Mistborn
by Brandon Sanderson
Author's 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 while the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, a divinely invincible leader. Hope is long lost, until a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa in the depths of the most hellish prison and discovered he has the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, Kelsier will turn his talents to the ultimate caper: one with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.Only he's not just planning the greatest heist in history, he's plotting the overthrow of a divine despot.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. But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks like a 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.”
My Review - Rating - 7/10
The Mistborn series is a decent read. The books aren’t incredible, but it’s also not hard to finish the series. I’d best describe the books as tepid, because that’s the way I felt as a reader. I didn’t dislike them, the writing was pretty good (though not exceptional) and there weren’t any major flaws to make me dislike the book. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to make me like the book, either. The characters are all pretty one-dimensional, and the author doesn’t give much information about them outside of what’s necessary for the plot and character arcs. That made them all seem pretty flat and made me almost apathetic to whether they lived or died. I’m disappointed by the poor characters in this novel because the plot itself is good and the magic system is exceptional. Sanderson created a truly unique magic system, with “allomancers” being tied to a specific metal, which they consume to perform their specific types of magic. This system is original and interesting, and if it was being used by more interesting or sympathetic characters, I’d enjoy seeing it in action. Unfortunately, Sanderson spends more time fleshing out specific character relationships and politics, without giving the reader any real human connection to the characters nor creating a plot that drew me in. I read all three books in the series, but the series was mediocre enough that I wouldn’t have cared had I been forced to stop reading halfway through and pick up another book series. Overall, if you’ve read a lot of magic fantasy and just want another book in the genre, this might be for you, but it’s not the best book in the genre, so if you’re looking for a good fantasy read, look at some of the better books and series I’ve reviewed, such as The Poppy War, The Sword Of Kaigen, or Children of Blood and Bone.
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