Mistborn: The Final Empire

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Rolling in with a host of fresh new concepts to justify extraordinary (magical) feats, Brandon Sanderson proves once again to be powerful author in the genre. Mistborn follows the rise of a slave rebellion in a land ruled by a theocracy of metal "burning" Allomancers and one failing god. The concept of toppling gods is, of course, of interest in this story, but the more fundamental draw is maintained by the rogues gallery of would-be heroes who frequently lapse into the type of witty verbal sparring that indemic of the Robin Hood pattern of merry outlaws. On top of it all rests a progression of character development that easily keeps the reader from getting bored with the political machinations which can get drawn out entirely too long by other modern writers. While the book does come to a definite ending, with sufficient closure to be satisfied with it, there is a very large loose thread left hanging to make room for an even more epic sequel. I'm looking forward to it.