Book Series Wednesday: The Original Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

I promised I’d stop doing Urban Fantasy for a while, and to be completely honest I haven’t read that many Urban Fantasy series and I ran out. This week we are doing one of the best Fantasy Epic’s ever written by the brilliant author extraordinaire Brandon Sanderson, The Original Mistborn Trilogy. I’ll explain the reason for why I call it the Original Mistborn Trilogy below the jump.

Explanation of Brandon Sanderson’s work: First and foremost, if you’ve never heard of the Cosmere universe of works let me sum it up for you in a few sentences. Every single one of Brandon Sanderson’s Adult Fantasy novels is set in the same universe (not the same planet necessarily), and there are certain characters you will see in every book. There is an over arching story to the Cosmere, which we don’t know the specifics of except a few scant details, but if you pay attention to certain words that pop up in each series it’ll make sense. If you have read all his books and are still looking for the rest of the little information we do know go to the 17thshard.com and look up their Cosmere posts on the forums it’s a mind-boggling read in and of itself, but there are plenty of spoilers for various books so only do that after you’ve read all his stuff that’s been released. As for why I call this the Original Mistborn Trilogy, Brandon is planning on writing 2 more trilogies not to mention a couple of side story novels. Now onto the real review!

Plot Synopsis: When the prophesied hero fails, a volcanic Final Empire of red skies and constant ashfall rises, for a thousand years in which most humans are enslaved skaa workers living in misery and fear, where the Lord Ruler is the divinely invincible “Sliver of Infinity” of absolute power and terror. In the brutal Pits of Hathsin where atium, the most valuable metal in the world is mined, an imprisoned scarred half-skaa thief named Kelsier discovers his Mistborn powers, escapes and becomes a legend, the only Survivor of the Pits of Hathsin. A brilliant mastermind now empowered with new weapons and a natural leader, he and his crew’s talents are utilized for the ultimate caper, to topple the Final Empire by stealing its treasury and collapsing its economy, while setting up the Lord Ruler as the mark.

Night in the Empire is empty of skaa, for they have been indoctrinated in the Lord Ruler’s religion to fear almost everything and the nightly mists most of all. In the Empire are shattered kingdoms, but above, within and around everything were the mists, more constant and powerful than sun or storms, always changing but eternal. The Mistborn and nobility see the mists without superstitions and ignore it, blind to its aspects.

Plot: This series loves to gut punch you emotionally and does so frequently. I cried after reading the end of the last book and cried lots getting to that point. That said this is a wonderful Thieves tale and it’s all using one of the most intricate magic systems you’ll ever read in a series. In fact Magic Systems are Brandon Sanderson’s specialty and if you enjoy the way he uses Allomancy, the magic of Mistborn, you’ll love his work.

Characters: My favorite character of the series is probably Kelsier, but I love the main cast of the story very much. I can’t go into specifics as to why because that’ll go into spoiler territory.

Overall: If you enjoy an author who uses Chekov’s gun with a Seal Team 6 level of skill you’ll enjoy this series as well as for any reasons I listed above.

For those who like: Thieves fighting for the poor, Political intrigue, Mayhem and Magic systems that are interesting without being overpowered.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but if you don’t like those what’s wrong with you?!