I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was excited for the new Mistborn book to come out, and I thought I should follow up on that. I finished the book (it turns out that the free teaser chapters that were online before the release were almost 1/3 of the whole book, so what was left was a pretty fast read), and it was pretty good. Solid.
At some point, I'd like to muse about the series as a whole, or maybe even Brandon Sanderson's universe that he writes in, but for how I have just a few thoughts for anybody who is considering reading this book. It was a very fun read, but very different from the original trilogy. It was much less epic. I don't mean that in the way lame teenagers use "epic" as a substitute for "cool," but rather I mean that the scope of this book is much smaller. It came from a free-write where Brandon Sanderson apparently said to himself "what would Sherlock and Watson be like if they were magic?" It turns out that they would be pretty darn cool.
So, what can you expect from this book? Some of Brandon's hallmarks are missing (epic scope, intricate plot, lots of twists and surprises), and some of them are very present (a well thought out plot, fun and original magic system, interesting characters, some very cinematic fight scenes, and a very internally consistent world).
And one thing I noticed that is one of Brandon's biggest weaknesses (bad banter) is getting way better. I don't mean this to be hyper-critical. I could never do what he does. But he loves to include witty banter that sounds like an author writing witty characters, not like real witty people. If that makes sense. Anyway, in this book, the witty banter is way way better. It's only rarely clunky and awkward. It's kind of fun to have been following Brandon's works from near the beginning and see him develop in little ways like this.
So, it's a really fun book that you should read. And you don't need to read the first books to get it. There are some moments where people who read the original trilogy will chuckle at inside jokes, but I don't think newcomers will be too lost.
2 comments:
I'll be finishing the book tonight (another 50 pages or so to go), and agree with you on pretty much all counts. I read The Way of Kings right before this, so the smaller scope really stood out. Still makes for a great story, though, and Wayne is a pretty enjoyable character.
I think one of my favorite things is the metal combinations he comes up with for his characters that are still super awesome. I figured that powers that weren't those of a full Mistborn would be kind of lame, but the combos and uses of them here were pretty cool.
My only complaint about Sanderson? He doesn't write fast enough! (This is said partially with tongue in cheek, but also sort of serious. I wish he could put out more books even faster...)
Man, I want to read this. But I still haven't finished Towers of Midnight. Maybe Thanksgiving?
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