Mistborn book 1 is incredible

[Ale the Metallic Conjurer]

That was an incredible two-month long experience. I never thought I would be willing or able to finish a 600+ page book, but Sanderson made it possible. Even more amazing since this is the first novel I've read for leisure since middle school. I am still shocked about what happened in the climax, and I have so many thoughts, questions, and a few nitpicks.

 

Strengths:

• Vin and Kelsier: These two were definitely the highlight characters. They had extremely interesting arcs, and have an incredibly heartwarming and inspiring dynamic. Vin is very relatable and was a joy watching her gain confidence, trust the crew, and find love in Elend. I've recently felt like I'm too afraid to take chances, or to express my emotions, or even to form a deep bond with someone(romantic or platonic). I want to be stronger than I am. I could see Vin within myself and wanted to see her grow as a person and Allomancer. But I also fell in love with Vin's flaws. She always lost sight of herself as Valette, and it made her arc that much more memorable. Kelsier is probably my favorite character between the two. As the book progressed he definitely expressed darker traits, like pitting Demoux and Bilg against each other using Allomancy, or making a religion out of himself, but I still admired his goals and understood them. His ideology, shades of gray, and ability to keep smiling and hoping and inspiring others tore through my pessimistic heart. Many of his quotes now stick with me, I will miss him very much.
• The magic system: Whenever I heard about Sanderson, his hard magic systems were always brought up as a pro. I am glad to say those claims ring true. Allomancy is an incredible magic system that harkens back to the boundless praise I give Hunter x Hunter's Nen. It is logical, consistent, each metal has strengths and weaknesses, it connects back to the worldbuilding, and I expect it to get deeper as the series goes on. Allomancy exposition was subtle, dense, and easy to understand. Feruchemy is a fascinating system and I am shocked at how it connected to the Lord Ruler.
• The action: The Final Empire's action scenes remind me of an anime or a top-quality Western action cartoon. They were all fluid, tense, vivid, and Kelsier vs Inquisitor might be one of my favorite fights ever. For me, it is one of my main reasons it should be adapted into an animated series.
• The worldbuilding: Scadrial has to be the best world I have seen since Gargoyles. From the gothic and ash-coated landscape of Luthadel, the hollow vibe of the mists, the persecution of the Terris people and skaa, the mystery and tragedy of the epigraphs, and Allomancy's connection to the Empire's structure. I never got bored learning about the Empire or the logbook. It helped me root for Kelsier's crew and desire the Lord Ruler's downfall, and drove me to learn about ancient Scadrial's mysteries.
• The prose: It might have been simple, but sometimes simple is the best way. Sanderson's simple prose made The Final Empire's cluster of information easy to digest and memorize, and the fights very memorable.
• THE SANDERLANCHE: Heard about this term in my previous Mistborn posts... OH MY GOOOOODDD!!!!! The Sanderlanche flipped my expectations at a 180 degree angle and shattered them with a pewter-enhanced obsidian axe. The glorious fights, the incomprehensible dread of the Lord Ruler, the simultaneous red herring and success of the Eleventh Metal, the twist with the Hero and the packman, Marsh coming back.... Not forgetting this anytime soon. I could gush about it all day.

 

Weaknesses:

• The side characters: Kelsier's crew members were not bad. They were fun and I appreciate their love for Vin and Kell. But aside from Sazed, and Elend on the other side of the spectrum, they were not memorable. I hope the next book fleshes them out and gives them more relationships to bounce off of.
• The noble balls: My problem with the balls is tied to the side characters. I understand the balls' importance, the setting's focus on Luthadel, and loved Vin's bond with Elend and her conflict with the Valette personality. But they often felt lackluster because there were no interesting noble characters except Elend, Straff, and Shan. The noblemen and women felt like a source of information and skaa oppressors, rather than characters with differing agendas or even opinions about the Empire.

 

Questions(oh boy):

1. What even is the Well of Ascension and the Deepness?
2. How and why do the Ashmounts and mist exist? The Hero's logbook didn't mention anything about ash, mist, or even Allomancy.
3. How the storm is Rashek both a Feruchemist and an Allomancer????? HE BROKE THE RULES!!!
4. How is Rashek such a storming strong Allomancer????? HE BROKE HIS CPU!! Maybe it's the millennia of experience...
5. WHY DID RASHEK TORTURE HIS OWN PEOPLE??????? He was a nationalist who loved his people, and then he treated the Terris like puppets.
6. How in the Survivor's name did Vin hack her CPU to break Allomantic rules as well????? That was a Deus ex Machina but I have an eerie feeling there's another secret.
7. Is there a deeper reason Vin can break the rules of Seeking?
8. Were the Lord Ruler's last words those of a jealous and desperate deposed despot, or those of a man trying to protect mankind? I vote the former lmao.

 

Theories:

1. The distant pulsing Vin sensed was the Well of Ascension.
2. Rashek spent his reign holding back the Deepness.
3. Rashek was the first Allomancer, and gifted his long-dead allies with the power of Allomancy. He used the mists as the medium to bestow Allomantic power, but did not create them.
4. The mists are sentient, and that's why the Deus ex Machina was possible.
5. The mist spirit is the ancestor of the mistwraiths and kandra.
6. Mistwraiths and kandra were not created from the Lord Ruler's rise to power.

[+Invocation]

Allow me to be the first one on this post to give you a resounding RAFO. 

I will say you're asking the right questions, though. 

[Treamayne]

5 hours ago, AllomanticChainDude said:

but I have an eerie feeling there's another secret.

There's always another secret

[+robardin]

10 hours ago, Invocation said:

Allow me to be the first one on this post to give you a resounding RAFO. 

I will say you're asking the right questions, though. 

To @AllomanticChainDude (adding to Invocation's reply) - yes, not only are you asking the right questions, nearly all the apparent paradoxes or "this doesn't make sense..." points you raise, will eventually make sense.

This (Brandon Sanderson) is one guy who is not making it up as he goes along, only to end up trying to tie 20 loose ends into a single ball of yarn on the other side.

There may or may not be different shades of "unreliable narrator" type stuff going on, though. Remember that  we are always reading from one or another character's POV, which means we only know or see what that character knows or sees (or believes/assumes). Sometimes reading multiple POVs means you as a reader can spot things the character doesn't; and sometimes you're taken along for the same ride that they've been on all along, unwittingly.

Don't spoil yourself, though. Entertaining as it is to see a "reaction post" like this, for your sake, I recommend you step away from this forum for as long as it takes to finish reading the first Mistborn Trilogy (at least). The spoiler period is long over for them, and "long established canon" from that series are often casually dropped in this and other forums too.

Edited May 8, 2022 by robardin