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A review by ethancf
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
Audio.
As my fourth Sanderson audiobook, I'm starting to question whether it's Sanderson or narrator Michael Kramer that I like. Kramer has a knack for bringing Sanderson's characters to life, infusing them with more characterization than there actually is in the text. It makes the books a total joy to listen to, but I realize now I've never actually 'read' one of Sanderson's books.
Anyways - the hype behind Mistborn is legit. The world is totally unique and features a very well developed magic system (even if the rest of the details of society are somewhat glossed over in this first book). It takes a while to start - things are happening right away, but Mistborn drops you right into the center of the narrative and world and you have to struggle to orient yourself to its novelties. Sanderson is an immensely talented worldbuilder but the downside is that the start of his series are disorienting until you can piece enough together to get invested in the narrative.
And this is one of his better ones. It twists a lot of fantasy tropes: not only does this take place in a world where the 'chosen hero' trope failed and the evil ruler actually succeeded, but it turns the narrative to take him down into a contemporary heist. This is an absolute blast and should be a breath of fresh air for veteran fantasy readers and a fun diversion for readers who just like heists. The thieving crew has a fantastic cast of characters that have great chemistry together (Sazed, Ham, Docks...easily some of the most enjoyable characters I've read from Sanderson). There's also a lot of detail about the heist, too - where a typical heist film uses a montage to go over a lot of the planning, The Final Empire takes advantage of being a fantasy-length novel and you get a lot of the intricate planning stages.
Sanderson also proves remarkably adept at writing romance yet again, as he takes my two least favorite characters in the series and suddenly gets me invested in their relationship. Between this and Words of Radiance, I honestly would be pretty cool with Sanderson writing a straightforward romance. The romance here isn't quite as good as it was in WoR (they don't talk about poop, for one), but I'm sure that it's continuation in the series will help with that.
Original, clever, and most importantly, fun. Looking forward to book 2!
As my fourth Sanderson audiobook, I'm starting to question whether it's Sanderson or narrator Michael Kramer that I like. Kramer has a knack for bringing Sanderson's characters to life, infusing them with more characterization than there actually is in the text. It makes the books a total joy to listen to, but I realize now I've never actually 'read' one of Sanderson's books.
Anyways - the hype behind Mistborn is legit. The world is totally unique and features a very well developed magic system (even if the rest of the details of society are somewhat glossed over in this first book). It takes a while to start - things are happening right away, but Mistborn drops you right into the center of the narrative and world and you have to struggle to orient yourself to its novelties. Sanderson is an immensely talented worldbuilder but the downside is that the start of his series are disorienting until you can piece enough together to get invested in the narrative.
And this is one of his better ones. It twists a lot of fantasy tropes: not only does this take place in a world where the 'chosen hero' trope failed and the evil ruler actually succeeded, but it turns the narrative to take him down into a contemporary heist. This is an absolute blast and should be a breath of fresh air for veteran fantasy readers and a fun diversion for readers who just like heists. The thieving crew has a fantastic cast of characters that have great chemistry together (Sazed, Ham, Docks...easily some of the most enjoyable characters I've read from Sanderson). There's also a lot of detail about the heist, too - where a typical heist film uses a montage to go over a lot of the planning, The Final Empire takes advantage of being a fantasy-length novel and you get a lot of the intricate planning stages.
Sanderson also proves remarkably adept at writing romance yet again, as he takes my two least favorite characters in the series and suddenly gets me invested in their relationship. Between this and Words of Radiance, I honestly would be pretty cool with Sanderson writing a straightforward romance. The romance here isn't quite as good as it was in WoR (they don't talk about poop, for one), but I'm sure that it's continuation in the series will help with that.
Original, clever, and most importantly, fun. Looking forward to book 2!