Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" trilogy - any good?

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Angst

"Warbreaker" use to be free on his site. I notice there is still a free HTML version on his site.

He still has the downloadable versions here: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book...-and-Downloads. I don't think the completely final version is available, but there is a late draft version available in Word/PDF/PRC formats. I don't remember seeing the final print version available on there in PRC or Word formats, just the PDF.

[Angst]

Originally Posted by HarryT

As promised, I'm reporting back on "Mistborn", which I finished a few days ago (I read other books in between, hence the delay). My verdict on the trilogy: superb. Mr Sanderson keeps the twists in the tale coming - the final outcome of the story took me completely by surprise.

Unlike some of the earlier posters, I enjoyed the third book in the trilogy at least as much - if not more - than the first two.

There are very detailed explanations of the "magic system", yes, but for me, this enhances the book, rather than being detrimental to the story.

I can't wait for the next book in the series. Already pre-ordered at Amazon!

If you like very descriptive fantasy, you might find Perdido Street Station by China Miéville interesting. Be for-warned though, the author refers to his own work as "weird fiction." I've never read anything quite like it. And you won't have the same fuzzy warm feeling, when you finish the book, like you had with mistborn. But you will have pictures of an incredibly detailed world imprinted in your memory.

[HarryT]

I'm pleased to see that the "Mistborn" trilogy is once again available in the UK as eBooks. I bought the Tor version of the book which was apparently wrongly made available on Amazon UK at the time that I bought it; the UK publisher is Gollancz, and they'd withdrawn their versions of the books, apparently due to errors. These are now available once again in all the usual bookstores.

[Valhalla]

I was just about to try this trilogy based on the recommendations here. However, it seems that Amazon don't have Book 2 available (in the Australian store). Doesn't look like it's on Amazon UK either (which is to be expected - Oz and UK are usually the same). Am I looking in the wrong place? Can anyone else see book 2?

Thanks

[HarryT]

No, it doesn't seem to be on Amazon. It is available at Waterstones, however. I'm sure it'll show up at Amazon shortly.

[basschick]

thanks - that sounds very good to me. ordering it now.

Originally Posted by HarryT

As promised, I'm reporting back on "Mistborn", which I finished a few days ago (I read other books in between, hence the delay). My verdict on the trilogy: superb. Mr Sanderson keeps the twists in the tale coming - the final outcome of the story took me completely by surprise.

Unlike some of the earlier posters, I enjoyed the third book in the trilogy at least as much - if not more - than the first two.

There are very detailed explanations of the "magic system", yes, but for me, this enhances the book, rather than being detrimental to the story.

I can't wait for the next book in the series. Already pre-ordered at Amazon!

[mewmartigan]

I'll be ordering the trilogy from Amazon shortly as well. I like that you can buy the trilogy as one ebook and I wish they would do this more often....specifically a lot of the trilogies of Star Wars novels Or the Barque Cycle...

I just finished book 10 of the Wheel of Time and I believe Sanderson took over on book 12. Looking just at the star reviews on Amazon, it seems he did right by the rest of the series.

I'm also interested in his Stormlight Archives but just as I didn't start the Wheel of Time until recently....I will probably wait for book 7 or 8 of 10 to come out before I jump in.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, it doesn't seem to be on Amazon. It is available at Waterstones, however. I'm sure it'll show up at Amazon shortly.

As I suspected it would be, "The Well of Ascension" is now available in the UK Kindle Store.

[afa]

Originally Posted by Angst

And you won't have the same fuzzy warm feeling, when you finish the book, like you had with mistborn.

Nope. What you will have is a feeling of cold indifference to the events you have just witnessed.

At first glance, his books seem to be written in a fairly intellectual manner. It irritates me because I can't shake the feeling that it's a deliberate and calculated move on his part. In other words, Mieville writes in a way that he *feels* is intellectual, rather than simply writing naturally and it just happens to be intellectual. Seems almost... fake to me. Like he's trying too hard, you know?

I could be wrong, of course, though God knows the chances of that happening are infinitesimally small.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by afa

Nope. What you will have is a feeling of cold indifference to the events you have just witnessed.

At first glance, his books seem to be written in a fairly intellectual manner. It irritates me because I can't shake the feeling that it's a deliberate and calculated move on his part. In other words, Mieville writes in a way that he *feels* is intellectual, rather than simply writing naturally and it just happens to be intellectual. Seems almost... fake to me. Like he's trying too hard, you know?

I could be wrong, of course, though God knows the chances of that happening are infinitesimally small.

I "like" Mieville a lot. But still... I can't really argue with your assessment either. There are times when he goes on one of those "stream of consciousness; who cares if 50% of the words are made up, I'll italicize them all and it'll still be cool" diatribes of his that forces me to start skimming until I see some dialog. I'd like to say it's a love/hate relationship, but It's truthfully more of a "really like/meh" relationship.

[afa]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'd like to say it's a love/hate relationship, but It's truthfully more of a "really like/meh" relationship.

Hehe... That's an enthusiastic fan right there.

I get what you're saying. I suppose I am sort of the same, except light on the first part and very heavy on the second. I appreciate his skill, itself; the man can undoubtedly write. And he seems to have a strong command of the English language. But I just don't care for what he writes.

An important part of any fiction is, of course, characterization. I have read two of Mieville's books and have yet to encounter a character I gave a damn about. I don't think I even remember the name of anyone from Perdido Street Station, and only one I remember from The Scar is Uther Doul. And even then, it's less because Doul was such an interesting character and more because I like how he was such a bad-ass. And the probability sword, admittedly, was kinda cool.

That's it. Two whole books, and those are the things I liked. Everything else elicited a "Who cares?"

[dbeman]

For me, the Mistborn trilogy started out strong and ended with a whimper. The magic system is probably one of the more unique and detailed systems out of any fantasy series I've ever read and I truly enjoyed the entire series up until the very end. In fact it is the end of this series combined with the ending of Elantris that makes me wary of picking up the Way of Kings.

[afa]

What didn't you like about the end? I thought it was alright. Not entirely unpredictable, true, but I wouldn't consider it a disappointment.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by dbeman

For me, the Mistborn trilogy started out strong and ended with a whimper.

It was a bit like that for me too. Not just the ending. I just liked the book 1 a lot more than the sequels. Bit of like the Matrix, first one great, sequels not so much. Makes me wary to pick up the 4th book. Then again I just read Warbreaker (the free book) and liked it a great deal (especially the ending) so I might pick it up anyway.

The magic system is probably one of the more unique and detailed systems out of any fantasy series I've ever read

I think that magic systems is the only thing that the author does really. He makes some kind of magic system and then builds a story around it, not the other way.

Way of Kings.

Way of Kings doesn't have an ending. And it was slightly boring / repetitive in the middle. And there's no sequel yet ... instead there's Mistborn 4. I'm really not sure how to feel about that. If you hate waiting for sequels you should probably wait until the next book is out for way of kings.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

If you hate waiting for sequels you should probably wait until the next book is out for way of kings.

If you hate waiting for sequels, you should probably wait until the next EIGHT or so books are out. The Stormlight Archive is planned for ten books.