Mistborn Liveblog 22

Chapter 21

Whenever I read a book and begin to visualize the scenes, I find that I become rather fond of those images-- in fact, the reason I dislike many movie adaptations is that they do not reflect my experience. Nor should they, but it does create a bias in my mind. Often when a story suddenly reveals something that thwarts my original image, I feel annoyed.

But not this time.

It's a small thing that was revealed, and I doubt it carries much weight with other readers, but it does for me. It's got some spoilers, so you'll have to click past to see them.




My assumption whenever I read about Kelsier's scars was that they were inflicted in some way as he climbed out by the sheer walls of the Pits. I didn't spend much time considering it or reflecting on the obvious problems with that idea, but I am happy to know that I am wrong.

In this chapter, we find out that the Pits were actually large caverns, and the scars were inflicted by reaching into small, crystal-lined holes to retrieve the atium. I don't know at what point in his planning and writing Brandon made these decisions, but I really liked discovering it in this chapter. I don't think it would have been nearly as meaningful had Brandon described everything the first time the Pits were mentioned. I found it much more enjoyable to have constructed a belief regarding the scars and then to have it so thoroughly and so reasonably replaced. I didn't feel annoyed because the explanation was so much better than the one in my mind-- cooler, more original, and made far more sense.

Of course, I'm not feeling all rosy about everything that's happening. Kelsier keeps mentioning this "other plan" of his. The foreshadowing is blatant and that makes me wary of it. I don't know whether to expect some grand-scale scheme or not, but I fear that the reality will not live up to the expectations that are forming every time he think about the secret plan. It'll be interesting to see what it turns out to be, and whether I then change my mind about the foreshadowing.

More tomorrow. Happy reading.

Jameson