Sanderson, Brandon: Mistborn
Mistborn (2006)
Written by: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 236/647 (Mass Market)
Series: Book One of Three
I've been eyeing Brandon Sanderson for a while. I never intended for Mistborn to be the first book of his I read though. A friend of mine sent me a beat-up hardcover copy of Elantris some time back and I never got around to it. However, when emerald_ibis sent me her list for books she wanted to read for August, this was the only one that mildly appealed to me, especially since book blogger friends of mine have sung Sanderson's praises.
The premise: ganked from the back cover copy: Once, a hero arose to save the world. A young man with a mysterious heritage courageously challenged the darkness that strangled the land.
He failed.
For a thousand years since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal emperor known as the Lord Ruler. Every revolt has failed miserably.
Yet somehow, hope survives. Hope that dares to dream of ending the empire and even the Lord Ruler himself. A new kind of uprising is being planned, one built around the ultimate caper, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine, a street urchin who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a Mistborn.
My Rating
Did Not Finish: I'm learning more and more than I'm quite the fickle fantasy reader. No matter how good or bad the story looks on paper, if it doesn't grab me within the first couple of pages, I'm bored. And let's give credit where credit is due: Mistborn looks freaking fantastic on paper. It's got one of the most original magic systems I've ever seen, and even the story itself has a sense of doing something that isn't done before. Just look at the premise above: this book takes place after your stereotypical fantasy hero tried to save the world and failed. So we're seeing the aftermath of that failure, and we're seeing a desperate chance to try and make things right again. Also, I get the feeling this book, despite being the first of a trilogy, is pretty well self-contained. Others who've finished this book must confirm, but I gather the main plot is well wrapped up by the book's end, and how many fantasies can really boast of that? Also in the unique column is the fact that it's a "heist" fantasy, the kind of which that really wasn't seen much at the time of publication, unless you count Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora. And in truth, this book reminds me a LOT of The Lies of Locke Lamora except there's more magic and the con-man in question has use of said magic.
The problem: in hindsight, I really didn't care much for The Lies of Locke Lamora. Oh, sure, I liked it okay at the time, but it was never the kind of book that grabbed me. And for all of the originality Mistborn has going for it, it also never grabbed me.
And I feel bad about this: for reasons I've already outlined above regarding the book's originality (well, what I perceive to be original, anyway), as well as for the fact that two of my book blogger fans are serious Sanderson fangirls and are going to come after me with pitchforks after reading this review. Also, this was a challenge read with emerald_ibis. It's bad enough that I didn't finish our May/June read, but now this one too? This might make me a shit.
There's really only a few things I can point a finger at: one, as I said, I'm a fickle fantasy reader. Two, while I thoroughly admire the magic system, it doesn't engage me. Three, the characters are sympathetic on paper, but I'm not connecting with them on an emotional level. And four, and this is the one I'm having the hardest time understanding, is that the writing just isn't doing it for me.
When I read secondary-world fantasy, I want the prose to take me away. If it doesn't, then it needs to be so transparent that I don't notice. Sanderson's prose here doesn't do either, so in my eyes, it stands out like a sore thumb. That wouldn't be so bad if I were emotionally engaged with the characters or intellectually engaged in the world-building and magic system, but I'm not. So I had to step back and ask myself: why am I reading a book that doesn't interest me when I've got so much else to read?
I didn't have a good answer, so I set it aside.
Cover Commentary: It's hard to argue with a Chris McGrath cover (though here he (or she?) is billed as Christian McGrath--don't know why), and this one is just gorgeous. The Mistborn cloak is rendered quite nicely, and while I pictured Vin's hair as shorter, I do rather like the rendition of her. My only complaint with the cover is the amount of pink involved, which might indicate this isn't a fantasy boys would enjoy, when the truth is the exact opposite. That being said, I much prefer this cover to the original hardcover art, also featured in this review. While I might read comic books and appreciate the work that goes into such an art form, I tend not to care for that type of art, and the original cover for Mistborn reminds me of something I'd see on a graphic novel instead of an epic fantasy. It's unique and eye-catching, yes, but not something that speaks to me personally.
Next up: Changeless by Gail Carriger