I'm not thoroughly convinced on where he stands.

Can mention Spook being the cutest? Courting Vin. Completely adorable.

I honestly don't know what to make of Yeden's decision. I have no idea how the plan will adapt to this change of circumstance. I completely did not foresee this happening.

Skye wrote: "I thought it was great that Vin is training with the other crew members. Really let's is know more about the details of each power and added a lot of depth to the side characters."
I second that. Especially since it also shows how Vin herself is growing. When she notices that she is actually still keeping herself separate from the others by not being really interested in their pasts...

I'm a bit worried about what Kelsier is doing and how he is acting. There seem to be quite some parallels between the short bits of the Lord Ruler's log book and how Kelsier seems to be acting. I'm not sure I like his growing charisma/bigger than life/worship(?)...

Although I did not really see their plan succeeding, I more expected some more problems with Vin's part. Maybe Elend notices something? Or she stirs up more trouble than expected?
I definitely did not see Yeden's stunt coming. In hindsight, however, there have been indications. And I really like how Kelsiers plan backfired quite spectacularly...


HeatherLovesReading wrote:"Personally my favorite parts were when Vin was at the Balls and socializing with the other Nobles, I like her banter with Elend and I am hoping he turns out to be one of the good guys. "

Vin's feelings for Elend might come a bit quickly for my tastes and I'm still not sure about him but on the other hand, I find their banter simply wonderful ;-)
And yes, I also like seeing her become more comfortable in her role as a noble.

This has been my favourite part of the book so far. I have loved seeing Kelsier's character development and the progression of Vin's involvement in politics is really interesting.
I still have my worries about Elend despite his seeming kind nature. I can't wait to see what will happen from here and how the crew will continue!

I'm loving the book so far, I like Kelsier's character development seeing how he's more than just a charismatic leader, but also a flawed man who makes mistakes and can easily be swayed by power. I also really like the foreshadowing that was going on in the conversation between Vin and Marsh. I also have a feeling that Yeden's change in behaviour and his decision have something to do with Kelsier.

Papillon wrote: "I'm loving the book so far, I like Kelsier's character development seeing how he's more than just a charismatic leader, but also a flawed man who makes mistakes and can easily be swayed by power."

I totally agree. Kelsier is a really interesting character. Towards the end of this part Kelsier and Vin see the army getting slaughtered and he rushes in to try and save the people who are left ("You're not invincible, you can't stop them all."). This part really wrapped up Kelsier's character for me. He think's he can take on anyone and he's slowly realising (with the help of Vin) that, that might not be true.

I really thought that Yeden was being soothed. His quick character changes made me suspicious, I guess he still could have been but for some reason it seems less likely now. The whole thing with Yeden's decision and the slaughter of the army all happened so quickly. It was kind of crazy!

My thoughts on the romance that is brewing between Vin and Elend:
At first I was worried (I'm not the greatest fan of romance in books) and Vin seemed to love Elend after only one meeting. Now though I think things are looking up. Some sensitive topics are being brought up and I think they're being dealt with well and in a way that develops the relationship between Vin and Elend. I'm interested to see if Vin is right about him, I'm not sure either way.

Dockson's back story was very touching. I think that was one of my favourite parts so far. I also enjoyed the part where Marsh was training Vin a little, I hope there's more of her training with some of the other crew members as I enjoyed the part with Breeze too. Vin is definitely becoming a great Mistborn and I can easily see her becoming far better than Kelsier. For instance when they were in the cave she saw a light from really far off that Kelsier didn't even notice.

I love all the character developments and back stories we're getting.

I really liked where this section of the book took the story. Vin's one-on-one conversations with various members of the crew revealed a lot of new character elements that I loved. I also really liked the introduction of Vin's personal conflict about "who she is" - she starts thinking about whether she's truly a street urchin or a noblewoman and I really connected with that sort of internal debate.

I love the theory that Yeden was somehow soothed or manipulated into his actions. His personality change did seem quite dramatic... Not sure where the plot is going from here since the plan is ruined but I'm excited to find out.

I think Vin and Elend are cute (I loved the handkerchief "not just for functional purposes" line). Similar to others, though, I'm really rooting for him to get involved in the rebellion as opposed to there being some sort of starcrossed lovers vibe. Also, Shan is just the worst! Ugh.