A friend of mine recommended Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn a few years back, but for whatever reason, I did not add it to my reading list until after Sanderson had been selected to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. I consider myself a fan of fantasy, but I am often extremely skeptical of the epic fantasy sub-genre because a significant percentage of it tends to be derivative (see: Brooks, Terry; Eddings, David; Goodkind, Terry). The gold standard for me would be either George R.R. Martin or Robert Jordan, as the two moved epic fantasy out of the zone of hackneyed Tolkien rip-offs and into territory that was original and far more interesting.

So hearing that Harriet McDougal, Jordan’s widow, had personally selected Sanderson based on both his heartfelt online eulogy to Jordan and the quality of Mistborn, I knew he was someone I definitely had to take a look at. And I’m very glad that I did.

If Martin and Jordan are the heavyweights of their generation of epic fantasy authors, then Brandon Sanderson is one of the leading authors of his own generation. Mistborn offers up a wholly original setting based on the question: “What would happen if the Dark One won?” And while it does adhere to the traditional Joseph Campbell model of heroic fiction, it does set it in an unusual world where ash falls from the sky and strange mists and creatures fill the night.

At its heart, Mistborn is a heist novel, where a crack team of thieves bands together to attempt the impossible — the destruction of the Lord Ruler and his Final Empire. And as trite as that may sound, the characters are so well-painted and compelling that they really are a cut above the traditional rogue stereotype found in epic fantasy, particularly works derived from Dungeons and Dragons.

Central among the rebels is Vin, a young girl who has discovered that she is actually a Mistborn, or Sanderson’s version of a mage and Kelsier, an older Mistborn and the charismatic leader of the rebels. Again, two mage/rogues would seem cliched, if Sanderson’s magic system and physics weren’t both so well-constructed and believable. Magic in Mistborn follows a strict set of rules and is never used in a way that isn’t completely believable. Often it can be employed as deus ex machina, but in Sanderson’s novels it has its limitations.

I don’t want to say much else about the book so as not to spoil it — but it is quite remarkable. There are great set-ups and pay-offs, and some of the climactic battle scenes are exhilarating to read.

The only downside for me is that I have four other books waiting to be read on my Kindle before I can get to the next volume in the trilogy. I tend to be a cynic when it comes to the genre, but I haven’t been this excited upon completion of a fantasy novel since I finished A Storm of Swords all those years ago.