The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson

Published: 2006

# of Pages: 541

Source: Purchased Copy, Book Outlet

In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with color once more?

In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage — Allomancy, a magic of the metals. 

There is no way in the world for me to be able to write down all of my thoughts and opinions about this book so I decided to review it based on several different elements including plot development, world building, and characters. So let's go ahead and get started so I can completely and totally gush about how much I loved this book. 

Plot Development: Brandon Sanderson has to be the king of plot development. He skillfully builds his worlds in layers only allowing the reader to get access to the world one piece at a time. Although you may think this would make the world move really slow it actually moves rather quickly. Sometimes the conversations amongst the characters seemed endless and rather pointless if just viewed from the surface; however, they turned out to be extremely intricate and important to the plot. I loved that as a reader I never knew what to expect. There were so many twist and turns and unexpected decisions. This is what made the novel so good. It was not what I had in mind by far. The manner in which Sanderson drives the plot is brilliant and with the addition of world-building I could find no fault in the novel. 

World Building: One of the most intricate aspects of the world building in the novel was the magic system. Allomancy which is the basis for all aspects of this novel is one of the most unique and interesting magic systems I've ever seen. I mean the characters in this book make use of the most common elements that we see and use daily. I did have to keep notes of all the powers affiliated with each metal so I could understand their powers and limitations. However, the more I read about each metal characteristic affiliated with the metals the more I knew and understood the metals off the top of my head. Brandon Sanderson broke the powers of Allomancy down in a way that I could understand them and learn their usages the same way Vin had to learn. I would suggest utilizing the reference section in the back of the book if the metals get too confusing. 

My notes while reading. 

Characters: I absolutely loved the characters in this book so I'm going to go through each of the main characters and express my thoughts on them. 

• Vin: Gosh I absolutely love her and the progress she makes from the typical street urchin to a well established user of Allomancy. 
• Kelsier: My hero! My everything! I absolutely love him. There are not enough words to describe how amazing he is and how powerful he is in both spirit and mind. I loved reading everything about Kelsier. 
• Sazed: He is one of the most beautiful and loving characters in this entire book. I adored the relationship he built with Vin and how he cared for her throughout the process of her learning to use Allomancy. Outside of Kelsier he definitely was my favorite male lead. 
• Elend Venture: Elend and i have a love/hate relationship. I liked the fact that he pushed so hard for social reform; however, I don't think he did enough. He just talked so much about change, but I don't think that he actually worked hard enough for that change until the very end. 

Overall this novel was AMAZING. I can't wait to read the next installments. Brandon Sanderson has created a world that I can't get enough of and I love it. If you're looking for an intricate magic system with great characters I would definitely recommend reading this book.