Mistborn

 I love fantasy. I like Science Fiction. It takes a real talent to write Science Fiction I could devour, as all too many nerds out there get caught up in the science part and forget they’re writing a story. If the fiction feels like a textbook, I am out. Buh bye.

Mr. Sanderson. You were a bit of a nerd on this one, sir. wags finger

It doesn’t help that my first Sanderson book wasn’t one of his true fantasy series reads. It was Tress of the Emerald Sea, something he wrote as a sweet nod to his wife and something more Princess Bride sweet than Warriors and Kings action. It was whimsical, but lovely.

This book was completely different, which was to be expected but it was a little jarring to jump from one to the other. Despite the surprise, Mistborn opened strong. The setting was dark and eerie, with heavy mists and a world lacking color. Sanderson does have a knack for painting vivid worlds even if they are dark ones. The underground crime, the plantations, and the clever Lies of Locke Lamora-like personality of the main hero all drew me into this story. It was delicious for a time.

About 25% through, I wanted to throw my oatmilk lattes with cold foam out the god damned window (this was an audible listen), which would have been fun for any onlooker to witness a woman in a blue SUV with a loud ass baby in the car seat, rage throwing a latte over the over a British narrator over-explaining the science of warriors consuming metals to fight dark lords. I sprinkled Ms. Rachel songs between the moments I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I know Mr. Sanderson was jonesing to tell the tale with a scientific feel, a real nod to 2006, when the Parisian fashion houses paraded armor-like dresses and the phrase “bling” hit as hard as Kanye’s Gold Digger. Yes, Mr. Sanderson, I know the inspiration floating about you in this time shimmered metallic hues. I know because in 2006, I was probably at Club XS on 80’s night sporting a spiked belt buckle, gold heels, and a purse with enough trivets I could fight off an entire fraternity. But you took it too far, sir. The second quarter of this story had to be replayed a million times to really understand the point of the metals and how they worked until I could digest the whole concept.

Here is an example of the dialogue:

Teacher: “So, you see this metal pushes things and this metal pulls things. So, for example…(insert long hypothetical situation that will clearly happen in the future).”

Student: “Okay. I think I get it! This metal pushes and this metal pulls. So, you’re saying… (repeats long hypothetical situation almost verbatim).”

Teacher: “Great! Let’s have this conversation eight more times in the first half of the book and explain the hypothetical situations for these four metals and six scenarios in which you shall use them, totaling 24 boring ass conversations between student and teacher just to try and describe my metal magic. Whilst doing so, I’ll throw in exceptions and rules that completely throw off your understanding.”

Student: “Gee wiz. I love repeating your descriptions. But 24 is a big number of scenarios. Never leave me.”

Teacher: “PSYCHE! There are two super-secret metals! You thought it was just 24. Psh. Ha. 36. Ok. But I may leave you."

Then, the student who was a skinny, loser girl in rags with bad hair takes off her glasses and puts on a dress and the hottest rich boy in the room wants to date her.

Anyways, the second half of the book was good and the ending was one of my favorite Fantasy endings. I’m glad my lattes were consumed in vehicle and I stayed engaged. It did spark a moment of self-awareness to realize this fancy, shmancy science talk was just a little bit above my lady brain and I do well with charts and visuals.

So, if you have ADHD or are a visual learner, I highly recommend you view this chart going into the alomancy portion:

#	Metal	Paired Alloy	Category	Power Description
1	Iron	Steel	Physical (External)	Iron Pulls — Pulls nearby metals toward you. Think magnet attraction. Steel Pushes — Pushes metals away, like controlled explosions. (Mistborn often “fly” by pushing off coins.)
2	Tin	Pewter	Physical (Internal)	Tin — Heightens senses (sight, smell, touch, etc.), but makes you more sensitive to pain. Pewter — Enhances physical strength, speed, and resilience — lets Allomancers fight or survive injury.
3	Zinc	Brass	Mental (External)	Zinc (Rioting) — Amplifies others’ emotions. Brass (Soothing) — Calms or dampens emotions. Used for crowd control or subtle manipulation.
4	Copper	Bronze	Mental (Internal)	Copper (Smoker) — Creates a “Coppercloud” that hides Allomantic activity from detection. Bronze (Seeker) — Detects when others are using Allomancy (like sonar for magic).

Yes, there are two more metals than the one listed above, and I suspect a whole hunk more in the later series, but for spoiler’s sake I’ll leave them out.

I also found it helpful (as I will do in many reviews) to find a visual representation of the characters – whether an illustration or fake casting of characters.  I liked this one, drawn by someone by the name of Skinny Malinky Long Legs, and that may be 80% of why I chose this illustration. Good for you and your model-like physique, Malinky.

Okay, now you have some tools. Let’s dive into a review of the story itself.

Street rat named Vin gets in a pickle. Beloved hero of the people, Kelsier, gets her out and discovers – why, she’s not a street rat. She’s powerful (like him) and mayhaps more powerful. She is of a species known as Mistborn. The two galivant the city as student and teacher (see rants above) and Vin becomes more in tune to her powers. Mistborn powers and the power of femineity. She gets dolled up to work undercover as a fancy lady attending the balls of the noble, digesting all their secrets. Maybe it’s my current infatuation with the Gilded Age show, but Sanderson painted the experience of the noble balls so well, there were moments I was sure Bertha Russell would barge in and bash Vin’s inadequacy (through a backhanded compliment, of course).

From the middle to the end, there were twists and turns or tiny details mentioned early on that later compounded into something relevant and earth-shattering. I think Sanderson did a beautiful job laying easter eggs throughout this story that came together in a series of not-too-overdone action and fighting. It was such a satisfying ending, and he nailed the goal of a Book 1. I immediately listened to the start of Book 2.

This story has a female protagonist that is the most interesting and intelligent superhuman in the mix, and a male hero that is the savior of the people. So, feminists and traditionalists unite. There is also a clear socioeconomic gap with the good guys being the ones who struggle and bad guys being ultra-wealthy elite, but as the book continues, alas – there are good guys that are of the ultra-wealthy too! So for the socialists – this book lets you know equality is on the horizon. You just sacrifice the lives of half your people. And for the capitalists – you have some good ones. One of the ultra-rich guys becomes the king at the end!

The timing of that statement is not lost on me.

Anyways. It’s a good book and a staple to the Sanderson universe. It put him on the map as one of the Fantasy Genre’s best.