Mistborn Brandon Sanderson - does it cheer up?

[Montero]

Seen good things said about Mistborn, so got the first book out of the library. So far, and not very far in, there have been repressed serfs, ash falling from the sky, inquisition types and there is about to be rape and murder.
Not exactly cheery.

Does it cheer up, is there a cheerier second thread, or is the start of it a good indication of the tone of the rest of the book?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I wouldn't say it gets much more cheerful, but I found it good fun, although I was disappointed by the loss of a protagonist early on, and don't think the main protagonist lived up to them, but that's a personal thing, I think.

 

[Juliana]

I'm with springs on this one - not exactly cheerful but good fun to read. I quickly got hooked and read the three pretty much at one go...

 

[Montero]

OK, still in two minds about whether to continue.

Um - what makes it good fun? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

It's pretty pacey, the magic system lends itself to good fight scenes, and the supporting characters, plus the dialogue, are strong. Reasonably easy to follow, with some memorable scenes. I have tried some of his other tuff and struggled, though, but these i enjoyed.

 

[ratsy]

Read them! Of course Brandon Sanderson has quickly became my #1 guy to read. They do not get cheery , but they live in a world covered in ash so they must all have seasonal affective disorder or something! haha

I actually had to get a signed copy of the first book I liked it so much

 

[nightdreamer]

I'd say to slug it out a bit longer. I found it largely dismal, and some of it, especially Vin's early espionage, quite slow. And I agree with being disappointed at the early loss of the protagonist, but it actually turns out that he wasn't the protagonist so much after all. On the other hand, as others have mentioned, the magic system is innovative and leads to some interesting action. I found the trilogy much more appealing to the intellect than the heartstrings, and I certainly would have ended it differently. There are enough unexpected plot twists and revelations that keep it going.

 

[Tansy]

I must be twisted as I really enjoyed it, though he does explain the same things over and over which was a bit annoying

 

[Coragem]

Hmm, Brandon Sanderson "dark"???

Clearly my taste is quite different as I find him too light. Or at least a little too YA in tone.

I would continue. The latter part of the book is uplifting. There's some great heroism and a clever twist.

And back on the subject of cheery versus dark, great books need some sort of vehicle that generates emotion and passion. Often this will be suffering or violence, other times friendship or romance. But there has to be something there, and personally I wouldn't enjoy my reading if it was always biased towards the friendship and romance! I like heroism and that works a lot better when characters have to overcome true adversity.

Coragem.

 

[grandspeculator]

Montero,

Part of the issue is that we all have a different concept of what makes for "dark," or "dreary" read. If a series of books opens with ash falling from the sky and serfs working their dull existences away, that doesn't matter much to me personally. However, if the series ends in the same place, or worse, then I would consider that too dull/dreary. Sanderson has a tendency to take his readers through some somewhat dark territory, but ultimately he's an optimist. An optimistic realist is perhaps the best way to put it. As compared to, say, George R. R. Martin who seems to be pessimistic realist.

Hope that helps, there is light at the end of the tunnel in the Mistborn series, but you do have to be willing to trudge through some ash to get there.

Huge Regards,

The Grand Speculator

 

[Connavar]

Yeah Vin and Co was too light for my taste too. I like the world, the magic system but killing a mature protoganist and too much YA heroine and I couldn't really believe they lived terrible lifes they were suppose to have.


The ash and the cool magic system is only reason i will read book 2,3. So it depends on what you liked.

 

[Moggle]

Try getting past chapter 1

 

[Montero]

Thanks everyone.

Regarding darkness level - In general, people can have difficult lives and lots of challenges without it being wall to wall dismal. Glad to hear there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Regarding the ash, I know they are mentioning it having a bad effect on the crops (that the serfs are working on) but I was also having a bit of suspension of disbelief problem since ash in the sky is one theory of what killed off the dinosaurs. There is also mention of there being nice food for the higher ups - and that is supposed to come from the ash polluted crops? (My inner gardener coming out.)

That said, I'm going to give it another go - next weekend. This one I am just too tired for making efforts. Swapped over to a Tanya Huff I read a while ago.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Actually as a fellow gardener, i struggled with the concept, too, but i suspended ze disbelief and swallowed it. I am pretty forgiving as a reader that way, though, more so than most.

 

[nightdreamer]

Part of the issue is that we all have a different concept of what makes for "dark," or "dreary" read.

I agree entirely, but I view "dark" and "dreary" as completely different animals. Mistborn was dreary in parts (well, 90% of the parts), but I never for a moment thought it was dark. "Dark" is Clive Barker, which is certainly not dreary.

 

[Tansy]

I actually hated the ending lol, maybe I need dreary all the way?

 

[Northoceanbeach]

I'm starting Sanderson and I chose him because I thought he would be, as an above poster described, an optimist realist. I just read though three malazan books and they are so dark and depressing they made me feel bad about life in general. I just felt dirty. They are like shock value books.
I'm thinking Sanderson is going to be like Robert Jordan but maybe a little darker. Mahbe terry goodkind. Bad things happeb, But still the good guys won at the end. The light at the end of the tunnel. I need some light.

 

[alchemist]

The only Sanderson I've read is The Alloy of Law, which I believe is a follow-up to the Mistborn, and it's a hoot. This is not sarcasm. It was fun and action-packed and I loved it.

 

[ratsy]

I by no stretch would call Sanderson a dark writer. He always bring optimism to every dark situation. And by no means would I compare his writing style to Goodkind. Sanderson is not preachy, he just likes telling a great story.

 

[Bugg]

I think I would have liked Mistborn better if the second and third books had been edited down and condensed into one book. I felt the third book dragged on and on and I ended up really not enjoying it very much, having liked the first book a great deal.