Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn Series #1) »

Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University and lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Emily, and son, Joel. He has been chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s A Memory of Light, the concluding volume of the bestselling Wheel of Time series.

Even if we can't say it in copy, this is a book that turns Tolkien, and all the fantasy derived from his masterpiece, on its head, by asking the questions, "What if Frodo had failed?" In this first volume of the Mistborn trilogy, Sanderson gives us a worl

Publishers Weekly

Sanderson's eerie second fantasy (after 2005's Elantris), set in a mist-haunted, ash-ridden world, pits Kelsier, "the Survivor of Hathsin," against the immortal Lord Ruler's 1,000-year domination of both the Great Houses and their serflike "skaa." Through Allomancy acquired in the Ruler's most hellish prison, Kelsier can "burn" 10 metals internally, fueling superhuman powers he uses to assemble rebels in a loose plan to destroy the nobility, the empire and the Lord Ruler himself. Kelsier uses Vin, a street urchin with the same Mistborn powers Kelsier possesses, to infiltrate the Great Houses' society, where she falls in love with philosopher prince Elend Venture. This mystico-metallurgical fantasy combines Vin's coming-of-age-in-magic and its well-worn theme of revolt against oppression with copious mutilations, a large-scale cast of thieves, cutthroats, conniving nobles and exotic mutants. The fast-paced action scenes temper Vin's interminable ballroom intrigues, while the characters, though not profoundly drawn, have a raw stereotypic appeal. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.