maralaene's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
However, writing a spoiler free review is turning out to be…incredibly difficult! I have so many thoughts and even more questions that I can only hope will be answered in the next books.
Definitely worth a read (or a listen in this case! Highly recommend) if you love complex magic systems, found family, and unexpected twists in a fascinating story.
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Violence
caskraft's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Infidelity, Death of parent, Child death, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War
nirellis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
So my specific ratings:
Beginning of the book: 4 stars
Middle of the book: 3 stars
End of the book: 5 stars
“Lord Tyrant. I represent that one thing you've never been able to kill, no matter how hard you try. I am hope.”
- Kelsier
Kelsier ily <3
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, War, Abandonment, and Death
Moderate: Torture
fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Vin and Kelsier as the main characters, a newby and a master, are a great way to give exposure and explain things to the readers, too, without it seeming out of place. And having them both as the POV characters is also a great way to show their relationship developing. And I loved their (father-daughter) relationship and also the other relationships in this book. The heist crew as found family planning a revolution, but also just joking around with each other was so fun to read. And the ball scenes with Vin and Elend were adorable and gave me YA-vibes.
I liked that, with the heist crew and rebellion leader working togethere, there were interesting discussions about what is needed and ethical for a rebellion. And even the crew having varying opinions on it, like Kelsier and Vin treating the skaa guards differently. Also Sazed and his mission to find a fitting belief for everyone and his thoughts on religion as something that suits you rather than fitting yourself into one was really interesting. Both very cool ideas and a fantasy book is such a good place to explore different ideas and views.
Also, the writing was so good! There were scenes in the beginning, that made me wonder about certain truths the world/setting, that later got resolved so perfectly. And also some plot twists where kinda pretictable, but the the real plot twist would be so much more than I could have predicted. Which really made me feel respected as a reader, because the puzzle pieces where all there and it didn't just ocme out of nowhere. And there's questions left open for me to definitely read the other books in the series!
Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Slavery, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death, Gore, Torture, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Body horror
itsjustbethg's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, War, and Abandonment
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Infertility
risaleel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Slavery, War, Violence, Classism, Physical abuse, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Torture, and Trafficking
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Abandonment, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment
louisallama's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I did enjoy the ending, I thought it was a rather satisfying conclusion. I'm not sure Brandon Sanderson is the author for me though, because I personally find his writing very 'telling rather than showing' and while I don't always need a lot of flowery descriptions and deep character introspection, again, 640 pages is a lot to just be told what is happening. If you like books where you just turn your brain off and have the story happen at you, then you'll like this book.
And while I definitely didn't predict all of the plot twists, the one about
Spoiler
the Lord Ruler not being the one who wrote the logbookAlso the extreme amount of parallels between
Spoiler
this book and Brandon Sanderson's own SteelheartSpoiler
At the end it felt like I'd just read the same book in a different font.Moderate: Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Abandonment, Classism, Genocide, and Slavery
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Murder, War, and Death of parent
The 16 year old main character gets into a relationship withSpoiler
a man who is 4-5 years older than her and is a member of the class that oppresses herimskylow's review
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Child abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Racism
Minor: Kidnapping, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Rape
a_libraryghost's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Spoiler
Vin having the ability to take out the lord ruler by herself felt a bit unearned and unbelievableGraphic: Classism and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Slavery
Minor: Rape and Death of parent
meowster18's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The plot and character development is well crafted and beautifully blended. A beautiful found family story. The magic system is fantastic and simple. I strongly recommend.
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, War, Death, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror