What's a good follow up to Mistborn? THoA Spoilers.

[RedMars11]

For the "tldr" amongst you all, just go to the last paragraph.  (But before the PS one)

Hello all.  I have made an awful mistake.  I've just finished Well of Ascension, which was amazing.  But part way through I spoiled myself for the end of Hero of Ages.   It used to be when I read I would peak ahead randomly for some reason.  Giving me almost a movie trailer look into things to come.  I've been popping out of this bad habbit, but the chapter where the Crew decides to send "the kids" away really got to me and I had to know if they would all die.  I looked ahead and didn't see them near the end.  I looked in THoA, and then I started to freak out when I didn't see Vin or Elend's names near the end of their own story.

I couldn't believe the guy who did Elantris would do this!  Agh!  I'm still banking on some anime-like hidden meaning sniper plot twist to it all as I go into THoA, but I doubt it.

So I come here asking for something else really good to read after that.  Because I can't stop.  These are some of the best realized fictional characters I've ever read.  I cared enough for the crew to spoil myself silly, never mind the main two characters.  I just can't be left hanging after this.  I need something to bounce me back up.  Because just knowing what's coming is tearing me up.  I think it made me actually wake up in the middle of the night.  Reading everything between the two now is like twisting a knife in my gut.  The marriage scene was heartbreaking in its own way.  Yeah, I'm going that melodramatic here.  I really love this series and these characters.  I'm going to need something to save my sanity after this is done.

Okay, I'm definitally being over dramatic.  But anyway, what would be a great kind of short series to read after Mistborn?  Sadly I've already read Elantris.  I'm thinking something trilogy sized or thereabouts.  I'm open to sci-fi and fantasy, although I'm not much in the mood for sci-fi, nor the elves/dwarves/goblins kind of fantasy.  I just can't think of anything near this same level.  I was depressed for a good week after reading His Dark Materials, never mind what's coming here.  I'm looking for something with great characters and inter-character interraction.  Romance would be a plus I guess, but maybe not necessary.

PS:  This in a way is all a testiment to how good Mr. Sanderson is with words.  The fact that I'm feeling so torn up over fictional people does nothing but show how good he is.  I hope he doesn't make the "sad end" the norm, but I'll definitally read anything he writes.  I actually bought all of these in hardcover, and went back and got Elantris in hardcover after having read it because I know I'll want to remember his works as more than a pop novel.  I'm stingy with my book purchases, I've never bought a hardcover before at all.  So yeah, he's got this tightwads endorsment.

[Publius]

Stay as far away as possible from Gardens of the Moon.  It's good and I recommend at least trying it, but I doubt it's what you're looking for.

For fantasy I'd recommend David Gemmells Troy series, or Robin Hobbs Soldier Son Trilogy.  For Historical Fiction I'd recommend either Conn Iggulden's Emperor series or his Conquerer series.  The Emperor series is based on Julius Caesar and is a completed 4 book series.  The 3rd book in the Conquerer series will be published in March I think, and follows Genghis Khan and his descendants and will be a 6 book series.  I found all these series hard to put down.

[happyman]

Finish the books.  Just---finish the books.

[jjb]

And don't forget about Warbreaker. If you want to read the actual book, you'll have to wait until June but otherwise you can read it online.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I also urge you to finish Hero of Ages. It's worth it. Don't fear it. Brandon pulls it off.

If you like characters you get emotionally attached to—and happy endings—then I recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's three Chalion books: The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. (I recommend all of her books, but you're looking for a trilogy. Though honestly, I don't think I've ever cried harder from a book than from halfway through Curse of Chalion. Eh heh heh.)

I'm doubting you'll like the Soldier Son books. So many people die at the end of the first book—and I just didn't care because I didn't like any of them. I'll probably read the other books someday to see if they get any better though, since the Assassin/Liveship/Fool books were so good.

I'm also a big fan of CJ Cherryh's Chanur books starting with The Pride of Chanur (or starting with the omnibus The Chanur Saga). They do have happy endings. I'm not sure if they really fit what you're looking for though since there's a lot of politics.

[Roberts]

I recommend Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks, it's part of a trilogy. I can't think of any other fantasy I know without elves or dwarves. Also it's set in Illinois.
And don't forget Warbreaker, or Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians.

[Reaves]

If you like characters you get emotionally attached to—and happy endings—then I recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's three Chalion books: The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. (I recommend all of her books, but you're looking for a trilogy. Though honestly, I don't think I've ever cried harder from a book than from halfway through Curse of Chalion. Eh heh heh.)

I recently read Paladin of Souls. At first I really had no idea that it was a sequel. It wasn't until about halfway through the book that I realized that there must have been, because all this backstory was coming forth and the author was assuming we knew a lot of it.
Really though I was starting to get very impressed. To me at the time it had seemed like the author was doing a really good job of only revealing her world bit by bit...then I figured out she thought I already knew all this. 

As far as how I liked it, it was pretty good. The beginning was the best part, in my opinion. By the end of the third chapter, I knew it would be a book well worth reading; hard to find, these days. Unfortunately by the final chapter I had mentally shelved it into my "good, but not great" category.

EDIT: Oh yeah. Check out The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Its a morally ambiguous, extremely humorous, Ocean's Eleven- type heist story. The sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies, is already released and I believe there is another book coming.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is purely amazing. Also very funny. Its part of a trilogy but the rest of the series has not yet been released.
And I cannot stress enough that anything by Matthew Stover is made of pure win. His style is just so alive. His stuff is really not very comparable to Brandon's, the stuff they write isn't all that similar, (still fantasy/science fiction) but he is just amazing. His characterization is brilliant. He doesn't just tell you a story -- he puts you inside it. And he writes fight scenes like you have never seen them written before.
double edit: I just had to go back and bold his name. He doesn't get nearly enough attention.

[RedMars11]

Thanks for the advice all.  I've already got the Alcatraz books on order, I just also want something meatier.

I've also got Warbreaker ordered, but the problem is I just can't read a lot online.  At least not solid masts of continuous text.  It bothers  me a bit, plus I do a lot of my reading in bed, breaks at work, etc etc.  I'm sure you know what I mean.  And so I wait for the hardcover in June.  Fifth hardcover I've bought in years, and fifth thanks to Sanderson.   (I drive for work, so I can't bring the Hero of Ages hardcover with me.  I haven't taken a lunch break in days.)

And I think I need to clarify:  I'm definitely finishing Hero of Ages.  Like I said, I am amazingly hooked.  I just (In an amazing display of idiocy) spoiled myself silly, and so I know I need something to rebound off of.  I'm psyching myself up for the hidden meaning/angle to the ending, but still.

Ookla, I actually have the Chanur omnibus sitting on my shelf, just waiting for the moment I'm in a sci-fi space opera kind of mood, I also definitally like a good political rangling.   I guess I can shuffle things around, thanks for that suggestion.

Roberts:  The political mess coming out of Illinois right now is all the entertainment I need out of that state for at least two years, thanks though.  

Also, it's not that I don't like a sad ending, it's just that after around 2,000 pages of characters this well written, it's a hard blow.  There are some books where I may like characters, but just go "oh no, not 'him'" when they die, like in a Song of Ice and Fire book, or maybe a Wheel of Time book, and there are others where when it happens, I just feel like doing some cliched kneeling down and shaking my fist at the sky in anger and grief kind of thing.

Edit to an edit:

And I cannot stress enough that anything by Matthew Stover is made of pure win. His style is just so alive. His stuff is really not very comparable to Brandon's, the stuff they write isn't all that similar, (still fantasy/science fiction) but he is just amazing. His characterization is brilliant. He doesn't just tell you a story -- he puts you inside it. And he writes fight scenes like you have never seen them written before.

I've already read his Caine books.  I can't wait for the next two to come out.  I'm a little disappointed that one's a prequel though.  I've been ranting about Mistborn to a few friends, and to describe the fight scenes I say "Almost as good as Stover" to which I get the response "Wow".  I think on that alone I've sold three copies of Mistborn.

Edit to a second Edit:  I totally agree.  More people should read his stuff.  What's holding him back is just his lack of output, and how much Star Wars work he does.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Chanur Saga omnibus: Just so you know, it's not the whole thing, and you absolutely have to read Chanur's Homecoming right when you finish. Because books 2, 3, and 4 of the Chanur series form a trilogy that really should have been one novel in the first place; Cherryh hardly tries to make good endings/beginnings between the parts. (She mentions this in an author's note.) So the Chanur Saga omnibus ends on a cliffhanger.

Chanur's Legacy happens several years later focusing on one of the characters from the first four books, so you don't have to read it in order for Chanur's Homecoming to make sense.

[Inkthinker]

Seconded for Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora. I'd like to know where I can get some more of that, some fantasy heist caper stuff. That kinda kicked ass.

If you want characterization, I find it hard to beat Pratchett.

Actually, for most anything I find it hard to beat Pratchett. 

[Bookstore Guy]

Seconded for Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora. I'd like to know where I can get some more of that

On the subject of Lynch, you may also look at the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie.  It feels like a more distilled Steven Erikson story but with the wit of Scott Lynch (though in later books, Erikson has plenty of wit himself).  The torturer character in the Abercrombie books is full of win.

[GreenMonsta]

Conn Iggulden's books are great. I am not big into historical fiction but his Conqueror and Emperor series were fantastic.

Isn't Running With The Demon one of the Word and the Void books? If so then I never read any of them until he crossed the Word and the Void with the Shannara series. I wasn't the biggest fan of the crossover but his books are generally good and easy reads so it might be good.

Have you tried any David Farland? I think its a five book series called Rune Lords. I have only read the first two but the magic system is really good and unique. the story is sound and as far as I got into the series it was great. I just stopped to read the conclusion of a couple of other series including HoA, and if I might add it was amazing.

[SirZelig]

John Marco: Inhuman Triology
"The Eyes of God"
"The Devils Armor"
"The Sword of Angels"

Karen Miller: King Maker King Breaker Duology
"The Innocent Mage"
The Awakening Mage"

these are mine

[readerMom]

How do the Mage books by Karen Miller compare to the Empress books?  I read Empress and pretty much hated it, but the Accidental Sorcerer, also by Miller, writing as K.E. Mills, I really enjoyed.  So I'm torn as to read the other ones, especially since  my library doesn't have them and I would have to buy them.

[CSmythe]

I gotta say that personally I didn't like The Innocent Mage. I thought there was some potential there but it sort of felt like it had been somehow both over and under-edited. Some parts that I thought could have been way more conscise dragged on for pages but others that actually had some interesting story ramifications were crunched down to half a page or even less.

I never did bother to read the second book since the first one was such a chore for me to get through but maybe that's just me.

I followed up HoA with Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky(sp?) but it is a pretty different style of book. I think the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks is a decent follow up to Mistborn though I will warn that the second one is much better than the first. Not a challenging read by any stretch but still fun.

Also if you haven't read the Wheel of Time it is a must read, especially since EUOL is finishing it off.