Mistborn: The Final Empire (Book No. 1) Mass Market Paperback – July 31, 2007

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.

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.

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.