The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson – Spoiler Free Book Review

Rating: 5/5 stars

Genre: Adult fantasy

First published: 2006

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Synopsis: What if the prophesied hero had failed to defeat the Dark Lord?

For a thousand years the ash fell.

For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousend years, the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Every attempted revolt has failed miserably.

Yet hope survives.

An new kind of uprising is being planned, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the courage of an unlikely heroine who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a mistborn.

Book Depository | Goodreads

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I don’t know why I put this book off for as long as I did. If you’re putting this series off as well, you are doing yourself a disservice. Go read it. I don’t even know where to begin reviewing this book.

The premise was so freaking cool and refreshing. The setting is a sort of post-apocalyptic one, a thousand years after the “chosen one” failed to defeat the Dark Lord. I thought that was so cool, because we all know that the Chosen One always wins. We’ve heard that story so many times. And it’s not a bad story. I love Chosen One stories, but still… what if? Well, if you want to find out, this is the book for you.

I loved the characters and the relationships between them so much, they didn’t so much tug as yanked at all of my heartstrings. They’re all precious and I love them. I loved the dynamics of the ‘team’, it reminded me a lot of the dynamics between Kaz and his band from Six of Crows. In fact, the whole thing reminded me of Six of Crows, what with a heist being planned and the magic system as well, where each person had a specific type of ability.

Speaking of the magic system though, it’s really cool. Basically, they draw their power from metals that they ingest and can then burn within their bodies and each metal does a specific thing. It’s really unique and cool and made for some really spectacular action scenes. They were so vivid and dynamic, it felt like I was watching them rather than reading about them. And there are a lot of action scenes. It is so gripping and captivating and it just sucks you in. It had been a long time since a book kept me up until the wee hours of the morning, because I just could not put it down.

Another thing I really enjoyed were the paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter. They’re like little snippets of a different story that add on to the experience, and it almost feels like you’re getting two stories. And the way that those fit together with the main story and how they’re like little hints. It’s really cool. I can’t really describe it any better without spoilers (I will have a spoilerific rave review of this, for those of you who are interested), but it’s awesome. Just go read it and experience it for yourself.