Sazed shook his head. "Men are more resilient than that, I think. Our belief is often strongest when it should be weakest. That is the nature of hope." 
 There is no other way to sum up this book other than incredible. 
 The synopsis is a simple one, one that has been done many, many times before. A nation is ruled by an evil lord, the Lord Ruler. The majority of the nation are slaves, the skaa. A group of people work to overthrow the Lord Ruler. 
 I have read so many books lately that have the exact same concept (An Ember in the Ashes, Throne of Glass, Tigana, to name a few). But this book does it so well. What sets it apart are two things: 
 One: The magic. In Sanderson's world a few noblemen, and an even rarer few Skaa people have a power called Allomancy. They can drawn on metals that give them certain supernatural powers, such as enhanced physical abilities (strength), changing other peoples emotions ect. Most people only have one of these abilities and they are called Mistings. However, an even rarer person can access all the powers, and they are called Mistborn. The concept of Allomancy is so well thought out and original. One of the main characters, Vin, just discovers she is a Mistborn and (much like Harry Potter) she is trained in Allomancy and we learn as she does. What is at fist confusing is, in the end, so clear and it is obvious the amount of thought that Sanderson has put into the magic. It all makes sense and the world really conforms to uniform rules. There are no holes in the magic or the world building. 
 Second: The characters. What sets these characters apart from your regular, run of the mill rebels, are that this group are an elite group of thieves who plan to rob the Lord Ruler (and as a consequence take the city for the Skaa Rebels). Think Oceans Eleven or Six of Crows. 
 The story is primarily told from the points of view of Kelsier (the crew ringleader) and Vin, an orphan street girl who joins the crew when Kelsier discovers she is a Mistborn. 
 What I love about these two characters is that they merge an adult fantasy character with a young adult fantasy character so the book really appeals to both types of readers. What I love about Vin is that although she is a 16/17 year old girl in the book, and she does discover that she has powers, and she is more powerful than most, she has flaws. She fails. She's sad and lonely. There is a little bit of insta-love in there, and that did annoy me a little bit, but it also played into her character a lot. She is a sixteen year old girl, after all,and they do fall in love easily. I also loved that she never once thought to herself how ordinary looking she was. I hate when authors seem to want to make a point that the leading female is "plain" looking or "ugly". What's wrong with a girl being pretty and knowing that she is pretty?! 
 I loved Kelsier. I really did. He is the charismatic, handsome, powerful leader of the group. He is also proud and self-indulgent and, a quirky flaw, tardy. He just made so much sense to me. Everything he did I really understood why he did it. 
 The plot was masterful, full of unexpected twists and turns. I loved the aspect of weaving the book with snippets of the Lord Ruler's logbook. It really personified the Villian as well. All the secondary characters where full of life. 
 I cannot wait to read the sequels. I hope they are as wonderful as this one was. 
 Sazed shook his head, walking over to stand beside her "Belief isn't simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief - what is faith - if you don't continue in it after failure?" 
 Vin frowned. 
 "Anyone can believe in someone, or something, that always succeeds, Mistress. But failure... ah, now, that is hard to believe in, certainly and truly. Difficult enough to have value, I think."