Author: Brandon Sanderson
Themes: Religion
Quotes: "Well, that's what trust is isn't it? A willful self delusion..."
Reading/Listening Time: 24 hours, 25 minutes
Review:
The Final Empire takes place in like a post-apocalyptic world. I don't think it's exactly our world, but kind of similar. Aesthetically everything about the world is kinda eerie and muted: like there are these volcanoes that don't erupt lava they just spew ash out all the time. And at night this "mist" (which actually sounds a lot more like smog to me) comes out and for some reason it's creepy. The leaves of plants are always some shade of brown (never green), and the only flowers anyone has ever seen are in pictures.
There are even these primal-type creatures that take the form of whatever living thing they consume, so if your dog died and then you saw it walking around again...it *might* not actually be your dog, it might be a mist-wraith.
I would have loved it if they'd explored this aspect of the world a bit more. I think it has the potential to be very atmospheric and evocative, unfortunately it's not really used to that effect. There's not a whole lot as far as descriptions or feelings of that nature. Which is unfortunate, because as a world I felt it could have been absolutely enchanting.
Anyway, in this world society is separated into these two classes: the noble class (many of whom have these superhuman abilities where they eat different metals and gain the particular ability associated with that metal) and the skaa (who are like regular humans who are basically slaves). This whole social set up has been going on for quite a while, and while the occasional rebellion will flair up among the lower classes (and "House Wars" among the upper classes) it hasn't really amounted to anything in terms of positive social change.
This is largely because all the people (skaa and the nobles) have the same religion: they all worship their-apparently immortal-Lord Ruler as an aspect of divinity and they can't bring themselves to try to kill something that deep down they actually worship.
The story deals extensively with what it means to love someone, and what it means to have belief or faith in a person or a cause. I agree that love and conviction are powerful forces in a person's life, but I'm a but unnerved at some of the implications he's drawn in this book.
The only thing I can compare it to is "Avatar: The Legend of Korra" in that cartoon series they explore concepts like spirituality and connectedness through the POV of a character who not very in touch with their spirituality at all.
This book deals similarly with the concept of religion. It explores the idea of how significant it is to have a sense of purpose and devotion in life through the POV of these characters who don't really have any grounding beliefs. Their exploration of belief isn't so much in service of truth, rather more as a means of social control...which is exactly the same thing the villain of the book does.
So basically, religion exists to control people. Thanks Mr. Sanderson.
Rating 2/5 Stars
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