Mistborn: The Final Empire

The Mistborn Saga #1

by Brandon Sanderson

What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?

Mistborn
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Epic Fantasy, Magic, Adult

541 pages, Hardcover

First published July 17, 2006

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Petrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a Booktube channel now! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/petrikleo

Here it is, the beginning of the trilogy that sparked my love for reading fantasy novels.

It’s been exactly one year ten months since I first joined Goodreads or started reading The Final Empire for the first time; it was on September 1st, 2016. There’s no doubt that The Final Empire is an extremely important book for me. It’s not easy for me to elaborate upon this; a cliché such as “I absolutely love this book” is not enough, and the reason behind the significance of this trilogy for me will have to be postponed until I’m done with rereading The Hero of Ages. The impact that this trilogy left on my life is immeasurable, and my life before and after I finished this trilogy for the first time is a different one from each other. I predict this will happen within a week or two from now, but for now, let’s talk about The Final Empire, and why—even upon reread—it’s an absolutely incredible start to a trilogy.

Picture: The Final Empire by breath-art



The Final Empire is the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s highly acclaimed Mistborn trilogy. For a thousand years, the world has been ruled with an iron fist by the immortal emperor: Lord Ruler. The main plot of the book revolves around a rebellion to overthrow the lord ruler; this rebellion is built around a heist led by Kelsier, his team, and his newly found apprentice—Vin. I immensely enjoyed reading The Final Empire; the first time I read this novel, I found the plot to be thoroughly engaging, relatable, and at times humorous due to the character’s camaraderie and banter. And I was also completely fascinated by the world-building and magic system that Sanderson has created here. On reread, all of these are still true, but there’s a new additional superb quality: all the foreshadowing and hints are now laid bare for me to see with the gift of hindsight. The Final Empire, on its own, works perfectly as a standalone, but trust me that there’s so much more to the story beyond this book. Everything you read here—even the mini details—played major parts in the upcoming sequels.

"Plots behind plots, plans behind plans. There was always another secret.”

Picture: Kelsier and Vin by GisAlmeida



Where should I even begin with the wonderful characterizations? I guess I’ll start with Vin. I’ve read more than 200 books since the first time I finished reading this trilogy, and Vin—by the end of the trilogy—still stands strong as one of my favorite heroines of all time. This, of course, doesn’t mean that Vin was the only great character from the series; Kelsier, Sazed, Elend, and many other characters were so memorable as well. I can’t mention them all in this review because their greatness hasn’t occurred yet here. Ever since I read this book for the first time, I’ve heard from several readers that they found Vin to be incredibly emo and annoying; I disagree with this. Vin had a rough past. I think Sanderson did a great job in conveying Vin’s insecurity and emotions. Vin’s thoughts felt believable to me, and I found her character’s development to be amazing. She taught me that despite being betrayed and left behind countless times, it’s always okay—and better—to love and trust someone again rather than being alone. And then Kelsier taught me about the meaning of justice and hope; it’s not okay to stand still in the face of tyranny, oppression, and slavery.

“Men rarely see their own actions as unjustified.”

Sazed taught me that differences in faith can still lead to being respectful and kind towards each other’s beliefs.

“Our belief is often strongest when it should be weakest. That is the nature of hope.”

There were plenty of things to learn from the character’s actions in the book. But for now, I want to discuss the next highlight of the novel—and trilogy—itself: the magic system.

The Final Empire introduced us to Allomancy and Feruchemy. Honestly speaking, coming from a gaming and manga/anime background, I thought I would never encounter a magic system as good as the one often told in these two mediums within a novel format. However, I was proven wrong. Allomancy is amazing, and it’s still by far my favorite magic system in the entire fantasy genre. Yes, I think it’s even better than the one shown in Sanderson’s magnum opus—The Stormlight Archive—so far. The intricacy of the magic system that Sanderson has crafted in Mistborn Saga never ceased to amaze me, and I’ve yet to encounter a more engaging, complex, and amazingly easy-to-understand magic system in any other fantasy novels. Plus, the actions spawned from the magic system resulted in some incredibly vivid and fast-paced battle sequences.

This book was also my first encounter with Sanderson’s spectacular world-building. Accompanied with Sanderson’s accessible, vivid, and immersive prose, the world of Scadrial that’s clouded by ash and surrounded by mist felt extremely atmospheric to read. There was also a lot of well-built mystery and lore within this book; Sanderson used the epigraph at the beginning of each chapter masterfully. I’ve heard a lot of criticisms from several readers that Sanderson’s prose can be a bit too simple to their liking, and I can certainly agree that—not only this book—all of his books contain simplistic prose. However, that’s actually one of the things that I appreciate about his works. His writings never get in the way of the story, and he’s brilliantly capable of telling a story of epic proportion with his accessible writing style. And this doesn’t mean that the narrative is lacking in wisdom or impact. In my opinion, all of Sanderson’s books in the Cosmere universe contained a lot of relatable wisdom easily applicable to our daily life. A few examples:

“The right belief is like a good cloak, I think. If it fits you well, it keeps you warm and safe. The wrong fit however, can suffocate.”

or this

“You should try not to talk so much, friend. You'll sound far less stupid that way”

And with that quote, I realized that it’s time for me to put an end to my review here. It’s safe to say that I still consider The Final Empire as one of my favorite books and one of my favorite starts to a trilogy. My reread experience of this book has been better than I expected, and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the trilogy will hold up for me. Below here—just for fun, cringe, and nostalgia factors—is the first review I’ve ever written. Hopefully, I did a better job this time! :)

You can order the book from: Book Depository (Free shipping)

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!

My Patrons: Alfred, Alya, Annabeth, Ben, Blaise, Devin, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Ellen, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Mike, Miracle, Nicholas, Sarah, Seth, Shaad, Summer, Wendy, Zoe.
------------------------
My first review on Goodreads and I'm really happy it's this book that I chose. The book have an amazing world-building, great characters development and most of all, very intricate magic system and actions. This is coming from someone who've seen plenty of magics (not real of course) from 20 years of gaming and watching anime/movie/television series. The amount of details Sanderson put into each words (not to mention it's really simple and easy to understand) is insane.

I will definitely read the rest of the trilogy straight after this and more works by him!

[Benjamin Duffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember being this violently conflicted about a book in quite some time. There are some areas where it's so incredibly well done, with the author absolutely nailing it, and then others where I found myself grinding my teeth in frustration. I'm going to abandon my usual practice of writing short, pithy reviews and just drunkenly ramble on a few things here. (Still no spoilers, though.) That OK with y'all?

Language. About two and a half chapters into this book, I found myself asking, "Why does this feel like a YA fantasy book?" It wasn't the subject material or the plot, both of which are much more sophisticated than Harry Potter and his ilk. While I would feel perfectly comfortable having a 12-year-old read this PG13-violent and utterly asexual book, I don't feel as though it's necessarily written for tweens. Finally it occurred to me: it's the language. This book is one of the most simply written books I've ever read, using only the most basic vocabulary. That isn't a bad thing, as I'd rather read something direct and simple than something flowery and overwritten, but Sanderson's language is so simple here that it's almost as if he's drawing with the Crayola 16-set when other authors have the big 64. (One notable exception: having apparently become recently enamored of the word, he uses maladroitly at least three times. Maybe he was jamming some Weezer while he wrote.) I haven't read any of his other works (yet; Mistborn #2 is on deck), but I have to assume this simplicity is by conscious choice, and it's an interesting choice at that. I'm just not sure yet how I feel about it.

One language choice that I am sure how I feel about is Sanderson's decision to have his characters speak good old American English. The narration is similarly plainspoken, with a fair amount of American slang thrown in, rather than the twee, faux-Elizabethan style of a lot of fantasy authors. I like the approach. One of the most time-honored fantasy tropes is having all the characters thee and thou each other, with a few ne'er did yon stars of Yomama glimmer so resplendently, my suzerain for good measure. And I can handle that stuff, having been weaned on Tolkien and everything that came after, but I found Sanderson's decision to move away from that convention refreshing. I interpreted it as Sanderson saying, "The unspoken assumption here is that this book has been translated from whatever languages they speak on this made-up world, so why translate it to anything other than what is most understandable and comfortable for you to read? To couch this story in funky language is to insult your imagination by implying that you need that in order to realize you're reading a fantasy novel."

Setting and Plot. The setting is a typical high fantasy world - feudal-style nobility and peasantry; shadowy, powerful priesthood; mysterious evil lord, etc. - with some odd, almost steampunk flourishes thrown in. There are wristwatches. Men's formal wear is described as something more like Victorian coat and tails than medieval garb. Magic in this world is fueled by elemental and alloyed metals, which are described rather precisely, using percentages. It's a unique and interesting blend.

The basic plot is about as stock as it gets. If you're familiar with the Star Wars films, the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson books, Eragon, the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy, Dune, Ender's Game, or any one of about a million other works, please play Mad Libs with me:

Dear [kid with weird name], I know you are only a [farmer / orphan / urchin / child of a minor noble], and this will be hard for you to accept, but you [have Great Powers / are the Chosen One / insert name of funky power here]. You are the only one who can [save the world / save the universe / defeat the Empire / restore order to the Force / kill the Big Boss]. Luckily, even though you just learned your destiny fifteen minutes ago, you will make up for lost time by quickly becoming better than anyone in the history of ever at [Quidditch / dragon riding / sandworm riding / Allomancy]. Any questions?

Needless to say, the plot could have been a one-way express ticket to Hack City, but it really isn't. Vin's growth and development are handled well.

Exposition. This is a fantasy book for the video game generation. By that, I mean that the book follows the general path of a first-person RPG:

1) Introduction to the world and the main characters
2) A few early levels whose only apparent purpose is to teach the player how to use the buttons
3) Quests of increasing difficulty, with progressive reveals of the Big Plot
4) Fight with the Main Boss, including the inevitable twist
5) Denouement and teaser for the next installment.

Not that that's a bad thing! But I was really surprised at the way Allomancy (the main "magic" in this world) was laid out. In the two towering fantasy/sci-fi works of the 20th century, The Lord of the Rings and Dune, the supernatural elements of the story operated behind a sort of curtain or screen. The One Ring in LotR and the spice Melange in Dune both held great, mysterious powers, but the specific effects and extent of those powers were seen only in fits and flashes, and never understood completely by the characters or the reader. In contrast, fairly early in this book, Kelsier takes Vin on a practice run where he explains how her powers work and what their advantages and limitations are, using plain language and real-world physics, and lets her fly and mess around and just generally exult in her magic. It left me, the reader, as well as Vin the character, feeling that even if we didn't understand this magic perfectly right now, we might at some point in the future, which was a very different feel.

OK, after enough rambling about things I feel ambivalently about, let's wrap up with one big win and one big fail:

WIN: Brandon Sanderson can write the hell out of an action scene. (And since the final quarter of this book is pretty much all action, playing directly into Sanderson's strengths, it kicks all kinds of ass.) The fights in this book are gut-wrenching without being overly gory, and the chases and sneaks are heart-stopping as well. Perfect combination of pace and detail. Amazing. Possibly the best I've ever read from an author in this genre, and if he's able to do that so effortlessly, so early in his career, it gives me hope that he can fix...

FAIL: ...the dialogue. In spite of being favorably disposed due to the use of informal American English, I eventually found the dialogue here really clunky. Everyone is too wordy. Everyone says one sentence too many. Over and over again, I found myself going, "Real people don't talk like this," and especially, "Real people who are supposed to be close friends don't talk anything like this to each other." Seriously, think of how you talk to your best friends in private, then compare it to this book. In addition, there was always that odd feeling of unneeded exposition, as if the characters were talking half to each other and half to the reader. It was unfortunate, especially in contrast to how slick and fast-moving and just plain awesome a lot of the other writing was.

All in all, this was a fun, kinetic read...with a few holes in it. It builds, it explodes, and the ending is really good. If half-stars were allowed, this would have been a 3 1/2. Good stuff.

Also, here are my (spoiler-free, suitable as previews) reviews of the second and third books in the series, if you enjoyed this one!

[Marianna Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

My jaw is actually still on the floor. I think the last 150 pages sent me into cardiac arrest. WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU MEAN?!!! What have you guys done to me?? What am I getting myself into….. my heart is already broken and this is BOOK ONE?! Oh no no no no I’m never gonna survive. But I quite literally do not care at all because this was INCREDIBLE??? And everyone telling me it only gets better and better (and more painful) from here?! I’m sat. No turning back now. Jesus Christ. To think I’ve put off Brandon Sanderson so long because I was intimidated????

This is most definitely a slower paced book but i actually loved that. I wouldn’t have preferred it any other way. The way I opened this and couldn’t put it down. I stayed up until 4:30am to finish….. yeah. I fear I now understand what you guys mean by “Sanderlanch” and OH. MY. GOD.

This is without a doubt the best magic system I have ever read. ALLOMANCY?! Are you kidding??? This is how you do a hard magic system and now I fear my standards are through the roof. The world??? The world building?! Immaculate. No notes. Perfection. Listen to me when I say this is a trust the process book and I’m pretty sure that’s just a theme for all Sanderson books. Even when I was confused and didn’t know what was going on. It always eventually came together so beautifully. There is a reason for EVERYTHING. Please if you are reading this and feel confused don’t try to memorize or try to fully grasp the concepts right away. Just let it happen.

THESE CHARACTERS??? I am a sucker for a character driven story with complex relationship dynamics between characters and the way I was immediately emotionally invested in all of them actually didn’t even make sense. Which has me deeply terrified because well….. I know that nobody is safe and my life is about to be ruined. I will defend Vin with everything I have. Everything I want out of an FMC and it’s only just begun. Kelsier…… oh my sassy, pot stirring, tea spilling, deadly diva. Don’t even start with me. I’m entirely obsessed with Sazed and need his POV. Elend, from the beginning I knew I was gonna love him even when I fully doubted him. I don’t like that I’m so invested in him and Vin….. but here we are.

Now I’m not the brightest bulb but I didn’t see that plot twist coming for the life of me. I think I’m still in shock.

I’m just rambling anyway I went into this blind with zero expectations and I was BLOWN AWAY. Starting book two immediately despite the dried tears still full on my face.

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

6/21 Re-reading...

Thank the Lord Ruler I finally crawled out from whatever rock I was living under and finally decided to read this book.



Because.

It.

Was.

So.

Fucking.

Awesome.



I have been telling myself for years that I should try and branch out from just romance, paranormal romance, UF romance, sci-fi alien smut and the occasional murder mystery or biography (not that there is a damn thing wrong with my beloved romance, but just to challenge myself to try something new) and attempt to tackle a straight high fantasy.

Well, this book was my first true foray into that genre and all I can say is...

*
*
*



LOLZ.

Jay kay, peeps, jay kay.

Just making sure I live down to your expectations. *wink*

In all sincerity though, this book was everything and I truly don't know why I waited so long to tackle this genre.

Comic/Sci-Fi/Fantasy movies are my all time FAVORITE movie genres.

And this book felt like I was locked in one of them.
Like I was in a theater watching an epic fantasy film.

Only BETTER.

Because we ALL know the book is always better.

Brandon Sanderson is now a front runner in the Val's Spirit Animal Games and I just want to sit across from him at a pub table and watch him breathe.

His world building is so amazing, I can't even.
I was enthralled from page one until page end.

This is an older book and and I'm late to the fiesta, so I'll stop there; but long story short, I loved this thing so hard I might sleep with it under my pillow for a while.

And the best part?

There are now aisles of books at the bookstore that I feel have suddenly been opened to me.

AISLES, people.

So glad I tried something new.
I feel so mature.



Three cheers for Garth.

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, I revisit a book I had loved ages ago, only to tell myself "What the actual fuck was I thinking?! This book is crap!!!!! Oh young Khanh, you were so dumb :("

Thankfully, this was absolutely NOT the case for this book. I appreciated it much more the second time around. It could be that it just took time for me to appreciate the book. Or maybe it just glows in comparison to all the crap I had been reading (2.5 average rating last year, baby!). Either way, I ain't complaining!

First, the bad, because I'm that sort of person. Sanderson is a good writer, not a great one. The world he has built is magical, his words are not. Sanderson's writing is simple, readable. Perhaps too simple. I appreciate the fact that there is no purple prose, but sometimes, a story is woven through the magic of words, and Sanderson's writing is simply too plain for me.

On the other hand, damn, he's verbose. This is a huge-ass book, people. I mean, I get it. The book is tremendously grand in scope, the story is complex, and will only get more complicated as the series wears on, but I find myself wearying of reading, which is a sad thing for any reader to realize.

Now, the good. First, LOW ON ROMANCE, BITCHES! CAN I GET A FUCK, YEAH? Sanderson, I feel, is so respectful to his female characters. They are strong, resourceful, independent. They can get by without a man. The women in his book have to earn their stripes. There's no getting by on beauty and flirtation here. Wit and cunning is a much safer bet than the size of a female character's tits.

The world building is tremendous. The magic of Allomancy is just so fucking awesome, and so well-described. World building, the myth and magic surrounding any high fantasy is so crucial, and Sanderson did a tremendous job.

Yes, it's a long-ass book, and the writing isn't as spectacular as some (Guy Gavriel Kay), but on the other hand, this book is eminently readable, with a limited amount of meandering (unlike Guy Gavriel Kay).

[Mark Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an odd one for me. I've seen an enormous number of opinions about Sanderson's books on the fantasy forums I hang out on, the great majority favourable. I was interested to see what it was that had sold so very many books and got such an incredibly high average score on Goodreads.

The opening was strong and engaging. Then I started to falter. For most of the book I didn't think that I would be giving it 5*. I started to worry that I might have a legion of Sanderfans on my case :o

I think I am too much of a scientist for the magic system not to jar against me. I liked the complexity, and the effects, and the ways it was used were cunning, clever, and ingenious. But the ingredients and the execution fill me with unanswered questions.

And for much of the middle section I was struggling through all the balls and house politics, having a hard time caring.

And the plans felt flimsy and dubious...

***BUT***

But, the last hundred and fifty pages were a huge payoff and I really liked all the twists and turns. Also the action scenes were great, and the tension was kept high, nobody felt safe, the reveals kept coming ... it was all really well done and I had a blast with it.

I've heard it said that Sanderson's biggest strength is plotting, and yes, the plot unwound splendidly.

The reading experience and writing put me in mind of Brent Weeks more than any other writer I know.

A really fun read.


Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes


...

[Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. That. Was. Really. Good.

[Jesse (JesseTheReader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOAH. That was a crazy epic adventure full of fantastic characters and action packed madness! It definitely lived up to all the hype for me. :)

[Warda · Rating 5 out of 5]

6th reread and I’m still not bored.

Think that sums up my feelings towards these books.

[Claudia Lomelí · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'M NOT OKAY I'M STILL CRYING.

On to read the next book!

[Chelsea Humphrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread 04/05/22

***********************

Allomancy. The mystical power held by the nobility, granted to them by the Lord Ruler some thousand years before as a reward for their loyalty.

Readers have been urging me for years to pick up anything by Brandon Sanderson, and after browsing his books I knew that Mistborn would be the first world I wanted to enter. Opportunity arose, and I was able to read this along with two other Goodreads friends, which made for a much more exciting experience than if I had gone it alone. We were able to bounce ideas off of each other, chat about theories we had, and see where we were right and where we were completely wrong. The latter is where we mostly fell. ;)

I'm at a loss for words at how perfectly this book and I fit together; the only way I can think of explaining is that, upon finishing The Final Empire, I found myself questioning the validity of most of my previous 5 star reads. How could I possibly place them in the same category as this? I understand it won't be for everyone; the pacing is slow throughout a majority of the book and it's long by many readers' standards. I felt the hilarious banter between the characters relieved a bit of the slowness, but I also found that I loved the steady, detailed world building. The immaculate secondary detailing is what really set this apart from other adult fantasies I have read, and I can't wait to continue on and see where Sanderson takes us. I don't really have much else to say, as I've jumped on the bandwagon late in the game, so I thought I would close with my favorite (spoiler-free) quotes that I marked along the way.

If men read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by it's chains.

"Every action we take has consequences, Vin. I've found that in both Allomancy and life, the person who can best judge the consequences of their actions will be the most successful."

The Hero of Ages shall be not a man, but a force. No nation may claim him, no woman shall keep him, and no king may slay him. He shall belong to none, not even himself.

Belief isn't simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief-what is faith-if you don't continue in after failure?

Buddy read with Bentley and Scrill ! 😍❤️

[jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. okay. this is probably the last book i thought would make me cry…

the first 80% of this was a pretty solid 4 star read for me. there are some really great characters, a plot i could totally get behind, some interesting court dynamics, and awesome world building. but then the last 20%. my gosh. the last 20%. there were watery eyes and some sniffles, feelings of pride and moments of excitement, some losses that shook me and some triumphs that gave me hope again. its phenomenal.

and its been such a long time since ive read a BS book that i forgot this kind of storytelling is totally his MO - a pretty steady-going narrative until an explosion of the ending.

and im actually surprised this ended up being a series because everything is wrapped up pretty nicely. but that makes this is a great book for readers who might be a bit intimidated by the length and content of these books/series, because you can pick up this one without any fear of a cliffhanger or sense of unfinished plot.

but im beyond obsessed with elend, so catch me picking up the sequel so i can spend more time with him. hehe.

↠ 4.5 stars

[Mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I almost gave it 3 stars and I feel that once this one settles a bit, it might reach that level. The issue here, you see, is that first 380 pages were nearly painful to get through. The last part? An above average action packed unravelling of events.

The main problem is in Brandon Sanderson's exhausting and repetitive writing. And don't shout, "HIGH FANTASY!" at me because there is a difference between purposefully describing the flora and fauna or laying out expansive world systems and what Sanderson gives us, which is down right repetition. I highlighted an example of this:

Still, they were marvelous. Instead of mundane browns and whites, the cultivated plants were of deeper, more vibrant colors – shades of red, orange, and yellow, with the colors concentrated in their leaves. The groundskeepers had planted them to make intricate, beautiful patterns. Closer to the balcony, exotic trees with colorful, yellow leaves gave shade protected from ashfalls. It was a very mild winter, and most of the trees still held their leaves. The air felt cool, and the resting of branches in the wind were soothing.

Almost soothing enough, in fact, to make Vin forget how annoyed she was.

Think about paragraphs on paragraphs of this kind of simplicity and sameness of language. IT GRATES.

On top of that, Sanderson had this habit of sharing character thoughts when they were completely useless to the scene. Behold:

We'd have to discuss timing, though," Dockson said. "Breeze is right- killing that many obligators in one evening means making a major commitment. It won't take the Inquisitors long to retaliate."

Kelsier nodded. You're right, Dox. Timing will be vital.

Um, we know timing will be vital because Dox just said that and we know you agree BECAUSE YOU NODDED.

ON TOP OF THAT, there were a lot of plot points that Sanderson just beat over our head. For instance, the main character, Vin, grew up not trusting people, and often thought about the hard knock life lessons her brother Reen taught her. Reen is mentioned 33 times in the first 100 pages and at least 10 of those times, Vin is remembering something he told her with near exact, "Reen had always said," language. Was all that really necessary to establish Vin as an untrusting person? She's already cowering in corners and well, you know, telling us she trusts no one. It was overkill.

Those three things separately might seem minor, but in combination and across hundreds of pages? Struggle bus.

This story is about a long con and sometimes it was so dragged out in getting us to where we were going, in ways that didn't feel necessary to either establish the world or characters or plot. We get the whole plan banged out and presented to us in a few pages and then that plan is repeated time and time again and we approach it at a snail's pace, all the while getting what little character progression we see thrown in our face: "I used to not trust people, but now I kind of do." "I used to be rash and reckless and now I will be... rash and reckless but not that much." (Almost direct quotes.)

As it is, I didn't even feel particularly connected to either the character or the world. To be sure, one of the characters I felt was most sympathetic, ends up dead. I thought to myself before that point, "if this person dies, I'M OUT OF HERE." Wouldn't you know it, the death itself happens so quickly and is lost in the rest of the forward motion. It felt off in a way I can't describe better than that.

Vin wasn't my favorite, but that is mostly due to the writing. As I said, within the first 100 pages, I wanted to punch her in the face because she was mostly having conversations in her head with Reen, or whatever. She's of course blessed with super powers the likes of which have never been seen, but she straddles this weird line of not trusting anyone and thrusting herself in places where she isn't always wanted? Like, "I don't trust you BUT YOU MUST TRUST ME AND TAKE ME WITH YOU." Because she's the super special heroine, it works in her favor, but it doesn't work for her impression on me.

Her love interest is established in like three meetings of polite conversation and that's it. I HATED that after all this lady does, the book ends with her IN A MAN'S ARMS SAYING THIS WHAT SHE HAD ALWAYS WANTED. Just acceptance from a man, ladies! It's all we ever want!

I know lots of people go crazy for the magic system, but it left something to be desired for me, probably because of that pesky repetition again. Here's something I wrote to a friend via e-mail about 90 pages in: "I've been on the same five pages about this guy breaking into someone's house for like an hour now. It feels like I'm reading someone's mediocre fan fiction intercut with instructions for a chemical reaction." GOOD JOB, ME. ACCURATE.

It seems that Sanderson dedicated so much time to the Allomancy and the feudal system, but that doesn't actually mean he answered many of our burning questions. It seems like things were open to be addressed in the next book or two (why does it rain ash? why is the sun red? why does allomancy exist? why why why why?) and that's all well and good, but does that mean you spent hundreds of pages setting this up ONLY TO DIRECT US TO THE NEXT SET OF HUNDREDS OF PAGES FOR ANSWERS? WHHHHYYY?

Admittedly, it picked up so much at the end as the plan unravels and comes to a head. I suppose Sanderson excels at action scenes and I gobbled up the last portion of it with a speed I hadn't known since basically page 1. I wonder if maybe the high note it leaves you off on helps mask the tedium of the beginning. I mean, it worked on me! I'm considering giving this 3 stars now!

In the end, though, I don't think that ending is enough to make up for the slog we had to get through. Lot of people told me to hang in there because it got better and while I appreciate that, it must at least be acknowledged that that's a problem! You shouldn't have to ENDURE more than half a book for a sprinkling of payoff at the end.

I'm unsure if I'll continue with this series, mostly since I'd like to spare my friends the Twitter ranting.

[Christine Riccio · Rating 5 out of 5]

MISTBORN WAS SO GOOD GAHH HERE'S MY BOOKTALK: http://youtu.be/S9kgwYQ6MPs

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com

I'm sitting here in shock after reading this book. I have to admit that I cried, I didn't see that ending coming. Brandon Sanderson has done it again. This is only my second book I have read of his and they both have blown me away.

I loved all of the "good" characters in the book. Each one of them have an endearing quality. My favorites being Kell, Vin and Sazed. It took me a little bit to understand the Allomancy, but it finally started to make sense and there is a little chart in the back of the book that helps out with that :)

Kelsier (Kell) is a Mistborn and getting an army together to try to take down the Lord Ruler who is the ultimate jerk!! He finds Vin and brings her into his fold. She has no idea she is a Mistborn and she ends up being so much more than that! I love that he took her under his wing and taught her so many things. She caught on very quickly but this is because of what all she really is...no spoiler!

Kell has such a wonderful team. I love them all. There are several that have powers themselves. I really think this story is great at having all of these characters with different things they can do. They all stand out very clearly and the friendship between this team is the best.

The book is full of evil beings, strange beings, war, senseless torture and killings, and the good people trying to make a difference.

I'm still at a loss for a lot of words because of what happens and the feelings that are put into the book. All I can say is I look forward to reading many more Sanderson books!!!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

I hate everyone.

You: Everyone who?
Me: Yes.
You: Eh?
Me: Leave me alone. I don't want to talk about it!
You: *backs away slowly*
Me: IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. *sobs*

Are you one of them? Are you? Did you rave about MISTBORN and convince me it was one of the BEST fantasy series ever? You can't believe I haven't already read it--I'm going to LOVE it. Hmm? DID YOU?!

Then you, friend, are whom I hate.

As for you, Mr. Sanderson . . . I TRUSTED YOU.

I collected your clues and gathered your hints like freaking MANNA, and when you did-the-thing, I . . . panicked. But then I thought, no, no, this CANNOT be, he wouldn't do this, and I went back through all my meticulously collected clues and hints and found an explanation. A perfectly. Reasonable. Explanation.

An explanation that made sense.

An explanation that would keep my heart in one piece instead of the shattered, brittle thing it has since become.

An explanation . . . I am forced to conclude . . . you deliberately planted . . . to foster FALSE HOPE.

YOU are the Deepness, Mr. Sanderson. YOU are that which will destroy the world. And YOU will do it GLEEFULLY.

I hate you most of all.

I can't write the review that I want to . . . I can't talk about Sanderson's brilliance as he cultivated my doubt, and how that doubt made the loss so much worse: I DENIED HIM. MORE than three times. *changes name to Paul* *runs away to live like hermit in wilderness* *is generally miserable*

Which is exactly what he intended. It was so masterfully done, it couldn't be an accident.

Why does your manipulation make me admire you so?

Probably b/c (thanks to you) I'm a shadow of myself. <------oh, look at that. You probably PLANNED THAT TOO.

The world of the Mistborn is not a pleasant place.

There's always a downtrodden servant class in a Sanderson series, but this world's version is particularly bleak.

Ash falls like rain from the sky, supplying the skaa with a never-ending, yet thankless workload. They're beaten regularly, often resulting in their deaths. A pretty daughter is a curse rather than a blessing, b/c not only will the Master feel obliged to have his way with her, but when he gets bored, she'll be killed.

Halfbreeds are to be avoided, you see.

The nobility is sometimes blessed with magic. Magic which passes genetically to offspring, and we can't allow the peasants to gain that kind of power, can we?

*twirls mustache*

Enter Kelsier. *fireworks*

In the city where corruption among the nobility chokes the air almost as much as the ashfall, some skaa thumb their noses at the system.

They form street gangs and steal whatever they can from those who would enslave them, existing in a cutthroat world by embracing a cutthroat mentality.

Most of the gangs are comprised of ordinary skaa, but a few are different, more organized crews than low-level thieves . . . They take bigger jobs, they are the royals of the petty crooks, they are the Mistings.

And in a few extremely rare cases, they are the Mistborn.

Not every halfbreed life is snuffed out before it can begin . . .

And Kelsier is the greatest of them all.

Among the common criminals, he is legend:

“That’s where he got those scars, you know,” Disten said. “The ones on his arms. He got them at the Pits, from the rocks on a sheer wall he had to climb to escape.”
Harmon snorted. “That’s not how he got them. He killed an Inquisitor while escaping—that’s where he got the scars.”
“I heard he got them fighting one of the monsters that guard the Pits,” Ulef said. “He reached into its mouth and strangled it from the inside. The teeth scraped his arms.”
Disten frowned. “How do you strangle someone from the inside?"

But Kelsier was betrayed, and when he finally escaped the pits that claimed his wife, he was determined to be more than a crew leader. More than a thorn in the Lord Ruler's thigh or a bramble in his path.

And when you think about it, as far as planning goes, there's not much difference between organizing a chancey heist and plotting to overthrow a corrupt ruler who thinks himself a god . . .

One might even suggest that Kelsier is the perfect man to do it . . .

Beyond his suitability for the task, there's something immensely likable about the image of this noble Fagin flipping a coin he keeps to anchor his Allomancy, the ability to metabolize and manipulate metals.

And here's the thing about Sanderson: the man's a genius. Now that I've familiarized myself with him, I don't think I'll ever be able to stop reading his books. Even if I'm not thrilled about the execution, there is always incredible potential in his ideas.

Take the concept for this series: what would happen if the hero meant to save the world . . . failed?

SO. We have servant class con men with flash + an immortal tyrant = Revolution! We have a world in ruin one thousand years after the hero of prophecy failed to save it. Add to that Sanderson's trademark misdirection, and, well . . . Despite my brokenness in the aftermath, how could I not read it? How can you not?

Highly recommended, but only with LOTS of cake (or something stronger) to drown your agony.

PS - this changes nothing. I still hate all of you.



Pre-review:



Also, I HATE ALL OF YOU.


BUDDY READ with my peeps in Sanctum of Fantasy .

It's supposed to start tomorrow, but:


*waves at Robin*

My other reviews for this series:

The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

dances in *sanderson did it again*

[Kogiopsis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note to self: You are no longer allowed to bring books this good on family road trips. It makes you antisocial. You ignore the great views outside the car. You resent being torn away from the book to spend time with family, and when you are you babble incessantly about how awesome it is and how everyone would like it and how cool the magic is and how great the characters and on and on and on until your family is probably sick of you. And then, even after an eight-mile hike in the desert when you're covered in sweat and dirt, you let your sister have first shower so you'd have more reading time. You even considered skipping dinner to finish it! This is the kind of book that stays at home in future, where you can sit and read all day and not be bothered.



And now for the rest of you - all the above is true. For the few days I was reading it, this book did its level best to take over my life. It was addicting. I craved it like chocolate, and not being able to read was hard to deal with.

I would expect nothing less from the man chosen to finish the Wheel of Time, or from a contributor to Writing Excuses, the podcast that got me into podcasts. I went into Mistborn ready to be impressed, but that's not what happened. I wasn't impressed. I was wowed. Blown away. Astounded. Engrossed. Shocked. Thrilled. And filled with a sense of loss when it was over.

This is not a good book, my friends.

This is a great book.

This is what fantasy needs.

As far as the genre is concerned, this book - this series - this author - is the Hero of Ages.

Thank goodness for Brandon Sanderson. Thank goodness for a writer with such a depth of imagination; for the wildly creative systems of magic he creates; for his vivid and haunting settings; for his masterful plotting and artful twists which are, always, "surprising but inevitable". Thank goodness for a male writer who makes his female main character strong, but not in a masculine way. Vin is seriously amazing. So is the rest of the cast - my one objection is that there aren't any other women in significant roles, but maybe that'll change in later books.

And the writing! I know from Writing Excuses that Sanderson has never wanted to be anything but an author, and that he spent years working as a hotel clerk so he had time to write, and that he had completed numerous novels before he managed to sell one. It shows. The language is almost entirely flowing and clear, suffering only occasionally from an over-use of commas. (One after every 'but' is a bit much.) More authors should learn to write like this. More authors should practice writing the way he has.

Normally I find more to say about books I like, but this time I'm too impressed. Sanderson has amazed me beyond anything I expected. I can't wait to read The Well Of Ascension.

[Hannah Azerang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything I could have asked for out of a fantasy novel and more! It was perfection, I am obsessed.

Excuse me while I go and devour the rest of the series.

[chan ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

yo, i read my first adult fantasy!!!!!!!!!


reading Peruse Project's favorite books

[carol. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Mistborn felt strangely similar to watching a big-budget Hollywood action movie. Don’t get me wrong; I probably watch more action movies than any other kind. It is just that I associate them with generally iconic characterization, streamlined storytelling and a certain lack of emotional complexity. Although that may sound negative, it doesn’t have to be. Action movies are ideal for mindless fun and escapism. Personally, I also find them well-suited to exercising on the elliptical, their plot tension and violence adding inspiration for my own exertion. Besides, it’s hard to hear dialogue over the fan.

The aspect of action movies that tends to annoy (sometimes even when done well) is the emotional manipulation of the viewer, who is usually given only one interpretation about the plot or characters. Good comes with a capital ‘G’ and the Bad Guys are usually sneering. When I finished Mistborn, my reaction was strangely similar to watching an action flick: satisfaction with resolution of a fast-paced ending and a quickly fading impression of a genre book.

This was my gut feeling, but having no clear detail I could point to, I went looking across the internet for insight into Sanderson’s writing. What I discovered is that he writes a great deal about writing, even to the extent of creating ‘laws’ about how to write well (he explains these as guidelines for self, not necessarily for others). To wit:

Sanderson’s First Law is that “An author’s ability to solve conflict satisfactorily with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.” (Post, “Sanderson’s First Law“.

Sanderson’s Second Law is “Limitations > Powers“and the Third Law is that a writer should “Expand what you already have before you add something new.”

Suddenly, my reading experience made sense. I wasn’t particularly engaged in the emotion of the books, but rather the resolution of plotting in a well-realized world. Would Vin join the resistance or wouldn’t she? But because Sanderson operates so consistently along archetypical lines, the conclusion was forgone; what remained was discovering the details getting there. Like Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara, evil is Destined to Fail, along with Selfishness for Personal Glory. But don’t worry–Selflessness will be Rewarded.

The responses of other enthusiastic readers also made sense in context of story type. Sanderson’s insistence on a well-structured magical system and his process of building it into the story is key for many of his readers. If you note anything in common in Sanderson reviews, it is that readers almost uniformly praise the thoughtful completeness of the magical system. Furthermore, I suspect that is the detail of his world-building also makes his fantasy accessible for a wide variety of readers.

So, specifics. Characters remain iconic. The removed mentor who guides a group. His estranged brother. The orphan with suspiciously strong powers. A book-reading noble who realizes the system is unfair but is unable to act. That said, the detail surrounding each was done well enough that they didn’t feel overly simplified. Vin, the heroine, was by far my favorite character and the most thoroughly fleshed out, but she tested my patience (or more specifically, Sanderson did) with reinforcing her wariness with every action for the first third of the book, and then her evolution from ugly duckling to society swan in the second third.

Plotting was acceptable. A slow start to guarantee through world-building, it started to take better shape when Vin and Kelsier meet. While the plot largely revolves around Vin’s growth, it is also a little bit of a heist-type alliance, which does strange things to the pacing. The heist, for instance, takes months to build as they ‘get people into place,’ which includes inserting Vin into high society. Given the length of time it takes, it is surprising there aren’t more contingency plans for when things start to go wrong (as they do, in almost every instance).

I find myself contemplating my own laws of reading (subject to be broken at any time): #1: Interesting language will keep your reader returning.
#2: Well-developed characters will keep your readers interested even when plotting doesn’t.

There wasn’t a lot of emotional complexity for me in the characterization or the plotting. Language was middle of the road, occasionally soaring, and occasionally bordering on repetitive. Personally, I’ve been reading fantasy long enough that I look for language, characterization and ideas as much as plotting when I’m evaluating books. Honestly, it feels a little mechanical and a little too deliberate–like Sanderson took his magical idea, coupled it with a couple of archetypical myths, padded it with standard genre expectations, and expected accolades. While it may make a blockbuster, it doesn’t quite work–more elliptical-worthy than personal library-worthy.


Links, etc at my blog: https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/...

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars again on the re-read!

I read this book last year but then got so sidetracked with life that I didn't end up continuing the series. I'd been thinking of it recently so I wanted to jump back in but needed to refresh my memory first.

I'm newer to Sanderson so many of you already know what a fantastic author he is but let me just gush about him for a min.

Recently with fantasy I've been struggling a little. I have the tendency to fall victim to whatever is popular at the moment, call it FOMO if you want. It's really so freaking stupid because 9 outta 10 times, I just know I'm going to be disappointed but I go and read whatever is all the rage anyway.

I've read few fantasy books this year so far because of that. Which is a true and crying shame because fantasy is my absolute favorite. I've just been so let down by it recently.

Anyway, Sanderson has pulled me out of that funk and has made me feel 1000 times lighter because I really had this heavy disappointment that I've been carrying around this year when it comes to fantasy, world building and magic systems.

This man is really, in my very humble opinion- in a league of his own. So original and creative. Action packed and a real gem of a story.

The world building is chefs kiss, filled with vivid imagery. The magic system is so unique and interesting - the characters have depth and are so well rounded.

My physical books for this series are in storage right now so I decided to try the audios and good news, the audio version is remarkable!

I can't express how happy I am to dive into some quality fantasy this year and leave reality behind! Moving right on to book 2!


♡₊˚・₊✧
˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔
　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 　　 　　　　 　
SHUT. THE. FRONT. DOOR. This books is ahhhmazing!

"The man who wants you to trust him is the one you must fear most."

"Our belief is often strongest when it should be weakest. This is the nature of hope."

"I'm not really sure why. But... do you stop loving someone just because they betray you? I don't think so. That's what makes the betrayal hurt so much - pain, frustration, anger...and I still loved her. I still do."

[Chris Haught · Rating 5 out of 5]

It reminds me of Ocean's Eleven meets The Italian Job, but set in Mordor after Sauron has ruled for 1000 years or so. In many fantasy stories, a dark lord is rising and it is up to our heroes to defeat him before that happens. In this, the Dark Lord is already set in place as the status quo and the heroes have to motivate others to want a change.....Yet there is a noble class of The Lord Ruler's flunkies who will need to be scammed and robbed along the way, to finance this big revolt.....I love it...

The pace, style, and grand-heist-scheme-in-a-fantasy-setting plot remind me of Michael J. Sullivan's The Crown Conspiracy while the characters and rags-to-revolutionary story make me think of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Certainly a great blending, as both of these were recent 5-star reviews for me....

Okay, now I've finished it. All I can say is WOW. Why did I wait so long to read this? I must read the other two books in the series very soon.......

[Tharindu Dissanayake · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I don't know a lot about kandra."

When I usually begin a book, no matter what kind it is, I crank my expectations up to the maximum level possible. Obviously this habit, more often than not, ends up a monumentally stupid one since it is a guaranteed way to be disappointed when you are believing all that hype diving in. To be fair, I do a fair amount of background research before start reading, but with opinions on books being almost always highly subjective, it not easy to pick the correct ones. My journey in to Brandon Sanderson's work started exactly this way: full of positive expectations but still apprehensive about the 'mysterious mists' swirling around. I was so nervous about starting this, or not having my taste in Epic Fantasy good enough to truly appreciate the work, or even where to begin it all. Well, it looks like all the worrying was for nothing! And all the hype is well deserved!!

"It always pays to stay near the Smoker."

To the uninitiated, like me, Cosmere could appear quite overwhelming, especially if you're a 'completionist' kind of reader hoping to get everything right. However, I was lucky enough to have two super-fans of Sanderson among my GR friends, who were very kind to help me not with just where to start, but with a few alternative ways to continue the entire journey depending on how I enjoyed the books. So Mel and Anna, thank you again for everything! And if anyone is looking to start Sanderson, look no further than the second comment here where you'll find the best possible path.

"Pure knowledge is not the equivalent of skill."

So moving on to the actual review... The only time I've been this happy with the world building of an Epic Fantasy was when I was reading Bardugo's Six of Crows where I enjoyed every little detail about Ketterdam. The Final Empire brings a massive, vivid, and detailed world which captivated me effortlessly from page one. Honestly, the world building alone could tempt most readers to give a perfect rating to the book, for, as dark and gloomy as it is, this is a place where one could fictionally reside indefinitely. In my opinion, it's somewhat rare for the modern fantasy to have such imaginative, but at the same time logical, believable and fictionally habitable world building. I shouldn't be surprised given how much Sanderson is known for 'epic' epic world building, but I still am.

"When you get to be my age, you have to be very careful where you waste your energy. Some battles just aren't worth fighting."

Then there were the characters. Had there ever been a better gang of characters having intriguing and contrasting traits but at the same sharing a strange harmony between them to make them complement each other? I know I haven't read a ton of fantasy yet to consider myself an expert, but the only time I could recall having enjoy such a band was with Tolkien's work. Planning and scheming wasn't that mind-blowing to be honest, but it was the characters that made the difference. I was a little shocked at the end from something that happened out of nowhere, but I guess it was a sacrifice made for the sake of preserving realism. It also helped Sanderson came up with a cunning way to make the plot more diabolical while partially appeasing the reader.

"Men rarely see their own actions as unjustified."

Moving on to the plot and magical system. I'm not saying either of world building, character development, plot, or magical system is clearly ahead of the rest, for everything seemed up to the same standard. Nonetheless, if I had to pick a winner, it would be the magical system (and the plot). I know those are two things, but for me, they were closely woven together, probably due to the fact that this was my first Sanderson book: understanding bits and pieces of the magical system felt like a major part of the story... though this might change during a future re-read. As I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to those detailed sci-fi stuff, I really enjoyed the Allomantic theory parts and how the author came up with different concepts to build different connections. I hope I haven't seen the last of the system being augmented.

"I can't believe people read books this big."

Looking at the length of the book, I had initially assumed the story would be having a moderate or a slow pace. Thankfully, that was not the case. Book was divided in to several main parts, sometimes making relatively long time jumps from one to another, allowing certain events to take place in the background. This in turn made the pace much higher than it would've been otherwise. Hard to believe how the author had managed to come up with this many non-stop sequences of events for a book this long. It was so immersive that I've completely forgotten how long this was while reading. And I loved those teaser bits at the beginning of each chapter too. They added another dimension of mystery to the flow from a completely different time line, not to mention Sanderson managing to bring the two together towards the end masterfully.

"That's a stunning dress. It's almost as beautiful as you are."

Now for the complaints... well, there aren't any, major or minor, perhaps with one tiny little thing I would've been happier to see handled differently: the romance bits of Vin with, well I'll stop at saying another character I'd refrain from naming to make this spoiler free. I didn't like the way how Vin's character suddenly switched from completely logical and safe to obvious kind of romantic. But then again, considering that's how it is usually with love, may be I shouldn't be too critical.

"The trick is never to stop looking. There's always another secret."

Like I mentioned before, The Final Empire marks my starting point to Sanderson journey. Obviously it's too early to compare with other books as alternative entry points, but I'm really glad I got the recommendation to start here: I'm completely hooked after one book, and cannot wait to see where Cosmere would take me, with an immediate jump to Well of Ascension.

"New tastes are like new ideas, young man - the older you get, the more difficult they are for you to stomach."

"You still have some things to learn about friendship, Vin. I hope someday you realize what they are."

[Victoria Schwab · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO good.

[R · Rating 1 out of 5]

it’s pretty much impossible to go through life as a fantasy fan without being exposed to the hype around mistborn and the cosmere. sanderson’s laws of magic, his more.. “commercial” outlook on writing, his ability to connect with such a gargantuan number of readers makes it inevitable that actively reading them or not, you will form some sort of impression on his work, and it was aversion to this “cult” of his that made me hesitant for years to pick up a book of his.

i assure you i went into this read with an open mind. “good” or not i think things are generally popular for a reason, and even if it doesn’t appeal to you personally, it’s usually easy enough to see where that popular appeal lies. honestly, i thought the worst that would happen was that i would end up a little bored.

the verdict?






………FUCK. THIS. BOOK.

sure, colour me surprised too. without exaggeration this might actually be my least favourite read of all time. ever. i feel entitled to a chunk of that kickstarter money for not dnfing this book.

good lord where does one even begin.
i think the very first issue that struck me with this book wasn't even it’s mind-numbingly simplistic prose (we’ll get to that later), but instead the realisation that several chapters in, i had no idea what this world looks like. not every novel has to follow the same structure, i appreciate that. but in a genre such as fantasy, where half of the books out there are written BECAUSE the author had an itch to create their own magical realm and story comes second, when youre several paces into the plot and have no idea what the landscape, the architecture, the clothing, the linguistics and naming conventions, the culture here looks like, it’s going to jar you a bit. and the problem is that this is never really amended. it was a good chunk into the book when the friend i was reading with pointed out that this was probably supposed to be some sort of steampunk thing, whereas i had just assumed it to be a totally pre-industrial society. it’s because none of the dressing in this world has any purpose. the author thought spikes through the eyes of the empire’s muscle would look cool, so he wrote it in in the moment. he thought it would be cool for the world’s lawyer class to have face tattoos, so he wrote that in too (and then didnt give any indication as to what those tattoos even look like until the last third of the book). there is nothing cohesive, alluring, or immersive about the worldbuilding here, and i think it’s even insulting to actual masters of worldbuilding to call it such. when plot requires something new to move forward, it’s introduced into the world with zero regard as to how it fits in deeper than absolute surface-level (when one of the characters pulls out a ONE THOUSAND YEAR OLD PHOTOGRAPH?!). all foliage of this world is supposed to be brown and red and dull, with the landscape usually covered in a layer of ash that falls out of the sky, these are MASSIVELY striking elements, and yet each rare time they'd be referenced id be pulled out of the story for a moment, because the author has done such an awful job at integrating them into a memorable and believable world. it’s a mess.

..i want to switch gears onto the politics of this book, since that ended up being pretty much the most shocking thing about this read. to be clear, i’m willing to meet a book where it stands in terms of its social politics. i dont open a 200 year old classic expecting perfect internet-woke equality and respect between classes, genders, races, i dont even open a modern day book and expect it to be a feminist treatise unless that’s what it’s explicitly aiming to be. but ive heard a lot from both sanderson and his fans about how important diverse points of view and progressivism is to him and to his stories, and how surprising it was for a lot of them to find out the author is mormon, along with praise for sanderson in keeping his religion separate from his writing. and to that all i have to say is ….. LOL. it doesnt even take critical analysis of the text to see the the way this book drips with racism, sexism, biological essentialism, all while patting itself on the back for thinking it’s saying something revolutionary.
in this world, you have the oppressed race called “skaa” that live as slaves to the “noblemen” (and let’s be clear, they are explicitly framed as different races in the story as opposed to classes). the skaa are either “plantation skaa” (….yeah! theyre really called that!!), or city skaa that live in the slums, and are described as such a caricature of oppression it’s almost laughable, with dirty faces and clothes, being small in stature, superstitious, weak-natured, uneducated, extremely fertile, wary of anyone who smiles because their lives are all so miserable, forced to eat slop every day of the year, biologically unable to practice the magic art in this world unless they have noble blood in their lineage (which, thankfully, all of our protagonists do have). these people are described as so beaten down that not once in one thousand years have they tried to rebel for a better way of life, the author specifically stating that they had bred themselves during that time into complacency, and it’s not until our big strong suave blonde protag Kelsier decides to “free them” do any of them even try to see a way out. in a story that chooses to ground itself in staunchly american language and characterisation the implications are….not great. the fact that mistborn decides there is no physical difference between the ska and their noble counterparts, except for the inherent nature of their blood… kind of even worse as a cop-out. race essentialism, check. then we get a healthy dose of orientalism with the arguably even WORSE caricature that is the terrismen. a race of people who are described with facial features generally ascribed to east and south asia irl, who are bred by the empire into a docile, humourless, desexualized population in flowing robes who crave subjugation, whose secret power comes in the form of storage of vast amounts of information. all the men are castrated at birth, and the main terrisman character even explicitly describes the act of him rebelling against the empire as just changing who he serves, as is his natural inclination. again, none of this is subtext, this is text. this was put on the page with no second thought.
and that’s what’s alarming to me, is that ive constantly heard these books being described as apolitical escapist fantasy. do i think sanderson MEANT to write these in as awful allegories, and that he’s making a point about his opinions on real-world races as he does? of course not. but that’s the point, that no thought was put into this past thinking that slavery would be an easy plot device to create some sort of unfairness in the world that our heroes can rise up against (hes not the first author to use this, and he wont be the last). it’s the fact that his audience reads any of this as apolitical that concerns me more than anything.

another point that id heard before going into these books, sometimes even at sanderson’s expense, was their “sexlessness”. despite being full of romance, this was apparently the one spot the author’s religion did peek through, in that his books were devoid of anything past a PG13 rating. so imagine my surprise opening the prologue to this book and reading about a lord raping and then killing a young girl he owns. and then going onto the next one and reading about a young skaa prostitute, and then the next one, and then the next- these books are overrun by sexual violence against women. i was so taken aback by the level to which it’s portrayed that i often had to stop reading in the middle of chapters and come back when my blood pressure lowered. our female teenage protagonist Vin is the daughter of a prostitute, and the threat of that being her own fate constantly hangs around her, she’s supposed to be grateful to her initial thieving crew for only beating her instead of selling her into sex slavery, when she walks among skaa she can only remark about how if she had remained among them she would probably be a young mother by now. vin is the only named female character in the whole book and EVERY other mention of women is either as a whore (yes, using that word specifically, over, and over,), as the dead partner of a male character to facilitate his development, or as a snooty shallow noblewoman. and the problem is that sanderson is clearly unaware in the plot how deeply disturbing this is. the number is given out at one point that ONE THIRD of noblemen regularly rape and then kill skaa women they own, and our female protag must swoop in to defend that they’re not ALL like that, their society can still be redeemed! and sanderson’s bizarre treatment of women only gets worse and worse the more into the book we get. vin is a classic “not like other girls” archetype, but it almost would have been better for sanderson to not treat her any differently from the men at all rather than try and write the storyline of her “coming into her own femininity” that he did. there’s no consistent characterisation in this book, so vin’s relationship with such flits between growing into the author’s idea of a normal young woman that allows herself to indulge in what’s framed as an inevitable part of the transition from woman to girl, and the scruffy too-cool teen that rejects those shallow, vapid creatures and scorns the way they bend to society. either way he leans it, neither reflects well on his personal views as to what makes a woman. not even to mention how the main romance in the book is between a 16 year old girl and a 21 year old man (do not even get me started on the fact that this is framed as a ~forbidden interracial romance~ between two white people), even while the author MAKES A POINT TO INCLUDE that a relationship between a 15 year old boy and a 17 year old girl would be strange and preposterous, and that he’s too young for her. not to mention either the way the language around her changes as she becomes more “ladylike” to focus more and more descriptively on her body, even leaving her in her underwear for the entire ending. sanderson’s writing of women in this book is cruel, alienating, and it’s just too hilariously on the nose that his mostly white, mostly male fanbase foams at the mouth over how complex his female characters are.

it’s time to step outside of the book for a moment. while mistborn itself hasn't had an overwhelming cultural impact, one thing that has seeped itself into the ways that every modern fantasy author and fan talks about the fantastical parts of a work with is brandon’s terminology for magic systems, namely his classification of hard and soft magic, and his laws of magic. my main curiosity, actually, in opening the book was in how the magic system would play out, even people who are lukewarm on the books had nothing but praise for its detail and integration. but unfortunately both of those points turned out….. laughable. like i was literally laughing at this magic system 90% of the time. i’m a big fan of sci fi, which is where brandon borrowed the labels of hard and soft from (well which i guess in turn borrowed from the real sciences but anyway-). the job of hard sci fi above all is to commit. it’s an entire genre centred around the “why”. you can try to sell me an out-there idea in any genre and i will play along, but the JOB of hard sci fi, the POINT OF INTEREST of it is to indulge that itch to know why, to deliver, no matter how dull, or rambling, the exposition to explain the inner workings of the fantastical. and for mistborn to be considered a “hard” fantasy with a “hard” magic system is just…. embarrassing. allomancy is a mechanic pulled from a video game. you press A, vin’s pewter flares, you press B, it’s bronze. drink metal, gain superpower. like…. i’m trying so hard to buy into this. WHY the fuck does drinking bits of metal interact with an allomancer’s system to do that, what is it about the makeup of each individual metal that makes it do what it does? doesn’t even have to be believable, make up something hokey, but make up SOMETHING! it contradicts itself scene to scene; metal inside your body can’t be affected, but apparently this includes an earring, though technically that’s as “inside” your body as a piece of metal held in someone’s hand? allomancers never carry metal, except for emergency weapons, or inglots, or coins- it’s nonsense! and THIS is the magic system that spawned a generation of imitations, a system that’s celebrated for its logic and mathematic precision and detail? don’t waste my fucking time lol.


even through the haze of the Cult of Sanderson the one caveat you’ll generally see people give is that his prose is not high art. so imagine the reality of it lol. “X ___ed.” there. i just gave you 60% of the sentences in this book, you fill in the blanks. i grew up on YA fantasy and though not being a genre i have desire to return to any time soon even THAT style of writing with all its melodrama angst is more interesting than this, whether mistborn is written the way it is to try to feign some backwards sense of “maturity”, or to pull in the widest berth of readers. it’s almost a remarkable feat, how a text can be so devoid of description yet so bloated. ive read quotes by sanderson on his aversion to “flowery” prose but a book doesnt have to be flowery to be characteristic or evocative, one of the most interestingly-written books ive read this year was Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, which is at the exact same level of simplicity as mistborn. it just also had…. purpose. and that’s the crux of the issue here isn’t it. nothing in mistborn is purposeful. nothing has intention, or care, nothing goes an inch past surface level. the characters are bland, derivative, nobody speaks with any differentiation (save for the one character that doesnt speak Standard American English and is mocked incessantly by both the characters and the narration for it), it’s just cool Marvel Guy quip, to quirky Marvel Guy quip, back to cool, until the book ends. the main characters follow no consistent characterization or discernible narrative arc, even WITHIN their archetypes, and just act whatever way sanderson decides in that moment would make the scene the coolest. and the side characters just exist to personify one silly trait sanderson gives them and pad out the word count. mistborn is the MCU of fantasy and i mean that in the absolute most derogatory way possible.


all this talk and i haven't even touched the actual plot of this book. but what is there to say? brandon’s aversion to style also leaves him averse to tension and stakes. he tries to introduce moral greyness at many turns, but is so insistent that you are ALWAYS left rooting for the protagonists and thinking they’re soooo badass that the greyness is alleviated before the chapter ends. every element of this book exists to serve the plot and yet the plot is so utterly devoid of meaning or taking a stance any which way that it all feels like an exhausting and genuinely frustrating waste of time. every “message” of this book is either nonsensically centrist, or carelessly sinister. like, what kind of message is a reader supposed to take from that ending? “all men are equal”, “never give up on freedom”, “work within an evil system to try to get to the top and you can change it from the inside”, “never go beyond your inherent biological conditioning or you will destroy the whole world and unleash terrible evilness” …. LOL? brando. we already got that you’re a mormon.

anyway. wow. i could talk about how much i hated every moment of reading this book for another 5000 words but i’m going to stop where there’s still a chance that anybody out there might read this.
honestly, i could forgive a lot of the above if it were from a no-name flop series but it’s from the most popular currently-updating fantasy novel franchise on the planet. and i kind of think that’s allowed to play a role in how seriously i take it. i wouldn't have enjoyed it if we removed that fact from the equation but the fact that this is the series that’s unanimously, ENDLESSLY praised both in and out of the industry- fuck, the guy just made FOURTY-ONE MILLION DOLLARS off his fanbase! like, the glaring flaws glare just that much harder.

fuck this book. fuck every moment of this reading experience. i need a drink.


PS: if i ever see anyone say “sanderlanche” instead of simply “climax” in front of me ever again,

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, for starters, this was the best prologue of any book I've ever read.

This story has two very predominate social classes in this book; The nobility and the slaves. The Lord Ruler is the "God" of this world, and his corrupt government is The Final Empire. The Final Empire is filled with "Inquisitors" which are men selected by The Lord Ruler and then remade into things that are more powerful and stronger than any normal man or woman. Plus, they have really creepy spikes going through their head, chest, and back. The Lord Ruler rents Skaa citizens out as slaves to the wealthy nobles, while the other prisoners are forced to work and die in his mines. The Lord Ruler is also very strict with the sexual reproduction of mixed classes/breeds, so most nobles will kill the Skaa women they've been intimate with shortly after. They are obviously being mistreated, and you soon find out that many are behind a rebellion that might actually stand a chance at doing something about this world's oppression.

Oh, and the world is constantly raining ash (and mist at night), causing the world to be dark and rather lifeless. There is a frequent conversation about how the old world, before the Lord Ruler's rule, had actual flowers growing from upon the ground and on the fruits. The characters are in awe and disbelief over this. Nothing is green, everything is just grey.

Brandon Sanderson's writing is simple and easy to understand, but you are thrown into a world with a very unique premise. I think he really paves his own path for fantasy, and stays away from regular fantasy tropes. I was a little overwhelmed by the allomantic skills until I was able to write most of them in my notes. What a unique concept though! Burning different elemental metals for different powers was so different, and I loved it. After you finished this book (I have the three ebook bind-up) they give you a neat little chart of the eight basic alloys and a little index of all the jobs. I was so sad I didn't know about this, or that it wasn't at the beginning!



Each chapter begins with a paragraph that feels very significant, but a little out of place. I was so sure it was the main character's journal or diary at first, then I started thinking it was the Lord Ruler. It was such a wonderful little mystery! I can't applaud Brandon Sanderson enough. This minor detail was enough for me to not only want to continue on with this series, but to also branch out to some of his other works.

This book is mostly centered on two nonconventional heroes; the first being Kelsier, who is the hero every world needs. He's selfless and always believes in doing the right thing. And not in the fake, over the top, eye-rolling way, but in an actual "he's a good person" way. He's a skaa, who is in charge of a thieving crew, but this heist (to overthrow the Lord Ruler) might be bigger than anyone expected. He is also famous in this world, for being the only person that has escaped the Lord Ruler's mines, the Pits of Hathsin. Kelsier might get a little discouraged throughout the book, but he never gives up. He shows what ultimate sacrifice truly is. He also proves to Vin that she won't always be abandoned. I was so fucking invested in Kelsier, his death completely broke me and my little black heart. Then the letter he left for Vin, “Farewell. I'll tell Mare about you. She always wanted a daughter." Please, stop cutting onions, whoever you are.

The next star of this book is Vin, who is one of the strongest female leads I've read about to date. She starts out as an abandoned little girl form that streets that somehow managed to survive, and then she meets Kelsier. Her growth was absolutely beautiful, and she eventually masters the "I'm a badass who also likes to dress up" role that Celaena in Throne of Glass fails so very hard at. There isn't much romance in this book, but I absolutely devoured the ball/party scenes with Vin and Eldon. I loved watching Vin develop from this scared and hurt child who just sat on the sidelines, into this brave and selfless girl who is becoming a strong woman.

I liked and connected with Vin the entire book, but that very last line - it got to me. I started shedding all these tears, before I even realized how it made me feel. That one simple sentence was just so perfectly placed, and ended up being so powerful.

“And realized that was all she had ever really wanted.”

Vin and Kelsier are both mistborns that use all of the metals in the allomantic chart above. If you can only control one of the basic elements you are just a misting. Both are rare, but mistborns are incredibly rare, and both mostly come from high noble houses. These skills come in very handy in starting a rebellion, and we find out that some mistborns are more powerful than others from their bloodline. We also have mistwraiths, which end up playing a very substantial role among the rest.

Besides Vin, my favorite character was Sazed. Sazed is sort of Vin's steward in this book. He helps get her ready for high society life, while teaching her proper etiquette. He is a Terrisman , who studies and memorizes religions from before the Lord Ruler, so he can one day teach the world all these awesome forgotten religions. Sazed also teaches us about a second magic system, Feruchemy. He was such a compelling character, who won me over so quickly! I feel like his character not only brought together all the puzzle pieces we were missing, but some of his lines like me in awe as well.

“Belief isn’t simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief—what is faith—if you don’t continue in it after failure?”

Since this is my first Brandon Sanderson book, I have no idea who Hoid is or his importance, but I'm guessing he's like a hidden Easter Egg. After I finished this book, I went to YouTube to listen to a couple discussion groups, and they were all freaking out about Chapter 19 and Hoid's appearance. In this chapter, Hoid gives some information to Kelsier that would be rather impressive for a common beggar to know. What I can piece together is that he is a world traveler that is from other Brandon Sanderson books, which doesn't really affect my reading experience, but I figured I'd add it to my review in case it has relevance for one of my followers. Plus, I love Easter Eggs in my books, video-games and movies, so kudos for Brandon Sanderson!

The ending was so, so, so good. Everyone told me going into this series that they only get better, so I cannot wait to start the next, because this one surpassed all of my expectations I bet the deepness, that I think the Lord Ruler was keeping at bay with atium, and is now going to make a very deadly appearance . I can honestly say I'm fiending for The Well of Ascension. Look at that, full circle, boom!

Also, my friend Markus brought up, in his review, how Allomancy is like the Force powers of the Jedi and he completely blew my mind. I haven't seen any of my other friends make this parallel, so I just had to link his review and gush over how freakin' perfect of an assessment that is.

Blog | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Youtube | Twitch

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright. So in this (very beloved) fantasy series, there is a group of special folks who eat and then internally burn metal.



They can do all kinds of neat-o shit with the different metals, including gaining strength, speed, better senses...you know the sort of stuff superheroes have.



Except this is fantasy, so instead of superheroes you have Allomancers. And instead of a supervillain, you have an evil, immortal emperor with god-like powers.



Ok and this is sort of a heist story because you have this group of con men (and women) who have been hired by the rebellion to help them take down the Final Empire.



But there is SO MUCH MORE to this than just a generic takeover story. This is really a very full fleshed-out world, with prophecies, magic, and all kinds of different beings inhabiting it.
And a lot of them are more than they seem.



The Mistborn series has been recommended to me over and over and over and over again by practically every one of my friends who love this genre. I guess the whole reason I put it off was the whole getting superpowers through imbibing metal thing. It sort of threw me off. To be honest, it still does. There's this weird part of me that just can't turn off the Mom Voice in my head saying, "Don't eat that! You'll get sick!", and it makes me slightly queasy to read about them guzzle something that would under normal circumstances require a speedy trip to the emergency room.



Point is, don't let flashbacks of an ambulance ride stop you from grabbing this.
The characters and plot are both pretty unique, and once I settled in and started to get the gist of what was happening and how this world worked I enjoyed reading this quite a bit.

[Clace · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars!
Reread#1 ✅

“But you can't kill me, Lord Tyrant. I represent that one thing you've never been able to kill, no matter how hard you try. I am hope.”

I first read this book 4 years ago and to this I can't write a review that this book deserves.

My journey with Brandon Sanderson started with his first book skyward in a sci-fi/fantasy series and to my surprise I loved it a lot and I gave him another by reading this book.

This book is the definition of an epic fantasy like no book other than Brandon Sandersons or Sarah j maas's tog series can come close to it and I was so shocked when I learned that this was his second book because honestly to write a book so brilliant you need to at least write 4-6 more books to get a grip but he just blew my mind.

He has a way of crafting a world that is so detailed, his books have the perfect world building. For me, when you look at what he has created and how immersive it is, how vast it is, you just want to get in that that book and once you are in it, it refuses to let you go. Like, how this world didn't have a moon and how mists played an important role, How ash fell and the whole transformation. Not only that, this book has one of the most unique magic system known as Allomancy, the way he gave every power a weakness and the thinking that went through it all, I was so mesmerized by it not only that we had Hemalurgy and the band's of mourning which were built around it was also so fucking brilliant. Also, the way it was written was amazing especially the texts that we got at the beginning of each chapters. This book raised my standards so high.

“There's always another secret."

There was a fairly long list of characters and you'd think this book was a plot driven book but nope it was all characters driven with more than enough plot to keep you intrigued a 60/40 situation. We had our MMC Vin who was one of the Skaa the lowest people on the hierarchy on the planet of Scadriel, She is recruited by a man named Kelsier who is on a mission himself which is to overthrow the nobility and the tyrannic lord ruler. Their relationship and their mentorship was so beautifully described from how they met and how close they got through training and talking and how understanding Kelsier was of vin, how Vin looked up to Kelsier was awesome and Kelsier's witty personality but his goal and his passion for it and how he strived for it was so goddamn emotional and if you think that emotional you better grab a tissue box because their backstory is 10x more sad because the way he was able to mask it all beneath a smile. Also when we see a character who is as complex and flawed as Vin is, her backstory is so tragic, her whole upbringing is so traumatizing and the way her character develops within this book and the range of emotions that Brandon explores is amazing.

“Men rarely see their own actions as unjustified.”

We also had side characters who play a vital role in this book but more I'm the following one. One was Elend a Noble ( I love this man so much he is literally me) the way this man was written reminded me of the men Jane Austen writes, he was such a gentleman and kind you don't see these type of people now I also love his intuition and that man reads at balls?? If that's not me then who is it?. We also had docks, ham breeze and Sazed who were a part of Kelsiers team but among them I loved Sazed the most he was a Terrisman and his knowledge was so vast, all the religions that he kept a record in and all the solutions that he had made him such an interesting character, his character also had a tone of mystery within him and you would not expect this from a character that is so open but Brandon is a spider and we are stuck in his web. The side characters do play a vital role and they are explored enough to keep us interested and to keep the plot moving.

“The right belief is like a good cloak, I think. If it fits you well, it keeps you warm and safe. The wrong fit however, can suffocate.”

The plot and the twists. I think the plot is not that complex but rather simple a group of people seeking revenge on the lord ruler but what makes it so mind-blowing are the twists and the magic system which lead to the action sequences. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. loved the action scenes and the twists were not only unpredictable but extremely heartbreaking. Yes, I threw my book at my rooms wall level heartbreaking. Brandon aced everything that was thrown at him and he managed to toss and turn them until they finally became the masterpiece that they are now.

“I think given the choice between loving Mare - betrayal included - and never knowing her, I'd chose love. I risked, and I lost, but the risk was still worth it.”

The romance, Elend and Vin were the main focus and there romance was so good ahhh I think they are in my top 10 favorites because they were so opposite yet so relatable and uff the way they both realized how much they loved each other, how different they were yet how how much similarities they shared and every one of their moments were nothing short of extraordinary.

“And Vin liked solitude. When you're alone, no one can betray you”

Finally, his writing many found the prose to be difficult but for me it was really well written and enjoyable but keep in mind this a rather slow to a medium paced book.

Note: Romance is not the main focus of this book, so do not go into it thinking you will get a hefty serving of it.
~~~
Okay so just got to know that we got really close to getting a Mistborn movie but it did not happen 😭💔🖐️ but I also do understand how hard it is to adapt a movie for this book which has a world so vast and crafted with such precision and I honestly believe in Brandon and his decisions. He wrote the book and he knows what's the best for it. A perfect adaptation is what we want and it's what Brandon wants so out interests our the same. If he doesn't agree we don't agree.
~~~
Just remembered Brandon announced in his yearly wrap-up that he would be announcing a movie adaptation and ahahah it's in 2 days *hyperventilates* my bets on this book because a movie adaptation can only work for this!

[Matt's Fantasy Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watch my video review by clicking here.

Extremely enjoyable on a first read (5/5), but is not nearly as fun on the re-read. (3.5/5)