Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn

“Oh, there was no need for me to sneak something into your drink,” Kelsier said with a smile, pulling an object out of his suit coat pocket. “After all, you’re going to drink this vial of mysterious liquid quite willingly.”

“Don’t look so solemn, my dear fellow,” Breeze said. “Why, you’ll probably never actually have to rule the city. Chances are, we’ll all get caught and executed long before that happens.”

“Be warned—Hammond does tend to be a bit optimistic about these kinds of things. If the army were made up of one-legged mutes, he would praise their balance and their listening skills.”

Vin sighed in frustration, scowling. Elend peeked up over his book. “That’s a stunning dress. It’s almost as beautiful as you are.” Vin froze, jaw hanging open slightly. Elend smiled mischievously, then turned back to his book, eyes sparkling as if to indicate that he’d made the comment simply because he knew the reaction he’d get.

As she walked to the dance floor, she glanced at Elend, and caught him peeking over the book at her. He immediately turned back to his research with an overtly indifferent air.

I’m obsessed

“Next time you make me wait, it will be the cane,” Venture said curtly. Well, I know where to go next time I need a corpse to dump on someone’s lawn, Kelsier thought, stumbling to his feet.

The Lord Ruler was far more whiny than any god had a right to be.

Vin nodded. “I’m at the part where they reach Terris.” Hopefully the next part will contain fewer supply lists. Honestly, for an evil god of darkness, he certainly can be dull.

somewhat crazy, I think,” Sazed said with a smile. “However, this is hardly unexpected. Haven’t you noticed how he stares at you when you enter the room?” “I just thought he was creepy. What is he thinking? He’s so much younger than me.”

With everything they’ve done to us—the deaths, the tortures, the agonies—you’d think that we would give up on things like hope and love. But we don’t.

They can’t all be like that, she thought. They’re so beautiful, so distinguished. Elend has never taken and murdered a skaa woman … has he?

okay idiot

“Well,” he noted, “you probably aren’t the first lady I’ve made cry at a ball, but you are the first one I’ve made cry that I sincerely care about. My gentlemanly prowess has reached new depths.”

“That other man, whoever he is, might have a lead on me because of my foolishness. However, I am not so foolish that I would pass up the chance to give him a little competition.” He winked, bowed slightly, and walked back toward the central ballroom.

this would work on me

Spook frowned. “Niceing the not on the playing without.” “I have no idea what you said, child,” Breeze said. “So I’m simply going to pretend it was coherent, then move on.”

same

Ah, Mare, Kelsier thought. You always wanted a daughter you could teach to walk the line between noblewoman and thief. They would have liked each other; they both had a hidden streak of unconventionality. Perhaps if his wife were still alive, she could have taught Vin things about pretending to be a noblewoman that even Sazed didn’t know.

maladroitly,

this is such an ugly word and he’s used it three times already lmao

“I loved him, Kelsier,” she whispered. “Elend? I know.” “No, not Elend,” Vin said. “Reen. He beat me over, and over, and over. He swore at me, he yelled at me, he told me he’d betray me. Every day, I thought about how much I hated him. “And I loved him. I still do. It hurts so much to think that he’s gone, even though he always told me he would leave.”

crying

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

god damn

It’s the same man. The Inquisitor from before. “Where’s the girl?” the creature said quietly. Kelsier ignored the question. “Why only one of you?” he demanded. The creature’s smile broadened. “I won the draw.”

WHAT DO THEY WANT WITH HER I AM SO STRESSED

“Valette!” Elend Venture yelled again. He turned to one of the soldiers. “Who told you to raid House Renoux’s convoy! Who authorized this!”

ELEND 😭

Metals flared in his chest, burning alongside his rage. His brother, dead. His wife, dead. Family, friends, and heroes. All dead. You push me to seek revenge? he thought. Well, you shall have it!

Can’t believe I just saved a nobleman, Kelsier thought, struggling to choke the Inquisitor. You’d better appreciate this, girl.

“Come,” said a skaa man who stood at the front of the group. “Fear not the mist! Didn’t the Survivor name himself Lord of the Mists? Did he not say that we have nothing to fear from them? Indeed, they will protect us, give us safety. Give us power!” As more and more skaa left their homes without obvious repercussion, the group began to swell further.

😭😭😭

“What are you?” Vin asked in horror. Renoux-Kelsier looked at her, and then his face shimmered, becoming transparent. She could see his bones through the gelatinous skin. It reminded her of … “A mistwraith.” “A kandra,” the creature said, its skin losing its transparency. “A mistwraith that has … grown up, you might say.”

I KNEW IT

It was a fun job, wasn’t it? When you remember me, please remember that. Remember to smile. Now, move quickly. May you rule in wisdom.

CRIESSSS

Please don’t be angry at me for abandoning you. I was given an extension on life. I should have died in Mare’s place years ago. I was ready for this. The others will need you. You’re their Mistborn now—you’ll have to protect them in the months to come. The nobility will send assassins against our fledgling kingdom’s rulers. Farewell. I’ll tell Mare about you. She always wanted a daughter.

shakes fists at the sky

He wasn’t worried about the skaa rebellion. Why would he have to worry? If he wished, he could slaughter every person in the city by himself. Vin knew it to be the truth. It might take him time, but he could kill forever, tirelessly. He need fear no rebellion. He’d never needed to. Kelsier had made a terrible, terrible mistake.

“Ah well. He was vindicated in the end. The rest of us believed your brother, but Bendal … even then he wasn’t convinced—and he found you in the end.” “My brother?” Vin said, scrambling to her feet. “He sold me out?” “Sold you out?” Kar said. “He died promising us that you had starved to death years ago! He screamed it night and day beneath the hands of Ministry torturers. It is particularly difficult to hold out against the pains of an Inquisitor’s torture … something you shall soon discover.”

NOOOOOOOOOO

At least I tried, she thought as she heard another group of soldiers charging down the rightmost hallway. At least I didn’t abandon him. I think … I think that’s what Kelsier meant.

Marsh was alive. Marsh was an Inquisitor. The Inquisitors weren’t investigating him because they suspected him. They intended to recruit him!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Vin leaned on Sazed, her teeth gritted against the pain of her broken leg. “I bring you a message from a friend of ours,” she said quietly. “He wanted you to know that he’s not dead. He can’t be killed. “He is hope.” Then she raised the spear and rammed it directly into the Lord Ruler’s heart.

He smiled, throwing back his chair and grabbing her in a firm embrace. Vin closed her eyes, simply feeling the warmth of being held. And realized that was all she had ever really wanted.