With an impressive debut novel under his belt (Elantris), Brandon Sanderson launched the Mistborn trilogy in 2006 with Mistborn: The Final Empire. The primary plot of the novel involves a group of rebels who are trying to overthrow the God-like Lord Ruler of the Final Empire. One might say the story has a caper-like quality to it, but that would be underselling Sanderson’s expertly crafted story far too much. He populates this fantastical, red-skied, ash-falling, mist-rising world with believable characters in a fascinatingly detailed world.

The novel follows three primary characters, the third character whose presence is felt just as much as the other two, despite sharing very little “on camera” time in the novel. Kelsier holds down the role as primary male protagonist; he is leading the rebellion against the Final Empire. Kelsier is also known as the Survivor, the only person known to return alive from the dreaded prison pits of the Lord Ruler. Though he may seem an outwardly familiar character type, the layers of Kelsier’s character are revealed very nicely over the course of the novel. Upon his escape, Kelsier discovers his Mistborn abilities; he is an allomancer. In Sanderson’s intricately imagined world, Allomancers ingest and burn metals to affect magical/supernatural powers.

Sanderson’s second focus character is the young street urchin Vin, whose life prior to the novel consisted of roaming the streets with her brother. Upon the opening of The Final Empire, Kelsier invites her to be part of his crew, part of the rebellion. Kelsier sensed something special about the girl, specifically her abilities as an allomancer; he takes it upon himself to train her in the ways of Allomancy. The magic here is thoroughly detailed and well-thought out; one could say the rules dictating its practice are rigid enough to resemble a science. For all the details that inform Sanderson’s magic system, he revealed the inner workings of it slowly. It was an effective, yet simple method for Sanderson to inform, through Kelsier, both Vin and the reader about how the magic works.

The third character is not seen quite as often as Vin and Kelsier, but his role is just as, if not more important. Each chapter opens with an entry from the diary of the Hero of the Ages, the boy who was prophesized to come into great power, hold a darkness at bay, and rule the world. While the journal entries from the boy who was the Lord Ruler provide insight to the reader of Mistborn, the characters stumble upon the book themselves. Throughout the course of the novel, the characters, specifically Vin, attempt to read into the character of the person who wrote the journal. She tries to make sense of how such a hopeful youth with so much promise and eagerness to do good, a young man who doubts himself, could become the hated dictator.