Mists, Metals, and Heists: A Review of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Fiction for Readers

Once, a hero arose to save the world. A young man with a mysterious heritage courageously challenged the darkness that strangled the land.

He failed.

For a thousand years since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal emperor know as the Lord Ruler. Every revolt has failed miserably.

Yet somehow, hope survives. Hope that dares to dream of ending the empire and even the Lord Rule himself. A new kind of uprising is being planned, one built around the ultimate caper, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine, a street urchin who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a Mistborn.

Who is it for?

Mistborn is a high fantasy novel that will appeal to both hard fantasy fans and the casual fantasy reader. If you like fresh action, other worlds, magic systems, heists, and characters with personality, this one is for you. 

Though marketed for adults, one of the main characters is a 16-year-old girl, the other, the criminal mastermind, is an adult man, so the novel can capture both teenagers and adults, males and females, people who like intense fight scenes and people who like to dress up to attend political balls and possibly fall in love with a nobleman.

Storyline and Review

I only had to get several pages into the novel to know that I was in the hands of a storytelling master. 

The narrative follows Kelsier, a charismatic, happy madman, who has escaped the clutches of the Lord Ruler (losing his wife in the process) and now plans to overthrow the Lord Ruler himself; and Vin, a poor, young girl who has learned to survive the slums of the criminal world by making herself invisible (figuratively) and trusting no one.

These two characters create a great contrast, and Sanderson gives them wonderful voices, so you know who they are and what they're about almost immediately, and you love them. Several of the main characters have very strong, clear personalities. (Although I have to admit, I had a harder time differentiating some of the more minor characters. )

The world they live on only rains ash, and mysterious mists seep into the streets every night. Society is basically split into two classes: the noblemen and the skaa--the slaves who support the noblemen and the Lord Ruler. Many of the noblemen are Mistings, people who can ingest a specific metal to gain a special ability. Because the noblemen have raped skaa, some of the skaa are Mistings as well.

I have to say that the idea of people swallowing vials of metal that can enable them to influence others' emotions, pull and push on metallic objects without contact (think Magneto, sort of), and even affect time, was awesome! The action scenes Sanderson created with this "magic" were astounding!

The set-up and plot were fresh. How many fantasy stories are there where the main character is pure, a prophecy has been made, and he has to defeat an epic villain? Mistborn turns that expectation upside down. We are in a world where the prophesied "Hero" has already failed, and we're following lovable thieves as they gather underground skaa armies, steal from the emperor, and impostor noblemen. 

The twists in the last third of the book were shocking, amazing, and satisfactory--there is no way anyone can see all of them coming.

If You Read it You Should Know

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The Value of Shock, Part 3

I've been getting some really interesting comments on this "Value of Shock" series, so I'm going to scrap some of what I had for this last post and share some of them instead:

"I have never used shocking descriptive writing in a serious work because I do find that it can overpower what I'm trying to get across. I use plot and the storyline for creating shock rather than the way I am writing, I find it can be just as effective if done right." -Ruby Eclipse

"I think the difference between shock-scenes in books vs movies is that in a book we can take the shock as far as our imagination will let us. So while some paint a mental picture in pale red others go for the whole blood red dripping. In movies on the other hand the makers decide for the audience so that the shock value is often aimed at the higher end of the audience. This of course can be totally [off] if they judge the audience incorrectly and will be of overkill for those of the viewers that do not require that impact."-Katbaroo

"I have to say it honestly depends on what I'm working on. Sometimes it is relevant to character development. In others it's too draw attention to something particular. But I try to always make sure there is a purpose of some sort."-Endre Smouth

"It's all a matter of perspective. What one person views as gratuitous, another could view as mild. It is a balancing act to be sure. I feel it is important to keep in mind the big picture, while not catering to a highly conservative nor highly liberal point of view. If you seek to shock, then shock, but know your audience."-Anonymous

(If you are interested in reading more comments outside of blogger, you can find them here and here.)

The Audience

So how shocking is too shocking? When does it leave reasons one through three and veer into four? Katbaroo and Anonymous already beat me to it. It depends on your audience. Honestly, I think there are some stories that have shock strictly for the sake of it, but outside of that, it depends on the audience. What is shocking to one person isn't necessarily shocking to another.

Last time I talked about the two scenes I found too shocking for me in Les Miserables. Anonymous didn't feel that they were too shocking, while Shane Halbach said his wife agreed, "on some level." People have different shock value ranges.

So what's one secret to keeping your shocking content under control?

Know your audience.

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The Value of Shock, Part 2

Earlier, I discussed why you might want to shock your readers, and I also mentioned that if you decide to shock your readers, you want to make sure you don't overdo it. If you write content that is too shocking, it draws too much attention to itself and takes away from the point you are trying to make.

This is what I experienced when I saw the latest film adaptation of Les Miserables. First, I'd like to say that I love Les Mis. But there were a couple of scene I found shocking, too shocking.

Fantine’s whole prostitute experience was shocking. But it’s not gratuitous. It’s supposed to make viewers feel uncomfortable. It fulfills reasons one through three in my last post. But for me, it went to far. By the time Fantine actually sleeps with another man, I was too overwhelmed.

The other scene that went too far was the “Master of the House” scene. I was fine, at first, but watching Santa in the bridal suite was too much. I understand they pulled Santa into that scene to illustrate what a twisted, perverted place the Master’s house was, but when they put him in bed, they way overdid it.

So, these scenes took too much of my attention. In reality, Les Mis isn’t about Fantine's prostitution, or Santa in the bridal suite. Fantine’s experience is an element of the story, yes, but it isn’t the sum of the story. Jolting moments should add to the overall story, the theme, not take away from it. 

I know these two scenes took me away from the story because they lingered in my mind longer than they were supposed to. In fact, when I think of the movie, I first think of Valjean’s redemption, which is so powerful and wonderful, but within seconds, those two shocking scenes pop into my head. And I don’t want them to, because I loved the other parts of the movie so much more!

If you make a shocking scene too shocking, it becomes the very first thing viewers and readers discuss and remember. 

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The Value of Shock

Shocking Your Readers the Right way for the Right Reasons

Sometimes as a writer, you might want to make your readers uncomfortable or shock them. Here are some reasons why—

1. You want to leave an impression on your readers
2. You want to inspire a change of heart, perspective, or action from your readers. Or simply increase their awareness of a specific issue.
3. You want to illustrate, realistically, how a particular situation is.
4. Just for sake of it, for effect.

Number four is usually referred to as “gratuitous”—it’s there for the sake of it. It doesn’t add to the story. It doesn’t further the plot. It’s just there.

One example that comes to mind is the first Transformers movie. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a decent movie, but it has gratuitous content: a random sexual conversation about the protagonist…having his own private time in his room, senseless swear words, sexual objectification of Megan Fox. To me, I felt like this kind of content was just put there for the sake of it (or to make sure the movie got a PG 13 rating, heaven forbid it got a PG rating, then no one would take it seriously, right?). None of this really added to the theme or plot of the movie.

Honestly, what girl sticks her rear-end out and curves her back that much when she's looking under a hood?

Many writers, (including myself,) consider gratuitous writing, bad writing.

Let’s look at an example that isn’t gratuitous. Although shocking and horrific, the content of The Hunger Games is there for thematic purposes. The loudest point of the books is that we shouldn’t have an entertainment industry like the Capitol’s—one that glorifies violence. The series illustrate how under the guise of “entertainment,” evil acts can become acceptable ones. (It's a worldly truth.)

Collins shocks her readers to get her point across. It worked on me. I think twice about the “entertainment” I choose, and the story made me want to change our entertainment industry. Collins’ message wouldn’t have been conveyed as well if her readers didn’t actually witness the atrocities of Panem. The bloodshed had a purpose to the story.

Another example that uses shocking content to good effect is Tadeusz Borowski’s short story “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen,” which takes place at a Death Camp during the Holocaust. Was the content put there for the sake of it? No. The author includes it to illustrate, realistically, what happened—he would know, he was there. The story increases readers’ awareness of the events that took place in our history.



(Note: a lot of “worldly truth” stories contain shocking content that is thematic as opposed to gratuitous. A lot of “deceptive” stories contain content that is gratuitous.)

There are writers and readers who don’t want any shocking content, and stories that don’t need any. That’s perfectly fine.

A Thin Line—Pulling Back

If you decide your story needs shocking content, you walk a fine line. For a writer, the challenge comes from making the content jolting enough that it fulfills reasons one through three above without making it so shocking that it drifts into reason four, because you can overdo it.

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Limitless: What Authors do to their Characters

When Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer released, my friend and I discussed that someone should die in the last third, to make the story more interesting. But I think, somewhere, a part of me knew it wouldn’t happen. Meyer doesn’t kill good guys in the Twilight saga. Sure, Harry Clearwater has a heart attack, but I mean killing characters fans are emotionally attached to, like Alice, Emmett, or at least Seth. I’ve wondered if Meyer liked her characters too much to kill them.

In contrast, when I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Runelords by David Farland, I found myself questioning whether the authors loved their characters much at all. In The Hunger Games, characters not only die, but are burned, poisoned, tortured, have limbs amputated, are forced into prostitution, and even brainwashed. Young, old, male, female, likable, unlikable, good guys, bad guys, named, nameless all suffered at Collins’ hands. Likewise in The Runelords, a stunning princess turns hideous, a stately King becomes mentally handicapped and can't even control his own bowels, and often strong, intelligent people are reduced to insanity and then murdered.

Sometimes in these novels, as a reader, I felt the authors had no limits. And I was scared. What could possibly happen next? Was anyone safe? Would the King ever regain his status, or was he doomed to die in his own filth? I had to read to find out.

Not all stories need to be as limitless as The Hunger Games and The Runelords to be good stories and to keep people reading, but notice that what Collins and Farland did added more tension to their novels. Also note that early in their stories, they let the reader know that nothing is safe. So as a reader, you have the whole series to worry.

And of course, putting your characters through heck doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t love them or that you harm them senselessly. J.K. Rowling loved all the “good guys” she killed. In New York she said she hated writing a particular death scene for The Casual Vacancy, but felt it had to be there for thematic purposes. Collins and Farland didn’t harm their characters for the sake of it either. In their cases, their characters’ ailments came with the backdrop of the story—horrible things happen in the worlds and societies their protagonists live in.

Should Meyer have killed a likeable character in Breaking Dawn? Maybe not in the way we would see in The Hunger Games or The Runelords—the Twilight story didn’t call for it. But perhaps a different death or misfortune may have fit and added tension.  Or maybe I’m just twisted and like to see characters suffer and die. Or both.

Whatever the case, when we write, perhaps we should consider what our stories’ limits are and how early to alert our readers to them. Giving your reader a heads up not only makes them worry and adds tension, but if anything horrific is going to happen to a main character, they need a warning.  Our readers grow attached to our characters, and if we do something awful to the protagonist without any kind of foreshadowing, they’ll feel betrayed.

(Imagine, for example, if in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the main characters was suddenly hit and killed by a random car. Readers would say "Hey! That's not what I signed up for! I wanted a happy ending!" That incident doesn't fit with the limits the story set up.)



Thoughts? Do you like reading limitless books? Can you think of anymore examples?

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Glipho: What it is and Why I Love it

Glipho is a new social media site specifically geared toward bloggers and writers. If you're like me, you just thought another social media site? How many of these does a person need?  That's exactly how I approached Glipho, but I had to give it a decent chance because I was asked to check it out for work.

And I fell in love with it.

I've been on Glipho a little more than 3 weeks. And I already have 122 followers. Of course, there is more to social media than followers. . .

Appearance and Feeds

Glipho basically looks like Pinterest, but instead has blog posts. They have a trending writer section and a trending post section. And you don't have to be the most popular person to be featured as a trending writer, which is nice.

Users have three feeds on their homepage. One feed shows the posts done by those we follow. One feed shows all posts published on Glipho. And the last one, the feed that really makes Glipho different than other social media sites, shows every post on topics you follow. For example, if I follow the topic "Writing Tips" every post published by anyone that falls in that category will appear on that feed.

So, if I write about Harry Potter, then whoever is following Harry Potter will see that post. This feature helps people with the same interests find and follow each other. And it helps users connect with the right audience.

The People

On Glipho, I'm reaching different people than those I have on Facebook, Twitter, and my blog. All of the users have been polite, supportive, respectful, and just downright kind. There's no gnashing teeth or destructive attitudes. I've never found a social media site with people like this. I've already befriended dozens of writers, and readers.

The team behind the site is also very helpful and willing to answer others' questions.

Beta

Glipho is still in beta (it's only been around for a few months), so it's not completely polished yet.

I'd like to see a badge or box of some sort that I can code easily into my blogger blog someday.

So How Many Social Media Sites Do We Need?

I don't know. But if you are a writer, never spend more time on social media than writing. True, social media can help your writing career, but it can only help so much. The most important part of your writing career are the stories you write, not how many tweets you've tweeted.

Pick a few favorite social media platforms and stick with those. Glipho just happens to be one of mine. (And if you are already blogging, it just takes a few extra minutes to post the same post there.)

You can check out my Glipho profile here. Or check out Glipho's homepage.

Someday I'm going to do a blog post (or rant) about social media in the writing world and how important or unimportant (time wasting) it is.

Let me know if you try out Glipho.

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Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint

Reads for Fiction Writers

I got this book from my sister-in-law Shallee McArthur, who told me she loved it.

I did too.

This is a must-have for every fiction writer.

When I first cracked open the book, I found myself reading a lot of info that I already knew... but then Kress delved deeper into characters, emotions, and viewpoints and illuminated aspects of each that I had never thought of.

The book leads writers through the process of creating a character and provides a diagram along the way:

Backstory --> personality/character traits --> wanting something (motivation) --> emotion (felt inside) + emotion (displayed outwardly)

Here is a little statement that sums the diagram up somewhat:

“Backstory creates personality/character, which in turn creates motivation, which causes your characters’ emotions.”

Kress outlines how characters talk about and show (or hide) their emotions. She examines instances where characters are straightforward about their feelings or deceptive about them. And she teaches how to write for both situations.

Kress also delves into complicated characters—how to create them and how to show your readers their complexity. She categorizes characters based on their motivations and changes. Often as writers we hear that we should have a character that has a goal and that during the novel, that character works to achieve this goal. It’s straight forward; it's simple.

But Kress takes this concept further. She explains there are—

1. Characters whose motivations don’t change during the story, and they don’t change either. They are still the same person by the end of the story, give or take.
2. Characters whose motivations change, but they don’t.
3. Characters whose motivations don’t change, but they do.
4. Characters whose motivations change, and they change also.

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2 Types of Truth in Fiction: Do You Know Which One You are Telling?

Did you know there are two types of truth in fiction?

Whatever stories we write include statements about the world, whether or not we want them to. Brilliant authors use theme to their advantage; they use story as a means to tell others about poverty, slavery, love, and courage. Less attuned authors, on the other hand, might imply messages unintentionally. Stephenie Meyer, for example, has been ridiculed for presenting females as weak and dependent, although she never meant to. I happen to like Twilight, but the arguments are legitimate.

Writers, like other artists, use fiction to tell truths.

“It is not our abilities that show us what we truly are, but our choices,”
“Sometimes it is harder to follow than it is to lead,” 
"to hurt is as human as to breathe,” 
“Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life,” 
“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart,”

are all truths writers have penned. But there are different kinds of truths. Some truths are steady and consistent while others are more subjective or relative.

When it comes to the arts, I see two kinds of truths: the Absolute Truth and the worldly truth. (Please note that when I say “worldly” I mean “of the world” without the “wicked” connotation.) The Absolute Truth is comprised of eternal, ideal teachings—love conquers all, be true to yourself, never give up—and presents us with how life should be. The worldly truth is comprised of teachings that hold true in the imperfect world we live in—feed and entertain a people to make them lose political power, sometimes the oppressed grow more ruthless than the oppressors—and presents us with how life is.

Both truths are important. Both truths are powerful. Lord of the Rings can inspire me to press on during trials just as effectively as The Hunger Games can provoke me to reevaluate our entertainment industry. Here are some points I use to define Absolute Truth and worldly truth, with some pictures for examples.

Absolute Truth

Characters rewarded for choosing the right and enduring to the end

Good overcomes evil

Uplifts and encourages

Inspires others to be better

Worldly truth

Illuminates one's understanding of the world

Increases awareness of issues in the world

Sparks reflection and incites worldly changes

Leaves audience "sadder but wiser"

Sometimes, these truths can overlap. In Les Miserables, for example, Jean Valjean witnesses worldly truths while seeking Absolute Truth. The worldly truths are evident in the poverty and lack of freedom the characters' experience, while the Absolute Truths appear in the themes of mercy, redemption, and love. This works well in Les Miserables partly because in the end we follow the characters beyond death, bringing both the worldly and Absolute truths to a satisfying close.

But what about stories that don’t tell truths? Unfortunately, they exist. And they’re dangerous because under the guise of entertainment, they deceive us. . .

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Help Ben by Trending Twitter on Star Wars Day

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post today to invite everyone to help Ben Wolverton. As many of you know, I work for author David Farland. His son, Ben, was in a tragic longboarding accident and has brain trauma, broken bones, (among other ailments) and recently woke from coma. Today is Star Wars Day (May the 4th be With You). Since David Farland/Wolverton has written several Star Wars books, we'd like to celebrate this day of by letting the Wolverton Family know that "the force will be with them" in their time of need. Help Ben by tweeting, retweeting, and sharing this throughout the twitterverse:

Help Star Wars author's son on Star Wars Day! Visit http://www.helpwolverton.com to learn more. #davidfarland #starwarsday #HelpBen

That's it. All you have to do is tweet that.

Our goal is to get #HelpBen and #davidfarland trending, thereby reaching more people who can help Ben. Please tell others about the event. You can also share this tweet on other social websites like Google+ (get it trending there!), Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, blogs, and anything else. Several independent studies confirm that spreading the word will significantly increase your midichlorian count.

Get all the info you need about the even here.

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A Trip to Hobbiton, New Zealand

One does not simply post about Hobbiton, which is why I invited someone who has actually been there to share her travel adventures with us. I hope you like pictures. Lots of pictures. And hobbit holes.

Heather Ostler and I have a lot in common: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, pugs, ballet, writing, and a love for traveling. She is the author of The Shapeshifter's Secret, which you can find online, in stores, and even at the Barnes and Noble in Hawaii. The cover for the second installment in the series, The Siren's Secret was recently revealed on her blog.

A few months ago she visited Australia and New Zealand. So, of course, she toured Hobbiton:

The Hobbit Movie Set in New Zealand

In the heart of New Zealand's north island you will find rolling, grassy hills, bleating sheep, and small, round, colorful doors. This is Hobbiton.

When Peter Jackson and his crew began looking for a location to film the shire, they flew in a helicopter to get a bird's eye view of the perfect spot. When they found the Alexander family sheep farm, they asked the family to sign a contract without releasing what movie they were filming. The Alexander family said yes, and the nine month construction began for The Lord of The Rings' set.

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Short Announcement: I Finished My First Draft!

Yes, the post about Hobbiton, New Zealand is coming, but I wanted to share that I finished the first draft of my novel today! And I'm so happy with it as a first draft.

Lots of potential. Lots of areas to strengthen.

I can't wait to start editing.

To celebrate, I went out and ate at one of my all-time favorite places: Cafe Rio.

Right now the manuscript sits at about 131,800 words. For comparison, the third Harry Potter book is 107,253 words, and the fourth is 190,637 words. But I'm going to do a lot of condensing and of course, make a lot of changes as I mold it to match what's really in my head.

I love getting the first draft done because the story only gets better from here! (Note that I never said easier.)

So, if you need an excuse to go out to a show, to throw a party, or eat some chocolaty dessert, you can totally use the completion of my first draft as an excuse. You are just celebrating on my behalf.

In other news, I fulfilled my dream of being a guest on a podcast! I always imagined that happening after I had a few novels out. . .

Anyway, I haven't listened to it because everyone hates listening to her own voice, right? But if you want to, you can right here. It's about social media in the writing world. I think we covered some valuable points.

Also, my sister-in-law Shallee McArthur did this post on beginning writing vs. bad writing—and there is a difference. I loved it so much, I'm linking to it. Read it here.

Thanks. And don't forget to go party.

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"Once a Thief, Forever a Thief."

Writing Tips from Les Misérables, Part 3

I've been dissecting Les Misérables, and I have great news—my dissection has been published on Hypable.com, an online entertainment magazine with over 16,900 followers. You can view it on Hypable right here. Part three of my dissection will discuss perceptions, a complex antagonist, and epic appeal. (Read part one or part two.)

Plays with Perceptions

Les Misérables takes advantage of perceptions. As I mentioned before, Javert’s perception of Valjean is influenced by criminal stereotypes. Other characters view Valjean differently. The Bishop sees him as a brother. Cosette views him as a caring yet secretive father. But Les Misérables goes beyond other characters’ perceptions.

It also explores how Valjean sees himself. Hugh Jackman pinpointed it well in one of his interviews. He said that Valjean is striving to be a good person, but constantly sees himself falling short.


As an audience, we get a perspective of Valjean that is somewhat different than all of these. Incongruent perspectives make this story more interesting.

Can you make perceptions surrounding your character incongruent? Having a character that is despised by others, but loved by readers is a common example, but still effective because it fosters sympathy for that character.

Valjean’s story wouldn’t have been as powerful if he and all those around him thought him to be a saint. Play with perceptions in your story to see if you can give it more of a punch.

Uses a Complex Antagonist

Javert is an interesting antagonist because he isn’t evil; he isn't really even “bad.” Sure, sometimes the book depicts him as a bit savage, maybe a bit of a maniac, but he’s more devoted and honorable than most people.


Like Valjean, Javert also feels inadequate in his relationship with God. In a different story, Javert could easily have been a hero. The problem isn’t so much his qualities as it is the imperfect laws he’s devoted himself to.

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Help Someone in Need: A Book Bomb for Ben Wolverton

[Updated with best selling rankings at the end of this post]

Ben Wolverton, age 16, was in a tragic long-boarding accident on Wednesday the 4th, 2013. He suffers from severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drums, road rash, pneumonia, and is currently in a coma. His family has no insurance.

Ben is the son of author David Farland, whose books have won multiple awards, and who is widely known as a mentor to many prominent authors, such as Stephenie Meyer and Brandon Mull. Costs for Ben's treatment are expected to rise above $1,000,0000. To help raise money for Ben, we are having a book bomb today, right now on behalf of Ben.

You can learn more about Ben's condition, or simply donate to the Wolverton family here: www.gofundme.com/BensRecovery Join the cause on Facebook.

What is a Book Bomb?

For those that don’t know, a book bomb is an event where participants purchase a book on a specific day to support the author, or, in this case, a young person in serious need: Ben Wolverton.

Having everyone purchase the book on the same day boosts the book's presence online, which leads to even more sales. All money David Farland makes from his book bomb books today will go to Ben's medical expenses.

What Book are We Promoting?

David Farland’s young adult fantasy thriller Nightingale has won seven awards, including the Grand Prize at the Hollywood Book Festival—beating out ALL books in ALL categories. It has been praised by authors such as James Dashner (The Maze Runner), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), and Paul Genesse (Iron Dragon series), and has received four and a half starts on Amazon. You can read reviews here. Read a review by Hypable.com here.


Some people sing at night to drive back the darkness. Others sing to summon it. . . .

Bron Jones was abandoned at birth. Thrown into foster care, he was rejected by one family after another, until he met Olivia, a gifted and devoted high school teacher who recognized him for what he really was—what her people call a "nightingale."

But Bron isn't ready to learn the truth. There are secrets that have been hidden from mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, secrets that should remain hidden. Some things are too dangerous to know. Bron's secret may be the most dangerous of all.

Nightingale is available as a hardcover, ebook, audio book, and enhanced novel for the iPad. Buy it today to help Ben!

You can purchase it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, on the Nightingale website (purchase print and audio editions here), or, you can get the enhanced version, complete with illustrations, interviews, animations, and its very own soundtrack through iTunes

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"Cosette, Your Father is a Saint"

Writing Tips from Les Misérables, Part 2

In my last post, I explained how Les Misérables evokes strong emotions, contains powerful themes, tells two kinds of truth, and uses all five types of conflict. If you missed it, you can read that post here.

But Les Misérables accomplishes a lot more than all that. Here is part two of my dissection.

Explores Complex Character Relationships

Les Misérables is loaded with complex relationships.

When Valjean takes in Cosette, he is suddenly awakened to what it is like to have someone to love and to have someone love him. And he’s “afraid of failing” her. Their relationship is so precious to him that he doesn’t want to mess it up, so, he refuses to tell Cosette about his past, afraid she will think less of him, that it would somehow ruin what they have. Sure, Valjean gives other excuses for not telling her, but they’re just cover ups.

I get the strong impression that Cosette wouldn’t mind so much about his past, after all, he was stealing bread to save a starving child. Valjean is far more self-conscious and ashamed of his origins than Cosette would ever be. So he hides it from her. This makes his death scene all the more powerful because he hears Marius, one of the only people who knows his true life story, tell Cosette that he is saint. Not a thief. Not a convict. A saint.

But even then, even then, he still can’t bear to tell Cosette his backstory. He asks her to read it after he has passed away.

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