A piece of art

It’s been on my radar for some time now, and I’ve actually had the book in my possession for almost a year and just haven’t found time to read it until recently. Thank the lord ruler I did. This is the kind of book that instantly rockets to the top of your favorites list, only to realize there are several more to read afterwards and they’re all just as highly regarded. I wanna talk about them.

Spoilers, Obviously.

I don’t think that I often get caught off-guard by twists in stories. That’s not to say I’m super smart and no one can catch me off-guard, just that a lot of authors tend to signpost about there twists and foreshadow them super hard. This book is the first time in ages that I genuinely stopped what I was doing and froze in shock when I heard it (I was listening to the audiobook). It was just amazing to me that throughout the latter half of the book it was treated as a simple fact that the man writing the diary was the lord ruler; to such a point that you just don’t even consider it might be wrong. Then when Vin starts to put it together at the last second and you can start to put it together at the same time, the realization hits you like a brick. The slight whisper of “holy shit it’s Rashek” in the back of your brain flies to the front like a bat out of hell.

And good god, Kelsier’s death was just straight up shocking. Again, the entire story up to that point builds him up as an all-powerful allomancer who really stood a chance against the Lord ruler. When he stands face to face with him, there’s a moment where you think “this is it, stories wrapping up”, then BAM! The lord ruler literally backhands his face off. It drops in your stomach like a boulder in a kiddie pool. Now, I realize he’s kind of the mentor character, which almost absolutely relegates him to death at some point in the story. However, the way it’s written with some whole chapters from his perspective, it makes it feel like he’s not just a mentor, he’s a second main character. His death feels like the spear was driven through your chest as well as his.

And Marsh becoming an inquisitor, consigning himself to a life of eternal pain and suffering just so he could have a shot at the lord ruler, only to hear his brother was killed just afterwards. His actions in the end make you wonder if his saving Vin wasn’t because of a noble duty to protect a child, but because he knew what she meant to Kel. I like to think it was both, Marsh seemed moral enough to want to protect Vin on his own, but I’d like to think it was his final gift to him or something of that sort.

I could go on and on about the story itself, but the philosophy and morals of the story are equally as interesting.

I think Elend’s views of the world echo a lot of middle and upper class views in the real world on a very vague level. Like the idea that things are wrong, the people in charge are unabashedly evil; but we can’t do anything because they’re too powerful. It’s the same sentiment that a lot of apathetic Americans have these days; yeah shit is really messed up but what are we supposed to do? Protests are met with gas and rubber bullets, legislators are basically ignoring the people at this point, and any kind of revolution is going to be met with the full force of on of the biggest, most advanced militaries on the planet. Not looking great.

Not just that, but Elend putting himself out there to attempt to stop the growing mob mentality made me think of things I’ve never thought through before. I’d like to think I’ve always been supportive of revolutionary change and just revolution in general, but the idea that the violence it brings would continue afterwards and the rampant bloodlust would cause a purge-like time is something I’d never considered. It doesn’t necessarily change my opinions and views but it certainly makes me think.

Similarly, Kelsier’s unabashed hatred of the nobles is a grand philosophical question in and of itself. We’re shown both sides of the argument, seeing that some of the nobles were decent people who wanted change; but we also saw how truly monstrous the bad ones were. It’s reminiscent of the ACAB movement. It feels obvious that not every single noble is evil, but the question has to be asked: Can the lower class ever truly gain power if even a single modicum of power remains in the hands of the evil nobles? I imagine this question may be answered in the next few books, but we shall see!

I could say wayyyy more, but I’ll wait until I get further in the series to see where it goes!

And I suppose, that’s just the way it is