Mistborn

Mistborn, Book 1

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 24 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

THE INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON BEHIND THE COSMERE

****

What if the Dark Lord won?

A thousand years ago evil came to the land and has ruled with an iron hand ever since. The sun shines fitfully under clouds of ash that float down endlessly from the constant eruption of volcanoes. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk are condemned to lives in servitude, sold as goods, labouring in the ash fields.

But now a troublemaker has arrived and there is rumour of revolt. A revolt that depends on a criminal no-one can trust and a young girl who must master Allomancy - the magic that lies in all metals.

©2009 Dragonsteel Entertainment LLC (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Slow-paced but fun and interesting fantasy book

Have you listened to any of Michael Kramer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

First one of his performances I heard. His voice took a bit of time getting used to, but the performance was solid. I missed some excitement in battle scenes, which were being read in the exact same way as every other scene. Some people might prefer this but I like when the tone of the voice tells me what's happening as well as the words themselves.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, there were too many slow parts.

Any additional comments?

While I ended up really enjoying the book, I wasn't so sure I would in the beginning. The book starts off very slow, with not much happening. It's not even clear who the main character is the first 4 hours or so. Afterwards, the story picks up and becomes really interesting. The pacing is still slow, and you can easily summarize what happens in the first 10 hours in less than a few minutes. It didn't bother me because it was interesting to read what happened, but it may turn fans of action-packed stories off. It's categorized as epic fantasy, but those expecting a long journey full of encounters will be disappointed. Most of the story takes place in a single city, and way more time is spent discussing how to fight an evil empire, rather than actually fighting it. When the fight scenes do occur, the magic system in Mistborn makes them very unique and unlike any others you might have read before.

While there's a decent amount of action, the majority of the book is spent developing a storyline and its characters. The story itself isn't actually all that special or original, but the character development and the way things unfold make it worth listening to.

I'm torn on the writing. Most of it was solid, but there were more than a few conversations that ended every line with the words "he said", for 10+ lines in a row, which feels amateuristic and got annoying.

Overall, the first few hours I felt like returning the book, but the reviews of others kept me going, and I'm really glad I did. it turns into a really good book. Just be warned that it's a lot slower-paced than most epic fantasy books.

Holy craaaaap

It started a little slow, ok a lot slow, OK I don't even remember how it started but Holy fuck the end, the bloody climax..... Listen to it, just frigging listen to it

Original World and Wonderfully Performed

This was my first Brendon Sanderson book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The world he creates is fascinating and unique, and full of rich characters. If you are a fan of fantasy, this is worth a listen. Voiced wonderfully by Michael Kramer. I will be continuing with the series.

Fantastic!!

Absolutely loved it! Full of twists of turns and an engaging story. can't wait to dive into the next book.

The book and the Narrator is both brilliant

I have no problems but you can tell the audio quality is a bit older than most. The voice of the Narrator is absolutely splendid and he has a great way of making every character noticeable by voice alone. He does confuse invincible and invisible once but it's not that big of a deal.

Total engagement WOW

I listened to this series 3 times start to finish. . Enjoyed every moment. an Excellent epic. I just wanted see its movie

Good with the exception of Orion's extra

Returned the original audio narration thinking that this had extra content. Big mistake...just a shameless 16 minute ending advert.

Enjoying every second of it!!

great narration, nice performance with interesting story

i am enjoying every second of this book and could not stop listening.

Very slow start for a heist story but soon gets intriguing

Slow & somewhat depressing start, but worth continuing to the end. Performance of the different characters is very good and they develop nicely as the story progresses. Good amount of depth revealed slowly to the world and the plot. Starting in the 2nd novel now.

Rich and Exquisite

This is my first Brandon Sanderson novel and I have to say it was a real treat. The audio narration was exquisite. Michael Kramer’s deep tones complimented the richness of the prose which served to create an immersive reading/listening experience that had me looking forward to my times on the exercise bike and the commute to and from work. There were times when my mandatory 30min cycling blew out and other times when I wished I didn’t get to work so quick. Where are the red lights when you want them.

I like Sanderson’s world building. It may not be as detailed and complicated as say Steven Erikson’s Malazan series, but I don’t see that as a negative. What Sanderson achieves in The Final Empire is world building that is rich yet accessible, fascinating and mysterious but at the same time doesn’t hinder the plot. In the world Sanderson creates, we have The Lord Ruler, An immortal Tyrant with god like power, who has ruled The Final Empire for a thousand years. On the bottom end of the scale, we have the oppressed lower class ie the Skaa, who are ruthlessly used and abused by the noble houses who are in turn overseen by the Lord Ruler’s religious institutions, The Steel Ministry and The Canton of Inquisition.

The characterisation was excellent. I don’t think there was any character that I found boring or didn’t care what happened to. Even the minor characters were well constructed. Vin, the main protagonist, is a young Skaa street urchin surviving on the streets by her wits as well as a special talent that makes her useful to the thieving crew she works for.

But the star of the show has to be the magic system. I don’t think I have encountered a magic system in any fantasy novel that is as fascinating and well thought out and explained as in this book. Sanderson takes an almost scientific approach to “Allomancy” (the main magic system in the story) with very well defined rules and limitations. Magic costs, Magic needs to be fueled. Magic can have unintended consequences. An Allomancer (AKA Mistborn) fuels their abilities by ingesting the associated metal or alloy and then “burning” the metal required for the particular Allomantic effect. For example burning steel allows the Allomancer to “push” metal objects while burning iron enables them to pull on metal objects. The result being a skilled Mistborn can use these abilities to send metal projectiles hurtling towards enemies or they can use a combination of pushing and pulling to launch themselves into the air in virtual flight, “spiderman” style. Sounds easy? Except the Allomancer has to be aware of things like the physical weight of objects being pushed and pulled. Push against something heavier than yourself and you will fly backwards – which is ok if that’s what you intended. Or pull against something lighter than yourself could see a hunk of metal hurtling directly towards you – again ok if you intend to duck at the last minute and hit the guy behind you. Otherwise you’re dead. And that’s just two of the metals, there are at least 10 with effects from increased strength to enhanced senses to mind manipulations.

Sanderson skill is in taking us on a journey of discovering these abilities in a way that is not daunting or over complicated. Rather the introduction to the magic felt natural to me and I just found myself wallowing in it.

An absolute pleasure – 5 stars