A thousand years ago evil came to the land and has ruled with an iron hand ever since. The sun shines fitfully under clouds of ash that float down endlessly from the constant eruption of volcanoes. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk are condemned to lives in servitude, sold as goods, labouring in the ash fields.

But now a troublemaker has arrived and there is rumour of revolt. A revolt that depends on a criminal no-one can trust and a young girl who must master Allomancy – the magic that lies in all metals.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

Another book that’s been sat on my Kindle for some time now, Mistborn/The Final Empire is a high fantasy book set in a wider series. In a world ruled by the Lord Ruler, a man believed to be invincible and many centuries old. The Mistborn are a class of people with the ability to ingest and burn metals to give them augmented abilities. Through in a host of political manoeuvring and this had the makings of a great book.

It has all the hallmarks of an engaging series for me – magic, political wrangling and rebellion involving a cast of characters each with their own problems, troubles and flaws. It has a real ebb and flow about it as the power shifts all the time as the book develops. Like any first book in a series such as this, it does have a lot of description to it to help explain the political situation and how the magic system in this world works. But none of this detracts from the actual story.

While other stories such as The Hobbit offer a more hopeful tone to their fantasy tales, this one was much darker. It made it a somewhat heavier read, but was no less entertaining. A fantastic way to build into an epic world and series I hope!

My rating: