Mistborn

Brandon Sanderson is a powerhouse in fantasy literature. He was chosen to finish Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series and his books received great reviews. He also knows how to write fast which means that if you’re a fan of his books then you won’t have much wait time in between them. So I figured it was time for me to dig in and give him a shot. I decided to go with his Mistborn trilogy first and sadly I was disappointed.

I’m not sure what my problem is. Am I growing out of the traditional fantasy that I’ve grown to love so much? Do I just need to admit that I love the “darker grittier” fantasy themes over others? I’m not entirely sure but as much as I wanted to enjoy this story I felt like I was reading something aimed at a young adult. I won’t go into the plot much but I can sum it up pretty easily for you. A Dark Lord rules the land and a group of adventurers seek to overthrow his rule. Sounds kind of familiar right? Don’t get me wrong, Sanderson brought a lot of new stuff to the table with this traditional plot.

Sanderson has been praised for his “world building” skills and for the most part I was satisfied with the world he created in the first book of Mistborn. We have a world of ash, almost post apocalyptic in many ways. The magic system was cool I’ll give him that. Scenes where Mistborn were soaring through the air were pretty awesome, and his take on a thief’s guild was nice as well. Kelsier in the Pits of Hathsin were bad ass too, but it was the stuff in between these cool scenes that were just kind of lame.

Vin’s whole development from street urchin to noble lady just wasn’t really that interesting to me. Sanderson did a fine job of showing us a magical noble ball but he continued to do this too many times. The initial formula just kept repeating itself until the climax of the novel. Vin goes to ball, gathers information, practices misting abilities, meets up with the thieving crew, wash and repeat. Sanderson’s prose wasn’t all that up to speed either and a lot of the dialogue just felt CHEESEY!!! I’m sorry but if I hear “For the Lord Ruler’s sake” one more time I might scream…

The book ends at a nice place and it felt like a complete story which was nice. I just don’t really feel the need to continue the series right now. I think this one will remain on my shelf until my daughter is old enough to read it. I think I’m going to throw in the towel on this one though, so I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed any other Sanderson fans out there! I still might give his newest book a shot though, perhaps that one is better? I’m not sure. Overall a good book, but just not quite what I’m craving right now.