Mistborn (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson
- Publisher: Tor Books, 2007
- Genre: Fantasy
- Format: Mass-Market Paperback
- Page Count: 647 pages
- My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
‘People are attracted to vision.’ (Kelsier)
Kelsier, a powerful Mistborn, led a skaa rebellion and with his inane yet clever plan, his crew tried to throw Luthadel into chaos, ultimately hoping to seize the tyrant, Lord Ruler. The book is about their adventure and life leading up to and a little after the event, and therefore jam-packed with action.
Apart from the crew’s plan, there is also this romantic element in the story. Vin, disguised as Valette Renoux, encountered a weird yet seemingly genuine young man, Elend Venture, during her undercover ball missions. Their young true love really shed light to the darkness of the ash-covered Final Empire world.
After having so many friends telling me how great the series is, I came across the trilogy at TIBE (Taipei International Book Exhibition) and decided to buy it all, hoping I would eventually get to read it if the set was sitting on my bookshelf. I remember trying to read the translated Chinese edition back in high school, but the volume was so thick I could never bring myself to read more than 100 pages into the story. Thank goodness I did not, leaving me the chance of reading the original now.
It was intense and beautiful.
While the misery in the Final Empire was not something to find beauty in, the characters and their relationships with each other, however, were so well-choreographed, I had a hard time pulling myself away from being too psychologically attached during reading. That tends to happen a lot, by the way: my inability to tell fiction from life.
“… that’s kind of what trust is, isn’t it? A willful self-delusion?”
Vin
In some way, fantasy stories are more or less a kind of superman story, yet this one is a lot more intriguing. The idea of Allomancers and Feruchemists seemed to be refreshing indeed. Having read Warbreaker a few years ago, I see that Sanderson truly has a knack for creating wondrous universes. I am curious how far his creativity can stretch.
Upon reading both Warbreaker and Mistborn, I realise though how crazy his worlds may be, they are really carefully structured and definitely worth a read. Both stories involved a heroine saving her love, and both love interests were very much kings one way or another and deeply misunderstood by others.
“Belief isn’t simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief—what is faith—if you don’t continue in it after failure?”
Sazed
Not only was the read exhilarating, the storyline was also emotionally rich. Near the end of the book, I cried harder than I had in a long time. It felt good.
If you ever considered reading Mistborn, I would suggest you to contemplate no more! Start reading now.
Note: There did seem to be a minor bug in one of the events in the story. In Chapter 21, when Demoux fought Bilg, there was a time that Kelsier tried to Pull Demoux’s weapon down on Bilg. Given the explanations of Allomancy in the book, Pulling and Pushing can only be in the direction of the Allomancer and the metal of question. Unless Kelsier was situated below the two men, he would theoretically be unable to do something like this. [1 Mar 2018]
