The Final Empire (Mistborn #1)
Summary:
Where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. Criminal mastermind Kelsier teaches Allomancy, the magic of metals, to another Mistborn, urchin Vin, 16. The unlikely heroine is distracted by rich Venture heir Elend, but can Kelsier's thieving crew take on the tyrant Lord Ruler and bring back color to their world?(Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
Brandon Sanderson is an author I’ve managed to read around for a long time. When I read almost exclusively high fantasy, he burst into the scene and I wasn’t so sure about the new author taking up space in the bookstore. Now that I’ve finally read “The Final Empire,” I wonder why I’ve bothered to wait so long! “The Final Empire” has a new take on magic that has limitations and a foundation in science (to a degree) and has fundamental limitations. I have always found world building with limitations to magic to be more realistic to me as I imagine that’s how it would work in the ‘real’ world.
Vin, Kelsier, and the others in the crew are easy to relate to and I was quickly sucked into their world. I love that Kelsier always has another trick up his sleeve and that Vin comes into her own with all the missteps that comes with that. This is a book with many, many layers, but was unwrapped slowly so the reader comes to understand another aspect of Allomancy throughout the story rather than having ALL of the mysteries revealed immediately. I’d highly recommend this book and am looking forward to the next in the series!
Warning: Contains repeated graphic violence.
Rating: 5 stars!
Who should read it? Fantasy fans looking for something with a new and interesting twist on “magic” based in the physical world.
Want to read the whole series?
The Eleventh Metal (Mistborn #0.5)
The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3)
Secret History (Mistborn #3.5)
The Allow of Law (Mistborn #4)
Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5)
The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6)
The Lost Metal (Mistborn #7)