The Final Empire - By Brandon Sanderson

Overview of The Final Empire - By Brandon Sanderson

"The Final Empire" is a 2006 work by renowned author, Brandon Sanderson, and is the first novel of the "Mistborn" series. The book starts with the simple premise "what if evil won?" It takes place in the dystopian "final empire," ruled by the omnipotent "lord Ruler," an apparent sliver of God himself.  We meet the all powerful despot centuries into his immortal reign, in this time he has created different classes of people, with the evil noblemen said to be the descendants of those who helped him rise to power 1000 years previous. The aristocracy rule over the "skaa,"  an almost indistinguishable group of humans, who are forced to either work on plantations in the country, or live in squalor in the cities. The nobility exert total control over the Skaa, with beatings and executions met without repercussion. The law of the land are the Lord Ruler's "obligators" and "steel inquisitors," with the obligators being tattooed-overseers of all dealings, marriages, purchases, etc and the steel inquisitors being the policing force of the Lord Ruler,  who are near invincible individuals, whom have steel poles protruding from their eyes, which plays a part in the special abilities they possess. The novel primarily follows "Kelsier," a skaa/noble half-breed "Mistborn," a person who can exert control over all elemental metals, giving them numerous powers; increased strength, mental influence of others emotions, ability to see partially into the future, near flight, amongst other powers. Consuming metal flakes allows a mistborn to stock their reserves and fully use their powers. Kelsier is the leader of a successful skaa thieving crew, comprised mostly of "mistings" (people who only have access to one of the elemental metals). The crew seek to recruit "Vin," a skaa street urchin, unaware of her mistborn abilities, in their most dangerous scheme yet; to overthrow the Lord Ruler.



Cover of The Final Empire By Brandon Sanderson








Plot of The Final Empire, from the Mistborn series






 Review of The Final Empire By Brandon Sanderson

Positives

  • The writing of the novel immediately feels dystopian, the megalomaniacal nobility exerting total control of their skaa inferiors, the lack of ordinary sunlight, the regular fall of ash from the sky, mostly-barren soil, etc. A multitude of factors contribute to the overwhelming sense of doom associated with skaa and noble alike.
  • Sanderson seemingly creates and expands lore with every passing sentence. "Allomancers" being those who can exert control over metals, steel inquisitors having uncanny power whilst seemingly being impaled, "Terrismen" being subjugated the to Lord Ruler's wrath, being forced to near extinction through castration and specific breeding programmes, etc. The numerous facets of lore creates the feeling that the empire truly is millennia-old and much is still unknown to the reader
  • Metal being used to give the user great power is unseen before in literature, and is an interesting way to explain one's origin of unique abilities 
  • The growth of the character "Vin," is palpable in the book, from an abused street urchin, to a extremely powerful "noblewoman."

Negatives

  • The sole negative I can think from the book is that the pacing is slightly slow. The first 80% of the tome sets the foundation for the rest of the series and is fairly slow moving, whereas towards the end of the book a quick crescendo is reached, twisting and turning before reaching a final conclusion. This could be off-putting for less patient readers.


Overall

Overall the book is extremely well written novel, that takes unexpected turns throughout, with subtle clues hinting at information revealed towards the final chapters. Even upon completion of the book, the reader is left with multiple questions. The follow up to this book "The Well of Ascension," takes place a year after the events of the first in the series and was released in 2007.



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