Damn, what a book.
Sanderson always manages to bring out my most voracious reading tendencies, and The Final Empire was no exception. Usually, when the climax of a book approaches, I hunker down, dedicating all of my free time to a book like a junkie looking for a fix. For this book, this process began much earlier. At about the 30% mark, I realized how badly I'd fallen for the characters, and read the rest of the book (~370 pages) over the course of three days.
I mentioned characters earlier, and I will hold to the opinion that they are what Sanderson is better at than anything else. Better than magic, worldbuilding, plot, etc. Character is his forte. This is clear in TFE.
Vin and Kelsier are an incredible duo of protagonists. Kelsier's bitter optimism and Vin's struggles with trust mingle in a wonderful dance, which leaves you hoping for both characters to leave the other a happier by the end of the book, which they do. Specifically, Vin finding a place in the world with people she loves, and Kelsier finding peace in self-sacrifice are two of the best character arcs I've seen, and I'm only one book in.
As a side note, Kelsier's letter to Vin after his death, while not necessarily as impactful to me as certain moments in Stormlight, made me tear up.
Sazed is also brilliant. He's effectively an exposition machine with the most emotional maturity out of anyone in the cast, and it works better than I would've expected.
Vin truly is lucky to have two great dads.
Also worth mentioning, all of the side characters are grand. People like breeze, marsh, ham, and dox help fill out the main cast, and do a tremendous job of selling the idea of the “found family” trope
The magic is good too, but I prefer stormlight's to be honest. It'll almost certainly be expanded in future books, but as it is, it doesn't particularly stand out to me as a strength of the book. Feruchemy is far more interesting than allomancy in my opinion, even if it is less explored.
All in all, 5/5. Great read.
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