Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

118 reviews

mads_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Does not pass The Bechdel Test

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Confinement, Drug use, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and War

kiwij96's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Having heard many positive reviews about this series and of Brandon Sanderson's writing, I thought I'd start here, as was suggested. Maybe I went into this with too high an expectation, but this didn't really capture my attention past the fifth chapter, but I stuck with it in the hopes that the story would progress or improve. It didn't for me.

There were chapters upon chapters of filler, and seemingly important pieces of plot or development often happened off-page. My favourite characters were the supporting cast pretty much, because they were the only ones with any personality (Dox, Clubs, Spook, Breeze, Ham, Sazed). The whole book was just a grown adult man relying heavily on the capabilities of a 16-17 year old child, and often putting her in harm's way for no reason whatsoever.

Some parts of the story felt either info-dumpy or unfinished, and, at a couple of points, repetitive. There was also the mini romance plotline which was just completely out of place.

Also the ending happened too quickly. After reading 500 pages on what was essentially dialogue (don't even get me started on the amount of times the word "said" was used), politics and "oh woe is me", the ending felt very rushed and as though even Sanderson wanted the story to be over.

However, the magic system was interesting and a great concept, and there was some good camaraderie between the crew members. But that was essentially 100 pages of enjoyment really so idk, maybe I should have DNFed, I'm sorry.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Mental illness and Rape

boredomandwordsofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is definitely a world I can see my self doing a full deep dive into, but let's see how the length of the books affects that.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Rape and Blood

dollarsignimp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism

loudmouthbooklover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

There was a lot of world building, but I did love the characters in this book and it made me hate characters too. But all in all it was a fun time. Be prepared to get a lot of information to digest but by the end love every second of it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Genocide, Torture, and War

ikiteahill's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The beginning of the book felt quite slow. Trying to follow the politicking and planning was a little convoluted and boring. But then the action picks up in the second half of the book and there's some really well written action scenes. I love the magic systems in this book and the concept of the world is really interesting (even if I don't fully understand how they grow food if all the plants are dead and brown... like, supposedly there are no flowers but they do eat fruit??). I really enjoyed watching Vin

grow into her allomantic powers

. And I loved Kelsier as a character and his relationship with Vin. Seized also became one of my favorite characters.

I don't know if I'll enjoy the next book with the two of them not in it. I would hope that Seized comes back from his journey soon to help Vin or that he gets some of his own main character time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Infertility, Misogyny, and Rape

Minor: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

lizdon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

njcowen's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Classism

tilo's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Minor: Rape and Sexism

rhogosch's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Der fulminante Auftakt der Trilogie der ersten Ära auf Scadrial.
Die Welt fühlt sich dunkel und hoffnungslos an. Und allein die Tatsache das ich beim lesen eines Sandersons nicht eben jenes klassische Gefühl von „Epochalität“ gefühlt habe, sondern die Verzweiflung der Figuren, steht schon für sich. Der Ideenvorrat des Sanderson scheint unerschöpflich zu sein. So bekommen wir in diesem Buch nicht eins sondern direkt zwei Magiesysteme, oder vielleicht auch mehr, die sich nicht natürlicher in die Welt einfügen könnten. Wie immer gleichen sie einer Wissenschaft und erscheinen zu keinem einzigen Moment unlogisch. 
Die Figuren sind gewohnt mit viel Liebe zum Detail ausgearbeitet und jede für sich ist iconic. Wieder einmal kann man ihnen beim Wachsen und Überwinden ihrer Schwächen und Vergangenheit während des Lesens zuschauen, bzw. wie sie trotz aller Fortschritte wieder fallen und erneut am Abgrund stehen.
Das Buch wird zu keiner Sekunde langweilig weil es immer wieder Wendungen gibt die ich nicht vorhergesehen habe und schlussendlich zu einem ganz anderen Abschluss kommt als man am Anfang dachte. Und auch wenn das Buch scheinbar in sich geschlossen scheint ist die Saat für etwas viel größeres mit diesem Buch gesät worden. 
Kurzum auch dieses Buch ist mal wieder ein Meisterwerk.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence