Review by moominquartz - Mistborn: The Final Empire

moominquartz 's review for:

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

3.0

adventurous 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: Yes

I really went into this book with an open mind, but I struggled with it. While the characters are strong, the world building and the neoliberal politics really made it difficult to get into.

On one hand, I really enjoyed Vin. The flaw of being unable to trust is one of my favorites, and I liked seeing her grow to trust the group. Kelsier becoming a surrogate father figure for her was so sweet. And I liked that Kelsier listens and learns from her as much as she learns from him, and that

she keeps him from going down a corruption arc

.

That said. This book's worldbuilding was annoying -- specifically its magic system. It just pissed me off. I had some complaints about the mechanics of it that didn't make sense throughout the entire book. Even near the end,

where it's revealed there's a reason for the elements that don't make sense,

I ended up just being miffed that I had to put up with an ill-explained hard (allegedly hard) magic system.

Then there's the politics. At first I thought this book was being pretty damn leftwing. It's about a violent revolution of the monarchy. The nobility violently oppress the lower caste of people (the skaa), enslaving them literally and underpaying the free ones. (TW: Sexual violence)

It is a rite of passage for young noble men to rape a skaa woman, who is then executed to prevent interbreeding.

It gets pretty dark about the type of oppression going on.

At one point Vin goes undercover to infiltrate nobility, and develops a connection with Elend. She tries to tell Kelsier that Elend should be spared, and he reminds her that all the nobility benefit from the oppression of the skaa and won't want to end the current system. This is later proven when Elend reveals he sympathizes with the skaa, but he isn't a "house traitor" -- he won't betray the nobility. He intends to change it from within, but he acknowledges it will be decades before he even has a chance to have that kind of power -- and even when he does, it would be a slow change. And in the end, the rebellion compromises its goals by putting Elend on the throne. Which ends up implying that completely overhauling the system is incorrect, and that change from within is more morally just.

So... while I did enjoy the characters and a lot of the plot twists, the politics and the illogical magic system drag it down for me. Also, Vin is the ONLY female character in the rebellion, which seems rather silly.

Content Warnings