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James Allen

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James Allen is currently reading

Mistborn (Mistborn, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 3rd time

read in May 2025

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James Allen said: " The first inkling of an idea to begin reading a Sanderson novel formed when I was told that he's written some steampunk-esque novels, and I thought that sounded rather interesting. I quite like steampunk, and I have not yet read a story set in a stea The first inkling of an idea to begin reading a Sanderson novel formed when I was told that he's written some steampunk-esque novels, and I thought that sounded rather interesting. I quite like steampunk, and I have not yet read a story set in a steampunk world. I was already aware of the absurd length—well, absurd to me at least— of his books and was slightly disheartened to learn that these "steampunk-esque novels" are the second trilogy of his first series, Mistborn. So, I found the first Mistborn book at a library, and nearly a month later, here we are. That's not to say it took me a month to read this novel; I borrowed it and then it sat on my shelf for the majority of May until last Tuesday, when I began reading it during some downtime.

I found myself enjoying the main bunch of characters in this novel: Kelsier, Hammond, Breeze, Dockson and Sazed, I'd say. The main character, though, is that of Vin. I did not like Vin in the beginning. She was far too untrustworthy, and her thoughts, shown in italics, were sometimes painful to read. As the novel continued, she did grow and become more enjoyable to read, but thank god for the quick introduction of the characters I mentioned just before, as I probably would've given up reading had it continued. She was just so self-deprecating and pitiful. I know that was probably the intention, but it just made me dislike her in the beginning. I did come round on the character, but oh my, what an insufferable debut.

One surprising aspect of the novel that I particularly enjoyed was any section featuring the high society of this world, the balls and parties that Lords and Ladies would frequent. I do wish that the characters featured here were given more depth and personality, as all but one were given any sort of dimension, and they were probably my favourite characters to read. I'm a sucker for any kind of cheesy romance subplot, and for some reason, thankful though I am, this novel had one of those.

I read a few chapters of this in a coffee shop and found myself grinning from ear to ear as I read the 2nd chapter, they appeared in which was a slightly odd experience because I hadn't felt that enthusiastic about the novel yet. The whole high society aspect of the novel reminded me of Gossip Girl, to be honest, and I quite liked Gossip Girl, so I mean that only as a compliment. I wish there was more of it in the novel, but I understand that this isn't the sort of book for that to take centre stage.

I do think that Sanderson has struck gold, though I suppose atrium would be a more apt choice, with the idea of Allomancy. It's a magic system that exists in this world and consists of the use of eight basic metals, which, when ingested, perform different abilities such as soothing and rioting of emotions, enhancing physical attributes and the manipulation of momentum through the use of metal found in the world. There are more metals and abilities, but these are the most prevalent found here. Everything to do with allomancy I found very interesting to learn about, and it is by far the strongest aspect of this novel. That being said, some details were considered a lot more than others, allowing for some to fall by the wayside and be written with very little understanding from a reader's point of view.

I certainly believe in these characters existing in this world; however, I don't really believe in this world existing. There's a lot about it I just don't understand, and from what I read wasn't explained all too well. Some aspects could be explained in future instalments, but reading just this novel, it left me wondering at times just how this world works.

I will say, though, I don't particularly see from this novel alone why Brandon Sanderson is slightly revered in terms of fantasy authors. There wasn't really anything here that grabbed me in the same way Terry Pratchett, for example, has done. Though I'm not going to act like I'm a braggart when it comes to fantasy novels, as it's a genre I have minimal experience in so far. Still, whilst I did enjoy my time with The Final Empire, I found it to be a rather standard story about an evil lord that must be killed because he is evil.

I will eventually continue this series as I am more interested now to see how this world becomes one infested with metal and machinery, amongst a setting in which metal is currently used very sparingly due to the powers some have over it. Unsure when exactly I will read the next novel, The Well of Ascension, but I am intrigued as to what the following two entries hold for our characters. ...more "

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(page 427 of 672)
— 8 hours, 33 min ago

Dec 14, 2025 05:41PM · see review