[January] - Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (OPEN)

[Overlord]

Well, The Book Club have chosen and we are going to have;
'The Final Empire' which is book one of the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

Feel free to post here about this book (although nothing about its content if you have read the book) until then

Amazon UK - £4.74
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Empire-Mistborn-Book-One/dp/0575089911/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293096481&sr=8-1

Amazon USA - $7.99
http://www.amazon.com/Mistborn-Final-Empire-Book/dp/0765350386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293096531&sr=8-1

[Overlord]

Fantasy Book Club now open - Look out for these banners. To keep us spoiler free, please, please stick to them!

[ChristinaJL]

The kids woke up at half eight this morning, so I've read the prologue and the first chapter.  Liking it!!  

[Overlord]

Just finished Chapter 5 - wow... I have to say I'm impressed.

Brandon Sanderson's writing style is absolutely fantastic... I love how the World is crystal clear to me already and yet I can hardly remember more than a paragraph or two worth of description!

Loving the magic system so far too I won't post too much right now, but maybe tomorrow I'll post a bit more about my thoughts on the story - I don't want people to click on the thread and get spoilers - although so far there is not too much to spoil

[ChristinaJL]

Just caught up with you and finished chapter 5 too!!  It's a very easy style to read and as you say, he describes the world very well without it seeming a whole load of description to plow through.

I'm just wondering who is the character writing the intro to each chapter in italics - someone we've already met, or a new character?  I like the portrayal of characters, Kelsier seems the most intriguing/interesting so far.  Not yet sure what I think of Vin, she seems just a bit too paranoid at the moment.  

[Overlord]

Just caught up with you and finished chapter 5 too!!  It's a very easy style to read and as you say, he describes the world very well without it seeming a whole load of description to plow through.

I'm just wondering who is the character writing the intro to each chapter in italics - someone we've already met, or a new character?  I like the portrayal of characters, Kelsier and Sazed seem the most intriguing/interesting so far.  Not yet sure what I think of Vin, she seems just a bit too paranoid at the moment.  

I presumed it was the lord ruler??? Just because of the "I'm the one with the armies" comment we had in the second chapter intro.

Agreed Vin seems very paranoid, but I guess if your brother who looked after you since child-hood betrayed you, you'd be so too I think she'll grow though, surrounded by all these powerful characters she will have to in order to keep her place in the book.

[ChristinaJL]

I have read on a bit further and was trying not to mention stuff, but silly me put in a character not in chapters 1-5 so I've edited it out!!  

I'm not thinking it is the lord ruler as he calls himself the Hero of Ages so I reckon it's someone else.  

[Overlord]

I have read on a bit further and was trying not to mention stuff, but silly me put in a character not in chapters 1-5 so I've edited it out!!  

I'm not thinking it is the lord ruler as he calls himself the Hero of Ages so I reckon it's someone else.  

Unless the Lord Ruler thinks of himself as a Hero... You are probably right though as it seems this is a 'Hero'... nothing about the Lord Ruler paints him as such.

[kbaskins]

There are a few things Brandon does very very well: world-building, magic systems and epic stories. I didn't have to get too far into this book before I decided to buy the other two books in the series.

Just an FYI: Brandon's website has some "DVD Extras" (sorry, I couldn't think of a better shorthand way of putting that)  where he annotates each chapter of the books. I found them after I read the books, but someone may want to read them as they progress through the book: http://brandonsanderson.com/portal/Mistborn-Trilogy

[Overlord]

There are a few things Brandon does very very well: world-building, magic systems and epic stories. I didn't have to get too far into this book before I decided to buy the other two books in the series.

Just an FYI: Brandon's website has some "DVD Extras" (sorry, I couldn't think of a better shorthand way of putting that)  where he annotates each chapter of the books. I found them after I read the books, but someone may want to read them as they progress through the book: http://brandonsanderson.com/portal/Mistborn-Trilogy

Awesome!!! Thanks for the link kbaskins - really adds to the book

[Overlord]

I have read on a bit further and was trying not to mention stuff, but silly me put in a character not in chapters 1-5 so I've edited it out!!  

I'm not thinking it is the lord ruler as he calls himself the Hero of Ages so I reckon it's someone else.  

This is what Brandon Sanderson says on his site about the italics;

Somewhere in the italicized pre-chapter blurb of the prologue here is the clue one needs to figure out the over-arching mystery of the entire series. If you figure it out, good for you! If you don't, you'll have to wait until the last chapter of the final book to get it explained. . . .

[ChristinaJL]

I've read just about half of the book now, so I think I have a better idea of the italics character, but I won't say anything till we get further on in the chapters.   

Whilst I'm loving the other characters and the world, I'm still not convinced about Vin as a person - maybe she'll develop better as the book/series goes on.  It's rare I don't identify with characters, the only other book that happened in was Joe Abercrombie's the blade itself when I found I just didn't connect with any of his characters.

[Hawthorn]

I had an "Oh, RIGHT" moment when I went back and re-read the bump passage at the beginning of the Prologue. Of course, I may be wrong, not having read the book before. 

I'm nearly at the end of C5, and I have to admit I'm not totally into it yet. The writing style is immersive, but there have been one or two (very minor) editorial inconsistencies that have left me feeling not entirely comfortable while I'm reading. (I should probably point out that I'm a freelance editor in one of my many incarnations, so this type of stuff bothers me a lot more than the average reader.)

However - great magic system (wish I'd invented it), intriguing characters, nice start to the grand heist storyline, and I'm enjoying the chapter notes at brandonsanderson.com. I like Kelsier (he reminds me a bit of Locke Lamora), and I totally get Vin's paranoia (nicely done, although laid on a bit thick at times).

Onward and upward.
Hx

[Overlord]

I had an "Oh, RIGHT" moment when I went back and re-read the bump passage at the beginning of the Prologue. Of course, I may be wrong, not having read the book before. 

I'm nearly at the end of C5, and I have to admit I'm not totally into it yet. The writing style is immersive, but there have been one or two (very minor) editorial inconsistencies that have left me feeling not entirely comfortable while I'm reading. (I should probably point out that I'm a freelance editor in one of my many incarnations, so this type of stuff bothers me a lot more than the average reader.)

However - great magic system (wish I'd invented it), intriguing characters, nice start to the grand heist storyline, and I'm enjoying the chapter notes at brandonsanderson.com. I like Kelsier (he reminds me a bit of Locke Lamora), and I totally get Vin's paranoia (nicely done, although laid on a bit thick at times).

Onward and upward.
Hx

What made me laugh is when Brandon Sanderson said; 'I wanted this chapter to feel like Ocean's Eleven', not sure if you read my review on 'Lies of Locke Lamora' earlier today but I said; 'It feels like Ocean's Eleven' - lol... totally bizarre! He is indeed very much like Locke, I think a few chapters of this novel are actually reminiscent to Locke's story (not a bad thing).

The writing style really is brilliant - I can see why people are so thrilled by him taking on TWoT and how he got away with writing a 1000+ page book... I'm actually quite into the story, the one thing I didn't like so far was the fight scene... but then reading the notes it said 'I didn't like this fight scene but explained why he had to keep it' so I was like... OK... I'll let it go. lol.

Good choice so far guys... I wonder where all the others are? 12 of us were meant to be reading it... I wonder if they are fully engrossed? lol!

[ChristinaJL]

The others are busy reading probably!!   

I'm up to chapter 27 now, so please stop me from getting confused if I mention anything I shouldn't!!  lol.  The author is very much concentrating on the two characters, I wonder if he will branch out and go into more detail for others on the crew.  I didn't like Ocean's Eleven, so maybe that's why I'm not totally enamoured with the book, yet.  So far, I'd give it nearly a 4 out of 5.