Rebecca Hill

The skaa have been beaten into submission. They keep their heads down, work hard, and do their best to survive. Some dare to dream of something more in the Final Empire. Kelsier has begun to plan something larger than the Final Empire has seen in centuries - an uprising that will destroy the Lord Ruler and free the skaa from the meager existence that they are eking out. 

While he begins to build his team, he has once again recruited several men that have worked with him before, but he is also looking to bring on another member - one that has hidden powers, that they do not fully understand themselves. As he brings Vin into the crew, her demeanor is one of distrusting and wariness. She does not trust these men, even though they appear to be a lot closer than most of the crews that she has dealt with in the past. Her last crew was one of pain, hunger and humiliation. Members would sell you out for the smallest offense. Vin learned early on to keep her head down and keep to herself as much as she could. 

Kelsier has started a small rebellion, one that started with the killing of a nobleman on a plantation - while the skaa hid in their homes. He has built a name for himself. He is a survivor of the Pits. The pits of Hathsin are a desolate place, one where people are sent to die. The atium that the Lord Ruler hoards so closely is mined there, and it is worth a fortune. No one has ever returned from the pits before, so Kelsier has become a celebrity in the underground networks, a person who should not be alive but has defied all the odds so far. As talk of rebellion begins - Kelsier lays out a plan so daring, most think he has finally lost his mind and is wandering around insane. Death does not scare him, and yet he is willing to lead others into danger to accomplish the task that they have been asked to fulfill. 

As Vin and Kelsier begin working on the powers that lay hidden within Vin, she learns that she can do so much more than soothe the people around her. While it is a good power to fall back on, there are so many other areas that she did not know she could access. She is a Mistborn, an allomancer. Allomancy is the mystical power held by the nobility, granted to them by the Lord Ruler some thousand years before as a reward for their loyalty. Skaa are not supposed to have these powers, and anyone who shows knowledge of them without being of noble birth is slated for execution. While there are some skaa who have these powers, they are few and far in between, and they have to be extremely careful, as they are hunted by the Obligators and the Inquisitors, who stifle any form of rebellion or security risk to the Lord Ruler quickly. 

The plan? Draw the armies out of the city, put the major houses in a power struggle and war against each other, and then hopefully be able to defeat the Lord Ruler. The odds are definitely stacked against them, and the chance of actual success is slim. Vin is going to act the part of a noblewoman, and begin to infiltrate the noble houses, and begin to glean some information on the members within each household. Sazed, who is a keeper, begins to give her some pointers and tips on passing as a noblewoman from the countryside, the niece of a minor nobleman. As she debuts into society, she meets the heir of the highest house, but this young man is much different from much of the nobles in the city. He thinks differently, and prefers to spend his time with books instead of people. While she is not impressed with their first meeting, feelings quickly change and a small friendship begins to open between the two.  But the tensions between the houses are rising, and nobleman are beginning to turn up dead. It is only a matter of time before the entire city erupts, and the plans that have been laid so carefully by Kelsier, Breeze, Clubs, Dockson, Ham, and Vin are about to be swept away like the ashes that rain down on the city....



Oh my! My friends over at Gamerati have been after me to read these books for a couple of years. I cannot believe I let these go as long as I did!!! THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! If you have not read this book before, you need to do so! I was immediately transported into the book, and hours would slip by before I realized, I should probably be sleeping or working. In my head I kept singing “Radioactive” by the Imagine Dragons as I was adventuring through this book. Brandon Sanderson draws you completely into the pages of his novel, and does not release the hold he has over you at all. This is the first book in a series of three - so be prepared for an epic journey! Pack your favorite treats and drinks and settle back on your couch for a vacation that will leave you breathless. 

This is one book that honestly will make you sit on the edge of your seat and wonder what is going to happen next - the twists, the turns, the secrets.... they are all there waiting for you to discover them!!

Grab your copy today - and remember - There is always another secret....

The Grand Duchess Anastasia, has easily become the most famous of the Romanov royal family. Pampered, loved, princess, prisoner, missing person. She and her entire family were held in different locations, until one night, they disappeared entirely. Rumors began to surface that they had all been shot, and their bodies disposed of, but Russia was in war, and there was not enough man power, or willingness to look for them at the time.
A few years later, a young woman appeared who claimed to be the lost Anastasia, and the world exploded. Many believed her, many more did not. Court cases, interviews, movies, family members coming forward claiming she was someone else, but through it all the woman we called Anna Anderson stuck to her story that she was the lost princess Anastasia. True, she knew things that most people outside the royal circle would not know but that was not proof enough.
Until her death, she clung to the claim that she was Anastasia. She would not budge from her story, and she refused all offers of buy-outs from the existing Romanov family in Europe.

The story of Anastasia has long captured imagination, brought to life in numerous books and movies. But the true story behind the heartbreaking loss of the entire royal family was not put to rest until the 1990, and the early 2000's. While questions still remain, we know that none of the family made it out of the Ekaterinburg prison alive. The stunning performance by Anna Anderson, which lasted almost 50 years was not put to rest until several years after she herself had passed away.
While I enjoyed this read, I found it somewhat difficult at times to follow the extremely wonky timeline laid out by the author in the book. We were forwards, backwards, backwards some more, and then jumping forward, to fall backwards again. I found myself re-reading bits, to make sure that I had not missed anything, trying to piece all the information together. I have read on Anastasia before, but this almost felt more like a mish-mash of information, not as well laid out as it could have been. Still an enjoyable read, just be prepared for tangled webs, and the feeling of confusion as you read through.

This was an amazing read! I enjoyed learning about the history of books, and the stories of those who were woven throughout the pages.

Exciting and a fun read!

This was a great book! The lost civilization of the Maya is slowly revealed during painstaking trips and excavations - being shared through painted images and some of the artifacts that were brought back.

At first, I was not sure what I was going to think about this book, but the deeper that I got into it, the more I had trouble putting it down. I was entirely hooked, and stayed up way to late to finish reading.

Highly recommend this book if you are a history buff!

When one hears Jane Boleyn, they think of the wife that sold out her husband and sister in law to the traitors deaths that they might or might not have deserved, and another queen who she helped to deceive her husband. Instead, in Fox's book, we find a woman who was bound by family honor, a woman who was tied to her husbands family no matter good or bad, and who while serving another queen had to decide between obeying her queen or refusing to acquiesce and lose her position at court.

Jane's entire world was the court, and after the downfall of the Boleyn family, her fortunes seemed about at the end of ruin, she could barely survive, and would not be able to maintain the fabulous lifestyle that she had enjoyed while her husband was alive and before he was charged with treason and adultery. Instead of fading into the background, and hoping for a second marriage which would give her some relative comfort and quiet somewhere in the country, Jane clawed her way back into royal favor and regained her position in the new queens quarters. After the new queen Jane Seymour dies after childbirth, Jane was fortunate to serve the next queen, and after her subsequent divorce from the King, she served the final queen she would work for and who would eventually be her own downfall. Queen Catherine Howard was a foolish queen who fell in love with one of the members of the court. Instead of remaining loyal to her husband, Catherine found ways to be alone with her lover, who was eventually found out and after severe questioning was forced to admit the scandal, and both Jane and the queen were among the few who lost their heads over the affair.

Julia Fox brings out a different side of Jane. While we do not know much of what Jane Boleyn thought about life as a Boleyn bride, there are enough pieces of evidence left behind to view what kind of life she would have had. By learning about her father and the standards that he set for himself, it is not far fetched to think that Jane would have been raised with many of the same ideals, and those helped her keep her head as long as she did. Reading through this biography of her life was quite different from much of what I had ever heard of her. She was always portrayed as one who was evil through and through and who tempted those around her into doing things that they normally would not have done. Instead we find a woman, who is trying to maintain her way at court after her husband was convicted as a traitor, and who had learned the hard way that to stay at court meant pleasing those that one served, no matter what they asked. This was a great biography of her and had many new theories that before we not fully thought out or researched.