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The Hero of Ages is the third book in the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. It exists within the larger universe known as the Cosmere. The universe is full of emotional gods and humans with powers. Power struggles and fighting nature are all a big part of these books. Gods are natural beings with conscious desires and interact with the world through whatever means they can muster. Also, they can die. In the Mistborn series, we are introduced to Ruin and Preservation, the two gods who created the world. Ruin only wants to destroy, and Preservation only wants to preserve, and they are in an endless conflict that threatens to destroy the world. The humans in the world are desperate to stop this from happening. If they only knew how.

The Hero of Ages continues the adventures of Vin, the Mistborn, Elend, the Scholar Emperor turned Mistborn, Sazed, the Scholar, Spook, the Misting, Tensoon, the Kandra, and the rest of the crew that survived the fall of the Final Empire. They killed the Lord Ruler at the end of the first book, and by the end of the second book, they succeeded in securing Luthadel from powerful invaders. Now, Vin and Elend, Emperor and Empress of the world, set out to secure outlying kingdoms in an effort to bring their people into the fold and discover the secrets that the Lord Ruler left inside of hidden caverns. They hope that these secret caches will contain the knowledge they need to defeat Ruin.

While Elend and Vin attempt to seize Fadrex from the obligator Yomen, who has restored the old status quo where skaa are slaves and noblemen rule, Spook has been sent to Urteau to gather information about how to take it from the despot known as Citizen, who is killing anyone with noble blood and has created a skaa-ruled tyranny. Spook has taken his tin burning to the maximum and starts to cover his eyes with a cloth, and when he starts to hear Keslier’s voice telling him to take over the city, he becomes far more than a simple spy.

While Spook's fame grows in Urteau because of his daring, rebellious acts, Vin and Elend attend fancy balls while trying to find the hidden cache and convince Yomen to join their cause. They struggle to find diplomatic ways to seize the city, and it seems increasingly likely that they will need to take the city by force, which means using the huge human and koloss army that waits outside the walls. When Vin is cleverly captured by Yomen, Elend becomes more desperate to take the city by force to save Vin and the people of Fadrex from the end of the world.

After Vin unknowingly released Ruin from his prison in the first book, the world has been rapidly dying. Ashmounts spew ash at a level that threatens to blott out any ability to grow food, lava flows toward villages on the outskirts, the mists linger during the day and have started to make people sick, and some of those people die. There are more and more earthquakes, and violence runs rampant among the people. Ruin is winning, and Preservation is too weak to balance his power. There is one thing that Ruin needs to fully restore his power and finally destroy the world for good. Sazed seeks out knowledge of the religion lost to history and might hold the secret to defeating Ruin. It happens to be the religion of his people, and what he finds out about what happened to his kin will challenge the existence of an entire race.

The Hero of Ages is a suspenseful and exciting end to the Mistborn trilogy. The series started in the gutters and ends with the fate of the world in the hands of a few flawed humans. We finally learn the truth about how everything works in this world and how humans have been influenced by the actions of gods. The ending was a bit rushed, but everything has to end, and I was happy with the final climax. I love Brandon Sanderson’s writing, and I am excited to get back to The Ways of Kings trilogy. I’m still not sure how the events from Mistborn relate to The Ways of Kings world, but I am happy with my current level of ignorance. The ride is worth it. I recommend getting into the Mistborn series, and if you are already into it, then you should finish it with The Hero of Ages.