Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

71 reviews

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.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Kidnapping, War, and Torture

Minor: Rape and Blood

teyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Genocide, Child death, Physical abuse, and Death

Minor: Rape and Body horror

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.

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

naomi_k's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Blood, Death, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Child death, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Death of parent

spencelikesreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

had I read this book in 2006 or idk even 10 years ago, I probably would have enjoyed a lot. Most likely a 5 star read. But I didn’t I read it now. In 2024 and I just don’t think this book hit like almost everything I saw about it said it would. And truly I think it’s themes of a revolution and the oppressed rising up just does not hit the same from someone who has not had the experience of it overtly. There are surface level aspects about it I think are fun and really good. I enjoyed the storytelling for the most part, pace didn’t really bother me. I did find all side characters far more interesting than both our two main protagonists. I’d say one day I’ll probably see where this series goes but it did not leave me feeling like I just HAD to continue it immediately. Overall, I can see why someone would love it, it was alright to me. But I’d be willing to see how he’s grown as an author and read more recent works than these. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Confinement, and Gore

Minor: Sexual assault, War, and Torture

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

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Content Warnings

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

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.

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Sexism and Rape

myrini's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Violence, War, Blood, Death, Slavery, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Classism, Sexism, Vomit, Child death, Sexual violence, Rape, and Racism

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Okay so I really enjoyed this book, however there were a few things that prevented me from giving the full five stars, primarily the fact that the beginning was on the slow side and the magic system was very confusing to understand until about 100 pages in when it was finally explained to the MC. It was also a little tough to keep track of all of the characters and perspective changes until about halfway through. Once I got past all of that though, really a fun fantasy adventure with a unique magic system, compelling plot, and some great characters! Though I could do without the 5 year age gap between Vin and Elend, and I wish it passed the Bechdel test. Definitely gonna read the rest of the main trilogy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Slavery, and Classism

Moderate: Blood, Abandonment, Grief, Body horror, Misogyny, and Gore

Minor: Rape, Child death, and Sexual harassment