BINGO – OLD SERIES
Mistborn: The Final Empire (also frequently known as just Mistborn) in the first in a series of novels that was originally published in 2006. Vin is an orphaned street thief who has had a tough life hopping from thieving crew to crew just trying to survive in Luthadel, the capital of the oppressive Final Empire. Vin is skaa (the lower, poor, working class) and not a part of the nobility, the ruling upper class who treat the skaa as sub-human. Ultimately, Vin finds herself on a new crew lead by the charming Kelsier who has plans to overthrow the Final Empire and slay the Lord Ruler, the monster in charge of it all, and Vin has a very important role to play in this caper.
Although this is the first in a series, this book feels like a standalone novel. Sanderson has developed a plot for Mistborn that is complete which I love. The majority of the conflicts (at least all of the main conflicts) are resolved by book’s end; Sanderson left a few threads undone but they are not so important that the book felt incomplete. Sanderson also developed the characters and the world in Mistborn so well that I want to keep reading about them and learning about the world’s history and politics despite there being resolution.
The magic system that Sanderson created in Mistborn is one of the coolest systems that I have every seen. All of the magic is based off of metal. Allomancy is one of the systems (and the main one explored) in which people consume and subsequently burn metal to experience a power. Mistings are people that have the ability to consume and burn a single metal giving them a power. Mistborns, extremely rare people, are individuals that can burn all of the Allomantic metals. There are other systems introduced that play a part in the plot that are also centered around using metals in creative ways.