As of recent months, I have succumbed to one of the worst fantasy reading slumps I have ever had since I first began reading. Simply, no fantasy book was piquing my interest, nor could I get past the first ten percent of any book that I tried to pick up. As a last resort to amend my horrible slump, I gave Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson a chance. Sanderson is arguably one of the most prominent and prolific authors of modern fantasy, having written more than thirty full-length novels, almost all being best sellers. I thought, if Sanderson can’t get me to fall back in love with my favorite genre, then no one can. While, in the end, Mistborn did cure my slump because I managed to finish the book, I was left questioning whether Sanderson’s beloved magnum opus truly deserves the near-universal praise that surrounds it.
Mistborn is set in a world where ash constantly falls from the sky, and a tyrannical Lord Ruler has oppressed society for a thousand years. Mistborn follows Vin, a street thief living in poverty and slavery, who discovers that she possesses rare magical abilities. Recruited by the charismatic rebel Kelsier, Vin becomes involved in an ambitious plot to overthrow the Final Empire and challenge the seemingly immortal ruler who controls it.
One of the most defining and differentiating aspects of this book is the magic system. In Mistborn, certain characters are able to ingest and “burn” different metals in order to gain specific abilities, a power known as allomancy. Some metals enhance physical strength or senses, while others allow users to manipulate emotions or even push and pull on nearby metals. Those who command these powers are typically the nobility, though each can only harness a single metal. Mistborn can burn all of the metals, making them the most formidable forces in society. Unlike many fantasy novels where magic feels vague or limitless, Sanderson’s system is highly structured and rule-based, making every fight scene feel strategic rather than random. The originality and complexity of allomancy are what make Mistborn stand out in the fantasy space.
Additionally, Sanderson doesn’t only deserve praise for his magic system but rather for his whole world-building. This fictional world felt so real and expansive that I almost forgot that what I was reading was a figment of a single person’s imagination; there is one character whose primary role is to remember hundreds of dead religions and relay this knowledge to the people.
Yet, world-building is also where my issues with Mistborn arise. The overwhelming load of political scheming, strategizing, and exposition slows the plot immensely. Readers are introduced to the central heist plot within the first few pages, yet the next 400 are largely spent discussing and preparing for it, while the real action is saved for the ending.
After reading multiple Sanderson novels, I have noticed this repeating pattern throughout his works. Eighty percent of the book is frustratingly slow and feels as though the author is telling you things rather than showing them. The last 20 percent, fortunately, is mind-blowing action, non-stop plot twists, and big reveals. The feeling of reading a Brandon Sanderson ending is such a euphoric mix of action and emotions that readers have coined the last hundred pages of his books a “Sanderlanche.”
Hence, the reason I question my opinion of this book. If the majority of the novel was a struggle to get through, yet the ending surpassed that of multiple five-star books, does that make it a good book?
Ultimately, while Sanderson has definitely proved himself as an outstanding writer within the fantasy genre, I find Mistborn to be overhyped and far from perfect. At times, the novel feels painfully slow and overly consumed with explaining its own world rather than allowing readers to fully experience it. Yet somehow, despite all of my frustrations, I still could not stop thinking about the ending long after I had finished the book. Perhaps that contradiction is exactly why Sanderson has become such a phenomenon in modern fantasy: even when his stories drag, the payoff is so explosive and emotionally satisfying that readers are willing to forgive everything that came before it.
