A review by machen27
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I found this book incomplete despite it's length and the depth at which it explores the lore. The main character, Vin, didn't seem very believable to me, especially considering the sections dealing with court intrigue. I think one of the big issues here is that I feel like Sanderson does a LOT of telling, but not a lot of showing. I wish the book explored better the ramifications of how the world was setup with how long it is and how slow the pacing felt. Instead it felt very one dimensional: the Skaa are downtrodden after 1000 years of oppression. The nobles are generally at best, too busy with court intrigue to care about anything else. I just felt like there were so many interesting themes (is it right to kill people complicit in oppressing others if they have never known another way? Is stability more valuable than freedom or equality?) to explore and Sanderson decided to write a long drawn out action movie instead. 

I think it's interesting enough to read but I doubt I'll be able to finish another book.
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