the mistborn trilogy [the final empire, the well of ascension, the hero of ages], by brandon sanderson
fantasy, young adult | teen audiences | 5 stars

brandon sanderson has crafted this really vast world / universe with its own history but i feel like the most notable part of the entire trilogy (it’s actually a saga but i haven’t read the other books except the first three and they make up one whole so) is the magic system he created.

let me back up a little bit before i get in too deep - in scadrial, ash falls from the sky, all the plants are brown and the lord ruler rules with absolute power for a thousand years. the world is divided into nobility (those who are descendants of the lord ruler’s friends and allies) and the skaa (the peasants, who are of course oppressed). and there’s strange mist all over the land.

so now, magic and the magic system. the discipline of magic is called allomancy and it consists of swallowing and “burning” metal. allomancers can burn one type of metal (and your powers depend on what type of metal it is) but the mistborn are rare and they can burn and use all of them. magic users are usually noble, but due to mixed children, there are skaa magic users as well.

before the first book starts, kelsier, a half-skaa and a thief who discovers he’s a mistborn, escapes the pits of hathsin, which is a prison camp. and we’re back to my favourite type of story which involves rebellion, thievery and heists because kelsier goes back to the city and gathers his old thieving crew with one mission and that’s to overthrow the final empire and the lord ruler.

at the start of the book, we meet our protagonist named vin, and she’s recruited by kelsier’s crew because kelsier wants to use her - he knows she’s also a mistborn. kelsier trains her but ultimately she has to pretend she’s nobility and infiltrate the high society (can you see tha pattern in my book tastes yet? vin also develops into a really badass character, though of course, she's not without her flaws.)

of course, vin falls in love, there’s plenty of action and plot twists that you’d never expect and so many different flavours to this invented world that you simply get lost in the story and never want to find your way out.

the characters are all amazing, three dimensional and feel like real people. you’ll fall in love with kelsier and his suffering, you’ll despair with the skaa and when you make it to the final book of the series you’ll have gone through such an emotional rollercoaster that you’ll feel whiplashed in the best possible way. the plot is so vast that i don’t want to go into detail because it’s not something you can explain in a few words but i feel like the basic start of this story is enough to tickle your interest.

the books are filled with tension and you’ll never find yourself thinking, oh, i can bond with this character, they’re precious and safe. yeah, don’t do that to yourself. but definitely read the books.