Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (Tor 2006).  I just finished this fantasy novel at the recommendation of a reader comment (see comments for the November post ”Luke Skywalker vs. Edward Cullen”).  Mistborn is Book 2 of Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy series, and it’s a great read.  The main character Kelsier combines the brash devil-may-care adventurism of Indiana Jones with the roguery of Robin Hood and the fighting talents of a ninja as he battles against the evil Lord Ruler. 

The capital city of Luthadel, reminiscent of Dicken’s industrial England, is a filthy city full of crowded slums where the people known as skaa live enslaved to a corrupt noble class.  These nobles in turn are controlled by the Lord Ruler and his reign of terror.  The dashing Kelsier and his band of thieves combine forces with the skaa rebellion to overthrow the government.  They plot the ultimate heist-the overthrow of the government and a raid on the treasury which they believe is full of the priceless metal atium.

Why does Kelsier think he can win against impossible odds that have defeated so many?  Because Kelsier is a Mistborn-an elite magician who has the abilities to “burn” ingested metals to activate his powers.  Burning iron or steel enables Kelsier to “pull” and “push” on metals so he can climb up buildings or push off a coin and leap superhuman distances into the air.  Other metals heighten Kelsier’s senses or enable him to influence the feelings of others. 

Mistborns apparently are a rare lot, so when Kelsier discovers Vin, a beaten slum-rat thief of a girl, he takes her under his wing and mentors her.  She becomes his sidekick and a critical member of the team.

I don’t read a lot of fantasy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Great characters, great setting, great plot.  And while I found myself skimming the fight scenes, I’ve read blogs that said the fight scenes were their favorite part.  Anyone who likes the fast paced moves of an action flick will love the fight scenes. 

We all root for the underdog.  We all want Frodo, Harry Potter (and Wilbur the pig for that matter) to win.  But what is the price of success?  Read Mistborn and find out. 

Comment on Mistborn or other fantasy books you love!

I thought long and hard about the topic for my very first blog.  Something special.  Relevant.  A fascinating topic with mass appeal.  So it had to be Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. 

The just-released blockbuster movie is raking in major bucks ($70.5 million in the first week alone).  Meanwhile Robert Pattison (vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen) has been attacked by rabid female fans, crazed-Beatle-mania style.  Not sure he realized what he got himself into when he decided to be the repository for all women’s dreams.

Stephenie Meyer’s phenomenally best-selling clean-teen books, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, are a cross between a romance and an action thriller.  They tap into female’s deepest desires for the perfect man.  So he’s a vampire.  Who cares?  Finally the homely, nobody girl wins the hottest, sweetest, smartest, most romantic boy in the whole school (ok, in the whole world).  Ah, the joys of fiction, where dreams really do come true, and Cinderella really does meet and marry her handsome prince.

But what about the boys?  I’ve heard of a few guys who read and even enjoyed Meyer’s books.  I’ve even heard of a few more who dared to be seen at the movie.  But not too many of these mavericks exist.  Most guys I know and have talked to have a) zero interest in even opening one of Stephanie Meyers books; or b) tried them because their sister or girlfriend forced them to and universally agreed: “Twilight sucks.” 

So what do teen-age boys read?  “Do teen-age boys read?”  I hear you ask.  What book would make a teen-age boy stay up late into the night, sacrificing sleep (but not food, of course) to finish that page-turner?

Teen-age guys spend inordinate amounts of time shooting at virtual things on screens.  And guess what?  They’ll also spend inordinate amounts of time reading about fictional characters who shoot at things. 

Star Wars novels teem with characters who’ve got tight weaponry, awesome firepower, and crazy-fast ships.  To grasp the basic plot of these books, think about any Star Wars movie you’ve ever seen.  Change the name of the character, the planet, the bad guy, a few details and voila!  A new novel.

 For example, in Star Wars: Ambush at Corellia (Book One of the Corellian Trilogy), Han Solo, Princess Leia, and their children return with Chewbacca to Han’s home planet of Corellia.  Han finds his planet on the brink of civil war and it turns out that the bad guy happens to be Han Solo’s cousin.  “As jammerships block all communication with Luke Skywalker and the outside universe, Han and Leia find themselves trapped on a world about to explode in violence unless the can meet a fanatical Rebel leader’s impossible demands . . .”  You get the picture.

Well over a hundred Star Wars novels have been written by various authors, usually as series (The New Jedi Order series, the X-Wing series, Young Jedi Knights series, etc.) or trilogies (Jedi Academy trilogy, The Corellian trilogy, The Black Fleet Crisis, etc.).  You might have a hard time finding them on your library’s catalog.  Our library carries many of these mass media paperbacks, but doesn’t list them in their catalog.  So you have to go to the library and hope they have one you haven’t read.  Many guys just end up buying them.  Twenty, thirty, forty of them. 

So move over Edward Cullen.  You may be the Mr. Darcy of Dracula.  You may have killer looks and a personality girls would die for.  But there’s one thing you don’t have.  The Force.

Do you know guys that read Star Wars novels?  And . . . did you think the Twilight movie was as good as the book?