A review by samanthaardenlockheart
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-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

Continuing my renewed desire to read fantasy novels, I was so happy to finally jump into the Cosmere—starting with <i>Mistborn: The Final Empire</i> by the prolific fantasy author and academic soul, Brandon Sanderson. I’d been wanting to read this trilogy for so long now, but it was very intimidating to me. <i>Fantasy</i> itself has been intimidating to me for a whole host of reasons. And Brandon Sanderson himself has been intimidating to me, for so many reasons. His worldbuilding, magic systems, character arcs, and plot developments are known to be very complex and detailed… but now, I’m finally ready to jump into his work, after over two years of knowing about him. Romance books are usually my chosen genre of comfort, but I thought that switching back to fantasy after a few months of being away from the genre was going to be wonderful for me to experience. When I decided to start reading <i>Mistborn</i>, I had been going through a somewhat difficult time in my life, so changing things up with some magic and fantasy is something that I thought might really benefit my heart and soul; I really trusted that Brandon Sanderson’s beautiful words and stories would bring light into my life. Fortunately, I was right in my hopes of what he would do for me. ✨

(Anyway, thanks for reading that little excerpt about my life, my feelings toward fantasy, and my thoughts on Brandon Sanderson. Now onto the rest of this review.)

Because I have become increasingly bad at writing summaries—especially summaries of fantasy novels—I am just going to copy and paste the summary of <i>Mistborn: The Final Empire</i> from GoodReads here: “For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the ‘Sliver of Infinity,’ reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier ‘snapped’ and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark. Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot. But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.” 

Overall, I thought that this first installment of the <i>Mistborn</i> trilogy was a wonderful experience. I fell in love with Vin and Kelsier as I read through their stories, and the last line of this novel brought tears to my eyes! I am so thankful to Brandon Sanderson for changing my whole life through his beautiful storytelling! I can’t express how much I look forward to continuing my journey in the Cosmere! The next book I’ll be reading is going to be the second novel in this trilogy. ♥️