By Blake Bouza
Welcome back to The Settler’s book review. I am here to sift what you could be reading from what you should be reading, because I care.
If Ocean’s Eleven and Lord of the Rings had a baby, it would be Mistborn: The Final Empire.
A lot of people have read this one over the years, but with the first book in the sequel trilogy coming out in a couple of weeks, I thought it would be nice to revisit the first book of the Mistborn trilogy.
Brandon Sanderson has a wonderful talent to move the story along at a nice clip without making you seem lost in the world he has created for us. He drops info about the world and the intricate magic system as we go, keeping us on a need-to-know basis without being infuriating. It does not overwhelm the reader while managing to keep an air of mystery about the story, but without nagging enough to overpower the other story elements.
These are – overthrowing the god-emperor of the Final Empire, the Lord Ruler—a self-professed Sliver of Infinity. He is kind of a jerk.
He is suppressed every other religion that does not celebrate him and he keeps a firm hand on the slaves of his society, the skaa. He is immortal, having lived for over a thousand years since the time he was named the Hero of Ages, and instead of saving the world – he misshaped it and made it his own.
The story picks up from the point of view of a street-urchin girl named Vin, who is rescued by a man named Kelsier. Kelsier is gathering a thieving crew and proposing the ultimate heist: overthrowing the Lord Ruler and stealing his stash of precious metals.
The thing that gives Kelsier the confidence that they can do this? This is where the magic system comes into play.
That’s all I’m going to say of the plot for fear of giving anything away, but let me tell you – it is a wild ride. Sanderson does a few things at once here. He puts a spin on classic fantasy storytelling elements (for example, the hero becoming the dark lord), and weaves in themes about hope, religion, and revolution flawlessly into the fabric of the story. You will find yourself caring about every character as we follow Vin as she gets to know everyone on the thieving crew.
From the outset, Sanderson set a fun tone for the story and he rolls with it. The turns and twists are unforeseen. When I thought I knew where the story was heading, it thumbed its nose at me and dove right into the next twist.
You will have to re-read sentences to be sure you read them right, and there will be a lot of OH MY GOD DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?
And you know, I honestly cannot say enough good things about this novel, so just do yourself a favor and read it – and the rest of the trilogy.
A well-deserved 5/5 Stars
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