I find it amusing how you don't like Zane. You always seemed like a Zane type of guy.
Heh. He does, doesn't he?
This next part will have spoilers. If you have not read Hero of Ages, do not finish this post (although I don't know why you would be in this thread if you haven't read it...). If you do, it's your own fault...You have been warned.
First, Final Empire. I loved it. I was completely surprised when Kell died, but not at all surprised by who killed him. Plus, it was awesome that the first sighting of TLR is the scene where he kills Kell. Amazing. And then with the uprising, and Vin killing TLR....it just kept getting better and better. The whole book was really just freaking amazing.
Hero of Ages, though. I would have to agree that it was a little slow in places, but that end. From Vin and Elend's separation on the walls of Fadrex City, it sped up. The sheer amount of information given--like the first generation, and where the atium has been, and the earring, and so much else--was incredible, and it made total sense. And the deaths. Both made sense. Both made perfect sense. Yet it still hit me that Marsh decapitated Elend. Sure, he's controlled by Ruin, but....Elend is headless. That's just not cool.
It also didn't help that somehow I missed the part in the epilogue where Spook finds their bodies. When I finished it the first time, I still had this image of headless Elend floating around in my head and it was distinctly unpleasant. And then I re-read it, and I saw the part with the bodies and I was relieved. For everything that happened, it ended very positively.
And I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was near the end of the semester when I read it. About a month to the end, and I was coming up to finals, and there I was, completely preoccupied with the ending of HoA. I'm not sure what it was, but it stunned me. Left me in complete awe of Brandon's geniusness. It was emotional, surprising, and gutsy. Not to mention epic. And completely perfect. It couldn't have ended any other way.
In terms of ending, Hero of Ages wins by a long shot over Final Empire. Final Empire, though, is a stronger book as a whole. Yet, HoA's ending, for me, makes up for the few slow places, putting it in first place. So FE is second...
I think my standings are thus:
1. HoA
2. FE
3. Warbreaker
4. Elantris
5. Well of Ascension
...Methinks I spent way too much time on this post. If I'm not careful, I'm going to become as bad as Chaos....