Mistborn: Final Empire (Mistborn Trilogy) Book

The Final Empire

Brandon Sanderson is one of several authors championing the darker, grittier side of fantasy: heroes & villains blur with morals being questioned and struggles both physical and mental that will challenge not only the character but the reader as well. Slowly but surely through authors like Sanderson & Brent Weeks to name a few this sub-genre is starting to dominate the bookshelves. This offering: "the final empire" is the first in a trilogy telling a tale of oppression and rebellion where heroes commit deeds that we only usually see restricted to Villains. With a plot that twists and turns, some original ideas and interesting characters the novel looks set to be a good read.

In the land of the Final Emperor all is controlled by the Lord Ruler, an all powerful dictator who is a master of the art of allomancy, the manipulation of powers metals give certain humans when they burn them, he rules over the noble folk & in turn the skaa who are treated as less than human. All skaa are slaves, regularly beaten and abused And Sanderson has no hesitation in describing this and making the reader squirm, which in turn further pulls them into the Skaa's story. 

The aforementioned Allomancy is key to the plot as our main characters are all Allomancers, Kelsier & Vin are mistborn which means they can swallow any type of metal & use it's powers. Whilst characters like Breeze, Ham and Clubs are only mistings which means they can only use one metals power. To obtain this power the metals need to be drunk in liquid form & then "burnt" which will allows their bodies to become stronger & faster, their eyes to become sharper, gravity will be a thing of the past & it is even possible to burn a metal that will let you see the future. It is a truly original idea in my opinion and made for some great reading & some great action set-pieces that were truly unique.

We follow Kelsier, able aid of the skaa rebellion, through Vin's eyes, whilst she is a street urchin saved by Kelsier he has led a live of being a master criminal & only recently acquired an altruistic streak. Kelsier's character is infectious, his relentless determination & persistence are inspiring and Vin's progression from separated and untrusting street urchin to an accepted member of a community makes for wonderful & gripping reading.

Overall Sanderson has wrote the novel well, with a few grammatical errors here & there and some sloppy structure, with it's strength's easily compensating for it's flaws. The characters struggle against the awesome power of the Lord Ruler is gripping, with the element of Allomancy setting it apart from other novels. It has a flair & a quality unheard of in fantasy, it sweeps aside cliche and provides difficult moral struggles to overcome and a massive evil power to defeat for the sake of justice. A thrilling and excellent read.