4.5 stars

I admit that I was a little sceptical when I first heard about The Final Empire. I have to say that I was looking for new fantasy to read and Sanderson's name kept coming up (despite my strangely strong efforts to stomp him out of my mind as I scrolled through Amazon's Recommended For You selection) as he is the author that the wife of the late Robert Jordan chose to finish his epic fantasy series. So, naturally, being a little intimidated by the substantially sized WoT series, but also being aware of its popularity, the author who was chosen must be good, right? I wasn't wrong, it seems, though even on the day that I got it, it wasn't really my original intent to go after The Final Empire.
But I was glad that my fingers wandered to it in the library.
I ate up a satisfying prologue on the bus home, instantly liking one of the protagonists, Kelsier and soon found that I was pacing myself not to finish before I finished book 1 of my own copy--it's a thing of mine.


The premise, then is of a dystopian world with mists that curl in the night and the proverbial fantasy Dark Lord, the Lord Ruler, has already gained dominion of the world, enslaving the "common" people--or skaa--while also having a network of nobility to govern them. Any sort of revolt against toppling the Lord Ruler has ended in utter failure, naturally. Add to the fact that ashfall is frequent while a burning red sun hangs in the sky, and we've already painted a reasonably depressing picture. There is, however, hope and it lies in the charming Kelsier, who was subjugated to the Lord Ruler's most dangerous prison and, having escaping it, acquired some new powers as well. This fellow plans to topple the empire with the help of his thieving crew.
Our other protagonist is the heroine, Vin, a skaa urchin who goes around with her thieving crew who try to con who they can, where they can. An otherwise scrawny and weak person is kept for the luck she brings them. Eventually Kelsier's crew finds Vin's and she finds that her Luck is of a particular kind: she has special abilities which will provide useful to Kelsier's plan which involves playing the nobility. She, like Kelsier, is a Mistborn--a person who is able to "burn" certain metals and their alloys in order to gain certain abilities.

Such begins a story rife with quick-fire action, some interesting characters and twists and turns. It's a real thrill ride. Indeed, there are points where things will look one way and will give you a sinking feeling, while there are other parts which will leave you with a few raised eyebrows or a grin on your face. This is a story of overthrowing the oppressive force and finally gaining the freedom that the people feel like they've been robbed of.


Pros
One word: Allomancy. It shows Sanderson's dedication to the idea of "secondary creation" which Tolkien wrote about stating that each world should have its respective magical system. This is shown in Sanderson's magic system that's much less "magical" in the sense that we understand it. Allomancy is very much to do with the body. In this world, no-one can summon a 100ft phoenix whose eyes are made of hell-fire without batting an eyelid. It's very contained, but it's very good. Obviously with certain enhancements, there come drawbacks, and not everyone has access to Allomancy--only those who have noble blood, whether it be pure or half of it, and have had a traumatic experience so that they Snap. Kelsier, for example, Snapped when in imprisonment.
There are two types of Allomacer:

Mistings: They are who can only "burn" one metal to gain the qualities of that metal. Tin, for example, makes one senses more acute. A Tineye (such is their title) will be able to see further, hear better, and have a greater sense of touch. Shine a bright light at a Tineye, or bang something really loudly, and the person burning tin would be in for a shock.
Mistborn: What our two protagonists are. While Mistings can only burn one (and cannot choose which metal they can burn) metal, Mistborn can burn all ten of the known metals and alloys, but despite having versatility, they would lack the strength of a Misting with that particular ability to burn a certain metal. Pewter gives one enhanced strength--as well as the ability to keep oneself balanced and able to handle the increase--and a Misting who can pewter is called either a Thug, or a Pewterarm. A skilled Thug could easily defeat a Mistborn if it was simply a match of pewter-on-pewter. (A Mistborn's other skills would aid them in combat to make up for lack of specialised abilites).
The type of system means that it is not only a new experience, but an exciting one. Steel and iron lets one Push and Pull off of objects respectively and allows one to make elaborate jumps when used in that manner. The combat, therefore, is an exciting demonstration of a truly wonderful idea and makes for pure excitement, especially with the one of the later fights involving Kelsier.
The characters Kelsier, Sazed, Vin and later Elend (with his relationship with Vin) all are interesting and believable. Keliser is witty and charming, Sazed humble and kind and Vin, having lived life on the streets, is susceptible to staying as far away from attention which does get flipped when she is implemented into the plan, and Elend is easily likable.
The Steel Inquisitors deserve another point for the danger side of things. They're basically the Lord Ruler's main weapons. Seemingly as invincible as the Lord Ruler himself, these "creatures" are not to be reckoned with. Certainly another demonstration of Sanderson wanting to provide something interesting to sink our teeth into and generally add to the overall hopelessness of it all.




Cons
For such influential characters, I feel that some of Kelsier's crew were a little unmemorable. In fact, at one point, I had to go back to where they were introduced to get my bearings on who was who. While having some interesting arguments with Ham (short for Hammond), Breeze was a little lacking in flavour at points (which is a shame as he becomes one of my favourites in the later books). This is me nit-picking a bit but the names were curiously simple: Breeze, Ham (short for Hammond, though), March, Clubs, and laughably Spook--albeit one of the better and more memorable ones of the crew, if only for his strange street slang of his homeland. These are nicknames, but still I found myself a little unsure about them (though I suppose it's much better than Larak'Luon of Sh'Sza H'ton and other apostrophised names*).

Spoiler

I'm not entirely sure that I'm all for Vin falling for a noble. I didn't think her relationship with him was that that would lead to romantic involvement--they seemed more like really good friends. Also, considering the life of distrust that she has experienced, it seemed somewhat out of place. Though, perhaps that was Sanderson's intent. I felt that their relationship still would have held its intellectual and interest value had they not become romantically involved.Though, it could be me just nit-picking. Again. ("Sort your life out!" you scream, and I frantically search for its source).

While being a brilliant and highly idea, the Steelpushing and Ironpulling can be, at times, somewhat confusing and with a sizable book filled with action of the Allomatic nature, it really shaves it for top marks, in my opinion.

This is a testament to something different in the fantasy market and definitely worth a read. It promises a unique magic system, fierce fights and a story rich of the foreboding, opposing force's power and the more "simple" folk's hope. While not without flaws, the quality of the story, the richness of the aspects of the world, and the downright intrigue and some interesting twists, especially towards the end, this proves to be a promising opening.

*I made those names up, by the way. I just...I just wanted to clarify that.