Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

This is the first of a trilogy which centers around a girl named Vin who grew up in the Underground of the Final Empire. It is ruled over by the powerful Lord Ruler, who is supposedly a Sliver of Infinity...a piece of God Himself. He keeps a firm hand on the Empire with his Obligators and Steel Inquisitors - great creatures who were once human but now are riddled with metal spikes that give them strange powers...including one pounded headfirst through each eye with the tip protruding from the back of the head. Society is divided into Skaa - the lower class workers and slaves - and nobles. Ash falls from the sky and there are routine executions in the town square. Some nobles are born with Allomancy - the ability to burn metals for their power, such as manipulating emotions, increased strength and senses, sensing and hiding others burning metals, and Pulling and Pushing on metals.

The story starts when Kelsier decides to attempt the impossible...he plans to topple the Final Empire and maybe even kill the Lord Ruler himself. He is a Mistborn, which means he can burn any of the Allomantic metals for its power (as opposed to Mistings, who can only burn one type of metal). He recruits a crew of Mistings, including the philosophical Thug (can burn pewter for strength) Hammond, the whiny Soother (can dampen certain emotions in others) Breeze, the grumpy Smoker (can hide others burning metals) Clubs, his quiet nephew and Tineye (enhanced senses) Lestibournes (later nicknamed Spook), and Kelsier's brother and Tineye Marsh. Along with administrator Dockson, Kelsier rescues budding Mistborn Vin from abusive crew leader Camon and makes her part of the group.

As they implement their plan, they are joined by the Kandra, OreSeur, and the gentle Terrisman, Sazed. Through the story, Vin is learning to trust others as she was never able to do in the Underground. She finds her place in their plot and poses and young noblewoman, Lady Valette, to spy on other nobles and gather information. She attends balls and luncheons and meets the intriguing heir to the wealthiest House, Elend Venture, who seems to be sympathetic to the Skaa.

I originally read this book to see how the author, Brandon Sanderson, wrote. (He is writing the last books of another series that I love.) But I found that this book was actually quite good. He is flexible, writing from different viewpoints and he portrays Vin's hesitancy to trust very convincingly.

I also read the next two books in this trilogy, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so if you want to see the reviews for the other two, look on my blog.

Review Written by Taylor Tobin