[[Spoiler Alert] Just my personal opinion on the series
I’ve seen many BookTokers and online reviewers talk about how the ending of The Hero of Ages completely destroyed them and evoked a massive wave of grief.
Frankly, for me, it felt more empty than sad. Because I already knew Elend and Vin were going to die at the end, their deaths weren’t shocking. However, when I reached the epilogue and saw Spook and the rest of the crew find their restored bodies holding hands in a flower bed, it really hit me. After following these two characters through three books and two months of reading, it truly felt like a closed chapter.
Given how Vin and Elend had always been the emotional core of the series, having them die while Sazed became the true Hero of Ages felt a bit strange as a reader. It’s sad, in a way, that they could only find their happy ending in death—though it is satisfying that they both finally achieved what they set out to do. Regardless of how the final twist landed, the epilogue itself was brilliantly placed.
Overall Thoughts:
Book 1 (The Final Empire): Felt like a complete, standalone story. Realistically, you could easily stop there if you wanted to.
Books 2 & 3 (The Well of Ascension & The Hero of Ages): I honestly almost DNF’d both books midway through because the pacing dragged. That said, the final 200–300 pages of each book ramped up so intensely that they ultimately made the books worth continuing.
