Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

World-Building: Great-Awesome
Characterization: Great
Plot: Page-turner, compelling plot

Before I describe the story or talk about the characterization and world-building I must say that this is the first novel in many weeks that I've read and thoroughly enjoyed. It was compelling and two nights in a row I wished I could stay up to finish it, but alas, I had to wake up early for work the next day. So no matter what else I say in this review, this was an excellent, gripping novel.

I'll start off with the world-building because it was the first element that got me into the book. The first little bit of the novel was interesting enough, it set the stage for the world and showed us the life of the skaa slaves who have to work on plantations and endure not only hardship and hunger, but also beatings and cruelty. We were also introduced to a character who seemed to be doing something about this, a character who seemed to want to create a rebellion or uprising and show people that they could be strong and fight against this oppression. So far so good.

However, I wasn't really hooked and intrigued until the scene with Vin. She's a young skaa thief living in a city and there are tiny hints of her having a special power she doesn't really understand. Vin's scenes are so well-written and the hints of power we are given are done in such a smooth way that the first chapters of this novel are truly excellent.

The magic system that Brandon Sanderson has developed in these novels is great, it has consequences, it has limits, and it has harmful side-effects on the magic user if not used properly. It's also quite unique by comparison to most of the other magic systems I've seen in fantasy novels. But what makes it really work is the gradual way in which this magic system (Allomancy) is revealed, one hint or tidbit at a time, parallel to Vin's character development. In my opinion this is biggest strength of the novel. Later on, even when there are slightly weaker parts, or slightly lengthy monologues or whatever the reader might not enjoy so much it doesn't matter, because you're compelled to read on by this well-built Vin-Allomancy relationship. You want to see what Vin learns about Allomancy next, how she uses it, and how her new role fits into the rebellion that is brewing.

There are other elements of the world-building other than just Allomancy. The government, the mists, the history, and even the plants are different from our own and provoked a unique mixture of images.

The plot did it's job quite well. As I said I was really compelled by Vin's character and the Allomancy magic system, but the rebellion plot was what provided the vehicle for Vin's development and kept her character from stagnating.

There are some things about this novel that I didn't like very much, of course, like the detailed descriptions of the noble ballrooms and so on, but these small things I could skip over, there were two main problems I had with the main premise of the novel that deserve mention.

1) The skaa role in the rebellion and in the world in general. Even though the main characters were doing it all  for the purpose of saving the skaa, even though they identified - at the beginning anyway - as part of this enslaved population, it soon became clear that the skaa were still seen as inferior and helpless, as tools in the hands of the rebels, who, it turns out are only half skaa and half noble, otherwise they wouldn't have magic powers and wouldn't have a will to change things. The rebellion, therefore, didn't come from the skaa, it didn't come from the slaves themselves, it came from half-skaa people who really understood noble life better than they understood skaa and who thought that they were better able to decide and shape the skaa's lives than the skaa themselves. This issue annoyed me very much, but I had hope that it would change as the series went on and characters actually learned more about each other and about themselves. That was until the "twist" that Kelsier pulls off in the end...

2) The way religion was portrayed in the book made no sense. Any religion has a its basis in some principles, some moral or philosophical concepts. It answers why questions about the world. There has to be a reason why people are following it. It has to mean something in their lives. (for example, killing is wrong, if you do x you will live a better life, and so forth) The Lord Ruler's religion, which was enforced on the people, had absolutely none of this, and it was also quite laughably devoid of any substance. I can't continue this point without spoilers so...


SPOILERS AHEAD

It became more and more obvious as we approached the end that this religion was devoid of substance. It turns out that the "deepness" from which the lord ruler saved the world is this faceless thing that no one saw or understood, even at the time when he saved people from it. So not only does this religion have no principles for people to believe in, but its one essential point - that the Lord Rule is God because he saved the world from the deepness - is actually based on a "threat" that no one ever saw!

EVEN MORE SPOILERY SECTION:
And Kelsier's twist at the end where he created a new religion by making a reputation for himself and then allowing the Lord Ruler to kill him also made very little sense. Yes, people will believe in him and maybe consider him a martyr or something. Yes, the whole thing of having him be seen again using the shape-shifting abilities of the Kandra could get people excited, but again, that's not something on which to base an entire religion. It could be considered a belief, or an almost worshipful attachment to a hero, but an actual religion entails ALOT MORE than this.

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In all fairness I do have to say that I have yet to see a well developed religion system in a fantasy book. Usually they're barely concealed imitations of Christianity (and I wish they actually copied the whole of the religion properly and got to the heart of it, no, they usually just copy the symbols and what they perceive to be the problems with it and move on). So yeah, it's not like Brandon Sanderson failed where others succeeded. He actually did a little better than many I've seen. I think it's just hard for people to write religions believably into their fantasy when in modern western society religion is so misunderstood and ignored in the popular culture and in the education systems. Also the variety of religious thought and religious philosophies isn't really understood in mainstream culture, nor are we given the tools to properly talk about it. I just wish that authors took as much time and thought developing the religions in their stories as they did developing a single character...

I apologize, this wasn't intended to be a religion rant, but Brandon Sanderson's book really got me thinking about the state of Religions in fantasy and in the context of world-building.

Either way, read the book, you will most likely enjoy it and may suffer some sleepless nights as you strive to find out what happens next!