Mistborn

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Vin grows up as a fugitive of the Final Empire, a totalitarian regime ruled over by the divine Lord Ruler. Once he was mortal, the great Hero of Ages who saved the world. Now, a thousand years later, he rules through his merciless Steel Ministry. Even the privileged nobles, descendants of his long-ago comrades, are wary of the Ministry's power.

Vin is a half-breed: half noble and half Skaa, a slave race. Half-breeds are killed immediatly upon discovery. Some nobles can wield Allomancy, a magic based upon metals. These Mistings use metals to manipulate the physical or psychic world around them. Mistborn can use all of these metals. The Lord Ruler wants to make certain no Skaa are born with Allomantic powers, so the Ministry tries to keep the bloodlines pure. A few, like Vin, always slip through.

She's found a precarious position as a "good luck charm" for a thieving crew, but their newest scheme brings her under the scrutiny of the Ministry. The Ministry seems to guess her secret; not only is she a half-breed, she has powers. The "luck" she wields is Allomantic in nature.

Before the Ministry closes in, she catches the attention of Kelsier, the Survivor of Hathsin. He earned his nickname by surviving the Empire's deadliest prison. Not only did he come out of the Pits of Hathsin alive, he emerged with his Mistborn powers awakened. Now he's determined to bring down the Final Empire. He's assembled a group of Skaa Mistings to pull off this rebellion and he wants Vin to join them. But can a girl who trusts no one and nothing believe in his impossible crusade?

Mistborn: The Final Empire is followed by The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages.