Clemmie Judges

TFE vs SOC

WHAT THIS IS

I've just completed Brandon Sanderson's The Final Empire, the first book in his Mistborn series—AKA his most popular work. The reason why I bought it is because people keep comparing it to Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows. 

Now, neither of these books are perfect. There are aspects in which TFE did better than SOC. However! These two books share the same overall story; a criminal assembles a bunch of other criminals to do something which everyone considers impossible. (They even have more or less the same word count, based on how many pages they have.) Awesome, right? Well, one of these two books dealt with this trope horribly, whilst the other dealt with it spectacularly.

Can you guess which is which?

Now, again, I'm not saying either of these books are perfect or horrible. The Final Empire is a good book, considering that it's part of a trilogy. But it failed at being a good book in of itself. I'm sure the other books are good too—better than this one, even. That doesn't mean I'll be reading it, though. Because no matter how awesome Sanderson's works are, they're nothing compared to Leigh Bardugo's crafts.

This, my fellow bookworms, is my attempt on dissecting the two books, and figuring out why one works, and the other fails.

SIX OF CROWS

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Pages: 465

Publication date: September 29th 2015

Description: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

THE FINAL EMPIRE

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Pages: 541

Publication date: July 25th 2006

Description: For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.