Warning: This post will contain MANY spoilers for Mistborn, the first book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. This is more for my memory than a traditional review, so I will be going deep into plot points.
I’ve been a huge fan of Sanderson’s books since I was introduced to him through the finishing of The Wheel of Time series. I’ve read through many of his series and I’m anxiously awaiting the finale of Skyward and the next book in the Stormlight Chronicles. However throughout this time I’ve never taken the time to read Mistborn. I just finished the first book in the series and I’m unsurprised with how much I love the world he’s building, but the ending felt off pace compared to the rest of the book.
The story opened up introducing me to Kelsier. He was one of the characters that you know is going to be pivotal to the story. It’s also instantly clear that he’s going to cause trouble for everyone that he comes in contact with. I assumed based on other books by Sanderson that Kelsier was going to grow as an individual through the series and become the hero that you’d expect him to be. Turns out I was dead wrong, but more on that later.
Next I met Vin, the protagonist of the book and what I imagine will be the entire saga. The ash covered city feels appropriately depressing and it quickly made me think about how this world is going to change by the end of the saga. Vin is an endearing character. She comes off as a very damaged individual dealing with a lot of past trauma. I couldn’t wait to see how her and Kelsier were going to end up working together.
The crew Vin works with are absolute trash people and my gut feeling was that hey would be the trigger to unlocking whatever her special abilities would be. I didn’t know what a mistborn was at this point in the book but judging by the cover art I had a feeling it was going to be something adequately impressive. My first inkling that Vin had some powers was when she started using her “luck” on the Obligator to help out her crew master.
It was refreshing to see how quickly Vin and Kelsier met! I had assumed that it wouldn’t be until the middle of the book that they got in contact with each other. Equally refreshing was how quickly Kelsier started training Vin and how they jumped right into using the abilities. The cliche “wax on, wax off” sequences always drive me nuts, but in this instance I was happy that Sanderson didn’t go down that path. On the note of training, let me just say how much I love the magic system in this series.
The idea of magical powers being based on the burning of specific metals is unique to me. I don’t think I’ve run across any other system that requires the consumption of different natural substances to use different abilities. The fact that many of the gifted individuals in the world can only use one type of magic was new to me as well. I’ve seen parallels but never to a level that was as granular as in this book. Seeing Kelsier do battle with the hazekillers was a incredible way to showcase all of the powers available to a mistborn. It also let me really appreciate just how powerful Kelsier was in this world.
I don’t remember when in the book I learned about Allomancers and their powers, but it feels relevant to compare with the mistborn powers. Their powers work by storing an attribute into a metal object and later using that stored powered. The downside is that to store any attribute they deprive themselves of it for a while, so to store up strength they have to lay around weakened to accumulate the extra. It was touched on that they could store youth/age, but the net gain was always equal, quite the foreshadowing. It’s neat seeing the two magic systems having parallels with using metals, but having very different actual uses.
As the plot continued it started to feel a bit like Ocean’s 11. Having a chalkboard with the list of problems Kelsier’s crew had to tackle to rid themselves of the tyranny of the Lord Ruler felt just like planning the heist in the movie. Thinking through the specialty of each of the supporting cast I was trying to figure out who would be the one the betray the group. When the book ended and I found that all of them were loyal to the end I realized that clearly I don’t have Sanderson pegged the way I thought I did. I was curious to see how Vin would fit into the crew’s plans and didn’t have to wait too long to find out.
Vin as a noblewoman struck me as an interesting side plot and I expected it to be resolved fairly quickly. The fact that the majority of Vin’s story in the book was her navigating the noble world and showing a talent for being a spy was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed her banter with Elend. Coming from such a damaged background had me hoping that she could find happiness with Elend. As the book progressed that seemed all the more unlikely, and I genuinely believe that he really was using her as a play thing to further his agenda at court.
Kelsier’s recklessness was wearing on me as the story continued. It seemed like he was destined to cause the entire plan to fail or at a minimum get members of his crew killed. His brother, Marsh, who left to infiltrate the Inquisitors seemed like the most likely casualty so I was not shocked when they found him dead. Finding out later that was a bait in switch left me feeling like a dunce, I seemed to be falling for every swerve Sanderson threw my way this book and I was loving it!
The ending of this book was a blur. It seems that in many of Sanderson’s books he really tries to uncork the entire end arc of a story in a couple chapters when it really could use more time. I haven’t said much about the Lord Ruler yet as there isn’t a lot to say. Generic bad guy, being oppressive for what reason? The whole character felt flat and not that interesting.
The first encounter with the Lord Ruler really showed just how powerful he was. I’m still not sure I understand how he was able to have spears shoved through him and not die, vitality didn’t seem like an attribute that could be stored. Having Kelsier martyr himself also felt forced when I first thought about it, but as I reflect more I’m seeing that Kelsier likely thought his battle was futile. He wanted to instill some hope and passion into the Skaa. Elend being there to pick up the pieces after the nobles had fled or fallen was a nice bonus to everything.
The final battle with Vin and the Lord Ruler was more grounded than I expected. Vin’s growing confidence through the book had me worried she would go full Superman on the Lord Ruler, which didn’t feel appropriate. Seeing her struggle against overwhelming odds left a lot of room for her character to grow, but also showed that she was very capable, almost to the point Kelsier was at with his many years of experience.
Marsh showing up to save the day was shocking to me. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t see this coming at all. Marsh revealing the weakness of the Inquisitors was an awesome moment, even if the ease of exploiting their weakness seemed overpowered. These imposing characters from the entire books can be dropped just by pulling a little pin from their head? Feels like a huge oversight on whoever was creating them. I’m hoping that we get more details about that gruesome process in the coming books.
Overall I was very happy with the book. It setup some interesting plot points to carry into the future books with a lot of mystery around how the Mistborn get their powers, what exactly a Mistwraith is, and how important is this well of accession that the next book is titled after. I can’t wait to dive into book 2!
