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The Mistborn Saga #1-6

Mistborn Boxed Set

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Mistborn, #1-#6

The Final Empire: For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear while the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, a divinely invincible leader. The Well of Ascension: The impossible has happened. The Lord Ruler is dead has been vanquished. But so too is Kelsier the man who masterminded the triumph. The awesome task of rebuilding the world has been left to his protege Vin; a one-time street urchin, now the most powerful Mistborn in the land. The Hero of Ages: Tricked into releasing the evil spirit Ruin while attempting to close the Well of Ascension, new emperor Elend Venture and his wife, the assassin Vin, are now hard-pressed to save the world. The Alloy of Law: The Mistborn trilogy has become a firm favourite with fantasy fans the world over. The imagination that Sanderson brought to the series and his skill at marshalling epic storylines and dramatic action. Shadows of Self: Fans of Robert Jordan and George RR Martin alike have found a new champion of epic fantasy in Brandon Sanderson. And now, in the first of two sequels to The Alloy Of Law the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author returns to the world of Mistborn anda hunt for a mysterious assassin. The Bands of Mourning: The imagination that Sanderson brought to the series and his skill at marshalling epic storylines and dramatic action, his ability to create vivid characters made him a natural choice to complete Robert Jordan's epic wheel of time sequence.

Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

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About the author

Brandon Sanderson

395 books282k followers
I’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.

The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.

During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.

Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.

November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.

Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.

I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.

Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!

Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.

I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.

Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.

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5 stars
288 (74%)
4 stars
82 (21%)
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12 (3%)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Tarot.
593 reviews64 followers
February 18, 2018
4.5/5 stars for the first three Mistborn books
4/5 stars for Alloy of Law

Overall ~
1/1 for plot
1/1 for characters and character development
1/1 for writing style
0.5/1 for pace
1/1 for world-building/magic system
Profile Image for Shaina Pradhan.
7 reviews2 followers
May 2, 2021
Writing is wonderful, strong diction. Hate the way he writes female characters. I mean while reading Sanderson, Stephen King and Jay Kristoff I somehow am very aware that I'm reading a book written by a man. Especially, female characters written by a man. It's not always bad. Like for example, Mark Lawrence and Phillip Pullman are very good at writing female characters.
Profile Image for Angelo Greenleaves.
3 reviews
October 1, 2022
One of my favorite universes. It’s full with magic, a good story, charming characters. The only bad thing is that you cannot get enough of it.
Profile Image for MRS.  D.
39 reviews
July 7, 2024
Reading with the kiddo. I can't keep up!! I really liked to growth of the characters and the deep continuity of the plot line.
1 review
December 12, 2025
Really enjoyed the Wax and Wayne Series! very fun read, highly recommend
Profile Image for Jackie.
1,291 reviews
July 2, 2015
I started this in May but set it aside; then I picked it up last week on vacation and have devoured the last 450 pages as we traveled home the last few days.
Sanderson is great at creating unique worlds. In this one, there are many interesting aspects. There are several classes in the political system: at the top, there is a Lord Ruler who is believed to be immortal; his laws are enforced by inquisitors and obligators; under them are the nobility and their houses--all of whom are human; at the bottom are the skaa who are treated as inferiors; and there is also a class called terrismen who are kept as eunuchs and function much like historians. There are two main types of powers as well--allomancy, where people can burn metals inside themselves to give them powers, and ferruchemy which is similar but different.
This story focuses on a skaa thief, a girl named Vin, who gets incorporated into a crew with plans to create a rebellion and depose the Lord Ruler and his government. Kelsier recruits and teaches Vin about her mistborn status--meaning she has full allomantic powers; he has a fantastic storyline of his own. Vin's part in the plan is to pretend to be a debutante and gain secrets and gossip from the courts. This is where she meets Elend, first born son of House Venture, who actually has more in common with her than one might expect (he, too, wants to help the skaa and doesn't think highly of those in his status). Their plans have some complications, they involve many interesting characters, and in the end, the Lord Ruler is deposed and outed.
I enjoyed it very much--though I don't personally think Vin needed to have a love interest.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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