The Final Empire (Mistborn #1)

By Brandon Sanderson

Read by Michael Kramer

Reviewed by Gabby

                                                                       Get the Final Empire on audio here

The Final Empire Overview:

A thousand years ago evil came to the land and has ruled with an iron hand ever since. The sun shines fitfully under clouds of ash that float down endlessly from the constant eruption of volcanoes. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk are condemned to lives in servitude, sold as goods, labouring in the ash fields. But now a troublemaker has arrived and there is rumour of revolt. A revolt that depends on criminal that no-one can trust and a young girl who must master Allomancy – the magic that lies in all metals.

The Final Empire Audiobook Review:

STORY

IDEAS

CHARACTERS

NARRATORS

STORY

The Good:

First of all, I love the ideas behind this story. Allamancy, magic with metals is really interesting and unique. It makes magic more like a science and therefore more realistic to me. Burning certain metals will allow you to do certain things, so it’s a bit like having a selection of super powers that you can turn on and off. Secondly, the setting. The world where the Lord Ruler (the bad guy, who’s ruled for centuries) is in charge. As a result of his rule the Skaa are oppressed, beaten, killed and forced to work in plantations whilst living in poverty. The Skaa are the descendants of those who tried to stop the Lord Ruler ascending the throne. This point got a big tick from me. All too often in fantasy, the author will point at something and say: ‘him, that’s the bad guy. He’s all dark and scary’. But they don’t tell us why this guy is bad, we don’t get why they need to be defeated/overthrown/killed, we just accept that they need to be. For me, the Lord Ruler was a great bad guy. Very mysterious, you discover very little about him except that he’s been alive for thousands of years and ruled the land with an iron fist. It’s interesting because it seems like this is someone who cannot actually be defeated, so you then become more involved in the story, wondering how things are going to play out. The world described made me imagine a dark and dirty city, ash everywhere and everything grey. Although it sounds depressing, The Final Empire can be quite vibrant at times. The nobility are ridiculously lavish and the mistborns who rule the night are incredibly mysterious. There’s a whole host of steel inquisitors which are one of Sanderson’s more terrifying creations. They’re humans that have been given the power of Mistborns (Mistborns can use all their metals) and immortality. But in order for them to get these powers, they undergo some kind of transformation which leaves them with steel spikes driven through their eyes, which help them detect Allamancy. These things might still have a human (ish) body, but there is nothing humane about them. Whenever Vin or Kelsier came across one I became so tense, because the Inquisitors were so powerful, so ruthless in their manner and fighting and so obviously cruel.  The Steel Inquisitors penchant for torture is… disturbing. Part of this impression I think is down to the prologue of the third Mistborn book, which I accidentally started listening to thinking it was the first. Stupid move, don’t do that, you’ll ruin the first for yourself. Anyway, the only thing about the steel inquisitors description was that it immediately made me think of something like this:

I mean, as if they had big long googly telescope eyes. Once I visualised it, it was very hard to un-visualise. I really liked Vin, she was a strong female protagonist and an interesting character. She’s distrustful of everyone and very quiet and private. But then you also get to see a new side to her when she imitates a noble woman and it becomes clear that, even though she’s spent her life an urchin, wearing boys clothes and boys hair, she likes luxurious things. She likes pretty gowns and shoes and makeup. I thought it was nice to show Vin had a very feminine side to her. Usually strong, lead female protagonists like hunting and wearing trousers and have no time for love. Vin however can be a woman who loves hair, makeup and beautiful gowns, and one who relishes a good fight.

I expected some great plot twists and Sanderson didn’t disappoint! The ending was incredible and the mystery solved (part of it anyway). The Final Empire has some of the most unique ideas in fantasy and I hope it encourages authors to start branching out a bit.

The Bad:

I was in two minds about the Mistborn series and it wasn’t until I was nearly at the end of the Final Empire that I decided that i liked it. The problem was that I had just finished listening to Words of Radiance, another book by Brandon Sanderson and I expected Mistborn to be just as epic, just as detailed with really interesting characters. Sadly the Mistborn series is quite a step down from the Stormlight Archive. But I think if i’d listened to them before the Stormlights I might have had a different opinion. Unfortunately I didn’t, so listening to Mistborn after Words of Radiance felt like moving back into your shitty student flat after a week in a luxury hotel. So I would definitely recommend that you listen to Mistborn first, because the Stormlight series is so good, it will pretty much ruin all his other work for you.

It really took me a while to get into this audiobook. Honestly, i started it at a bad time. I was due to go overseas and anxious about it. I really can’t listen to audiobooks when i’m nervous or anxious because my feelings distract me and I can’t get into the book. But once that was all over I still found that the audiobook could drag sometimes. There were long monotonous passages where nothing really happened and things got repetitive after a while. Some people think that Sanderson writes the best fight scenes in fiction today. I disagree, I felt like I’d already heard the fight scenes when they started because a lot of the moves the Mistborns use are those used in their day to day lives. Throw a coin. Jump. Turn on Tin. Dodge. Push and pull. There was no real flare or excitement in the fights for me.

I had a lot of problems with the prose and the language in general. The characters could be so over dramatic at times and they often didn’t speak to each other the way normal people would. Like, never using contractions? The language was very simple as well, a child could easily read this. There’s no real extravagance or really interesting metaphors. The world just felt a little flat to me. As for the characters. Well, I just could not, for the life of me become emotionally invested in them. It’s because I knew so little about them, Vin was the most developed and well rounded character, but the rest just seemed totally redundant. We learn so little about any of them, some only make occasional appearances in the story and others more frequently. But it’s hard to give a damn about them when all you know is ‘he’s a thug, worked on a plantation’. They’re supposed to be part of this tight knit, awesome thieving crew, but not once did I really get a sense of great friendship and warmth. It’s almost as though they were afterthoughts.

IDEAS

The Good:

Allamancy was awesome. The mists gathering at and ash falling from the sky? Cool, this Lord Ruler is definitely a bad person. Ridiculous nobility? Check. I really liked Sandersons take on the nobility, it’s often referred to in fantasy, but rarely do you get to see things from the point of view of a character who is just a minor player in Court politics. Sanderson did a great job of showing how manipulative and cunning the nobility were, deft threats and insults subtly disguised in the way they acted.

Again, the steel inquisitors were awesome. Terrifying to think about, but awesome. Another cool creation was the Mistwreath. I visualised a kind of gelatinous mass that blobbed along eating dead things (but with lots of hands and feet sticking out of it) . Freaky, but pretty interesting.

As for the world itself, it was the perfect setting for the story. I think that metal magic needs a kind of steely grey world in order to seem realistic? This magic system fit perfectly with the Final Empire, what with ash falling from the sky, no green plants and a red sun. It suggests a very barren, almost post-apocalyptic place. The world building was spot on.

The Bad:

My one complaint is that I wanted to know more about how Allamancy actually worked. How do they ‘burn’ metals? Vin says she looks inside herself for her reserves, that she can feel them. But do they sit in her stomach and she can sense them? Does she have mistborn nerves in her brain? This is what I want to know! But then again, it might not be so magical if I knew exactly how it worked.

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CHARACTERS

The Good:

Vin. Ok so I’ve already raved about her earlier, so i’ll keep it short. I liked her. She didn’t take anyone’s crap, got stuff done herself and never expected life to go easy on her. It was so sad at the end when you realise how starved for affection she is. She really came out of her shell and went from a life of hiding and trying not to step on anyone’s toes, to trying to defeat the Lord Ruler! She basically smashed her comfort zone. Completely.

Kelsier was great for comic relief. He was a very reassuring character that came across as quite selfish and vain, but you slowly begin to realise that he’d do anything for his crew and that he really wants to help the Skaa. Kelsier was very likeable and extremely clever. I also liked that he wasn’t invincible and made mistakes. Mistborn can be killed like any other man. Kelsier tries to break into the Lord Rulers palace and things don’t go so well. Kelsiers many failings were endearing, I hate it when a character is perfect and just get’s things right every time. It was a credit to the world Sanderson built by thinking about how things would realistically play out in such a place.

The Bad:

These characters i’m about to list weren’t bad. In fact they could have been great, it’s just that I learnt hardly anything about them. Spook, Breeze, Dockson. They were just names and fillers. I had no emotional investment in them. Half the time I couldn’t even remember what they were there for. Even the little insights we get into their minds and world is a bit pathetic. Sanderson put all his effort into the two main characters and just surrounded them with these weak ones. I can’t remember if they ever even did anything useful in the story? That’s how much impact they had.

NARRATOR

The Good:

Kramer is a good narrator, great pace and gritty voice to go with a gritty story. His characters all have very distinctive voices and he handles accents very well. His voices for the steel inquisitors make them seem even more menacing. It’s a harsh, cruel tone. Not really rough, just aggressive. Kelsier is warm and a touch flamboyant, which i think suits him very nicely. Vin is quiet, subdued and soft spoken. I liked Breeze’s voice, very drawling and posh sounding. You automatically think of him as a rich lord.

The Bad:

I don’t think Kramer does a great job of fight scenes. He doesn’t put enough emotion or excitement into it, in fact he reads it in a rather monotonous kind of way and that might be why i’ve been zoning out of the fight scenes so often! I rarely felt afraid for the character, or tense about the fight. A lot of the time I felt barely interested, and wished I could skim read it. Obviously skim listening is a little harder. Towards the end he got better. Either I finally became really interested in what was happening or he changed his tune. Probably the latter. He’s not a bad narrator at all, I think his reading just needs a little more oomph sometimes.

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