Quoth Sanderson: "Reen was not a good person. He beat Vin, he was selfish, and he was conniving. However, he did love his sister. Most of his beatings happened because he was worried that she would expose them somehow and get herself killed. He knew that the Inquisitors were chasing her because of her half-breed nature, and so he uprooted them constantly, moving from city to city. He kept her alive, teaching her to be harsh, but teaching her to survive. And, in the end–after the Inquisitors got him–he didn’t betray her. That says a lot about him."
Reen was not a good person. The way he raised Vin left her damaged in a lot of fundamental ways.
My take on it is that it's important to note that many of his beatings,according to Sanderson, were because he was worried that "she would expose them somehow". Vin, in fact, exposed herself as a misting often by unknowingly using pewter to recover from beatings, and unknowingly using zinc to dissuade Reen (and later, Camon) from beating her. In attempting to "help her stay hidden", he ended up causing her to reveal her powers to seekers. This is, in fact, what lead to Reen getting caught. Vin could have stayed under the radar if Reen hadn't beat her to make her stay under the radar!
I think this is important to note: Reen utterly failed to keep his sister's powers a secret, and, through abuse, damaged the sister he would have said he was trying to protect.
Vin was so conditioned to suspect everything and everyone, that it almost lead her to throw away her chances to reach her potential, to make actual meaningful relationships, to grow into the person Kelsier knew she could be. She was less vulnerable when she trusted people who were worthy of trust than when she was unwilling to trust anyone for fear of betrayal. Those teachings didn't keep her safe at all, they made her vulnerable.
Sure, Reen taught Vin how to survive, but he didn't teach her how to live. Sure, the inquisitors were chasing them, but they were chasing them because Vin kept unintentionally revealing herself through her responses to Reen's beatings.
Reen wanted to do what was best for Vin, to keep her safe. Reen was not good for Vin, he endangered her and damaged her, almost costing her everything. He tried, and completely, utterly, failed.
Reen didn't betray Vin at his moment of death, but he betrayed her throughout his life.
Exactly. And just because he didn't betray her at the end doesn't mean that it should be his voice telling her to go back to Elend at the end.
Not that I'm entirely okay with Vin/Elend, mind you. It was still too romantic subploty for my tastes, including the second act 'confusion leading to temporary breakup' thing.
Elend in general just seems like a cop-out. The one "good" noble so Vin can date someone dashing and eccentric.
I took a 4 month class on the nitty gritties of plantation life, Sanderson. Even the 'good' ones were most likely still crappy by our modern standards. I'm not talking about good plantation owners either; even a lot of abolitionists at the time were pretty racist.
I still don't entirely get why the king pulled the switcheroo, though I'll admit that the choice itself is rather interesting.
Just hit Chapter 10. Blushweaver has 'future antagonist' written all over her. Denth has that 'amoral Tarantino protagonist with a taste for weird conversations' feel about him.
I feel like Viv is actually the most interesting so far out of the four viewpoints. Vasher hasn't had enough exposition to fully differentiate himself from Kel in my mind; Siri is currently too bound by the whims of other characters to be as engaging as Vin; and Lightsong is witty, but I don't think I'll actually like him proper until circumstances force him to give a care about the world around him (I also wouldn't be surprised if he ends up giving up his Breath to someone near the end of the book, but that's neither here nor there). Viv feels different than a standard fantasy protagonist, desperately struggling to operate after she was spared from what should have been her destiny. I rather like it. It'll also be interesting to see how she deals with the Breath.
I will say that Sanderson is a bit more predictable this time around.
Part of it is recognizing patterns from Mistborn, but sometimes it's just sort of obvious. Siri getting switched in for Viv was telegraphed too strongly, as was Viv ending up with the Breath. I'm a hundred pages in, and I haven't really been properly gobsmacked outside of first half of the prologue.
Almost halfway now. Reading helps to distract from the headache.
I'm glad Siri's starting to come into her own. Susebron as well. Making the gods human-like is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting things you can do in a fantasy story. I'm glad Sanderson is doing it so well.
Starting to see why Tats likes Lightsong so much. Now that he's finally gotten off his divine butt and started doing stuff, he's rather entertaining.
Thoughts? Favorite part? Least favorite part? Best line of dialogue?
Most obvious twist? Most surprising twist?
Spoiler:
The ransacking of Lemex's house and all his information, and even before that, their access to Lemex's house. Lemex was the hub of the spy network, and the only one who knew all the agents, all the passphrases and codewords and meetingplaces. The total control that Denth and co. have over how much of the information they find in Lemex's house gets to Vivenna.
The fact that Denth and Tonk Fah don't even try asking Lemex for the breaths because they know he won't willingly give it to them, and indeed, seem to avoid talking to the barely-coherent dying man who could expose them as not being who they claim they are.
The attribution of mysterious "projects" to Lemex, whose loyalty to Idris, and understanding of what is going on, Vivenna trusts, and the sparseness of details when questioned about the projects, allowing Denth to take position as the idea man.
The fact that Denth, Tonk Fah, and the nurse dispose of Lemex's body, allowing them to hide any bodily evidence refuting their story that he died from sickness.
And that's just their first day, and stuff that we, the readers, are shown.
Comments
Aslo, oh gosh, the memories.
-hisses-
Yarrun, I told you not to read this
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
^ There are reasons, and they are explained. Eventually. Her dad being who he is is part of it.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
"Reen was not a good person. He beat Vin, he was selfish, and he was
conniving. However, he did love his sister. Most of his beatings
happened because he was worried that she would expose them somehow and
get herself killed. He knew that the Inquisitors were chasing her
because of her half-breed nature, and so he uprooted them constantly,
moving from city to city. He kept her alive, teaching her to be harsh,
but teaching her to survive. And, in the end–after the Inquisitors got him–he didn’t betray her. That says a lot about him."
Reen was not a good person. The way he raised Vin left her damaged in a lot of fundamental ways.
My take on it is that it's important to note that many of his beatings,according to Sanderson, were because he was worried that "she would expose them somehow". Vin, in fact, exposed herself as a misting often by unknowingly using pewter to recover from beatings, and unknowingly using zinc to dissuade Reen (and later, Camon) from beating her. In attempting to "help her stay hidden", he ended up causing her to reveal her powers to seekers. This is, in fact, what lead to Reen getting caught. Vin could have stayed under the radar if Reen hadn't beat her to make her stay under the radar!
I think this is important to note: Reen utterly failed to keep his sister's powers a secret, and, through abuse, damaged the sister he would have said he was trying to protect.
Vin was so conditioned to suspect everything and everyone, that it almost lead her to throw away her chances to reach her potential, to make actual meaningful relationships, to grow into the person Kelsier knew she could be. She was less vulnerable when she trusted people who were worthy of trust than when she was unwilling to trust anyone for fear of betrayal. Those teachings didn't keep her safe at all, they made her vulnerable.
Sure, Reen taught Vin how to survive, but he didn't teach her how to live. Sure, the inquisitors were chasing them, but they were chasing them because Vin kept unintentionally revealing herself through her responses to Reen's beatings.
Reen wanted to do what was best for Vin, to keep her safe. Reen was not good for Vin, he endangered her and damaged her, almost costing her everything. He tried, and completely, utterly, failed.
Reen didn't betray Vin at his moment of death, but he betrayed her throughout his life.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
(ampersand is used on some fanfiction sites to denote positive platonic relationships)
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
The fact that Denth and Tonk Fah don't even try asking Lemex for the breaths because they know he won't willingly give it to them, and indeed, seem to avoid talking to the barely-coherent dying man who could expose them as not being who they claim they are.
The attribution of mysterious "projects" to Lemex, whose loyalty to Idris, and understanding of what is going on, Vivenna trusts, and the sparseness of details when questioned about the projects, allowing Denth to take position as the idea man.
The fact that Denth, Tonk Fah, and the nurse dispose of Lemex's body, allowing them to hide any bodily evidence refuting their story that he died from sickness.
And that's just their first day, and stuff that we, the readers, are shown.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead