Note: This review may contain spoilers that may make you want to use your Allomantic powers against me. Proceed with caution.

I first listened to The Final Empire at the recommendation of my husband on our road trip through the UK two summers ago (remember traveling?). We listened and I can confidently say that I didn’t truly like it very much. You see, I have a challenging time listening to fantasy novels on audio. Attempting to picture the worlds, creatures, magic systems that are so unlike the world I know and experience is extremely difficult for me and this hang up held true while listening to the first and second book of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Saga. I knew after reading The Stormlight Archive, and experiencing how incredible Sanderson’s writing truly is, that I had to give his other wildly popular Mistborn Saga another try. As someone who is just starting to get into more epic fantasy tales, I’ve found that they are quite addicting, so it wasn’t long before I closed Rhythm of War that I picked up The Final Empire and started to embark on my next epic fantasy journey.

To start, I love how dark this book is. Compared to The Stormlight Archive, I found that this book tackles much darker themes with more blood and gore and showcases truly evil characters. Though I wouldn’t consider it a grimdark series, it’s darker elements brought me in and captured my attention. The world we find ourselves in is one with a red sun and constant ash falling from the sky. It’s dark, gloomy, and extremely atmospheric.

I love the magic system of this series. Allomancy, or the ability for people to ingest various metals and “burn” them, allowing for magic abilities which enhance physical or mental strength was such an interesting idea to wrap my head around. I enjoyed learning about the different metals, their uses, and how they effect the user. With this being my second Sanderson series, I can confidently say that he does an incredible job creating a scientific magic system that is interesting to read without being confusing.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book were it’s main characters. We have Vin, a young skaa girl who grew up thieving and living in the streets, and Kelsier, a half skaa-half noblemen with a dark past and a life changing, seemingly impossible dream. Both of these characters have been through traumatic experiences and I found that these two main characters were the perfect juxtaposition to each other and how they handle their past experiences, with Vin being extremely cautious of trusting anyone and believing that everyone will eventually abandon her and Kelsier’s connections to his friends and found family. Sanderson’s ability to write characters that I truly care about is utterly astounding.

I am a sucker for a great villian, hell, my favorite character in Game of Thrones (both TV show and book series) is Cersei. I find villainy to be extremely interesting. What motivates someone to become a villain? What lengths are they willing to go to chase that motivation? How does the villain interact with the main characters? I would argue that the Lord Ruler, this book’s main villain, is also an auxiliary main character in The Final Empire. While we only get small glimpses of him throughout the novel, he is at the center of most conversations and he looms over the entirety of Luthadel, woven into the the fabric of these characters’ lives.

Brandon Sanderson has created a world with a strong female lead character, a delightfully complex, yet easy to understand magic system, a nasty villain, and on top of all of that, gave us a beautifully woven found family trope. This book was a pleasure to re-read and I got so much more out of it than I did when I first listened to it on audio. I can’t wait to continue the series.

When I first read this book back in 2019, I rated it four stars. My new rating is now five stars.

This book would be great for you if you like: Any thing by Brandon Sanderson, hard magic systems, villains, a strong female lead, found family.