The Final Empire

Mistborn Book 1

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

From number one New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn series is a heist story of political intrigue and magical, martial-arts action.

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.

This saga dares to ask a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails?

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

• The Cosmere
• The Stormlight Archive
• The Way of Kings
• Words of Radiance
• Edgedancer (Novella)
• Oathbringer

The Mistborn trilogy:

• Mistborn: The Final Empire
• The Well of Ascension
• The Hero of Ages

Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series:

• Alloy of Law
• Shadows of Self
• Bands of Mourning
• Collection
• Arcanum Unbounded

Other Cosmere novels

• Elantris
• Warbreaker

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series:

• Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
• The Scrivener's Bones
• The Knights of Crystallia
• The Shattered Lens
• The Dark Talent

The Rithmatist series:

• The Rithmatist

Other books by Brandon Sanderson

• The Reckoners
• Steelheart
• Firefight
• Calamity

©2006 Brandon Sanderson (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Book 1 of a great series that is not to be missed!

I knew little of Brandon Sanderson when it was announced that he was selected to finish the Wheel of Time series after the death of Robert Jordan. I decided to check out some of his work to get a feel for his writing before his first Wheel of Time novel was published. What I discovered was that I had been missing out on one of the best Fantasy authors writing today.

Mistborn is an excellent series and I have thoroughly enjoyed every book in the series. I am a big fan of Fantasy and I was completely drawn into Sanderson's world of Allomancers and all of the interesting things they could do right from the start. Michael Kramer does an excellent job of bringing these interesting characters to life so expect this book to grab you from the start and never let go.

VERY good story

This is a VERY good fantasy story that I enjoyed so much that I couldn't wait for another credit before starting on the next in the series. I reserve 5 stars for true epics that I will have to read multiple times. If I could give out tenths of stars I would probably give this 4.6 or 4.7. It is really good.

I love the magic structure, the characters, and the class structure built the oppression of one caste of people. It makes for an intriguing story. My only complaint that holds this back from being truly epic is hard to describe. The world feels awefully small in a way. Everything is so homogenous that I don't feel like there are layered cultures to the world created. If it weren't for occasional remarks about the size of this world and the population of cities, I would assume that the "Final Empire" is about the size of a large island.

Great story and I look forward to the next two books.

Creative magic system!

My favorite thing about Mistborn was the creative, detailed, and rule-bound magic system. A minority of people in the Final Empire have the genetic ability to burn certain metals which provides them temporary powers (depending on the metal) such as enhanced sensations, super strength, detection of other allomancers, influence over the emotions of others, and the ability to push and pull off of metals in the vicinity. Most allomancers can only burn one metal, but Mistborns can burn all of them. I thought this was fascinating and enjoyed hearing how Vin and Kelsier used metals to travel, jump over walls, and fight. I was particularly impressed with the very detailed and thoughtful fight scenes. It must have been tough for Mr. Sanderson to make sure that everything they did with metals made sense physically (there are a lot of "opposite reactions" to take into account). This is really cool stuff. There are hints and rumors that there may be more metals that most allomancers don't know about, and I'm hoping we'll see some of these in the next book.

There was really only one thing that annoyed me in Mistborn, and that was the overuse of the word "paused." Almost every page says either "Vin paused," "Kelsier paused," or someone else paused. The purpose was to show that characters where thinking before speaking, but it started to get to me. Perhaps this was because I was listening to it on audio and the reader said it exactly the same way every time so that it became noticeable.

The audiobook was read by Michael Kramer who also narrated the Wheel of Time novels. He always does an excellent job, but I was so familiar with his voices (after listening to every single WOT book this year) that he made some of Mr. Sanderson's characters sound like WOT characters because he used the same voices (in fact, Ham, the big beefy guy in Mistborn had the same voice as Perrin the big beefy blacksmith from WOT).

A "Must Read" for epic fantasy lovers!

WOW! The twist and turns of this action-packed fantasy kept me gripped from beginning to end. If you enjoy Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin, be sure to add Brandon Sanderson to your library.

Truly a great book

What an awesome book, it gets you hooked right away with creativity and details. The story builds character development really well and moves along at a good pace not tedious or too fast with a very unique cool magic. Michael Kramer does an amazing job as always, I thinks he's definitely one of the best readers.

Must buy.

There's nothing cliche, overused, or tiring in this novel. Everything seems fresh, new, and inspiring from the characters to the questions it leaves you asking. An emotionally satisfying ride full of as much spirit as any Goodkind novel, or Sanderson's first work, Elantris.
All this tied with an amazing narration makes for a must have for any Fantasy fan looking for a new take on the genre.

Finally Something Refreshing!

Some folks may have read my reviews before. I think I've said the same thing a few times of other books - "so predictable!" Yet, this time I found myself surprised by what I heard. Allomancy? Neat! New! Refreshing! The characters were (mostly) charming, in that the reader is able to do a fair job at giving them each a personality (sorry, Michael Kramer. That probably isn't the most glowing comment you've gotten.)

The story's basis, setting, and ending were all good and fresh. That is what I keep coming back to.

I won't buy more than one book of a series until I give the first a listen. After Book #1, I bought #2, 3, and 4. "Mistborn" did the job of reinvigorating my interest in the fantasy/fiction genre when I thought I'd burned myself on it. I think I'll put my hand to that fire again. Well done, Mr. Author.

Great story line and character development.

twists and turns made the story gripping and exciting. I had to hear what happened next. Very Sanderson writing if you've read his other books.

Super strong fantasy

Great characters, interesting world, lots of mystery, surprising turns in the story. Best series I have read (listened to) in some time. Book 1 sets the stage, book 2 takes the story in a new direction, book 3 pulls everything together into a nail biter of an ending. Each book is fairly self contained, but the story and main characters continue on in the other books, just with a different focus (and larger mysteries). Very satisfying series that was performed/read VERY well too.

Incredibly good

Immediately after reading this book I got the other two, so I'm reviewing all together: the characters and the stories were original and startlingly great. The series is as good as The Wheel of Time before Jordan lost his way at around, oh, book six or so. Never a dull or predictable moment. I enjoyed every minute of this series.