The Hero of Ages… is Romantasy

This was a beautiful conclusion to a very well written series. There was no plot armor, and it was well thought out.. and it was bleak and depressing. I’m not sure I can say that I enjoyed it. This series is a big indicator of why I prefer romantasy to fantasy. Romantasy has its conflicts and tough moments, but it winds up in a good place.

The Hero of Ages has some people wind up in a good place but the way they got there was bleak. I don’t even know what ‘star’ rating I would give this book because while I recognize that it’s a good book, I don’t think I had fun!

About halfway through the book, the FMC, Vin, was captured for WEEKS and Elend, her husband, decided to be all noble and not sacrifice ‘his people’?! Xaden Riorson and any other main character in a romantasy would NEVER. They would go scorched earth to get their girl back. That says things about me I realize, but oh well! It’s HOW I FEEL! I was judging poor Elend for not getting his girl for the betterment of thousands of innocent people but I digress. I also felt that their ‘love’ was very ‘tell not show’. I see soooo much potential for the main romance between Elend and Vin to be more swoony. I know that’s not the focus of this high fantasy so I can’t fault the story for it, but I’d love to see SJM or RY write a remix of this to give Vin and Elend more ooompf. Sazed and Tindwyl as well as Allrianne and Breeze’s romances were also not believable to me.

This is one of those books that I would say is one of the best, but not my favorite. I utilize reading as a form of self-care and to give me hope when real life feels like it’s too much! So, while I can appreciate how eloquently told this fantasy story is, I didn’t enjoy myself- which for me defeats the purpose of reading fantasy. At least for what I am looking to get out of it. The true hero of ages in my life is … romantasy.