Elend repeating his poor confidence was something he thought over and over for the last 2 books. It became ridiculous by the end. Sorry you don't remember more.
From what I remember, he grew increasingly more confident throughout both books. It got set back a bit at the start of HoA due to him suddenly being a Mistborn, but at the same time was more targeted on things related specifically to that.
Sazed and how he is lost in himself... over and over and over. There was no development until the last 100 pages for Sazed. He just whined the whole book with the exact same thoughts repeated.
I'll grant you that one, but I think it was required to properly set up his development. Without repeating some of his thoughts about religion and faith, it seems to me the development at the end would be perceived as not important, coming from nowhere, or not a major change.
I turned to random pages and checking it out- I did it for about 5 minutes and I came across these 2, which ironically are repeating the same thing 2 books later-
Hero of the Ages- page 106- "Hope is for the foolish..." paragraph
Hero of the Ages-page 402-"Reen had died protecting her..." That paragraph- reiterating it again...
Thank you.
I couldn't find the second one, but I found the first on page 94 of the hardcover. If you give any more text references, please include the chapter number and approximate location within the chapter (this one's on page 3 of chapter 12, in case anyone else wants to look it up).
If that is a good representative of what you're complaining about, I wouldn't say I'm "used to it" but it strikes me as far more minor and less jarring of an interruption than you're making it out to be. I see your point about the rest of the paragraph (the line from Reen's voice itself is another matter, but I don't think that's being argued), and I agree it could be done better. Some of that paragraph is a summary of a major plot element that any reader of the first book could hardly miss, and the whole thing could use a style overhaul and shortening. Still, it is a single not particularly long paragraph describing what the current point of view character is thinking about. It could be done better and with less recapping, but I don't think it's really that bad.
I was going to reply in more detail individually to your list, but if all your complaints are like that paragraph then your entire list could be perfectly accurate and I probably wouldn't remember any of it because that kind of summary/recap on that scale in that manner just doesn't jump out at me, especially when it's always immediately tied in to the current story. Yes, it's summarizing or repeating things we already know, but it's always brief and always closely related to what's going on right now.
Everything was rushed. Vin fighting and getting ultimate power, the kandra ovethrowing the 1st gen, to be overthrown by the rebels, to be helped by the people.. the 16% getting their powers, then rushing to another cave, to fight and die... It felt forced and unsatisfying to me.
This is an acknowledged problem, to the point where it's got a proper noun attached to it that even the author uses. I'm given to understand that the Brandon Avalanche has gotten much less severe as he's gotten more experience - I hear you should request the single copy of Dragonsteel from BYU's library on inter library loan if you want to see how it used to be (just be patient, it's ILL and there's only one copy available
anywhere) - and presumably this trend will continue. Even so, having lots of stuff happen quickly is an inherent part of having a climax in the story at all, so I don't regard it as a purely bad thing.
Sazed got the power and made everything perfect. Obvious and too perfect. Everyone who dies is happy in the afterlife, a clear explanation is documented for everyone still alive in a tomb. Just way too perfect and happy.
The two main characters who die are content in the afterlife, but I'm pretty sure they'd still prefer to be alive and I'm quite certain Spook and several other major characters would prefer it that way too. I'm also pretty sure most of the other people who died, you know, the hordes of nameless soldiers and civilians, are a bit unhappy about it.
The world itself is fixed and everything's explained to the survivors, but civilization in general is still pretty well trashed. All cities are gone, total population is drastically reduced, all infrastructure is destroyed, etc. Having nothing but an initial population and some starting supplies in an unfamiliar world is hardly "perfect" in my opinion, even if that unfamiliar world is a lot more friendly and survivable than it used to be.
Sorry, as I said. It was standard fantasy fare ending. Happy and perfect restoration. Add in pages of preaching and everyone living happily ever after in the afterlife.
I just reread the ending, and I'm really not getting a preachy feel from it. I can sort of see how it might be possible to interpret the page or two about religions, experience, and having guides that way, but that section strikes me far more as just explaining how Sazed can fix the world so well despite having no more experience at it than the Lord Ruler did when he messed everything up. Two specific characters are "living happily ever after in the afterlife", but that doesn't automatically generalize to the countless others that died over the course of the series.