It is believed that millennia ago, the Lord Ruler gave a special gift to his closest allies, those who had helped him seize power. This gift known as Allomancy allowed those chosen to ingest special metals that could be used to enhance the person's abilities. One metal for strength, one metal to control emotions, one metal to enhance the senses. These abilities were hereditary and those few so called Mistings who have the power to use metals in this fashion, typically only have the ability to control use of one metal. An extremely rare power is that to use all of the different metals, controlled by the Mistborn.
The story of Mistborn begins with a small crew of skaa rebels who survive by thieving. This crew begins to work with the skaa underground rebellion. Through the leadership of one powerful skaa Mistborn, Kelsier, they begin to have success affecting the kingdom and dream of someday overthrowing the Lord Ruler. Kelsier finds a timid skaa thief named Vin who he believes initially to be a Misting, but soon enough he releases that she too is a Mistborn. Together Kelsier and Vin, along with their dedicated, hard-working, and close-knit crew, eventually deliver the skaa from their seemingly endless oppression.
This story was top-notch from beginning to end. It is one of those stories that stood out for its originality, its wonderful character and world-scape development, and its layered and detailed approach to laying out the narrative. I definitely give this my highest recommendation. The next story in the trilogy is called Mistborn - The Well of Ascension.
