I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Brandon Sanderson! I've been meaning to read it for some time now, after finishing the Mistborn trilogy and Way of Kings. I knew right off that this was Sanderson's first novel. I felt like the characters and plot were less complex than his later novels. As a writer, I enjoyed the simplicity of the story structure. The plot felt like a lot of concentric circles of ideas. This one simple event occurred, which struck off a ripple of complication, which created another ripple. These ripples collided with ripples from another set of complications, creating new ripples. The characters worked backward through the complications to determine what caused the big overlying issues of the story. I think I could use this technique in my own writing. I really appreciate Sanderson's writing for this reason alone. He uses simple techniques to create complex worlds and characters, and builds idea upon idea for a logical story structure.

SPOILERS

As I mentioned previously, I did feel that this novel's characters were less developed, or maybe just less complex than his later characters. Their motivations and masks were two-dimensional. The most complex character was Hrathen, who was the only character to go through a significant transformation by the end of the novel. His history, personality, and motivations were hidden further beneath the surface than the rest of the characters. I had trouble deciding whether I liked him or not, throughout the novel, and I'm not sure if that is because of Sanderson's writing, or because his character seemed wishy-washy. Was the character insecure and undecided, or was Sanderson undecided about the character? At times, I felt that I should hate Hrathen. But at the end, he came through for the characters I was rooting for when the real villain came to light. I kept mistaking Hrathen for the cold-hearted conqueror, and then getting thrown every time he showed remorse or regret for his actions.