There are 12 knitting days left before Christmas and I genuinely do not know what happened to the first 2 weeks of December. I’ve begun to suspect my story arc did a time jump and it actually was Thanksgiving yesterday. I’m going to be pulling a lot of late nights in order to get Mabel the Merciless’ present done, and I’d say odds are around 80% that it’s finished, blocked and under the tree on Christmas morning. Every year I swear this is the year I won’t do this to myself, but here we are.

If you’re in the same WIP boat I am, allow me to bestow upon you a fabulous printable Certificate of Future Gift:

This week I’ve been reading…

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, Parts 1-3

We’re at the end of the Trilogy and Sazed has been the Hero of Ages all along! I’ve been listening to the audiobooks, and I remember very early on thinking the story narrator’s voice sounded like Sazed’s voice, but then I just chalked it up to the voice actor having a real voice that is similar to the one he used for Sazed. But no, that really was Sazed talking all along! I’m not sure how I feel about them being god now, that honestly went in a sort of weird direction. But if someone was going to become god, I think I’m glad it’s Sazed. 

Sazed was a eunuch, and seemed to identify more as a 3rd gender than as specifically male. It’s never specifically stated, but I think if pressed that Sazed would identify as they/them. I imagine an actual deity would too. The thing that I like most about it, what makes me forgive the “Sazed is a god now” thing which would have felt a little forced otherwise, is that they spent the entire book struggling with their belief (or lack of belief). Sazed had dedicated their life to the study and collection of religious beliefs, and for most of the trilogy insisted that they believe in all of the religions. Knowing others have faith in those belief systems was enough for Sazed. In book 3, as Sazed coped with the loss of Tindwell (she died at the end of book 2), they found that faith no longer seemed rational, and instead of collecting religions Sazed set out to find the one “true” faith. One that could hold up to scrutiny and that would be without internal contradictions. Such a thing doesn’t exist in the real (or fantasy world), and Sazed was left feeling empty. 

Once again, while we weren’t looking, Sanderson worked in a beautiful representation of living with depression or mental illness. Sazed’s struggle felt authentic and relatable and the way his friends related to him did as well. Towards the very end of the book Sazed is convinced to visit the homeland of the shapeshifting Kandra, where they discover that the Kandra are actually the original Terrisman people – Sazed’s ancestors. The Kandra revealed to Sazed how the Lord Ruler had changed them, making them immortal, but also at the mercy of Allomancers, and had charged them with a terrible calling: To one day willingly sacrifice themselves to save the world. Not all of the Kandra kept that oath, but the majority did and I swear I felt Sazed’s pride alongside them as they laid down their lives to save the world. And it was saved. Ellend and Vin did not survive the battle, but the rest of Kelsiers remaining crew members did. When Sazed ascended to godhood they cured Spook’s addiction (and made him a Mistborn for good measure) and put the world back together the way it had been before the Lord Ruler messed it up. 

I’m not sure how I feel at this point about reading Alloy of Law, the next book in the series which takes a large time jump forward into the future of Sazed’s world. These 3 were so good, and the story arc is so complete, that it feels sort of strange to read the next one. But then again, I can’t not read it, I’m a compulsive completionist. I’m going to take a break and read the 2 Dresden Files books that came out this year first, and we’ll see in a few weeks if I have the will power to let Mistborn live perfectly in my mind. _{Narrator: She did not have the willpower. No one was surprised to find out she had already purchased the books on Audible.}

Currently on my needles…

I’m getting ready to block iKnitative, and hope to get the test together for it next week! I’ll post about it then, and for now I think I’ll keep those photos a surprise. I’m in the second 1/2 of Mabel’s blanket now, and brewing a fresh pot of coffee to get back to it as I write this. We’ll see how long my desire to get it under the tree in time can outdo my desire to sleep. I bought a new mattress last week and it’s heavenly. It does a lot of damage to my will to stay up.

~Megan-Anne

Everything is better with enough coffee.

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