Tharindu Dissanayake's Reviews > The Final Empire

"I don't know a lot about kandra."

When I usually begin a book, no matter what kind it is, I crank my expectations up to the maximum level possible. Obviously this habit, more often than not, ends up a monumentally stupid one since it is a guaranteed way to be disappointed when you are believing all that hype diving in. To be fair, I do a fair amount of background research before start reading, but with opinions on books being almost always highly subjective, it not easy to pick the correct ones. My journey in to Brandon Sanderson's work started exactly this way: full of positive expectations but still apprehensive about the 'mysterious mists' swirling around. I was so nervous about starting this, or not having my taste in Epic Fantasy good enough to truly appreciate the work, or even where to begin it all. Well, it looks like all the worrying was for nothing! And all the hype is well deserved!!

"It always pays to stay near the Smoker."

To the uninitiated, like me, Cosmere could appear quite overwhelming, especially if you're a 'completionist' kind of reader hoping to get everything right. However, I was lucky enough to have two super-fans of Sanderson among my GR friends, who were very kind to help me not with just where to start, but with a few alternative ways to continue the entire journey depending on how I enjoyed the books. So Mel and Anna, thank you again for everything! And if anyone is looking to start Sanderson, look no further than the second comment here where you'll find the best possible path.

"Pure knowledge is not the equivalent of skill."

So moving on to the actual review... The only time I've been this happy with the world building of an Epic Fantasy was when I was reading Bardugo's Six of Crows where I enjoyed every little detail about Ketterdam. The Final Empire brings a massive, vivid, and detailed world which captivated me effortlessly from page one. Honestly, the world building alone could tempt most readers to give a perfect rating to the book, for, as dark and gloomy as it is, this is a place where one could fictionally reside indefinitely. In my opinion, it's somewhat rare for the modern fantasy to have such imaginative, but at the same time logical, believable and fictionally habitable world building. I shouldn't be surprised given how much Sanderson is known for 'epic' epic world building, but I still am.

"When you get to be my age, you have to be very careful where you waste your energy. Some battles just aren't worth fighting."

Then there were the characters. Had there ever been a better gang of characters having intriguing and contrasting traits but at the same sharing a strange harmony between them to make them complement each other? I know I haven't read a ton of fantasy yet to consider myself an expert, but the only time I could recall having enjoy such a band was with Tolkien's work. Planning and scheming wasn't that mind-blowing to be honest, but it was the characters that made the difference. I was a little shocked at the end from something that happened out of nowhere, but I guess it was a sacrifice made for the sake of preserving realism. It also helped Sanderson came up with a cunning way to make the plot more diabolical while partially appeasing the reader.

"Men rarely see their own actions as unjustified."

Moving on to the plot and magical system. I'm not saying either of world building, character development, plot, or magical system is clearly ahead of the rest, for everything seemed up to the same standard. Nonetheless, if I had to pick a winner, it would be the magical system (and the plot). I know those are two things, but for me, they were closely woven together, probably due to the fact that this was my first Sanderson book: understanding bits and pieces of the magical system felt like a major part of the story... though this might change during a future re-read. As I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to those detailed sci-fi stuff, I really enjoyed the Allomantic theory parts and how the author came up with different concepts to build different connections. I hope I haven't seen the last of the system being augmented.

"I can't believe people read books this big."

Looking at the length of the book, I had initially assumed the story would be having a moderate or a slow pace. Thankfully, that was not the case. Book was divided in to several main parts, sometimes making relatively long time jumps from one to another, allowing certain events to take place in the background. This in turn made the pace much higher than it would've been otherwise. Hard to believe how the author had managed to come up with this many non-stop sequences of events for a book this long. It was so immersive that I've completely forgotten how long this was while reading. And I loved those teaser bits at the beginning of each chapter too. They added another dimension of mystery to the flow from a completely different time line, not to mention Sanderson managing to bring the two together towards the end masterfully.

"That's a stunning dress. It's almost as beautiful as you are."

Now for the complaints... well, there aren't any, major or minor, perhaps with one tiny little thing I would've been happier to see handled differently: the romance bits of Vin with, well I'll stop at saying another character I'd refrain from naming to make this spoiler free. I didn't like the way how Vin's character suddenly switched from completely logical and safe to obvious kind of romantic. But then again, considering that's how it is usually with love, may be I shouldn't be too critical.

"The trick is never to stop looking. There's always another secret."

Like I mentioned before, The Final Empire marks my starting point to Sanderson journey. Obviously it's too early to compare with other books as alternative entry points, but I'm really glad I got the recommendation to start here: I'm completely hooked after one book, and cannot wait to see where Cosmere would take me, with an immediate jump to Well of Ascension.

"New tastes are like new ideas, young man - the older you get, the more difficult they are for you to stomach."

"You still have some things to learn about friendship, Vin. I hope someday you realize what they are."