I started this book expecting yet another, slightly above average, cliché fantasy novel. It surprised and delighted me far beyond my expectation. Mistborn: The Final Empire is an amazingly crafted, beautifully detailed novel of epic proportions. The book begins with a small act of rebellion and soon builds to an extremely intense story, including a surprising number of different elements and many twists and turns. The magic powers especially caught my attention, a new and extremely interesting system involving metals and magical mists. All told, this book, the first in a trilogy, was excellent, and I hope the rest of the series is as good. Highly recommended!

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I enjoy Brandon Sanderson's novels, but I don't love them. Mistborn is a good story with interesting characters. I especially liked the fact that Mistborn's protagonist is female, something that's still too uncommon in fantasy and science fiction novels. Mistborn's system of allomancy is creative and unique. Sanderson writes simply, concisely, and directly. As a result, the book has good pacing and the story moves along at a good clip. But his writing style creates two problems. First, his books read as though they're written for a junior high audience. I would compare Sanderson to John Scalzi; they both are direct and to the point. But only Sanderson's books feel like they're a bit beneath you. Second, the climactic scenes always feel rushed and not that climactic. In Mistborn, the tension never builds to the point where you feel like something really BIG just happened. Most of the key events are over before you realize it and the importance barely has a chance to sink in. It keeps Sanderson's books from being as good as they could be.

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What a great book, one of the best I've read in a long time. If you enjoy political intrigue in your fantasy, then this is the book for you. There is really not a lot of action, but Sanderson has a way of making the story feel "action filled". Characters are well fleshed out and I felt deeply about the characters. The book started out a bit slow, but really it was necessary to the story and all makes sense come the end. I knew exactly how this was going to end, but I didn't know how we would get there. There were enough twists and mysteries that I didn't have figured out so the ending stayed enjoyable. Even though this is the first book of a trilogy, things wrapped up nicely and this book really feels like a standalone. I definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

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The first in the Mistborn trilogy. Slaves are provoked to rebel against their God/Lord Ruler in this epic fantasy novel. I enjoyed the subplots and subcharacter much more than I did the main character, Vin. The author tries, but fails a bit to convey the feelings/emotions of a young adult female. She seemed bit hollow to me. The other cast of characters really draw you into the story making you cheer for them and hope that they succeed in their mission of rebellion. I will definitely be reading the 2nd book to see where this story goes.

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Wow. This turned out as good as everyone says! I feel like that rarely happens for me, so this was exciting. The action could be a bit overwhelming with all the allomancy, but it got a lot easier as everything went on. The book was long enough that I got to understand the metals.

All the character's were pretty well done. I love Vin. At first, her personality seemed off, but I think that was partially intentional and, later, her character flows flawlessly. Kell, I also liked, though not as much. I dunno he was really amazing, but it became kind of unbelievable at the end, though I was more than willing to ignore such a tiny misgiving. The addition of the third POV at the end was interesting. When I saw it, I was kind of upset, but the parts were short enough and the POV interesting enough that it actually worked out quite well.

Overall, a very awesome book. Totally lived up to expectations. I can't wait to continue the series!

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Completely enthralling book - well written, with vivid characters that you care about, lots of action, a great story. Once you pick this book up, good luck in putting it down again! Highly recommended.

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One of the best fantasy books that I have ever read! No wonder this author is so highly recommended...very enthralling.

In Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson creates a world where the seemingly immortal Lord Ruler is tyrant, oppressing the common people who must scrape out a life from the beneath the ever-falling ash. Royal-born citizens have strange abilities using certain metals. But there are those not born into wealth that have these powers. They seek something more: an existence not overshadowed by the Lord Ruler. And really, I just can't do the storyline justice so please find a copy (or borrow mine) and read it for yourself.

Some of the plot twists you see coming but others are surprising. Two things I hate in books: 1) predictability and 2) happily ever after endings. This book has neither. I am really looking forward to the second in the series!

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This story seemed real. Sanderson is a master at creating characters that think and act like normal people. The heroine, Vin, is a troubled 16 year old girl. She's been horrendously abused all her life and doesn't know how to trust anyone. As the story progresses, she slowly learns that there are people who won't betray her, and that she can even trust them with her life.

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Prior to reading this book I had read Sanderson's books Elantris and Warbreaker and loved them both. I was super excited to get started on this series. This book was everything I had hoped it would be and more. A wonderful epic fantasy, with a creative magic system, and characters you can really love.

This book goes between two main characters. The first is Kelsier, a member of the oppressed Skaa race who has escaped horrible punishment at the hand of the Lord Ruler and is determined to lead a rebellion to overthrow the Final Empire. The second is Vin, a skaa who is part of the thieving group. Vin gets entangled in Kelsier's scheme and finds out that she has powers of a Mistborn.

The setting for this book is pretty bleak. The Final Empire is located in a place where ash constantly rains down on the landscape and fields and forests are yellow and dying. The skaa is a race of serf-like humans who slave for the ruling class and are kept complacent through cruelty and Soothing by Mistlings.

The magic system is very creative, Sanderson has created a system where Mistlings or Mistborn swallow different metallic elements and can burn them to create various affects. He explains the complicated system in a way that is interesting and easy to understand; and shows creativity and flexibility to the magic system that makes it work in a wide variety of circumstances.

The plot is very complex, but not overwhelmingly so. Sanderson keeps the cast of characters manageable and makes characters easy to recognize. The characters are complex with rich histories and conflicted personalities but they are all somewhat lovable. A lot of the characters are grey in morale; they are thieves but they work for a cause, they try to do right but people suffer from their actions.

I loved these characters; especially Vin. Vin changes so much throughout the book. She starts out as a lowly thief eking out a living and ends up a power to be reckoned with. Kelsier is a force to be dealt with on his own; his character has a powerful personality that you love at times and dislike at others. This really is the place where Sanderson is exceptional; he creates a wonderful world but his characters are awesome. They bring humor and softness to a world that would be plain without them; these are some of the best characters in epic fantasy that I have read about for a while.

Overall I was very impressed, nothing to complain about...I loved it. The characters are entertaining and well done, the plot intriguing, the magic system creative. Sanderson has built a world and characters that you want to read about and turned them into a story that is very hard to put down. I am very eager to read the next book in this series "The Well of Ascension".

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