To start off with, Mistborn is like no fantasy book you've ever read. Though it has no excessively startling premise or blatantly self-mocking autofantasy tendencies, it defies genre archetypes more effectively than anything I've ever read. Sanderson builds his world in typical - if unique - high fantasy fashion, but then refuses to have it function the way a normal fantasy world would. Things simply do not turn out the way you would expect them to. For someone who has read fantasy all her life, the genre can usually be reduced into a predictable, if satisfying, A + B = C. Often, it is not even conscious, but when certain events occur, we expect a certain conclusion. Sanderson simply refuses to comply with the formula, building up events in a way one might expect, but ending in a totally different place than a normal fantasy map would lead.
To truly illustrate this point, I need an example. The story starts with your typical evil oppressive empire that must, impossibly, be taken down by a small elite team. A little more surprising is what happens when that team starts planning; Kelsier, the leader, calls "Brainstorming session!", pulls out a blackboard, and starts chalking down ideas.
More than its irregular tempo, which might not even be noticed by a non-fantasy reader, I'd say that Mistborn's most remarkable attribute is its magic system. It's pretty much the coolest thing you'll ever read in your life. It is based on a system of 10 metals, each of which has a very specific property. They come in complementary pairs: tin, for example, heightens senses while pewter heightens physical strength. The whole system takes on an unnatural level of realism because it seems to follow the laws of physics so logically. Iron, for example, pulls at metals near the user. If the object pulled is lighter than the user, then it will fly toward him or her. If the object is heavier then the user, then he or she will fly toward it. It just makes so much sense. The complexity increases when you realize that most people can't use all the metals. The majority of magic-users are Mistings, who can only use one of the 10 metals. Only a very few select people are Mistborn, which can use all the metals.
The final awesomeness that composes Mistborn is the characters. They all rock. The main character, Vin, perhaps is a little obvious. The shy, suspicious street rat that must learn to trust people. That transparency of character, however, simply serves to form a clearer glass for us to view the rest of the characters through. Near the beginning of the book Vin is suddenly thrown in with a high-class thieving guild run by a man named Kelsier, recently returned from the dreaded Pits of Hathsin, from which no man has ever escaped. Kelsier is one of the coolest people I've ever (not actually) met - hilarious, clever, and charismatic. The people who he has drawn to him are no less interesting. My personal favorite of the guild members is Breeze, a portly, over-dressed, and perpetually-irritated Soother (someone who can burn brass and therefore control other people's emotions).
All in all, the book is excessively compelling, surprising, and endearing. Even better, it's the first of a trilogy. The series as a whole (which I noticed as I was reading it and cramming for AP US History at the same time last year) provides a fantastic and unsettling lens for us to view our own history through: the causes and perpetuation of slavery, the aftermath of revolution, the imperfections of even the most idealistic government. You can read them for the epic mistborn fight scenes or look for deeper implications, but either way, READ IT.
