Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Final Empire

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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stephaniemcuervo's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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knerys's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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toastyghosty13's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I have heard a lot of great things about Brandon Sanderson, so I gave this book a try. Although I did find it slow at the beginning, the magic system, the world building, the main characters, and the mystery were what kept me reading until the end. It was completely worth it, because the ending left me wanting so much more, but in a good way.

The prologue sucked me in, starting with the point of view of an unnamed character and giving us a glimpse of the class hierarchy of this world. Slavery of a race for the nobility is the main driving force of the economy, and this unnamed hero is trying to change that. He goes on to become one of the main characters.

The other main character is a 17 year old girl named Vin, who starts off as a street urchin and thief trying her best to get through life unscathed. She grew up with a bad home life, having a mother who tried to kill her and succeeded in killing her younger sister, and a brother who physically abused her but taught her everything she knows about thievery. Her father was some nobility out of the picture. Vin is smart and capable of taking care of herself, but is stuck indentured to a thieving crew desperately looking for a way out.

Vin and

Kelsier

, the previously unnamed hero cross paths and this is where the story begins. There is hope, betrayal, fights, romance, and found family themes in this story, which makes it so enjoyable. The magic system adds to this, since it is something unique and has so much to build off of. The mystery behind the entity known as the Lord Ruler, is strange but also enticing. There is a lot of world building that made it a bit slow sometimes, but then the story takes off and doesn't stop. I have heard that this series only goes up from there, so I am extremely excited to read more of it once I get through some other books on my TBR.

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