Mistborn: The Final Empire

Mistborn: The Final Empire is the first novel of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. It was followed by Mistborn: The Well of Ascension. The third title in the trilogy, Mistborn: The Hero of Ages, was released on October 14, 2008.

Plot summary

In Luthadel, the capital city of the Final Empire, Vin, a scrawny street urchin, is recruited by a thieving group lead by Kelsier, the Survivor of the pits of Hatshin, a place where atium, the most valuable metal in the world, is mined. He has a plan to steal the rumored atium stash from Lord Ruler’s treasury and to free the oppressed Skaa in the process. When Vin learns that she is a Mistborn – a powerfulAllomancer who can burn metals to gain special abilities, (just like Kelsier), she becomes part of this scheme.

Kelsier's thieving crew has other members: there are Misting – Ham, a Thug who can burn pewter, Breeze, a Soother who can burn brass, Clubs, a Smoker who burns Copper and Spook, a Tinyeye burning tin – and Dockson who has no special abilities but is a great administrator. Together they start working on a plan to overthrow the regime established by the evil Lord Ruler a thousand years ago. Marsh, Kelsier’s brother, infiltrates the Steel Ministry and Vin acts as Valette, cousin of Lord Renoux, to spy out what the nobility is doing. Vin falls in love with Elend Venture, the son of Lord Venture, an heir to House Venture.

Kelsier manages to start a House War by assassinating powerful nobles, and Dockson, Ham and Breeze manage to recruit some seven thousand soldiers to attack the Luthadel garrison with. However, Yeden, the man who originally hired the crew for the job, makes a foolish move leaving the army exposed, and majority of it gets slaughtered. The rest covertly moves to Luthadel. House Renoux, the front for getting weapons, is compromised and Lord Renoux with his servants is to be executed. Kelsier and some of the remaining soldiers fight to save them, managing to free most of them. Kelsier is killed in the process, taking a Steel Inquisitor with him. Lord Renoux, who turns out to be a Kandra, a creature capable of changing its body-shape, consumes Kelsier’s body and is able to appear as an apparition to the Skaa. The whole population of Luthadel rises and defeats the garrison and the remaining noble houses.

In the meanwhile, Vin, armed with the eleventh metal, goes to Kredik Shaw, the imperial palace, to kill Lord Ruler. She is captured by Ker, a brutal Steel Inquisitor and left in a cell to be tortured. Sazed, her faithful Terrisman servant, comes to her rescue. Being a Feruchemist, he manages to break his chains by strength saved in a piece of metal in his stomach, and then helps Vin to recover her possessions and a vial of metals. Vin attacks Lord Ruler and Marsh, thought to be dead by the crew, rushes to aid her as a Steel Inquisitor. In a fierce fight Vin manages to separate Lord Ruler from his bracelets that keep him from aging, thus making him age rapidly. Vin then rams a spear through Lord Ruler’s heart. The Final Empire collapses.

Characters

• Vin - a half-skaa street urchin who possesses the power of a Mistborn. Primary protagonist.
• Kelsier - the Survivor of Hathsin, and one of the greatest Mistborn Allomancers of all time. He escaped from the Pits of Hathsin where he had been forced to work as a slave, and wandered the world. After being contacted by a skaa hoping for rebellion, Kelsier strikes up his loyal crew with a new contract: the fall of the Final Empire. Secondary protagonist - the story is partly told from his point of view.
• Dockson, or "Dox" - Kelsier's long time friend and crewmember. He is not an Allomancer, but keeps the crew operational by means of his organizational and administrative abilities.
• Hammond, or "Ham" - a member of Kelsier's crew, and a Pewterarm or Thug. Ham enjoys philosophical bouts, especially with Breeze.
• Ladrian, or "Breeze" - a member of Kelsier's crew, and a Soother. Breeze likes his wine, almost as much as he likes himself.
• Cladent, or "Clubs" - a member of Kelsier's crew. He is a Coppercloud or Smoker, and he along with the rest of his apprentices are able to shield their hideouts from the Ministry's Allomancers.
• Lestibournes, or "Spook" - one of Clubs' apprentices, and a Tineye. He hails from the east, and as such speaks with a strange dialect.
• Lord Ruler - The ruler and "God" of the Final Empire. Nobody knows who he is or where he came from. All that is known is that since his Ascension, the Deepness was driven back and the world has lost hope.
• Marsh - Kelsier's brother and a Seeker. He is willing to take down the Final Empire, no matter the cost.
• Sazed - A Terrisman from the Northern Dominance of Terris. He is a Keeper, and specializes in religion. Using his Feruchemy, he stores information in his copperminds.
• Elend - A nobleman, and son of Straff Venture. He is heir to the Venture House, though not by the choice of either him nor his father. All Elend wants to do is read and see Vin.
• Mare - Kelsier's wife. Some years before the novel opens, she and Kelsier were captured by the Lord Ruler while working a job and imprisoned at the Pits of Hathsin. After a year, she was beaten to death by the taskmasters and he escaped.

External links

• Mistborn: The Final Empire (official site)
• Mistborn Wiki
• Review by The Washington Post