'The Final Empire' in the 'Mistborn' series by Brandon Sanderson follows the story of Vin, a young thief with extraordinary abilities, as she becomes involved in a plot to overthrow the immortal emperor. Set in a world plagued by slavery, crime, and political corruption, the story unfolds with intricate magical systems and complex characters facing moral dilemmas and making compromises. The rebellion to dethrone the seemingly unkillable Lord Ruler and free the oppressed Skaa forms the central conflict, providing a mix of action, intrigue, and character development.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of oppression, violence, and some instances of abuse, particularly in Vin's backstory.
From The Publisher:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn series is a heist story of political intrigue and magical, martial-arts action.
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. Only then does he reveal 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, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
This saga dares to ask a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails?
Ratings (729)
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It Was OK (67) | |
Did Not Like (22) | |
Hated It (15) |
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24 comment(s)
The Magic system is very creative
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 10
Writing: 7
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 10
Enjoyment: 9
Avg: 8.14 = 4 Stars
[b:The Well of Ascension|68429|The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1619538925l/68429._SY75_.jpg|2120474] ★★★☆☆
[b:The Hero of Ages|2767793|The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628563911l/2767793._SY75_.jpg|2793516] ★★★★☆
This was my second time through this, and it was better the second time around.
The first time, I believe I was in my three books at a time mode, and that will not cut it for Sanderson books. You have to be all in when you do these, so this was my Audio book for my drive, and it was well worth the listen.
Brandon Sanderson does great world building and magic systems, and this has become such a great tool for his story telling, so that when you do stand back and look at the story, you realize that he covers his clever heist tale with a fantasy blanket and magical night light and tucks you into bed for a warm comfortable read.
Slow plot, boring
This really should be a 4 1/2. I got it as an audiobook and shamefully neglected my family while listening to it all weekend; it had that can’t put down thing. But… I feel like the magical system, while novel, is a bit contrived and that some of the characters make naïve, even foolish choices that A) they should be smarter than and B) should come back to bite them and don’t. Still, it’s the most fun I’ve had with a book in a while. I can’t wait for volumess two and three to be delivered in paper form today – it was frustrating that I can’t listen as fast as I can read.
4.5*
Too many tropes. Romance was superficial.
This is a hard one to rate. The last quarter of the book deserves at least three stars, but I almost put this down multiple times in the first hundred pages. There is a lot of set up in the beginning of this book, and with it comes a ton of telling instead of showing. Sanderson has set up a complicated world and magic system, but instead of showing the readers organically, he lays it out like a syllabus or outline.
His characters have interesting moral dilemmas to wrestle with, but they lack depth. The book is a combination of Ocean's Eleven and Lord of the Rings, but hero Kelsier is no George Clooney or even Frodo, for that matter. There's no
there there.
So why did I finish it? Because his plot somehow got its hooks into me, and halfway through I decided I had to know how it ended. And the ending -- is great. So now of course I have to read book 2. But I'll resent it.
4 stars
A world haunted by mists at night and raining ash in the day, where the common people, Skaa are oppressed and Nobility of Great houses flourish by immortal Lord Ruler's 1000 year rule. Lord ruler has gifted nobility the mystical power called Allomancy where one can burn metal inside oneself and get some supernatural powers. Some half bred Ska's too show these mystic powers.
Kelsier, a mistborn (who can burn all the 10 metals) survives Lord Rulers pits of Hathsin ,most hellish prison. He forms a group with Vin (another ska mistborn) and other mistings (his old thieving friends) and plans to destroy the nobility, the empire and the Lord Ruler himself.
The plot is very good, especially the starting and the end. The middle was a bit dull where there were only plans and things moved a bit slow. It was funny how Kelsier's secret meetings reminded me of my own team meetings. A captivating world with complex magic system and wonderful characters. Looking forward to reading the second book in this series
Happy Reading!
I don't think I have ever taken this long to read a book before! Almost two months to finish! I thought it was really interesting but it dragged on and on!
What can you read after
The Final Empire?
About the Author:
Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn® trilogy and its sequels, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning; the Stormlight Archive novels The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance; and other novels, including The Rithmatist and Steelheart. In 2013, he won a Hugo Award for Best Novella for The Emperor's Soul, set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time® sequence.
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