The first instalment in the Mistborn trilogy was great. Sanderson does a great job with the worldbuilding and setting the rules of his magic system, without being confusing or tedious.
The Final Empire takes place on a decadent world which is governed by the Lord Ruler, some kind of god emperor that has been in power for thousands of years and has annihilated every attempt of rebellion. The story begins when Kelsier, a former slave and only survivor of the terrible Pits of Hathsin, start organizing a group to overthrow the Lord Ruler.
What I enjoyed the most of this book was it's simplicity. The story is really straight forward and the lore isn't that hard to understand, in fact the world map is very small compared to other epic fantasy sagas and the action takes place in the Final Empire's capital mostly so you don't get confused by learning other locations.
The characters are another strong point and they are really simple and easy to identify, except from Kelsier and Vin (the main characters), the rest of the characters aren't very complex. This doesn't mean they are bland or underdeveloped because they are very charismatic most of the time and we get to know them better as the story progresses.
Another thing I really liked is that Sanderson includes little texts before each chapter. This are fragments of a story told by a mysterious character whose identity is revealed in the final texts and it can be read as a totally different story that makes complete sense after you finish the book.
But certainly the most awesome thing on this book was the magic system. It's a very clever and original system called allomancy: allomancers don't use complex rituals or magic words to use their powers, they ingest metals that enhance their senses and other mental abilities.
Most allomancers are called mistings and they can use only one of the ten allomantic metals, the most powerful are the Mistborn who can use all metals.
The way that Sanderson describes each power and ability is awesome, the combats between allomancers are really cool and very fun to read. Also magic users aren't overpowered because each ability has it's flaws and the continuous "burning" of metal has consequences on their bodies.
The only reason why I don't give this book a ten is that the dialogues and characters were a bit cheesy in some parts of the story. Also there were some situations that were far-fetched in my opinion and I didn't like how Sanderson solved them, it felt like a young adult book in that regard. Don't get me wrong I don't consider ALL young adult books bad but I prefer more mature readings when it comes to epic fantasy.
Anyway this didn't stop me from enjoying this wonderful book, the characters can be cheesy but they are awesome and charismatic, also the story is really fast paced and entertaining for the most part.
Rating 9/10: this was a wonderful book that I strongly recommend to other fantasy fans and even to readers that usually don't read these kind of books. It can be a good book to start reading epic fantasy because it isn't as complex as many other sagas and the story will appeal to any reader that enjoys stories with magic and great characters.
Rating 9/10: this was a wonderful book that I strongly recommend to other fantasy fans and even to readers that usually don't read these kind of books. It can be a good book to start reading epic fantasy because it isn't as complex as many other sagas and the story will appeal to any reader that enjoys stories with magic and great characters.
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