Hi booklovers
I know it's been a while since I did a book review (over a year :-s ) but I don't always find the time to properly write down my thoughts on the books I've read. (I first write them by hand and then type them and since English isn't my native language, this can be time consuming :-s )
The book I'll be reviewing today is a book I've read twice in the last two years:
Title: The Final Empire
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre / audience: High fantasy / adult
Format: paperback
Pages: 647
Release date: July 25th 2006
Story:
In a world where ash
falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the
land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the
shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they
fill the world with color once more?
Characters:
Vin: she's a Skaa girl who knows she has powers, but at the same time doesn't know the full extent of them. Vin is one of the characters that goes through a huge character-growth, going from a shy and scared girl to a confident Allomancer. But even though she becomes more confident, she is still flawed: she doubts herself, she makes mistakes... We also get to see her in different settings - Vin the street urchin, the Allomancer and Valette the young courtier.
Kelsier: he's a flamboyant Skaa who wants to overthrow the Lord Ruler. He's also an Allomancer and Vin's mentor. From the moment we meet him, all his plans seem to be crazy. But when it comes to it, he is actually a master strategist. It was very interesting to see what drives him to do the things he does. I love how we also got his backstory. At the same time we also see how he mentors Vin and prepares her for the future he has set in motion.
Sazed: he is a very intriguing character. At first you think he is an Allomancer but he's actually a SPOILER Feruchemist. Sazed is one of my favourite characters from this trilogy. He's always so calm and always wants to help. I love how he is Vin's second mentor and how he basically plays the part of the father she never had.
Elend: he is not your typical nobleman. He doesn't enjoy all the balls and social gatherings he has to attend. He shows defiance by reading during those gatherings, which I thought was great. He also dares to question things. He wants to know more about the Skaa because he doesn't want to follow the mainstream opinion about them blindly.
The Lord Ruler: We only get a glimpse of him but from that glimpse we can tell that he is a very complex and multilayered character.
SPOILER I never realized the servant is actually the Lord Ruler himself.
Crew members:
I'm not going to go into detail about the other crew members, because there are quite a few of them. What I will say is that I love how they each have very distinct personalities. Even though they sometimes seem to be one anothers opposites, they complement each other as well. Every single one of them has a role to play and each one is a piece of the puzzle.
Plot/worldbuilding/overall rating:
I have to admit that I was really daunted by the size of this book and I was afraid that this would be a slow read. The book proved me wrong on both things. It is so well-written and the worldbuilding is so good that it actually reads fairly easy and fast. Alternating between the physical book and the audiobook also helped speed up my reading.
I did find the magic system a bit confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it, it was more comprehensible. That being said, it was also unique and intriguing. Allomancers can burn metals in their stomach and use the powers associated with the metals (there is actually a whole description of the metals and their allomantic use included in the book).
SPOILER An Allomancer can only use one kind of metal, but a Mistborn can use all ten metals.
There is a budding romance in the story, but it definitely isn't the main focus of the story.
Needless to say I loved this book and I rated it
both times I read it.
Have you read this? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.
Bye for now
Annelies
This is Mark Lawrence's venture into YA sci-fi and I enjoyed this a lot. It takes place in the 80s and being an 80s kid myself some things were familiar. I actually listened to the audiobook of this one and the sequel and only recently got the physical copies. I also pre-ordered the final one on audio and I'll definitely be getting a physical copy as well.
