tiny pink books

Mistborn:  The Final Empire (Mistborn Book 1)
by Brandon Sanderson, Tor Books 2006

My sister, who is the most voracious reader I know, gave me this book for my birthday in August.  Yes, this means that it took almost six months before I opened it up and read it.  I was mostly worried that I wouldn’t like this book because I thought, based on the title and the cover alone, that it would be a boring fantasy epic full of all the stereotypical cliches of wizards and castles.  I am happy to report that I was wrong.

First of all, Mistborn: The Final Empire  is the first book of a trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, which follows the adventures of Vin, a 16 year old thief turned heroine in the wonderfully creative world of the Final Empire.  Vin begins as a timid, yet strong, street urchin who has grown up in a tough world and survives by trusting no one but herself.  Vin is recruited by Kelsier, a powerful Mistborn and a leader of a great thieving crew to ever work the empire.  With Kelsier’s help, Vin discovers that she is a Mistborn–a person with the powerful ability to swallow certain metals and burn them to obtain super human powers.  With Kelsier as her mentor, Vin discovers a whole new life with her powers and her new family of friends as they  attempt to start a revolution and destroy the evil Lord Ruler of the Final Empire.

The plot of Mistborn: The Final Empire manages to stay an exciting page turner from start to finish (a noteworthy trait for a 600+ page book).  The world Sanderson has created, and the powers he has given his characters, are really fun to read.  Although it is undeniably a fantasy epic, I do think this is one of those genre books that has quite a lot of crossover appeal.  While I don’t think Mistborn is for everyone, I think that it will appeal to readers who are open to fantasy, but not necessarily exclusive to it.  I’m thinking grown up Harry Potter fans (especially of the later books) and maybe even readers of the recent vampire books.  While not a YA book, some young adults will certainly enjoy this work.  Vin is a strong female character who is thoroughly enjoyable to read.  Not for anyone seeking a a short or super serious work, this fun adventure makes a great commute book.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Faber and Fraber, 2005

I had been meaning to pick Never Let Me Go off of the shelf for a while now.  I haven’t read any of Ishiguro’s other works, but I’d head so many good things about the quality of his writing that it was time to give it a go.  I wasn’t disappointed either.

Never Let Me Go is the coming of age story of Kathy and her dearest friends from school as she vividly recounts her memories from childhood, where they all grew up in a boarding school-like environment together.  The story is set in a dystopian Great Britain, though the details are laid with such expert subtlety, that the true darkness of their existence is revealed slowly, in touches here and there.  Kathy grew up in Hailsham, a mysterious school set out in the countryside.  The children are encouraged, almost to an irrational degree, to create art, there is no trace of parents, and there are several other details to the setting that make you realize that Hailsham is not a normal boarding school environment.  That said, the children have relatively normal lives.  Kathy recounts every emotional detail, especially within relationships with her close friends Ruth and Tommy, of her childhood.
While the book is told almost entirely in the past tense, it is completely compelling and engaging.  Ishiguro’s writing conveys to subtleties of emotion with such control that makes the book become more and more wrenching as you read on.  By the end of the book, I found myself feeling swept away in the emotional power of Kathy’s memories.  Also, Ishiguro keeps absolutely subtle with the dystopian details of the society he has created, layering them to build to a final and heartbreaking conclusion, making this book work more as an emotional tale than a science fiction novel.  Never Let Me Go reads like an adult take on The Giver, though the details of the characters and their worlds are completely different.

I would recommend this book to readers seeking something simple and easy to read, yet emotionally deep.  Although I would not say that Never Let Me Go has an action based plot, there’s enough human action that even readers seeking drama regarding relationships will probably be satisfied.  Readers seeking a fast paced plot or a more detailed, science fiction style dystopia will probably be a little disappointed, but I have to admit that, while Never Let Me Go was filled with controlled subtlety, it still managed to be a relatively quick page turner.

(winner of a 2005 ALA Alex Award, named best fiction novel of 2005 by Time Magazine)