Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

11 reviews

caitlinkm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Lots of effort put into magic system and physics behind it. Story set up for some detailed world building likely in later books. Subplots fed into main plot nicely. Would be interested in more female characters (barely passed the Bechdel test) and a more well rounded protagonist.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Torture, Grief, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Blood, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, and War

derik_rochlitzer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Slavery, Torture, Police brutality, Violence, Genocide, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An enjoyable fantasy novel, and one that I understand the immense popularity of. Sanderson's writing feels fast paced and easily followable. The world is fleshed out and of course there is the magic system, which is the series' principal selling point. Much of the plot focuses on the interactions of this magic system though, and sometimes entire scenes will be dedicated to explaining why a sudden plan works. It means most of the plot is airtight, but the trade-off is that other things don't get the same attention. The setting is a familiar one that we've all seen before - the elite rule over the inferior masses, and only the special few can save them. It's a recognizable structure, but that doesn't at all mean it's bad or poorly done. I liked all of the characters, though I can't say I loved any one. Hopefully the sequels can fix that! 8/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Gore, Grief, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, Body horror, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Mental illness, Blood, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Abandonment, and Stalking

dragonbornsandwaffles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

It lulls for the first third of the book or so while he's worldbuilding, but once things started to pick up, I quickly couldn't put it down. It's a very intense gritty fantasy (see content warnings for details - it's...a lot), and the characterization is so good that they feel like old friends. It does have a shock twist at the end, so if you don't like those, I'd stay away. It made me absolutely bawl like a baby for a good hour after I finished it. Fantastic book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Murder, Gore, Police brutality, Grief, Genocide, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Body horror, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, and Racism

Minor: Alcohol, Racial slurs, Rape, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Addiction, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Vomit, Torture, Cannibalism, Confinement, and Stalking

machewson's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Genocide, Body horror, Suicide, Classism, War, Torture, Violence, Slavery, and Murder

Minor: Ableism

handful_of_frogs's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, War, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death and Vomit

caitlinderocker's review

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Slavery, Torture, War, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Genocide, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

oliverreeds's review

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

blynecessity's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

Y'all, this read felt reeeal tone-deaf when it came to the topics of poverty and dealing with trauma. Also, very clunky writing. And why was there basically one woman in this whole book? Outside of random socialites, a couple of unnamed maids, and a girl who was about to be assaulted (who was also not named, just referred to as so-and-so's child), there are basically no women in this book. And the main woman was inexplicably and instantly in love with a mediocre and kinda rude man, who btw was a 21 years old to her 16 years old. Anywaaaayyy, non-noble women also seem to have almost no role in society aside from literally popping out "a dozen children"??? Where were they all the rest of the time?? Every background character seemed to be a man, and (with one exception) every foreground character was a man too. I just did not love this book, tbh. Maybe this was really progressive to the cis-het white men who were looking to expand their grimdark fantasy reads when it first came out, but this has nooot aged well!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, Stalking, and Trafficking