Product Description
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.
Readers of Elantris thought they’d discovered someone special in Brandon Sanderson. Mistborn proves they were right.
Brandon Sanderson, fantasy’s newest master tale spinner, author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails? What kind of world results when the Dark Lord is in charge? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises and magical martial-arts action that begins in 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. Only then does he reveal 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, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
“A fascinating world . . . one that deserves a sequel.”The Washington Post
“An enjoyable, adventurous read that . . . should satisfy even easily-bored teens.”Locus
“Sanderson’s eerie . . . fantasy, set in a mist-haunted, ash-ridden world, pits Kelsier, “the Survivor of Hathsin,” against the immortal Lord Ruler’s 1,000-year domination of both the Great Houses and their serflike “skaa.” Through Allomancy acquired in the Ruler’s most hellish prison, Kelsier can “burn” 10 metals internally, fueling superhuman powers he uses to assemble rebels in a loose plan to destroy the nobility, the empire and the Lord Ruler himself. Kelsier uses Vin, a street urchin with the same Mistborn powers Kelsier possesses, to infiltrate the Great Houses’ society, where she falls in love with philosopher prince Elend Venture. This mystico-metallurgical fantasy combines Vin’s coming-of-age-in-magic and its well-worn theme of revolt against oppression with copious mutilations, a large-scale cast of thieves, cutthroats, conniving nobles and exotic mutants. Fast-paced action . . . the characters . . . have a raw stereotypic appeal.”Publishers Weekly
“The Sliver of Infinity, the Lord Ruler, is the locus of religious and temporal order in a world in which the skaa are slaves or worse. Half-skaa erstwhile thief Kelsior is the only person to survive and escape the Lord Ruler’s most brutal prison, in which, however, he discovered he has the powers of the Mistborn, which are based on the internal “burning” of certain metals, all of which the Mistborn can use, while most others can burn only one. Now Kelsior plans his most daring raid ever, into the center of the palace to discover the secret of the Lord Ruler’s power. Beforehand, his band finds the half-skaa orphan Vin in another thieving crew, where she’s useful because she brings good luck. She is also Mistborn and, if she can master and learn to trust her powers, will enable Kelsior’s crew to infiltrate the nobility and possibly overthrow the status quo. Intrigue, politics, and conspiracies mesh complexly in a world Sanderson realizes in satisfying depth and peoples with impressive characters.”Regina Schroeder, Booklist
B. Davis @ 7:21 pm
I picked up Mistborn on a lark- based in large point by the written praise of Robin Hobb (an author whose work I greatly enjoy. I have not yet read Elantris, the author’s first work. So, with an open mind, I picked up Mistborn…
And was greatly impressed! I consider myself a fan of Jordan, Hobb, Martin, Erickson, Williams and have recently enjoyed the works of R. Scott Bakker. I can now add Brandon Sanderson to the list.
The product description, and some of the other reviews, give pretty accurate assessments of the story and plotline.
So, with that in mind, it’s worth highlighting a few of the strengths and weaknesses of his story- with an eye toward hoping the weaknesses are resolved come book 2…
Strengths:
* Nice world-building
* Good story arch/plotline
* Original “magic” system
Weakness:
* Prose/dialogue/elocution: Several passages of inter-character discussions were … just.. too explanatory. I (personally) try to gauge when reading items whether people in an actual conversation would speak the way an author portrays. And, unfortunately, especially after “major” plot points, I felt some of the conversations between characters were just… too long- near soliloquy’s vs. being dialogue. Again, this is a style point and a personal tick of mine.
* “Generic” characterizations: Much has been made of Vin’s ability to swiftly learn allomancy; however, both she and Kelsier were the most fully-drawn characters. Other characters- Marsh, Breeze, etc- were more shallowly drawn. Again, I’m not talking about the need for Jordanian descriptions, but, within the context of a 3rd person-limited perspective, I’d like to gain a bit more insight into how the current person (aka Vin) feels/knows/sees of these other important secondary characters.
So, take that as you will, but, no matter what: buy and enjoy the book. For an author’s second work, it’s fantastic. I look forward to reading Elantris, and, also, book 2 of this series.
J. C. Amos @ 8:22 pm
I really wish that amazon would introduce a more intricate rating system than five stars, as this would get about 4.5 stars from me. After many failed attempts at starting up various fantasy series, Brandon Sanderson has delivered something refreshing and vastly entertaining. This is very nearly a five star novel, though there are a few simple discrepencies that keep Mistborn from being legendary.
Pros:
- I was immideately pulled in by the bizarre world environment here. The idea of a land completely covered in ash at all times is strange and interesting.
- The “magic” system, if it can be called that, is unique and a breath of fresh air. For me, a lot of fantasy is ruined by overuse of magic and lack of explanation about how magic works. His use of metals and Allomancy is genius and it’s apparent that Sanderson invested a lot of time into this system. It’s fun and believable.
- Sanderson displays great world-building talents in Mistborn. Not only to we have a strange backdrop in the environment, but good history to fill it with. The mists and the Mistwraiths are weird and different.
- There is no lack of action here. While I might have liked a little more description on the larger battle scenes, the Allomancy battles were just plain fun to read. With the characters using their abilities to push themselves through the air and hurl large metal objects, it was almost as if they were battling superheroes, and strangely enough this really works. He paid great attention to the rules and science of the Allomancy he created and applied them to these battle scenes well.
Cons:
- As others have noticed, characterization could use a little work. While Vin, Kelsier, Elend and Sazed were descriptive characters, a lot of the others on the crew (Dockson, Clubs, Breeze, Yeden) felt a little too cookie cutter and I found it hard to remember exactly what those characters did and what their individual roles were.
- Some of the dialogue is a little too typical as with many other fantasy books. This is one aspect that I rarely find to my liking in fantasy -as few authors seem to do it very well- and it isn’t so bad here, but a lot of the conversations seemed a little unbelieveable. There were a lot sappy moments between the characters, some of which I find hard to swallow. (Perhaps I’ve become spoiled by Martin and Hobb, where distrust and hate between a lot of the characters make dialogue and character drama more believable.)
The flaws with Mistborn were hardly enough to keep me from thourougly enjoying it. Every great fantasy author has their strengths, and Sanderson’s are apparent. This book is unique with a lot of great ideas. The only thing that’s very typical is the tyrannical Lord Ruler and his thousand-year reign, but the author handles it very well and shows that cliche isn’t always a bad thing. And the conclusion to Mistorn was fantastic. All of the plot threads were handled well and in clever ways, the action and final confrontations were great.
I will look forward to reading whatever else Sanderson has to offer. Read it, enjoy it and tell others. Good fantasy in a sea of mediocre deserves praise.
Eric James Stone @ 11:15 pm
Mistborn: The Final Empire is a fast-paced adventure with some fun characters, combining political intrigue with magical battles. The characters are interesting and the plot takes some unexpected turns.
The magic system is, perhaps, the element (pun intended, as you’ll soon understand) that stands out most in the novel. Too often, the magic used in fantasy novels tends to either follow some rather stereotypical rules (casting verbal [often rhyming or using an ancient language] spells, potions, etc.) or to lack much in the way of discernable rules at all.
In the world of Mistborn, the magic system is based on swallowing certain metals that are then “burned” to provide the particular power granted by that metal. It means that in the strictest sense, the number of things that can be done with magic is limited by the less than a dozen known allomantic metals. (For example, pushing metal away is one power, and pulling metal toward you is another.) But by ingenious use of the various metals, Mistborn allomancers can do a lot of different things.
This is the first book of a trilogy, but fortunately it works well as a standalone novel as well. I’ve come to dislike being left hanging off a cliff at the end of a book.
Moe Chip @ 11:42 pm
It’s always hard reading the follow up to an amazingly good book–particularly when it’s the author’s debut. Mistborn is a completely different book from Elantris, but Sanderson continues to demonstrate that he is one of the finest world builders writing today. While Elantris was more introspective and subtle, Mistborn is more of a traditional adventure story. If Elantris was Blade Runner, Mistborn is Raiders of the Lost Ark.
To be honest, about 60% of the way in I started to wonder if some further editing should have been done. But the beauty of this book is it really does keep you guessing throughout–where is the story going? How will it end? Most book flaps toss out these teasers without meaning, but Mistborn is the first book I’ve read in a while that steps up to the plate.
It’s not perfect–I would have liked Sanderson to spend more time describing the world, and many of the concepts are repeated unnecessarily–but it’s just so much better than most of what’s out there that these are minor complaints.
There are very few authors whose next works I eagerly await (Neal Gaiman being one of them), and Sanderson is definitely in that group. There’s a lot to this world, and I look forward to the other two planned books.
Tatianna the Reader @ 1:44 am
Okay I do not normally buy into this is a GREAT read you should buy kind of stuff from publishers and critics; but unfortunately I could not find one single review for this book. I would much rather trust my fellow readers than someone who gets paid to read (that is the sound of me being jealous of those who do get paid to read by the way) and I even broke one my own major rules.
I bought Mistborn and Elantris new, never having picked up the author before and I started reading and reading and reading and reading. I loved this book; I hated putting the thing down to do such mundane things as eat and sleep and not walk into walls. Sanderson has brought characters to life, true life not just the oh what a nice description of someone doing something kind of thing… He has me folks, I’m purchasing The Well of Ascension on my next paycheck, I hate the fact that I’ve devoured this man’s work in such a short amount of time, but Mr. Sanderson’s work can be revisited and more nuances found in the slower reading than in the quick estatic jump that I made of my first reading.
Kelsier is a wonderful character, the group of criminals (in the law’s eyes anyway) that he surrounds himself with are just as vibrant and intriguing as he is. Life under the Lord Ruler is harsh, possibly short and always dangerous for those who decide to live rather than simply exist; but these men and women do it and do it with style. The type of magic that Mr. Sanderson has come up with is believable and it works, your brain just nods along and agrees with the things that the characters can do.
Vin and Elend will have their stories fleshed out in the Well of Ascension and I can not wait to jump into that pool, but this was a great introduction for me to a great story teller. Again guys, I’m not trying to spoil the book for you I’m trying to get you itching enough to go and buy it. Trust me you will not regret it and you will be helping a wonderful storyteller get his story’s out.