Mistborn: The Trilogy I Should Have Read Long Before Now

tumblr_static_78lt91c4ymg448wks00kgwog8If I had a time machine, I would travel back to July 31, 2007 to tell myself to read the first book of the Mistborn trilogy on the day it was released. You might say that’s a waste of a perfectly good time machine, but it’s worth the trip. The book is that good. The trilogy is superb.

Brandon Sanderson, author of Mistborn, my hat is off to you. Well done, sir. I’ve spent the last several months reading the trilogy on my Kindle at a rate of about 1% a night (the books are LONG), and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.

The characters are fully formed people. They’re flawed but fascinating. The magic is incredibly well conceived. Yes, Mistborn is a fantasy series, but it exists in a world that feels like an alternate-reality earth. It’s familiar, but different.

There are so many mysteries, and no matter how big or small they are, they’re all completely explained by the end of the trilogy in a way that shows better planning than I’ve seen in any trilogy or series. Everything makes sense once you know the true answer, but it keeps you guessing along the way.

It’s so good. SO good.

What’s even better is that there’s a second trilogy that Sanderson is already 2/3rds of the way through. He’s a prolific writer–he’s not the type to go a decade between books, yet the quality of his books doesn’t suffer from speed. He’s pretty much the ideal author.

Anyway, I could continue to gush, but instead of reading my words, you should read the words of Mistborn. Let me know what you think if you check it out!

7 thoughts on “Mistborn: The Trilogy I Should Have Read Long Before Now”

  1. I read this about a year ago, and it was awesome. I love how he works out the magic system, and then takes it to awesome, but completely plausible (within the system) extents!

    Once I finished the books, I read through his chapter annotations on it, starting here: https://brandonsanderson.com/annotation-mistborn-introduction/

    They were fascinating reading!

    I’m going to wait until he finishes this next trilogy before I start on it though.

    Another story that felt very similar in how it was put together (although completely different in almost every other way) is Worm. It’s an online story, and I highly recommend it. It starts off a little slowly, but it all comes together in a big way!

    I read it about 5 or 6 years ago, and I _still_ think about it on a regular basis.

    You can start the story here: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/

    Reply
    • Ian: Thanks for your comment! I’m glad you’ve had the good fortune of reading the trilogy as well. Thanks for the Worm recommendation! I almost only read on my Kindle–is there a way to get it in that format?

      Reply
      • Apparently the author is working on getting it into an e-book format. But I have no idea when that will happen.

        It’s quite… long.

        Hopefully the editing will finish soon, and you’ll be able to get it on the kindle 🙂

        Reply
  2. Although Mistborn sounds amazing, I thought for sure you’d be writing about a different trilogy today (well, septology now, technically). I’m shocked that today didn’t feature The Force Awakens!

    Reply
    • Trev: As excited as I am about it, I’m trying to avoid all information about the new Star Wars movie until it comes out. It’s hard to avoid, but I haven’t watched anything more than the original 20-second teaser, and I haven’t read anything or even looked at any of the images. I can’t wait for December!

      Reply
  3. I know you read the Red Rising book (I looked it up on your recommendation — I loved it too), have you read the sequels yet?

    I read Golden Son (loved the ending there), but our local library hasn’t got book 3 yet…

    Reply

Leave a Reply to RodeoClownCancel reply

Discover more from jameystegmaier.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue Reading