Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Here follows my thoughts of the 3 Mistborn books. I have put books 2 and 3 under the cut, so that you don't get spoiled if you haven't read any of them yet.
TL:DR? : Summary for all 3 books: READ THEM, THEY'RE BRILLIANT!! - don't make my mistake though, don't read them all in one go.
Mistborn #1 - Mistborn: The Final Empire
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For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.
Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Only then does he reveal his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.
But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
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The first half, maybe even two thirds of the first book didn't quite capture me. Though very well written and interesting it was just a tad too easy to put it down, even mid-chapter. The final part though hooked me completely and I loved how things turned out.
The two kinds of magic, though interesting and original, are often a bit hard to follow. Allomancers fighting with all the mental pushing and pulling and jumping and falling - it's hard to really envision. The fero-somethings' powers of storing both data and various strengths and senses was even more obscure and it was hard to understand how it really is supposed to work for them.
Despite the slow start and the slightly confusing powers, the book held me tightly by the end and looking back I overall enjoyed it immensely. It is an intricate plot with more than meets the eye and the characters are both likeable and relatable. Vin was my absolute favourite from the very beginning and she only became even better.
Mistborn #2 - The Well of Ascension
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The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler – the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years – has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.
As Kelsier’s protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.
Stopping assassins may keep Vin’s Mistborn skills sharp, but it’s the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn’t run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier’s crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won’t get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler’s hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.
As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows
----------
The second book in the trilogy picked up not long after the end of the first. With the Lord Ruler defeated, Kelsier's crew is now trying to establish a reign that will be democratic, fair and good. However, kingdoms are easier contemplated than ruled and with several armies marching to take the power for themselves the characters are finding them between a rock and a hard place.
Doubt creeps up on them all, and Vin struggles to accept her place in the new kingdom - and with a mysterious new mistborn haunting her steps, temptation grows bigger as a mysterious thudding in the back of her mind makes things clear that all did not turn out well and good when they defeated the tyrant. In the mean time Sazed discovers some well hidden and disturbing secrets.
The mists swirls as they will and not all are fortunate to live to see another day. I couldn't put this book down once I had started it and the fantastic characters and the plot's intricacy was a seldom seen delight.
Mistborn #3 - The Hero of Ages
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Who is the Hero of Ages?
To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness---the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists---is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.
Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. She can’t even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!
The conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy fulfills all the promise of the first two books. Revelations abound, connections rooted in early chapters of the series click into place, and surprises, as satisfying as they are stunning, blossom like fireworks to dazzle and delight. It all leads up to a finale unmatched for originality and audacity that will leave readers rubbing their eyes in wonder, as if awaking from an amazing dream.
----------
The third book started out a bit more slowly and struggling under a brief reader's block my hopes for it dwindled. However, slowly it started to dawn on me just how intricate the plot was and how it drew on things, details, just the phrasing on a specific sentence, from the previous books, and all of a sudden I was hooked once more - this time even stronger and more passionately than before.
It delves further into old characters and gives more room to both new and old we didn't hear much about before. The Hero of Ages is a fantastic book bringing a stunning conclusion to one of the most complicated and detailed stories I've ever read. The trilogy as a whole is nothing short of a masterpiece and I strongly urge all with an interest in epic fantasy to do themselves the favour of reading these books if they haven't already.
TL:DR? : Summary for all 3 books: READ THEM, THEY'RE BRILLIANT!! - don't make my mistake though, don't read them all in one go.
----------
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.
Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Only then does he reveal his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.
But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
----------
The first half, maybe even two thirds of the first book didn't quite capture me. Though very well written and interesting it was just a tad too easy to put it down, even mid-chapter. The final part though hooked me completely and I loved how things turned out.
The two kinds of magic, though interesting and original, are often a bit hard to follow. Allomancers fighting with all the mental pushing and pulling and jumping and falling - it's hard to really envision. The fero-somethings' powers of storing both data and various strengths and senses was even more obscure and it was hard to understand how it really is supposed to work for them.
Despite the slow start and the slightly confusing powers, the book held me tightly by the end and looking back I overall enjoyed it immensely. It is an intricate plot with more than meets the eye and the characters are both likeable and relatable. Vin was my absolute favourite from the very beginning and she only became even better.
----------
The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler – the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years – has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.
As Kelsier’s protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.
Stopping assassins may keep Vin’s Mistborn skills sharp, but it’s the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn’t run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier’s crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won’t get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler’s hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.
As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows
----------
The second book in the trilogy picked up not long after the end of the first. With the Lord Ruler defeated, Kelsier's crew is now trying to establish a reign that will be democratic, fair and good. However, kingdoms are easier contemplated than ruled and with several armies marching to take the power for themselves the characters are finding them between a rock and a hard place.
Doubt creeps up on them all, and Vin struggles to accept her place in the new kingdom - and with a mysterious new mistborn haunting her steps, temptation grows bigger as a mysterious thudding in the back of her mind makes things clear that all did not turn out well and good when they defeated the tyrant. In the mean time Sazed discovers some well hidden and disturbing secrets.
The mists swirls as they will and not all are fortunate to live to see another day. I couldn't put this book down once I had started it and the fantastic characters and the plot's intricacy was a seldom seen delight.
----------
Who is the Hero of Ages?
To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness---the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists---is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.
Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. She can’t even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!
The conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy fulfills all the promise of the first two books. Revelations abound, connections rooted in early chapters of the series click into place, and surprises, as satisfying as they are stunning, blossom like fireworks to dazzle and delight. It all leads up to a finale unmatched for originality and audacity that will leave readers rubbing their eyes in wonder, as if awaking from an amazing dream.
----------
The third book started out a bit more slowly and struggling under a brief reader's block my hopes for it dwindled. However, slowly it started to dawn on me just how intricate the plot was and how it drew on things, details, just the phrasing on a specific sentence, from the previous books, and all of a sudden I was hooked once more - this time even stronger and more passionately than before.
It delves further into old characters and gives more room to both new and old we didn't hear much about before. The Hero of Ages is a fantastic book bringing a stunning conclusion to one of the most complicated and detailed stories I've ever read. The trilogy as a whole is nothing short of a masterpiece and I strongly urge all with an interest in epic fantasy to do themselves the favour of reading these books if they haven't already.
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