Mistborn Revisited: Reflections on a Reread
Sometimes a reread shows you the book; sometimes it shows you yourself. Mistborn did both
I love a good reread.
There is a certain comfort in returning to a story you know and letting it unfold. But not every book feels safe to revisit. Some are best left in the memory of what they were, preserved in that happy first read space you left them in. Picking them up again can bring me a twinge of fear. What if the magic is gone? What if all I see now are the flaws?
Mistborn (or the Final Empire) was the book I was most worried about picking up again. I barely remembered the plot, but I had this lingering memory of loving it so much the first time around — and that combination made me nervous. Was it best left there, with teenage Gabby, who devoured books without a shred of critical thinking? Or was it time for a revisit?
On the other hand, I’m fond of Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea, was a great read and I have enjoyed some of his others books too. So, with mixed feelings and anticipation, I picked up Mistborn again, ready to continue this ambitious reading project.
The happy news is that I had a lot of fun with it. Mistborn is fast-paced, engaging and has a great magic system (one that I still really enjoy). I found myself reconnecting with old friends. Vin, in particular, who was my heroine during my teenage years. The crew felt like a family I could escape to whenever the world was too hard, and they welcomed me back with open arms. I was delighted to still be caught by surprise by certain plot points (turns out I had forgotten a lot!), and there were also those anxious moments when you do remember what’s about to happen — which somehow hits harder, because you know what is coming and nothing can or will stop it. Overall, I found that Mistborn held up well, and it deserves its place on the list.
However…something had changed for me.
I had the realisation (again) that we don’t stay the same as readers. Over time, our tastes shift and stretch in a million different directions before they begin to settle. I’ve seen this in myself a lot in the past few years. The genres I’m drawn to have evolved and my attention to prose has sharpened. Impeccable writing matters more to me now than it ever did before.
This reading project has been part of that change. I have found authors who have really demonstrated how much this changes a story and how it can make it unforgettable. I’ve spent time with authors like Guy Gavriel Kay, Ursula Le Guin and Peter S. Beagle, whose prose is nothing short of elegant, and with writers like George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien, who masterfully weaves together plots, characters, and dynamics into a story that lives beyond the page.
It’s unfair to compare Sanderson directly to them as his storytelling is very different. As a reader now, I can’t but help noticing things in Mistborn that feel a little lacking, things I never thought of when I was younger. If I had to point to specifics, it would be parts of the plot and the love interest.
Warning: minor spoilers ahead!
Mistborn is undeniably a fast paced book, filled with action and battle scenes that keeps you engaged. But at times, I felt that important events happened off-page or were wrapped up too quickly. There were a few moments where I thought, if only we had seen this play out more fully, the story would have been even stronger.
And then there’s the love interest and here is where I «meet myself at the door» as we say. Teenage me adored that Vin found someone she loved, someone to open up to and share her life with. Adult me, however, couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Really? You talk to him twice and suddenly he is the man of your dreams? A dream, by the way, that the story never actually hinted at before, no mater how many chapters we spent inside Vin’s head. It ended up feeling a bit rushed and shallow. Elend is not my favourite character, to say the least.
Still, Mistborn remains a great book to read and yes, I would recommend it to you if you are on the fence about it. This reread did not disappoint me, instead, it gave me some more clarity about who I am as a reader now compared to then. It also gave me this itch to return to The Lord of the Rings (yes again). Breanne Rodgers is hosting her annual read along starting tomorrow! Or reread A Song of Ice and Fire, or just any other book that gives me that special kind of magic I desire in a fantasy book.
Until next time,
happy reading! ✨
