An incredible end to an amazing series!
I have no idea when I first heard of Brandon Sanderson, but I know it started with whisper of this fantastic fantasy author. Probably the same way I began hearing about George R. R. Martin when Game of Throne first aired back in the day, I started hearing Sanderson’s name being slung around, followed with praise and promise for his fantastic writing. Often, his name was accompanied by the word: Mistborn.
The first Sanderson book I ever read was Skyward. I got it for Christmas from my youngest older sister, and I was ecstatic. I’d heard about Sanderson for a while at this point, and I was excited to finally read something of his. I devoured the book, but never followed up with the next installments in the series.
But it made me pick up The Final Empire, the first book in the Mistborn series. And, it, was, incredible…
To quickly summarize the plot: the Mistborn series is set in a fantasy world where metals have magical properties and some people have powers to utilize these properties through certain abilities. You do this by “burning“, metals. Burning iron, for example make you able to pull metal towards you. Burning steel does the opposite, and you can push things away. You get the picture. All the while, there’s a whole bunch of revolution going on, there’s an evil ruler that someone wants to overthrow, and there’s a whole universe that’s on the brink of collapse. Honestly, it’s great, believe me.
Book two, The Well of Ascension, followed through on what book 1 had delivered, and was just as good, if not even better. My only regret was that I waited so long to pick it up, but in my defense, I read every single book in Brandon Sanderson’s famous world-record kickstarter campaign in between there, including Tress Of The Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook For Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and The Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. Each of these, except for maybe the second one are absolutely fantastic.
But the second Mistborn installment was so great that it immediately made me want to continue the series, so I threw myself around and bought The Hero Of Ages as soon as I closed book two. And boy, does the third and final installment deliver. On every, single, promise.
Not only is the writing great, the characters fantastic, and world-building mesmerizing, but it all comes together so incredibly well. I’ve read great books earlier – The Rats And The Ruling Sea by Robert V.S. Redick probably has the most incredible world-building I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting lost in, at the same time, the writing is difficult, confusing and convoluted, to the point that it sometimes was an actual, physical struggle to read. Not so with Brandon Sanderson and the Mistborn series.
What I enjoyed the most about it all – which I assume is what most people enjoy most when it comes to big, epic series like this – is seeing it all come together. Toward the end I felt like every other sentence was a carefully rigged time-bomb, where everything just fell into place, things that might not have been mentioned since book 1, things that never seemed important before, suddenly made all the difference. Honestly, it was very satisfying to read, and it’s been wonderful to see the series come together toward an end.
Of course, it’s not over yet. I’ve already bought and started the “fourth” book in the series, the Secret History of the Mistborn universe, and there is of course a second trilogy, set in the same universe as far as I’ve been told, with the same magics, the same incredible world-building, but set in a completely different time and place, featuring entirely new characters. I can’t wait to start that one either.
Have you read much by Brandon Sanderson? Been through the Mistborn series? Is there anything else that he’s done that you’d recommend, or perhaps similar, incredible authors? Let me know in the comments!
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Trey Stone, Author 