Mistborn: The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson

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⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Will)

Mistborn is an epic fantasy series, and this book 1 is a very promising start. The basic premise is that the standard hero who rose up to save the world failed, so the world has basically been a wasteland for a thousand years now, which is where we start off.

The world is interesting and detailed, and the magic system is great and actually makes a bit of sense (as magic systems go). It's 600 pages and still manages to seem pretty fast-paced and action packed, and also avoids being predictable in a lot of ways.

I docked one star because I've read the Stormlight Archive (written after this) and I can tell Sanderson has improved as a writer since Mistborn. I've read a lot of fantasy, and inevitably there are a lot of themes and types of characters and settings etc. that become pretty standard. In his newer stuff Sanderson's makes his worlds feel really fresh with new ideas, but this one just wasn't quite as unique.

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