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Mistborn

Mistborn

By chance I stumbled across Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, and got to reading it. Brandon Sanderson was the author picked to complete the late Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, and he's been doing a fine job of it.

Quite seriously, I haven't read such good fantasy in quite a while. The world is well-developed, the magic systems are consistent and very, very innovative, and the characters well-drawn, complex, and sympathetic. Add a good bit of complexity, and some moral issues, along with some interesting plot directions (so, what do you do after you've saved the world?), and it makes for engrossing reading. Highly, highly recommended.

Here are a couple of the comments on the Mistborn Amazon page, and I have to agree with them:

By Timothy Doke (Dallas, TX USA)

I am a new fan of Brandon Sanderson; I never heard of him until I read book 12 from WOT, the Gathering Storm. After that book, I just had to go find out more about this author. I enjoyed his writing style in the Gathering Storm; it was very engaging. Then, I read Elantris, and really enjoyed it as well. After that book, I found out about Mistborn. I picked up this trilogy and I was hooked!

It is hard for me, in retrospect, to believe how good this series was, especially considering how fast Sanderson writes (how many large books ~700pg can one man write in one year??). To me, this is one of my favorite fantasy series I've read. And I hadn't heard of him two months ago! This series has something for everyone: a well developed and very well thought out, and original, magic system; the characters are complex and have different personalities; the story line itself is epic and gives scope to everything hanging in the balance; there is romance, lots of action; it was honestly hard to do anything else in my spare time while I was reading this series...

Some of the traps other fantasy authors tend to fall into -- dragging out climactic events over too many books -- did not plague this series. This trilogy was very well put together and the events were obviously preplanned. I have to give him credit because he did not shy away from not only killing off major characters, but he also had a powerful conclusion to each book. I kept waiting to be let down, but never was. This book series is quite tremendous. It should be a model for how to write a fantasy series.

S. Farrell (Omaha, NE USA)

Ordinarily, I will buy the first book of a series and then, depending on how it was, either buy the next book or abandon the series for dead. My advice to you, prospective Mistborn readers, is to cast that mindset aside and save yourself a few dollars by buying all three books in a box set. You will NOT regret it.

I will step out on a limb here: Mistborn: The Final Empire is, with the possible exception of A Game of Thrones, the best opener to a fantasy series I have EVER read (Particular apologies to The Blade Itself, The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Name of the Wind, Fellowship of the Ring and Assassin's Apprentice). Here's why.

No exceptions this time, Mistborn has the best, most well-thought-out, most original magic system ever written. Nothing comes anywhere close to rivaling its intricacy and intelligence. Despite its complexity, Sanderson has such a firm grasp on his magic system and is so clearly enjoying himself when he writes in it that it comes off the page so beautifully, so fluidly. Even if said magic system were in a stereotypical, recycled fantasy story, it would make for great reading, but the story is original and enrapturing, too. Sanderson has said that he meant to turn the fantasy genre on its head with the story - the dark, evil lord WON - with Mistborn, and he does it oh so effectively. Character development is strong, the world - a land of dismal browns and greys where ash regularly falls from the sky - is fascinating, plot twists are many times absolutely unexpected (NOTHING is obvious) and the characters are both lovable (Kelsier is one of the coolest characters ever written) and hatable. Not to mention, each book has an extremely satisfying ending - no cliff-hangers here. I hate to go to extremes but, in a word, the Mistborn trilogy is perfect.

It is one of the great mysteries of the world how Sanderson can kick out so much excellent material in so short a period of time, but his books are nothing but the best. I still consider the Mistborn trilogy to be his finest work, and I encourage you all to buy the books, get lost in his world, and proceed to embrace the 9-year-old inside you and spend the rest of your days wishing that YOU were Mistborn.