The Final Empire (Spoiler Alert!)

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SYNOPSIS:

In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with colour once more? In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage— Allomancy, a magic of the metals.

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REVIEW

(3 STARS)

Before starting my review, I want to say I read this book as part of a group reading (follow me on Instagram and message me if you would like to participate in a book club!). Even though calendars were tough to synchronize, reading this with Vale and Bea was incredibly fun as we were discussing things while they were happening, trying to piece together the events and raging about the characters we hated/ loved the most.

I think Fantasy is a great genre to read with someone else because you have a different set of eyes helping you build an unknown world, directing your attention to things you might've missed on your own. This book was especially good because it's also a mystery: you're given clues to what might be happening like you're playing Cluedo, and everyone knows that having a team is better than flying solo.

Idea (17/20):

I think Sanderson managed to create original types of powers, although most times I didn't appreciate the way he wrote about them since they were neither easy to follow, nor engaging (all the Pushings and the Pullings impeded me from immersing completely into the story because I had to focus too much on what was happening).

The way the society was divided reminded me of the Ancient Regime (the King as a God, the Nobility and the People), but it was something that made me enjoy the book more – besides being a Historian and appreciating this time, it was comforting to deal with something familiar in an unfamiliar world.

Plot (12/20):

Pace-wise, I think this book fails. For 500 pages nothing happens and were I reading it alone I would've given this book up for sure. We only get some action and some amazing plot-twists that blew my mind at the end of the book. However, it doesn't feel right to wait so long them, especially because, in my opinion, those 500 pages I mentioned above weren't used adequately: we have underdeveloped characters, an underdeveloped and flawed romance (between Vin and Elend), weird conclusions (Mare's betrayal explanation was weak) and too many repetitions (of Vin's insecurities or the crew's disbelief in Kelsier).

Characters (10/20):

Surprise, surprise: I hated our main characters! Vin because of her childishness and immatureness (she could've easily ruined it all because of her crush on Elend... I mean, she didn't know if he was good but she spilled her guts nonetheless). She's also the typical main character who aces at everything with the barest effort – she's the best Allomancer, the best fake noblewoman, the smartest, the strongest, the fastest.

Kelsier was tough to like because he was incredibly narcissistic with a pathological need to be the center of attention. However, at the end of the book, he surprised me and I have to admit I ended up liking him a bit – just a tiny bit, don't tell anyone!

However, what annoyed me the most was the fact that there were many underdeveloped characters (the crew, mostly). The story focused too much on Vin and Kelsier, making Ham, Breeze, Dox, and Spook, remarkably superficial and plain.

World (14/20):

Despite finding it interesting while looking at the maps, we barely left Luthadel so I can't judge it properly.

After discovering the Lord Ruler's diary, we had bits and pieces of information about the world before the Ascencion, but we have no idea how it is "now" (besides what we see in Lord Tresting's plantation).

I hope that in the next books we get to know the world better.

Writing (15/20):

Before diving into this topic, I want to tell you about something I discovered after finishing the book. Brandon Sanderson has a website with amazing content where you can find annotations about the Mistborn trilogy that I found very interesting, for they give you some behind-the-scenes of his writing process as well as of story. Nevertheless, I advise you to read the posts after finishing each book because some may contain spoilers!

Now to the writing. Even though I don't appreciate descriptions much, I think Sanderson managed to balance it well with the dialogues. His style is accessible and fun, even though I think he repeated himself at times – the Pullings and the Pushings, like I said above, got in the way of my experience as a reader.

I also feel like his plot-building was very similar to "Steelheart", published after, in 2013: the way he details the plan and lays it all down. I don't know, I feel like I've seen this before so it wasn't very refreshing and it certainly didn't feel new.

TOTAL: 68 = ⭐️⭐️⭐️