Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Apr 07, 2012 Dale Pearl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: y2014-april, 2014, epic, fantasy, first-in-a-series, audio-book, high-fantasy

Ok.... What a book!
First off with the cons there is really only one but it is a big one and the only thing that keeps this book from becoming my favorite book since OCD came into my life.

The con is that Brandon Sanderson spends virtually no time on character development. If it were not for the audio book that I read in addition to the actual book I would have been lost on personality and character traits of all the main characters. The only character that the personality comes out is Vin the res ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 04, 2011 Dave Johnson rated it it was amazing

my first introduction to Brandon Sanderson was with his first novel, Elantris. i had heard good things about that book, and the premise seemed interesting, so i gave it a shot. i was pretty let down by that book, so i gave up on Sanderson all together. recently, however, i had heard about some other books that he wrote that were getting a lot of attention. so i decided to give him another shot. it also didnt hurt that i found it at a thrift store for one or two dollars. :)

i was pleasantly surpri my first introduction to Brandon Sanderson was with his first novel, Elantris. i had heard good things about that book, and the premise seemed interesting, so i gave it a shot. i was pretty let down by that book, so i gave up on Sanderson all together. recently, however, i had heard about some other books that he wrote that were getting a lot of attention. so i decided to give him another shot. it also didnt hurt that i found it at a thrift store for one or two dollars. :)

i was pleasantly surprised with this book. from the first chapter on, this book is really great! i'm not rating this five stars because it's up there with some of the ultimate greats like Dune or LoTR or anything. but this is a five because it's just so entertaining. it's a page-turner. it might not be as philosophical or deep as some books--though it is that at times--but it keeps hooked for the entire ride, and the world and all its details are well-thought out and are fresh and new to the world of fantasy. so often a fantasy series can just be a clone of medieval europe or LoTR, so it's a real treat when a writer can press through cliche and write something unique and also write it with skill and passion.

this is the first of a trilogy, and eventually a trilogy of trilogies. in this first book, the main idea is less about the plot than it is about the magic system and the world-building. there's an excellent plot here, so i'm not trying to take away from that at all. it's told well enough where you dont really have to think about it, so your attention (or at least mine) is drawn to all the interesting details of the world and its mysteries. the magic system is really cool. it revolves around people swallowing metals as a source of their powers and then burning them within their stomach to extract different powers from each metal. and its really a pleasure to read the parts of the story that embellish on how characters use these, whether in fights (yes!) or just everyday tasks.

if i can be critical about some things, i think that there are a couple of weak areas in the book, but again, these are nitpicks, i think, and it's not something that bugged me a lot when i read. the first is that the book starts off from a perspective that makes you think less of the main antagonist. you're supposed to think he's one thing, with characters even referencing that belief, but the way it starts, you're more inclined to not believe that. to me, that takes away from the impact of the main conflict, if you're already not believing something about the bad guy. the other nitpick i have is that it does get a little slow here and there. not enough to make you uninterested, but enough to make you not want to read any more about politics. he handles politics well enough, and everything has its place and importance, but sometimes i think it could've been condensed more. there are some moments in the book that show more inspiration and creativity, in my opinion, and those are fun to read, but are too highly contrasted with the times that dont seem quite as inspired. my last nitpick is with the ending. there are a couple of twists here and there, but the twists arent huge, and the ending is predictable. he may have done this on purpose to set up the next two books, which really intrigue me now that i have no idea where the story will go next. but the ending was too rushed and felt a little anticlimactic. well, i should say that the events that led to the climax were great, but then the actual fulcrum of the climax was almost too simple and after it occurred, i thought, "is that it?"

overall, i have to say that Sanderson really won me over with this book, and i cant wait to read the next books in the series. it's highly imaginative, fast-paced, good characterization (mostly), a tight plot, wonderful weird world, and just plain entertaining. i really love the fact that this is a linear book, and it doesnt shift from perspective to perspective, but keeps the main story going the whole time. i prefer this method of storytelling as it keeps the main thing the main thing, and if a writer can pull it off, it seems more skillful than writing in arcs and POVs.

great fun read!! ...more

Like · see review

Feb 06, 2012 Jia rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, heist

Having read later works by Sanderson prior to this, it's quite obvious that his earlier characters (like in this book) lack the depth and intensity of those in his later works. Still, this series has a cool magic system, and is a fun dip into the 'fantasy-heist' genre. ...more

Like · see review