Sanderson does a great job with his characters, and is really very good at foreshadowing; several times I thought to myself, “oh, now x is going to happen” or “person y probably has something to do with the main mystery/conflict” and then got so caught up in the story that I didn’t remember I had thought these things until they happened (and not necessarily as I had predicted, although I did indulge in at least one “aha! I knew it!”)

Okay, so plot things. The world (not our world) is one country, The Final Empire, and is ruled by an emperor/god, The Lord Ruler. The Lord Ruler is immortal, so this Final Empire has been going on for quite a long time (hundreds, if not thousands of years). There are the nobles, who hold some of the economic power, but the Lord Ruler (and his army of priests) is an absolute ruler, with absolute power. Most of the people are known as “skaa” - they are the peasants/slaves/lowest of classes and they have no rights. There are also a group called The Mistborn who have a special ability; they can use the properties of certain metals that they ingest to make themselves super fast, super strong, and a bunch of other cool things. Now, a few of the Mistborn have decided that they’ve had enough of the noblilty and The Lord Ruler’s government mistreating the skaa. It’s time for a revolution!

Does this sound like Star Wars: A New Hope to you? Well, it kind of is, except without being futuristic and without lightsabres. But this comparison didn’t bother me, because there are enough differences and Sanderson is an excellent storyteller.