Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Final Empire

Okay Brandon Sanderson fans, I get it. A lot of people told me I would love this book, and I did. I’m actually glad I went in knowing nothing about the content of this book, I think I enjoyed it more because of that.

I think the thing about this book that I loved so much is that it was really… accessible. It’s not like a lot of high fantasy that is overly indulgent and so much world building that you get lost in it. It’s really an excellent balance of magic/world building and just good street telling.

Lots of standard tropes here, which is definitely cool with me. But gosh, the characters were all so lovable. I love Vin so much.

This is part of trilogy but it works really well as a stand alone as well, if I felt I needed to leave it here. I will continue the series, but I don’t feel compelled to dive right back into it. I kinda like that.

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madelineeva's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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khymihr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.25

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tilo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was my first book by Brandon Sanderson and I understand the praise. The magic system is fascinating and I love that you do not only learn along with the protagonist(s) but discover that there are many mysteries revolving around it that even the characters have not figured out yet. Every storyline is intriguing and by the end, when all of them came together, the plottwists - some of them excruciatingly casually dropped (in a good way) - had me audibly gasping. The plot unfolds in such a clever and seamless way - truly inspiring for my own creative writing!
I enjoyed the characters. For a good first part of the novel, I found them not very likeable (which is not something I need in a novel, anyway) but that made them seem more real and complex. From the first page, I wanted to learn more about them and became very attached to their plans and hopes.
The ending finished the main story line of the book but kept so many mysteries open and introduced new problems that I cannot wait to read more about in the second novel.

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