false 4 0 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 10:51:13 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 10:29:44 -0700 2009
Mistborn: The Final Empire presents the reader with an incredibly interesting and different world that's quite believable in its own crazy way, and manages, through plot and character, to make the reader not care (although in my case, that doesn't mean "not notice") its problems.

The back copy on the edition I read says that Sanderson asks the question, "What if the prophesied hero had failed to defeat the Dark Lord?" but putting it so simply does the book, and Sanderson, a disservice. It isn't some simple "let's turn things on their heads just because" kind of thing (and besides, that angle's been covered before, hasn't it?) but instead a much more nuanced and interesting take on the hero of legend and the dark lord-type, and what went on in the past. And it does give us an excuse for an incredibly dark and painfully socially stratified world, one that seems terrible due simply to the personal whims of "God" who rules them. Sanderson does a great job of showing just how horribly beaten down the peasant class(es) are, and doesn't pull any punches in his depiction of the nobility (who aren't one note either).

What will most likely be the biggest draw to the fantasy fan, however, is the magic system. It would be better to leave that to be discovered by the first-time reader, but suffice it to say that it's very different and extremely interesting, and feels just intuitive enough to be believable. I could also see it making one hell of a video game, actually.

The characterization is mostly good, but here is where we start to veer just a bit into my problems with the book. The really, really principal characters are very well-drawn, and it didn't take me long to care about them (even if their dialogue was sometimes a little cliche), but the supporting characters are more of a mixed bag. Many of them feel, when they first show up, like, "hi, my name is _________ and my quirk is ________" but that doesn't stop most of them from growing on you by the end. Again, some of them are kinda cliche, but that isn't always a bad thing, and they're still great fun--even if a little more proof is needed that some of them would go on with the big, central scheme, which is patently insane (they mention this many times, but still). The Lord Ruler (clearly a villain) doesn't show up very much, but he's built up so much in the reader's mind, that when he finally does, every scene with him is affecting (I often ended up short of breath).

The biggest problem with this book isn't huge, but neither is it small. Basically, Sanderson's writing needs polish on a sentence level. "Show don't tell" may not always be applicable, but there were quite a few points in the book when I was taken out of it simply by how many things the narrative was telling us that it clearly, clearly did not need to. The feelings of a character, for example, that are clear from a reaction would then be explained simply, the reason behind an action that's all too clear would be laid out, etc. Between this and an overuse of simple adjectives and slightly overdone turns of phrase, The Final Empire could really have benefited from a closer edit. That said, this very seldom was a real problem, and I may be a little too harsh anyway, as this is the first escapist book that I completed after finishing my first of studying Creative Writing in college.

Problems aside, I couldn't put the thing down most of the time, and almost had a heart attack during the climax. The world is well-drawn, the magic believable, and I can't wait to revisit the characters in books 2 and 3, so I can certainly recommend it.]]>