Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson

[sj2k]

I recently finished re-reading mistborn. I was able to purchas it right when it came out, and it quickly became on of my favorite books, perhaps even #1, right away.

If you have not read it, I would reccoment it to you.

If you have, what are your thoughts?

[Dream Brother]

Bumping this for you Mistborn geeks. Gonna try grabbing a copy of the first book soon.

[Tyrael]

^First book gets official UK release October.

'twas very good. The magic system especially was absolutely fantastic. Very well polished and rounded debut.

Hopefully, will get round to the sequel soon.

[Dream Brother]

I'll probably just get the one with the bad cover (on Amazon) rather than wait around for months for a prettier one.

[Lord Yu]

I'm gonna crack the first book open as soon as I have the second. The store I went to only had the fugly paperbacks of the first and third.

[Lo$tris]

I'm a Mistborn geek!!! This series is great. The magic system, the characters (Kelsier :love) and the plot were awesome. It kept me guessing all the time.

But the 2nd book was kind of slow (though Zane kept me going!), and the 3rd could have been shorter without Sazed mopping around all the time. Still, I enjoyed the Trilogy and the ending was a shock, but couldn't have been done better.

[Tyrael]

Did a review of the first book on Goodreads. Posted it on NF too. (http://forums.narutofan.com/showpost.php?p=23814614&postcount=2230)

[Lo$tris]

^^ I agree about Kelsier being the character that drives the story and yes Vin's character is...bland in the first book but she goes through a decent development in the other books along with Elend, who becomes an awesome character in the 3rd book.

Why do fantasy authors love to kill great characters in the 1st book? Here Kelsier and in the Night Angel Trilogy Durzo Blint :scry

But I've read somewhere that Sanderson is considering writing a book about Kelsier's past in the Pits of Hathsins, I would love to read this.

[Tyrael]

Bland is too strong a word, but she doesn't have the same drive or spark as Kelsier. I actually really liked Elend-anyone who reads at inappropriate times during social gatherings is a man after my own heart.

I would prefer it if Kelsier's past remained largely obscure actually. It works better to mystify him that way, and there would be problems with trying to portray him realistically would mean that Sanderson would need to write him like an almost totally different character.

[attackoflance]

I might give it a try, maybe see how he writes before the next WoT hes doing.

[Lord Yu]

I've started the first book.

[Dream Brother]

- Warning, spoilers abound -

This book gave me mixed feelings. I found it very difficult to put down -- finishing it in a few days -- and the pacing was lovely. I also love the way Sanderson takes the 'expanding outward' approach to writing by beginning with character and working outward gradually. This lends the book a lot more intimacy than it would have otherwise, and there were several enjoyable moments where the characters were fleshed out through revealing conversations with one another. The magic system is also worth noting, of course -- original, simple and powerful.

The main problem I had is his constant tendency to tell rather than show -- I literally lost count of the number of times that I came across a passage that had been spoiled by a lack of subtlety and economy. Sometimes you can communicate far more by saying less, and Sanderson doesn't appear to recognise this. I was literally itching to erase utterly unneeded explanatory lines from certain pages, because it would have made such a powerful difference.

My other qualm was the twist at the end, involving the logbook and the Lord Ruler -- beforehand, I loved those little excerpts at the start of each chapter. It felt like a real effort in moral ambiguity, a way of exposing the humane side of the cliché Dark Lord figure. When he pulls the rug out from under our feet with the revelation that it actually hadn't been the same man, however...well, it's excellent in terms of creating shock, but not in terms of quality storytelling, to my mind. All that ambiguity flushed down the drain. Granted, we get hints that even this man, the real lord, isn't a clear-cut villain -- with his mention of what he did to preserve humanity, and Vin's doubts in the aftermath -- but that's far too little and far too late to make us genuinely connect with him on any level. I have to confess that the twist thus left me feeling quite cheated once the shock had worn off. Another issue I had was that the book often felt -- for lack of a better word -- almost 'cutesy'. It describes various highly violent acts and scenes of complete misery, and yet it retains a sort of detachment, an idealistic streak that kept me from really buying into the dark edge as I would have in a book by Abercrombie or Martin. A few plot points were also a little predictable, but that was more of a minor issue, and it was balanced out by some of the other more surprising developments.

It is, however, Sanderson's attention to his characters and magic system that really keeps the book standing, despite the flaws. I'll definitely be checking out the next entry in the series, and hopefully it builds upon the wealth of potential I saw here and blossoms into a truly brilliant book. I would sum this book up as being certainly enjoyable, but just missing its mark.

[Anon]

- Warning, spoilers abound -

This book gave me mixed feelings. I found it very difficult to put down -- finishing it in a few days -- and the pacing was lovely. I also love the way Sanderson takes the 'expanding outward' approach to writing by beginning with character and working outward gradually. This lends the book a lot more intimacy than it would have otherwise, and there were several enjoyable moments where the characters were fleshed out through revealing conversations with one another. The magic system is also worth noting, of course -- original, simple and powerful.

The main problem I had is his constant tendency to tell rather than show -- I literally lost count of the number of times that I came across a passage that had been spoiled by a lack of subtlety and economy. Sometimes you can communicate far more by saying less, and Sanderson doesn't appear to recognise this. I was literally itching to erase utterly unneeded explanatory lines from certain pages, because it would have made such a powerful difference.

My other qualm was the twist at the end, involving the logbook and the Lord Ruler -- beforehand, I loved those little excerpts at the start of each chapter. It felt like a real effort in moral ambiguity, a way of exposing the humane side of the cliché Dark Lord figure. When he pulls the rug out from under our feet with the revelation that it actually hadn't been the same man, however...well, it's excellent in terms of creating shock, but not in terms of quality storytelling, to my mind. All that ambiguity flushed down the drain. Granted, we get hints that even this man, the real lord, isn't a clear-cut villain -- with his mention of what he did to preserve humanity, and Vin's doubts in the aftermath -- but that's far too little and far too late to make us genuinely connect with him on any level. I have to confess that the twist thus left me feeling quite cheated once the shock had worn off. Another issue I had was that the book often felt -- for lack of a better word -- almost 'cutesy'. It describes various highly violent acts and scenes of complete misery, and yet it retains a sort of detachment, an idealistic streak that kept me from really buying into the dark edge as I would have in a book by Abercrombie or Martin. A few plot points were also a little predictable, but that was more of a minor issue, and it was balanced out by some of the other more surprising developments.

It is, however, Sanderson's attention to his characters and magic system that really keeps the book standing, despite the flaws. I'll definitely be checking out the next entry in the series, and hopefully it builds upon the wealth of potential I saw here and blossoms into a truly brilliant book. I would sum this book up as certainly enjoyable, but just missing its mark.

One day I will have to write an in depth review of a book I have just read, by the time I get around to talking about books I have read, I have generally forgotten a lot about them.

I agree with your outcome, although I also thought the dialogue wasn't totally consistant tone wise as well. I saw the log book twist coming though, so I wasn't dissapointed in that.

As for the telling thing, I think it is inexperience, I think that is his problem with most things really, can definitly see the potential in his work its just one step below great.

[Dream Brother]

As for the telling thing, I think it is inexperience, I think that is his problem with most things really, can definitly see the potential in his work its just one step below great.

I think so too. Too much telling normally occurs because the writer is afraid that his sentiments aren't being conveyed properly to the reader, so he hammers them in too strongly and unfortunately it ends up losing a lot of impact as a result. I could honestly go through the book and underline countless sentences where this occurred. I'm hoping that, with the first book behind him, the next one will display a little more confidence and sophistication in style. A series with so much potential deserves it, after all.

[Dr. Boskov Krevorkian]

-lol spoilers-

Really, as good as a closer as Mistborn has in the first book, everything doesn't really come together--like, at all--until the last fucking 5 pages of the last book. The overarching story is fleshed out in a way that isn't terribly fast, and really, isn't foreshadowed until much later.

Still, keep reading. The books actually get better, in my opinion. The story concept is fascinating.

[The Bloody Nine]

I have books 2 and 3 in my house just waiting to be read but i know if i do i won't finish the Sea the sea and im like 150 pages into that.

[Lord Yu]

The first book reminded me of Gurren Lagann at the end. Holy shitfuck.

yes I loves my expletives.

[Dream Brother]

Haha, I also thought of GL.

And yeah, Boskov -- great concept.

[Tyrael]

Yeah, I don't see anything TTGL about these books. They are spectacular at moments, but nowhere near the OTT glory of TTGL-more sensible, well constructed, intricate and sane by all accounts. Alright, there is:

some comparisons between Kamina and Kelsier.

But that alone is not really enough.

[Dream Brother]

On the whole, there's no comparison at all, to my mind.

I was mainly thinking of the ending in isolation -- the Big Evil Lord being defeated, but warning them (in an enigmatic fashion) about how he had actually been saving them with his rule just before kicking the bucket. Then we advance to the heroes learning how to build a society rather than destroy it, which is apparently the focus of the sequel, and this 'aftermath' stage is rarely covered in depth when it comes to fiction. I'm also assuming that the next major antagonistic force will stem from what the Lord Ruler referred to, just as in GL. It was just that specific scenario/approach that got me drawing a parallel.

[Dr. Boskov Krevorkian]

You get to know Elend in the latter books, so it's all good.

[Lord Yu]

GO TEAM VENTURE!

[Mattaru]

Just finished the first book in the series. I'm impressed - it's been a long time since a Fantasy's hooked me in this way. The allomancy system is great, and I loved the

supposed Death of Marsh at the hands of the Inquistors, and his subsequent return.

[Lord Yu]

Finished the last book. Quite an impressive ending.

[The Bloody Nine]

Finished the last book. Quite an impressive ending.

This. I would even go so far as to say Sanderson's plot work is genius.

Its odd actually - Jordan has been praised by everyone for his plot work and you can't deny Jordan is a tremendous storyteller but he was never really that good a writer. Now that i have read Mistborn i can't imagine anyone else finishing WOT.

[Tyrael]

Really? The Final Empire liked to tout itself as a book that had a lot going on below the surface, but really nothing in it surprised me. I kind of assumed the sequels would be the same-great magic system and fairly high standard in other respects, but nothing to blow me away.

I look forward to being proved wrong.

[Yakumo Fujii]

I loved this series. Sanderson is a genius at developing innovative magic systems. And he's great at providing a twist at the end that you didn't see coming.

Have any of you guys read Warbreaker? It features yet another brilliantly innovative magic system as well as an interesting theological system. I especially liked the God who didn't believe in his religion. A lot of politics and plotting in this book.

http://www.dandossantos.com/gallery/illustrations/full_warbreaker.jpg

[Dr. Boskov Krevorkian]

Warbreaker was rather good, but it was also a little shorter than I would have liked. It built up well, but then ended abruptly.

[Dream Brother]

- Spoilers for The Well of Ascension below -

Oh, Sanderson...why? Really, why?

I think what aggravates me the most about this writer is that he does have genuine talent and writing ability, but he's so very inconsistent, and he always manages to shoot himself in the foot after promising so much. That is what's frustrating -- being able to see what he could be, and ending up with what he chooses to be. I'll start with the good points, though; as in the last book, the magic system and the character interactions/development often fared quite well. The relationship between Vin and OreSeur was the highlight for me, especially the revelation of his real employment status near the end. A great touch, that. Sazed also grew into a more fully realised figure, with his investigations over the prophecy building up very well, and reaching a lovely climax later, ending the book on the perfect note. (Rather, nearly ending it on the perfect note, as there was a final irritating chapter that came after it, which I'll get to in a moment.) Tindwyl also inserted a little flavour into the proceedings, especially during her 'training' moments with Elend.

Now, Zane is an interesting case. A character with a lot of potential, but one that didn't fulfil such potential. I understand that his primary function was to spice up the Vin/Elend dynamic, by creating a potential wedge between them and offering another, much more shady 'love interest'. Definitely fair enough, in fact it's a great idea. The problem was that he never actually stood a chance. Did anyone, when reading this book, truly believe that Vin found him as oddly attractive as Sanderson pushed for? Not I, simply because (aside from a few enjoyable moments) he was surprisingly bland. Virtually every single time he confronted Vin he simply spewed the same silliness: "He's not like us! He cannot understand!" "We are different! We belong together! Join me!". Roughly paraphrased, of course, but the tone is the same. While he makes a fair point (and it is indeed powerful to be the only two of your kind surrounded by a different 'species', almost) it grows incredibly dull after a while. It also comes across as patronising to both Vin and the reader -- it's impossible to MISS the fact that Vin and Zane are both 'different' to the rest, and so repeatedly hammering this obvious point home just comes across as pointless. It makes Zane less charismatic and more boring, and he should really have just saved that 'we're different' speech for ONE powerful occasion, where it would really serve as an emotional, convincing punch. Apart from that Zane could have done with far more subtlety and 'flavour' so that we could genuinely feel Vin becoming attached to him. (Sanderson is capable of doing it, because he created a very magnetic figure in the form of Kelsier before, and Vin's attachment to him was obvious and felt genuine.) With Zane it felt like Sanderson wanted to create a potential wedge in the main relationship to increase tension/drama until the resolution, but he wasn't willing to go all the way and really turn Zane into a candidate. Zane's 'madness' (which apparently wasn't real madness, but I would argue that it was, because regardless of where the voices were coming from and why, it still meant that he was hearing a voice in his head every single day telling him to kill people, which would crack anyone's psyche) also all but disqualified him from the 'running', as well as his disappointing attempt at Machiavellian scheming and his silly confession at the end. Why did he need to do any of that, really? Elend was bound to see Vin kill at some point, and from a plot perspective, we didn't need Zane to 'set it up' -- the only reason it was done was to insert less moral ambiguity, and to make him more of an unattractive and villainous figure, making Vin's choice easier and easier. Despite his admittedly vulnerable moments here and there (I loved how he was focused on Vin 'saving him', which was a great touch) the whole thing just came across as halfhearted, or even worse, because there was never a single moment of doubt in my mind as to who Vin would choose.

Which brings me to Elend. He had some great development in this book, and it was enjoyable to see a scholar take on the mantle of King, and the obvious issues that would subsequently occur. He seemed somehow less interesting than he had been in the previous book, though (which is odd, because normally really delving into a character makes them more interesting). At various points he came across as plain flat, especially during the lovey-dovey interactions with Vin, and the contrast to even the dramatically flawed Zane made this even more evident. On the whole he was fine, though, right up until the end...

The end annoyed me the most, I have to admit. It turned a decent, even generally good book into a disaster. Once again, you get the feeling that Sanderson, for all his ability, lacks guts, from a plotting perspective. Why keep Elend alive? Why, to add massive insult to injury, make him a Mistborn? That latter point was the cheesiest and most unnecessary twist in the whole series so far. The whole thing that makes Elend/Vin interesting is their difference, the fact that they live in two completely different worlds, and yet still manage to love one another and craft a relationship. They balance one another out, and yet the gap between them always inserts an interesting dynamic. And yet Sanderson completely demolishes this dynamic by giving Elend the same power. Why? Because their relationship wasn't assured when they couldn't share absolutely every experience? Because he insists on making promising things more boring than they should ever be? I have no idea, but it was highly disappointing. As I said before, it would make things easier if he was a bad writer, but he has genuine flashes of grace, and some of his ideas (the magic system being the most obvious example) are wonderful. But he continually slaps his own potential in the face and then spits on it for good measure. A real pity, and I doubt I'll read the next book.

[The Bloody Nine]

The last book addresses a lot of your concerns and works on what you liked about it. Each book in the trilogy shouldn't really be read in isolation.

[Dream Brother]

Unless the next book features Vin waking up and realising that the end of the second book was in fact a malicious dream planted in her mind by Dan Brown, I doubt I'll be particularly happy. Or maybe Elend dying in the first page/chapter of the third book would do nicely. The characterisation of poor Zane is unfortunately beyond saving, seeing as he's dead, so that'll have to be left alone.

I agree that it's best to read the trilogy as a whole, but the last one isn't out here yet, so it's unavoidable to judge 'em as they come.

[Anon]

need to remember to order the last book, not sure when il have time to read it however.

Also the books in a trilogy do kinda have to stand on their own otherwise the writer isn't really pacing properly.

[Tyrael]

Since I'm replying to DB, spoilers for the 2nd book lie ahead. Not read the finale yet.

I agree in the main with DB - Sanderson's characters are often great concepts badly executed. Depth and progress tends to be relatively shallow and about as subtle as a hammer blow in his books. His prose style rubs me the wrong way - it's pretty rubbish. Whilst he might be an extraordinarily tight plotter with lots of great ideas, he isn't really a writer.

What I'm about to say may very well be blasphemy, but what DB said about Zane can easily be generalised to Kelsier. Kelsier struck me as a great character who was badly written, and as result came out as an interesting shade of beige. I agree with DB about Elend too - he was reasonably interesting in the first one, but the second one takes him and makes him a bit more bland. Although characters like TwoMoons and Lord Venture, at least, were interesting enough.

On another not unrelated to Zane, did anyone else think that Vin's discovery of how to beat Atium was a huge cop-out? Seemed like Sanderson wrote himself into a corner; compromising clever plotting for narrative drama. Something unusual for him to do actually.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you about the end though. The fact that he was able to tie things together so neatly whilst having some very intelligent subversion and misdirections rescued the book from the clutches of mediocrity. The way he handled the mist wraith was very good and the fact that not be corrupted by power was the key to unlocking the ancient evil is a nice subversion, even if it kinda contradicts some of the the themes. The whole "I write this in steel..." yeah, that was genius. He kept talking about how in the first book "there's always another secret" despite pretty much everything revealed and important in that book being painfully obvious. The second, at least, lived up to that promise well.

Themes. Themes, themes, themes. I'll give him this much: at least he tries. There are plenty of authors who just write a story for the sake of the story, and I'll respect a writer who tries to reach beyond that, even if his attempts to do so are flat. It might be a misstep, but it's one that has earned my respect to a small margin. Or maybe I'm being over pedantic. Not every book with something to say about religion can be Dune.

Despite it all I actually had a pretty hard time putting it down. The text may have been unsophisticated, but it was very readable. The tight plot gave the novel a constant sense of momentum and some of the earlier allomancy fights were things of beauty. His scene selection at times, especially with scenes with Zane in them, showed a remarkable eye. The bit at the end with the reappearance of Marsh confronting Sazed pretty much screamed badassery as well as bringing about a narrative cadence. Thus, at the end, I'm forced to conclude that The Well of Ascension is the average when it comes to epic fantasy. If it's worse than this book then it's not very good, but if it is better then it is good.

Weirdly, more than anything, this series reminds me of Harry Potter.

[Dream Brother]

Since I'm replying to DB, spoilers for the 2nd book lie ahead. Not read the finale yet.

I agree in the main with DB - Sanderson's characters are often great concepts badly executed. Depth and progress tends to be relatively shallow and about as subtle as a hammer blow in his books. His prose style rubs me the wrong way - it's pretty rubbish. Whilst he might be an extraordinarily tight plotter with lots of great ideas, he isn't really a writer.

The bolded part is particularly important to note, and it's something I touched on in the review of the first book. I wouldn't go as far as to call his style 'rubbish', but there are SO many moments in which I was begging him for subtlety rather than spelling things out to the reader. I can't actually overstate just how much it would elevate certain events in the narrative if he had just implied rather than stated.

What I'm about to say may very well be blasphemy, but what DB said about Zane can easily be generalised to Kelsier. Kelsier struck me as a great character who was badly written, and as result came out as an interesting shade of beige.

I remember Kelsier being good (certainly better executed than Zane) but I also remember thinking that he once again represented a lack of willingness on Sanderson's part to really get his 'hands dirty', so to speak. You want to give us a charismatic anti-hero? I approve, but if you choose that path, go the whole hog, man. REALLY stress the moral ambiguity, and really make the reader question his affection for the character. Sanderson never goes far enough.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you about the end though. The fact that he was able to tie things together so neatly whilst having some very intelligent subversion and misdirections rescued the book from the clutches of mediocrity. The way he handled the mist wraith was very good and the fact that not be corrupted by power was the key to unlocking the ancient evil is a nice subversion, even if it kinda contradicts some of the the themes. The whole "I write this in steel..." yeah, that was genius. He kept talking about how in the first book "there's always another secret" despite pretty much everything revealed and important in that book being painfully obvious. The second, at least, lived up to that promise well.

I should have mentioned in my review that I DID really like the misdirection of the Well and the Wraith. It's just that the Elend-becoming-Mistborn thing soured me on nearly everything, and I'm still astounded that he pulled such a ridiculous move.

Despite it all I actually had a pretty hard time putting it down. The text may have been unsophisticated, but it was very readable. The tight plot gave the novel a constant sense of momentum and some of the earlier allomancy fights were things of beauty. His scene selection at times, especially with scenes with Zane in them, showed a remarkable eye.

It was definitely very readable, and I really liked that aspect. It's rare for a book, these days, to genuinely grab my attention and give me a comforting sense of intimacy, so I appreciated the flow of the narrative and the plotting for the most part. Vin's Grand Return was also rather epic, I must say. Just a shame about how much of a mixed bag this series is.

[Anon]

What did you think of his dialog? It's been a while since I read them but I remember getting annoyed with it, it didn't always seem to fit with his setting, not just time frame wise but social class, and situation wise, it was often far too casual so it seemed off to me.

[Dream Brother]

You know, even after all my bitching, Sanderson must be doing something right, because now I've found myself rereading the first book in the series, to refresh myself on Kelsier. When I look at the two books as a whole, though, the series really is Vin's story more than anything else. (Which is why it would have been so perfect to let Elend die at the end of the second book and leave her in complete despair, setting up the emotional journey for the last book, but ah well.)

[Tyrael]

I think you are hanging onto the Elend becoming a mistborn thing too much - personally, I think it can go any way at this point. I'm hoping that Elend becoming a mistborn proves a huge barrier in their relationship, maybe even an unreconcilable one (althoguh I heavily doubt it). Elend dying at this stage would tinge the third book with a tad too much angst.

[Dream Brother]

I'm actually astonished that you guys haven't hung on to it enough -- in fact, no review I've read seems critical of that aspect either. Maybe I'm just insane, but I found that plot point so ludicrous that it almost seemed like a fanfiction writer had stepped in and changed the original scenario. Vin voluntarily chose to let him 'die' in favour of saving the world, so to me it actually makes more sense that he would stay dead rather than get a cheat ending where he survives anyway.

The idea of the Mistborn thing driving a wedge between them is very interesting, but I also highly doubt that would happen. As for the angst, I really don't think that would be a problem if done right...it would also result in a big surge of character development, and it would bring the books to an interesting full circle, with the concept of Vin being a loner at heart. (It would be the same and yet crucially different at the same time, as now she's clearly a new person with different abilities and ideals, so it doesn't 'reset' the precious character development.)

[Tyrael]

Do you think Sanderson could handle angst that well? It's pretty easy to get a measure of him as a storyteller, and angst needs to be handled with absolute subtlety. Sanderson isn't good at being subtle with characters or emotional content.

Don't reread the first book: go finish the Black Company omnibus. The way everything comes together in the third book has made it my second favourite fantasy series.

[Anon]

Elend becoming a mistborn is kinda cheap because it brings him up to vins level of power when it was more interesting for them to each have their own spheres.

I started gathering storm today so im interested to see how sanderson handles it.

[Lord Yu]

I didn't like Elend becoming a Mistborn at all. I felt during the second one he was being built up to be a kind of badass normal. Him becoming a super mistborn felt like a cop out that the story never really recovered from.

[The Bloody Nine]

Very light spoilers for the last book



I think your all making too big a deal of this. Even though Elend is a mistborn he doesn't have a fraction of the skill Vin has and she has to keep bailing him out of sticky situations in the last book.

Also i think Sanderson was mirroring a lot of things in WOT and women being more skilful and men being more powerful in the power is what i think he was trying to do here. Only Sanderson did this part successfully.

[Tyrael]

Very light spoilers for the last book


I think your all making too big a deal of this. Even though Elend is a mistborn he doesn't have a fraction of the skill Vin has and she has to keep bailing him out of sticky situations in the last book.

Also i think Sanderson was mirroring a lot of things in WOT and women being more skilful and men being more powerful in the power is what i think he was trying to do here. Only Sanderson did this part successfully.

I'm not sure that comparison works at all. Whilst men are naturally stronger in the one power, women are more experienced, rather than more skilled, because there is acceptance and organisation of women channellers. At one point Jordan compares it directly to muscles - men are mostly stronger; if we are to take this analogy to heart that would suggest that there is no biological skill gap between male and female channellers. The superior skill of the women is a product of the society.

As for Mistborn, we only get to see two female mistborns: Vin is not exactly representative and Elend's fiance was killed by a relatively inexperienced Vin, so we don't really know how skilled or strong she was. Probably the greatest feats of control by a mistborn puts Zane and Vin at about equal standing, whilst strength is ambiguous. I'm not sure, in mistborn, you can make any power generalisations related to gender. Elend's power in the third book was outright stated to be a product of the purity of the source of his powers.

I've finished the third book, so I'll do a review when I've had a chance to fully formulate my thoughts.

[The Bloody Nine]

Male channelers, in general, are capable of holding more of the Power than female ones, while women generally are more dextrous in weaving the Power

I remember this skill vs strength thing coming up after someone tried to rank the forsaken in strength. Seeing as they where equals in the Age of legends then experience doesn't come into it.

Anyway yes, i know Elend was stronger because of his purer metal and that men and women in Mistborn don't innately have any difference in their power. However i believe Sanderson was drawing a lot of parallels between his book and wot such as the male half of the supercouple was more powerful but the female half more dexterous.

[Tyrael]

I remember this skill vs strength thing coming up after someone tried to rank the forsaken in strength. Seeing as they where equals in the Age of legends then experience doesn't come into it.

Anyway yes, i know Elend was stronger because of his purer metal and that men and women in Mistborn don't innately have any difference in their power. However i believe Sanderson was drawing a lot of parallels between his book and wot such as the male half of the supercouple was more powerful but the female half more dexterous.

Still don't buy it - wasn't Ishmael the most skilled forsaken, followed by Lanfear? I always got the impression Asmodeon was more skill than strength. That said, I can't even remember who most of the forsaken are.

There were, admittedly, numerous shout outs to WoT in Mistborn, but since I don't think that really was a feature of WoT then the thought follows on that I don't see it in Mistborn.

[The Bloody Nine]

Also i think Sanderson was mirroring a lot of things in WOT and women being more skilful and men being more powerful in the power is what i think he was trying to do here. Only Sanderson did this part successfully.

Still don't buy it - wasn't Ishmael the most skilled forsaken, followed by Lanfear? I always got the impression Asmodeon was more skill than strength. That said, I can't even remember who most of the forsaken are.

There were, admittedly, numerous shout outs to WoT in Mistborn, but since I don't think that really was a feature of WoT then the thought follows on that I don't see it in Mistborn.

I agree that Jordan didn't show this skill vs power thing very well but he said that was what he intended. Sanderson on the other hand made it work.

[Tyrael]

Okay, here's my overall thoughts on the Mistborn trilogy:

Sanderson's prose is engaging and unpretentious. It's also unsophisticated and often very basic. I'd go so far as to say that his weakest point is a stylist; "show don't tell" is maybe the most repeated piece of advice as far as writing goes, but it's something that he really needs to listen to. He's fond of repeating things, just in case we didn't miss them. If he has a character thinking something that they don't say out loud, he's sure as hell going to tell you it exactly in the text. Often he'll do that even if they've already vocalised it.

The characterisation is passable, really. Most characters develop to some extent and have some modicum of depth, but nothing about them is really that memorable (with one notable exception). They come across as a list of character traits given form, rather than living and breathing characters. Often they only seem to have one form of conversation that'll be reworded for every encounter. Do they really need to remind each other of their defining characteristics all the time?

The plotting, really, is where Sanderson excels. Or should have excelled - I feel that he went a bit too far. From genius to contrived. Such a tight plot sacrificed the feeling that, beyond the characters, any sort of world existed. What was an ingenius array of plotting and counter-plotting became a contrived mess of plot twists that just seemed silly. The final twist was made abundantly clear from the start of the book. Sanderson's strongest attribute when writing ended up over-egged and came back to bite him.

The treatment of themes was a bit unbalanced. Some aspects of it came across really well and it tied in with the main plot neatly, but I'm not quite sure what we were meant to take from the book. Although it seems that religion is getting looked at, it's more belief than anything else. Like the characters it's looked at with enough depth to not be shallow, but not really given anything like a decent showing.

There were some payoffs - parts of the epilogue were pretty powerful and many of the plot twists were good and surprising before he diluted the novel with the damn things. I've got more things to say about the book, but I've forgotten what they are so I might give this review an update at some point. At the end, the only thing I can outright praise is the magic system which lead to some fantastic fight scenes. Everything else the books offer were, to be honest, a mixed bag.