With such a stellar conclusion to the first Mistborn trilogy, The Hero of Ages has firmly established itself as one of my favourite books. The trilogy consistently wowed me and I can’t stop emphasising the sheer brilliance of it. There is no other trilogy in which I rated all three books with 5 stars. That’s why I’m absolutely glad I picked it up despite my initial reservations. Thanks to these books, I have made it my quest to read Brandon Sanderson’s other works. He’s clearly a master plotter dedicated to his craft. There’s something to be said about the complexity of the worlds he’s capable of building.
THE FINAL EMPIRE by Brandon Sanderson
If I could only use one word to review The Final Empire, I would pick brilliant! Indeed, it is a brilliant book. The world building was impeccable and the laws of nature in this world were very exacting. What set it apart was the impact of metals and how they could be controlled through Allomancy and Feruchemy. These two systems had such logic and were so consistent that by the end of the book, I instinctively knew the outcomes of manipulating various metals.
WINTER by Marissa Meyer
Winter’s release was postponed by many months, leading to lots of sadness all around. As consolation, we received Fairest (#3.5) earlier this year to ease the waiting. Now the question is, was it worth waiting so long for Winter? I say, definitely! For one, it takes a lot of time to write 824 pages. It also takes a very long time to edit these pages to perfection.
THE BIG LIE by Julie Mayhew
Set in Nazi England, 2012–2014, The Big Lie is premised on one question: What if the Nazis had won World War II? With this in mind, The Big Lie is a speculative work of alternative history. While nobody can say for sure how things would’ve turned out, I think the world that Julie Mayhew imagined is a rather plausible outcome. She evidently did her research and wove together the fascist ideals and lifestyles of the 1940s with contemporary ones.
MATERIAL GIRLS by Elaine Dimopoulous
Reading Material Girls felt like an immersion into an alternate reality. I hesitate to call it futuristic, as many dystopian novels tend to be, because there was no sense of history in relation to our world today.
