“Men are more resilient than that, I think. Our belief is often strongest when it should be weakest. That is the nature of hope”

This was my first foray into the penmanship that is Brandon Sanderson and overall this was a great place to start. With Mistborn, you can see the influences from other political fantasy novels like Game of Thrones with a magic system that seems like an adult version of bending from Avatar

The backbone and strongest part of the novel comes from its characters, specifically Vin, Kell, and Sazed. The bond that those three characters develop, learning from each other and growing. Character development like what these three and most of the ones in the book usually take a whole series to happen, but Sanderson was impressively able to do it in one novel.

That also applies to his world building. Even thought the book hovers around the same area and city the entire time, Sanderson is able to make it feel huge. With all of the details surrounding the history and religions of the area, it really helps fill in the edges.

Where the world building starts to fall apart to me is the onboarding process in the first half of the book. The reader gets dropped in this world with no great explanation of what is happening, and you as the reader are pretty much playing catch-up. It feels like things don’t get explained really well and terms like “Tin-Eyes” are thrown around without great explanation. It seems Sanderson wanted to show and not tell with a lot of the systems and world he created but I don’t think that was the best choice.

The second half of the book really overshadows the first half. All of the lackluster info explanations in the first half are redeemed in the second half. The novel really picks up the pace and becomes such a strong story as the heist plan comes together.

Overall I think that Mistborn is a great jumping in point for Sanderson’s stories, as long as you can get through the first half, because the second half is such a jump in quality that makes it all worth it.

Mistborn - Likewise Book Reviews

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