I read the entire trilogy in five weeks while working 50 hours a week, going to school full time, buying a home, and planning a wedding.

That is as good a review as a book or series can get, I would think.

Sanderson is just getting warmed up in this series. You can see him playing with concepts that he eventually perfects in his new "Way of Kings" book. His dialog and action/fighting sequences are superb and he is a master at wrapping up every last detail in his satisfying and dramatic endings. In fact he's so good at endings, I couldn't think of a better author person to end the "wheel of time" series. He seems slightly weak when it comes to writing from the female prespective, but, you know, some books are just more manly than others.

In here you can see him experimenting with the fantastic ideas that eventually mature into breathtaking "Way of Kings", but don't write this one off! Also, the audiobook version narrated by Michael Kramer is fantastic.

i seriously wish Sanderson was further gone in his career so i'd have more to read, because i totally loved this series. ^^ can't wait for the last of the WoT books to be finished so i can rush through them, hehe.

as many have mentioned, of course, the magic system is a big part of the book, and i found it very intriguing with all its various detailed parts that really made a big difference and had a strong connection to how the society was formed and even how the universe was. and it also gave a chance to really incorporate some great action based on magic (and he surely took that chance). you don't see that very often.

however, what i really liked with it was, despite what some people are saying, that you were really led astray as to what the real purpose of things were. i'm certainly not stupid, and of course there are some parts that (since you have access to more information than the characters in the book) were simple to figure out, but i was fooled plenty of times, all the way to the end. and i don't mean small things, i mean like changing the whole concept of the books things.

and i don't think the characters are very plain, i certainly felt like i came to understand them and feel for them, even though they're a strange bunch of people (seriously, lol). there are of course people better at it, but he's by no means bad.

oh, and gotta love the ash. ^^

Please stop with "should not be on the list" comments based on your perceived lack of character development in the stories. Those of us who skimmed over 98% of Perrin chapters in WOT don't need every detail of every character. Even Hobb, despite her beautiful prose, can spend far too much time developing characters and not enough on the world/action. The assassin did far too much pining and not enough assassin-ing IMO.

Sanderson may not develop his characters AS much, but he always explains why things work, and the way they work, in his worlds. That development is just as important to some of us fantasy readers as character development. That's what we get out of WOT as well, a system that COULD make sense. Warded Man too, very cool.

I actually really liked this set of books.

Although Brandon Sanderson writes nothing like Joe Abercrombie, i would say that i enjoyed this book just as much and probably a little more.

The magic in this book is second only to Robert Jordan's, and a little ahead of Brett's "Warded Man." The magic was practical, and didnt make the characters into super beings who could do virtually anything except what needed to be done, and although the main characters routinely consumed vials of metal, some of them felt like people I know and see regularly.

Some of the supporting characters were a little bit static, but all in all the book was great. I gave The Blade itself an 8/10 rating so I believe this series deserves at least a 8.75/10!

story is good ...concept of magic has been changed completely and i liked that ,its refreshing.though he has complicated the magic bit but still after sometime u come to like it.and he has developed vin such that after starting reading u come to know vin as ur own friend.

After learning Sanderson was taking over the Jordan series I decided to check out why by reading the Mistborn trilogy. I absolutely loved this trilogy. From the very start I was sucked into the book, characters and couldnt finish the series fast enough. Absolutely loved the magic system and the exploration of the beginnings of a religion. Sanderson also quite nicely wrapped up the series in three books which it seems some authors (goodkind etc) cant seem to do.

Read your recommendation and decided to read the book. Or rather i decided to listen to the audio version of it.

There are a lot of things that works really well in these books, and other that annoys and makes it an tiresome experience.
The universe is full of imagination and some of the characters are nice, the plot is not bad either.
But the story progresses in a pace so slow that i almost gave up on the books, this problem is multiplied by the fact that you follow a large variety of characters, and each of them uses a lot of time thinking about the same things over and over again without really getting anywhere.
The reader is kept pretty much in the dark about what really goes on through the entire series, but its not hard to figure out stuff that the characters seems to spend enourmess amounts of time to ponder over.

The second and third book could easily have been boiled down to one.
The ending in the second book was so anticlimatic and opend-ended, that i almost didnt read the third in pure spite.
But then again i had to know how it all ended.

I recommend that, if you should decide to read these books, that you actually read them, instead of listening to the audio version.
In that way you can pick up your reading pace, when a character starts pondering over something that seems obvious to you at that point.

There is no contradiction in what I said.

Nice straw man you just attempted though.

I guess.

I loved this trilogy!!! I also loved the complexity and the novelness of the magic system. This trilogy is at the top my favorite list currently.

i just finished Mistborn: The Final Empire, and I found it, hands down, the best contemporary fantasy book I have ever read. I would put it at number 1 on the list.
It starts as a heist story in a fantasy setting, such a brilliant idea, but moves so far beyond that to become the realization of a revolution. The characters are truly endearing and memorable, and the plot is as gripping as any I've ever read.
I just loved it.

The Final Empire was enjoyable, but it seemed to lack the depth and elegance of some many authors on the top 10 list. Instead it seemed to engage in a more drawn out plot line. Against the majesty of Tolken or Martin this work seems a bit shallow, especially while entertaining lengthly descriptions of a magic system that to quote another reviewer "seems better placed in a turn based board game".

While i concur, i also offer some reputable... it was refreshing to see an another actual explain the magic rather then have it be a mystery item for use in any way they see fit like a twist ending that pops up every chapter to mysteriously solves all the problems.

I enjoyed Jordens writing more as it incorporated to quote another reviewer "nauseating detail". Which i found helped the story seem less ridge and more... natural. But regardless if you liked jorden bradon is a good fit. I assume my analysis is strengthed by the fact Bradon is finishings jordens Wheel of Time series.

R.I.P Jorden

Cheers,

P.S this book is well done on audio! WoT is wonderful done on audio as well.

I absolutely adore Brandon Sanderson. The Mistborn trilogy is one of the best trilogies I have read in a VERY long time!

I am half way through The Way of Kings and I am enjoying it, though I wish it was 300 pages shorter! I find myself getting slightly discouraged... but I will finish it and I am sure it will have just as wonderful an ending as his other books!

This book is a great read. Engaging characters and a novel magic system. Sanderson is one of the best new authors in the business. It's funny to hear people like Kinesthetic contradict themselves in their criticism by saying the magic system is over-complicated, but then state that the book is for people with short attention spans. Perhaps if Kinesthetic had a longer attention span he wouldn't find the magic system to be too complicated for him to understand.

I love this novel

I read this series and thought it was, with a few exceptions, very good.

Aside from the common practice of the narration constantly changing from character to character just as I was really getting into the progress of the current character, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the books. There are other minor flaws, but nothing that takes away from the experience.

There seems to be a lot of negative comments dismissing the book, I would suggest you ignore them, read the first book and make your own judgments. I found nothing they described to be true.

"His overcomplicated magic system would be a better fit on a role playing game." "The magic system is innovative(blah blah) but so what?" I find it refreshing that someone comes up with something new and refreshing than learning magic and spells and whatnot.

"This is a novel for those that would prefer action over subtlety. Confrontation vs interaction. If you have a low attention span, this is for you." You make it bad that I prefer action over subtlety. I don't have a low attention span, I just like reading action. Do I like reading mystery and intrigue as well, sure I do.

As far as his authoring of the final 3 books in the WoT, his writing flows much better than RJ and much of the nauseating detail we didn't need to know about is gone.

Yeah, the man tries too hard. The characters are okay at best, and he tries to create bonds between the characters, which doesn't really work at all.
The magic system is innovative(blah blah) but so what? I feel that he was writing a movie and not a book.
He also tries for nostalgia for the dead guy in the second book, but it doesn't work at all. The characters just aren't alive enough and real enough to make you feel anything. Its like monologue

There are other far better books that deserve a spot on this list :S :S

And i dont bliv that fans of the Wheel of time thing are allowing this guy to finish the series

Here's an example of a man that tries too hard.

His overcomplicated magic system would be a better fit on a role playing game. This is a novel for those that would prefer action over subtlety. Confrontation vs interaction. If you have a low attention span, this is for you.

Sanderson writes too much. Does it make him a good author? Nay, but it does lower the interest in reading his other books, since he's gonna hatch another by the time you're done. . They're all soulless.

I find the Mistborn series highly overrated. I was actually kind of glad to initially find that it was not present on this list, but well...

Glad to see this on the updated list. Sanderson is definitely one of the best fantasy authors to emerge this past decade, and so far I'd rank him higher than Rothfuss, Lynch, Baker, Abercrombie etc. He creates sympathetic characters, page-turning stories, and some of the coolest magic-systems to ever grace the page.

Can't wait for the Stormlight Archive!