Spoiler Free Book Review – Mistborn: The Final Empire

Hello hello! Welcome back y’all!! Today, I’m going to be reviewing Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. You’ve all seen me scream about how awesome and believable this book was, so let’s jump right in to my finally full review.

Book: Mistborn: The Final Empire

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Genre: Epic Fantasy, Adult

Summary: 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.

This saga dares to ask a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails?

This review is going to be spoiler free, but I will include spoilers in a drop click section if you do want to see my final spoilery thoughts.

This book was amazing, but there were also some aspects that I was pretty frustrated about.

Kell. The wonderful star of this book who definitely has a few loose screws since he obviously is determined to die and kill everyone with him with this ridiculously unbelievable plan to overthrow, not even a mere House, or King, or Emperor, but the actual Lord Ruler himself.

Even at the start of the book when I didn’t even know who the Lord Ruler was, I knew that it was a really really bad idea to even think about overthrowing him.

But that’s Kell for you. Determined to beat the odds, and right the wrong, and save the skaa with everything that he has.

I loved his determination, and I loved how he was a great leader for the crew. He listened to their ideas and implemented them. He didn’t just come up with the plan by himself and order this guy to do this and that guy to do that.

He asked them for their help and he used their ideas to make a plan. That is something I haven’t really seen in Fantasy, and it was awesome.

The second MC of this wonderful book is Vin. She’s really shy, quiet, and at the start, she was scared. And that was amazing but also really saddening at the same time. Amazing because here we have a Fantasy heroine who doesn’t slit people’s throats for a living, or is, from the start, a no nonsense awesome fighting woman.

We have Vin who is the exact opposite of that, and it was kind of inspiring to watch her grow through-out the book. It was nice to see that being quiet or shy isn’t all that bad, and that it doesn’t stop you from becoming a powerful person.

It was also saddening though, because it was kind of a by-product of her brother’s abuse. Her scared inability to trust anyone, after spending years with her brother drilling it into her, and then actually leaving her to prove his point-that was horrible to read about and see, since it obviously affected her so much.

I’d love to meet her brother one day and just have a little conversation with him 🙂

Out of the crew, I loved Ham, Dox, and Sazed the most. Ham, I don’t know why, but I just respected and really liked him. Dox, for being practical and saving the’s group’s behind. Without him, they would never have survived. Sazed, for being Vin’s companion, for being wise, and for being a walking encyclopedia. One thing that I didn’t like though was his constant “I think”; I wish he spoke more confidently, and that he was more sure of himself. But again, he went through so much as well, so it’s not unusual.

I didn’t love the rest of them as much, but the banter and jokes were everything. It made them seem like one big mismatched family and I loved it. Here they were trying to overthrow the Lord Ruler, yet they still had time to tease, make fun, and just in general, healthily de-stress and step away from the insaneness that was going to ensue.

---

The only character that I was really disappointed by, and who contributed to this not being a 5 star, was Elend. Elend had so much potential and he could have been great! But after his first introduction, it’s like he disappeared and that was it.

He went from #1 Most Interesting Character Who Could Provide A Lot of IDK, Something! to a nonexistent bland side character. I also hated how he was such a convenient pawn at the end. That was really bad.

The plot was great. I liked watching the plan come together, and then slowly unfold. This wasn’t something that happened in the span of a day or a week. It’s something that took months of planning and that was a welcome change from the rash plans that usually only take weeks to put together.

The Allomancy was AWESOME. It was so real, and believable, I can actually see it working in real life. It’s not like I’m going to go swallow metals or anything, but Sanderson did a great job in making it very plausible.

Maybe because there was like a scientific side to it or something, but I can totally see it working in the real world. It’s the first “magic” system that I’ve read that was incredibly well-thought out and explained. I hate it when a magic system is introduced, but then not fully/properly explained, but Sanderson went above and beyond to fully explain it to both Vin and us, the readers okay, maybe I am inclined to go swallow some iron or copper.

The world-building was also pretty neat, and again, Sanderson’s thorough development made it incredibly real. It wasn’t haphazardly done, it wasn’t just bare minimum, it was real and rich and awesome.

the amount of times that I’ve said awesome or amazing in this post 🤦🏽‍♀️

I really wish I had seen that coming.

I really really wish it wasn’t so shocking.

Because Kelsier is the biggest heartbreaking fool in Luthadel and I hated him for that ending. For making me doubt him, and then THAT twist, and ugh. I’m still not okay.

The rest of the crew thought that the idea of freeing the skaa got to Kell’s head. I thought that yes, it was getting to his head and that in the end, he’d become a tyrant similar to the current Lord Ruler they were trying to overthrow.

You can’t imagine the horror I felt when I saw that ending unfold. It was painful! Really really painful.

I can’t really talk about the ending, but just know that it was amazing and horrible at the same time. Amazing because [spoilers] and horrible because also [spoilers]. Read it to find out!

*note: Kell and Kelsier are the same person. Kell is Kelsier’s nickname.

And for my friends who have read it:

Click HERE for SPOILERS

I doubted Kell. I thought it was getting to his head. Can you imagine the horror and shame that I felt when he literally died for his cause??? He never even planned on ruling. He literally LITERALLY sacrificed himself for his cause.

And here I am, judging him, thinking that he might become just as bad as the Lord Ruler 😭😭

I felt really really bad, because there wasn’t a chance to like, apologize or whatever, I just, he died with me thinking that he might become a ruler similar to the guy they were trying to overthrow!!!

I’m still kind of pretty shocked about it, and I do really feel bad about it. Which is kind of…weird since, like he’s a fictional character? But I still do feel bad.

Besides that, I’m kind of surprised that the only thing keeping the Lord Ruler alive was the bracelets. That was something I didn’t see coming at all. Honestly, I didn’t see anything coming at all.

I’m also pretty upset that Elend’s sole purpose was to become the King after the death of the Lord Ruler. Like really?? During the whole story, he was only introduced so that he could become the King? Sanderson really messed up with him and that was disappointing.

I love how Vin changed though, and become incredibly bold and learned to trust her friends, her found family. Because really, that’s what all these wonderful characters are: one big bantering found family.

A family missing it’s leader.

I’m going to go cry about Kell now.

This was a really amazing epic fantasy novel. Pretty long, a bit slow, but still, I loved most of the characters, the plot, the world building, and the thorough explanation of Allomancy. Honestly, I don’t think my review does this book justice, because there’s so much more that I haven’t talked about, but this post is long enough as it is. These were the major things that I loved, and I really hope you pick this up and give it a try.

Because it is incredibly worth it.

One sentence summary: An amazing epic fantasy novel with great characters, awesome world and magic building, and a stunning reveal and ending.

4.5 Stars rounded up

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

That’s it folks! Hope you’re all staying safe and washing your hands!

Have you read any of Sanderson’s books? What’s your favorite one? What did you think about Mistborn? Please tell me I wasn’t alone in doubting Kell. How did you feel about Elend? Am I the only one that felt like Kell was an older & nicer version of Kaz? Chat with me in the comments below!