Review : The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson

Publisher : Gollancz 

Release Date : October 1st 2009 (First published in June 25th 2006)

Genres : Fantasy

Pages : 647
Rating : ★★★★★

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.

MY REVIEW :

The Final Empire was on my TBR for a couple of years now. I'm sure that just like me, you have heard about its greatness but still, I wasn't sure whether I should pick it up. Sam over at Tsundoku books gave me the push I needed to finally start the serie and I can't thank her enough for that.

The hype is well deserved. I think everyone who loved Six of Crows will also love this one. The story follows Kelsier, the leader of a thief crew determined to achieve the impossible : Take down the Empire.

What I loved the most about this book are the characters. I loved every single one of them. Yes, even the vilain. A lot of authors underestimate the effect a great vilain has on a story but the vilain is as important as the main character and the Lord Ruler didn't disappoint me. He's one of the most ruthless vilain I've ever read. He's not even considered as human. He's immortal and feared by the whole Empire. The author thought about everything. His backstory, his personnality, his powers... Everything makes sense. He's an awesome vilain for an epic crew. I loved fearing his Inquisitors, everytime they were in a scene, I was anxious for my beloved characters.

I'm sure you've heard the famous phrase "show, don't tell". Well, I think this book is the perfect example of it. The author doesn't just tell us "this guy is one of the best", he shows us what this person does that the others don't. When I closed the book, I didn't have any questions left unanswered.

Let's move on to the crew. I felt invested in every one of them. The cast is balanced and has a great dynamic. They are more similar to a family than a regular crew and as a reader, I felt like a part of their amazing team. I loved being at the center of all the strategies and scheming they had to make but even though we're in the front row the author still keeps some secrets from us.

The character developpment is insane. The most obvious would be Vin's and Kelsier's but the others changed as well. Taking down a whole empire is no easy task after all. Oh, I realized I haven't mentionned Vin before. She was originally in another crew and basically she doesn't trust anyone. What she's learned from her previous experiences is that you will always get betrayed if you let your guard down. She's very wary and made me think of a lost puppy. I loved her developpment and her personnality. She's sassy, strong-willed and made it to my top 10 female characters.

I didn't expect enjoying myself so much while reading it. There are some hilarious scenes but also very deep and emotionnal ones. I found myself eager to know all about the original magic system and the world in general. Ash falls from the sky, guys, how cool and creative is that ?

Overall, I really loved this book. Its originality is refreshing and the author makes us think about different concept such as good, evil and power among others. I have a weird ship that's probably never going to happen (Vin/Sazed forever ~) but I still look forward to continuing on with the serie.