Mistborn: The Final Empire
What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?
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. Then Kelsier reveals 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. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Misborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Wow! Just, wow! This is my first foray into the work of Brandon Sanderson and I must say I am not disappointed. Having read my share of fiction over the years, I thought at the beginning I would have been able to predict where this story was going. While some of my conclusions were correct, the direction that the characters took to get there completely surprised me, and others just didn't turn out at all the way I expected. I think this is what made this such a wonderful read for me, I like to be surprised and not be able to guess the ending and outcome. I may not be as well versed in the fantasy world as others, so the "magic" in this book (using injested metals to control objects and one's self) was completely new and intriguing to me. With the scheming, politicking, and infiltration, this book had a very Ocean's Eleven/Political thriller feel to it. Simply put, it's like Danny Ocean and Frank Underwood met, discovered they had hidden abilities, and decided to overthrow the governement and rule the world.
If you're looking for some amazing story telling, an engrossing narrative, characters you can fall in love with, and an introduction into the writing of Brandon Sanderson, then I highly recommend this book.
This and other reviews can be found at my blog: http://backporchreview.weebly.com
If you're looking for some amazing story telling, an engrossing narrative, characters you can fall in love with, and an introduction into the writing of Brandon Sanderson, then I highly recommend this book.
This and other reviews can be found at my blog: http://backporchreview.weebly.com
The Mistborn series was a trilogy that I was recommended a while ago and finally picked up to read. I went through the first book relatively quickly and with relative ease, the story itself piqued my interest enough for me to not want to put the book down however there were a few moments that I considered could have been written better.
The world within which the story is set is a brilliant idea, the use of allomancy is something that drove me to find out more about it, what it means and what it's limits are, this is one of the main reasons I want to continue on to the next book.
Where I struggled was with the relationships the characters have. Vin initially came across as a little too "edgy" and I found myself thinking "we get it - you have trust issues". Similarly, I originally found Kelsier a little too hard set on his inability to forgive and belief of some people simply deserving death for who they were, sounded a little to extreme. The rapidly moving feelings Vin ends up experiencing also felt rushed and unnecessary.
Overall though I did enjoy the novel and am looking forward to the second one.
The world within which the story is set is a brilliant idea, the use of allomancy is something that drove me to find out more about it, what it means and what it's limits are, this is one of the main reasons I want to continue on to the next book.
Where I struggled was with the relationships the characters have. Vin initially came across as a little too "edgy" and I found myself thinking "we get it - you have trust issues". Similarly, I originally found Kelsier a little too hard set on his inability to forgive and belief of some people simply deserving death for who they were, sounded a little to extreme. The rapidly moving feelings Vin ends up experiencing also felt rushed and unnecessary.
Overall though I did enjoy the novel and am looking forward to the second one.
Primer libro de fantasía/ciencia ficción de mi 2023! Y guau, tengo mucho que decir.
Im-pre-sio-nan-te el sistema que crea Sanderson. No sé como se le pudo ocurrir algo así. Pese a lo complejo que puede parecer al principio, el sistema de "magia", que involucra el uso de los metales y la alomancia (y sus derivados), va cobrando perfecto sentido a medida que se avanza. (Ojo, hay un glosario al final, ideal para no perderse).
El libro está muy bien estructurado, al clásico estilo de la fantasía. Hay una clara introducción de personajes/mundo, desarrollo (con victorias y fracasos de los personajes) y una gran batalla final.
Destaco especialmente las escenas de acción. Que increíble manera de describir peleas entre personajes, sobre cuando estaban involucrados algunos con habilidades sobrenaturales.
La trama en sí me gustó. Creo que tiene todos los elementos de un buen libro de este estilo (giros, traiciones, secretos etc).
Me faltó que los personajes fueran un poco más expresivos, especialmente en lo que se refiere al enamoramiento (aunque se entendía esta porción "romántica" de la historia, siento que fue la más vacía de todas). Además, a veces sentía que los diálogos pudieron haber sido dichos por cualquiera y que algunos personajes no tenían voz propia.
Me gustó mucho el desarrollo de algunas amistades (Vin-Kelsier, Vin-Sazed) y las reflexiones que se hacían en torno a la religión y la moral (le dan mucha profundidad al libro).
Me dio la sensación de que es una especie de "Dune", pero más dinámico y rápido de leer.
Aunque no es la fantasía/ciencia ficción que más me gusta, lo disfruté mucho!
Im-pre-sio-nan-te el sistema que crea Sanderson. No sé como se le pudo ocurrir algo así. Pese a lo complejo que puede parecer al principio, el sistema de "magia", que involucra el uso de los metales y la alomancia (y sus derivados), va cobrando perfecto sentido a medida que se avanza. (Ojo, hay un glosario al final, ideal para no perderse).
El libro está muy bien estructurado, al clásico estilo de la fantasía. Hay una clara introducción de personajes/mundo, desarrollo (con victorias y fracasos de los personajes) y una gran batalla final.
Destaco especialmente las escenas de acción. Que increíble manera de describir peleas entre personajes, sobre cuando estaban involucrados algunos con habilidades sobrenaturales.
La trama en sí me gustó. Creo que tiene todos los elementos de un buen libro de este estilo (giros, traiciones, secretos etc).
Me faltó que los personajes fueran un poco más expresivos, especialmente en lo que se refiere al enamoramiento (aunque se entendía esta porción "romántica" de la historia, siento que fue la más vacía de todas). Además, a veces sentía que los diálogos pudieron haber sido dichos por cualquiera y que algunos personajes no tenían voz propia.
Me gustó mucho el desarrollo de algunas amistades (Vin-Kelsier, Vin-Sazed) y las reflexiones que se hacían en torno a la religión y la moral (le dan mucha profundidad al libro).
Me dio la sensación de que es una especie de "Dune", pero más dinámico y rápido de leer.
Aunque no es la fantasía/ciencia ficción que más me gusta, lo disfruté mucho!
(This is the first Epic/high fantasy book I've ever finished)
It turned out to be way darker that I expected to be, I've liked all the characters except Vin (The MC), after finishing the book, I seem to dislike her less, but I still don't really enjoy her character.
The one thing I did not like was the fact the MC is the typical one you see in fantasy books/movies, someone who's so special! what a unicorn! she gets strong and learn things too quickly, she wonders to herself oh why I'm I so different! she even compared herself to the Lord ruler, sometimes it seems so corny.
But overall I've really enjoyed the book and I hope it gets better as I read the rest of the series! (I really hope Vin catches a personality along the way)
The audiobook contains the best narration I've heard! Michael Kramer was amazing!
It turned out to be way darker that I expected to be, I've liked all the characters except Vin (The MC), after finishing the book, I seem to dislike her less, but I still don't really enjoy her character.
The one thing I did not like was the fact the MC is the typical one you see in fantasy books/movies, someone who's so special! what a unicorn! she gets strong and learn things too quickly, she wonders to herself oh why I'm I so different! she even compared herself to the Lord ruler, sometimes it seems so corny.
But overall I've really enjoyed the book and I hope it gets better as I read the rest of the series! (I really hope Vin catches a personality along the way)
The audiobook contains the best narration I've heard! Michael Kramer was amazing!
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.