It's Mistborn May! It's gonna be trauma, internet, Steve, Raffo. It's 2011. I just got married and we're living in a little dinky apartment on the wrong side of the track struggling to make ends meet. Enter Mistborn. I'd always loved reading. I'd grown up on Chronicles of Narnia, the Bulgarian, Redwall, Lord of the Rings, so to have something that was so familiar, but so engrossing in a different way that I've never experienced, Mistborn is my favorite. And it should be yours too. I know that's a controversial thing to say. Stormlight is God! But you never forget your first love, right? Especially when it's so good. The original concept of Mistborn was to be a trilogy of trilogies, with the first one set in the standard Middle Ages fantasy era. The second one more of a 1980s cyberpunk, and the final one in the space age. Brando accidentally wrote a series of four in more of the turn of the century frontier time period, and if he writes one more trilogy between the original second and third, there will be 16 books, which will be delicious. In the first book, Final Empire, the world building is just close enough to typical sword and sorcery type novels to be easy to get into. Late Middle Ages, stratified cast system, immortal god emperor, but with so much more depth and logic behind it. And this is the first time in Sanderson's writing, and I would argue still the clearest and most satisfying version, we get a really compelling rule-based magic system that we as readers learn through the eyes of the characters. And it's so easy to get. Eat this type of metal? To do this specific thing. No metal? No thing. Full stop. And even with incorporating magic into it, Sanderson's writing, and specifically his action sequences, are so rusting clear. I've never had an easier time visualizing fight scenes and being so impressed by fight scenes than in Mistborn. You know exactly who is where doing what? How those around them are responding, punches, dodges, magical pushes and poles, all without getting overwhelmed, confused, or pulled out of the action. It's so cinematic. It's so easy to see in your mind. I love it. Admittedly, it's a bit more grim dark than Brandon's typical style. Something he himself has expressed his satisfaction with. I mean, it's nowhere near a game of thrones or the farcey or trilogy. But my favorite Zelda games are Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess, which lean a little more heavily into the darkness, so I don't mind it. The five stages of a grief theory on Majora's Mask? So good. But we haven't even talked about the characters yet. Everyone is so relatable. Vince, paranoia, and abandonment issues, Kelseyers overconfidence, masking trauma, Breeze's aloofness, Sazid's devotion, Pam's lighthearted philosophizing, you're able to connect with each character in a meaningful way and see them progress through a story and experiences and grow and change in ways that make sense. That's really my favorite thing about Mistborn. Everything makes sense. Everything connects. Even looking back from the ending. An ending which has made me weep like a baby every time because it's so beautiful and perfect. It all is exactly the way it's supposed to go. Sanderson's writing, particularly in Mistborn, has the type of twists that once you read them, your shock you didn't see them coming. Surprising, but completely inevitable. Reading Mistborn for the first time is great. Reading Mistborn for the second time is astounding because you notice all of the hints that he drops from the very first page telling you exactly how it's all going to go down. But you completely glossed over the first time you read. Also, I love the fact that it's not just an isolated story. Of course, Mistborn takes place in the wider Cosmere, so it's connected to all that. But Mistborn, Eras 1 and 2 are what last airbender and legend of Korra should have been. Seeing the natural progression of a world through history, how the magic fundamentally impacts society is so incredible. Making magic modern and eventually even postmodern is something we've never really seen before. And I'm here for it. Amazing that Brandon hasn't watched Avatar yet. So why should you read Mistborn? It's amazing, it's engaging, it's insightful, it's relatable, it discourses on the human condition and the possibility of hope and triumph in the face of insurmountable odds. But mostly because I told you to. Read and find out. Or don't, whatever, I'm not your mom. You'll probably like it though.