1)Overall my thoughts and the spoiler-free review
2)Rant review Spoiler filled review
So let’s start with a free-of-spoiler analysis 
This book, I think, was OK
Yet I had high standards going into this 
Sanderson is a fairly hyped author, and I had heard about his world-building.
While the magic system in this one was unique and fascinating,
The story was, at best, average. 
Reading more adult fantasy was one of my goals for 2021
So I decided to start my year with an adult fantasy book.
But this book seemed like a classic YA book!!!
I am well aware that the age of the MC does not classify the book as YA or Adult.
But my complaint was not about the age of the MC
It was the plot, the misogyny, and imperialism in this book (More about imperialism in the spoiler section
This was YA sans the element of the love triangle (Thank God for small mercies)
But the main reason I was excited about high fantasy was the detailed magic system and the limitations and rules of this world.
While Sanderson did a wonderful job of explaining the limitations, I was left with more questions by the end of this book
I would have liked us to have at least some backstory about the war that created the different realms in this book. 
Sanderson explained how the MAGIC SYSTEM was working.
But he only provided the basic information IMO
For instance, We know that people draw their magic from colors, but we haven’t been given any information about how it all started.
And the explanations I was given left me more confused
What sneaky trick Sanderson pulled off was that, according to him, the universe in which the tale is set is not aware of the full potential of this magic system.
They are all new to magic, so there is little knowledge left for the readers.
BUT that’s the point!!! I paid to understand it!!! 
Explain it correctly!!
Sooo many loose endings IMO
Now the plotline …
This book follows two sisters Elsa and Ana Vivi and Siri.
Vivi is the “ideal child” whereas Siri is the “wild child”
Vivi is set to save their kingdom from the “evil king” by marrying him.
Their father cannot, however, bring himself to give up Vivi, because she is precious and soooo special.
Instead, he decides to sacrifice Siri 
Here’s the plot twist
Vivi is not a decent human being, let alone an “ideal child”
She’s “perfect” because she’s soft-spoken, obedient, and well-managed.
When are people going to understand that this does not make someone a good human being?
This Vivi is fundamentally a younger version of Karen!!!
She’s prejudiced, arrogant, she’s looking down on unprivileged people, and she’s bold enough to start judging them for their life choices!
Sanderson tried his best to make her likable, but it failed miserably.
She’s a hypocrite!!!
I love the morally gray characters, but they are complex and multi-layer.
Vivi felt 2 dimensional
She was the privileged kid who thought she was special and got mad when the spotlight was taken away from her.
We were supposed to believe in the development of her character
However, character development does not mean being able to use a sword
This isn’t how you write strong female characters 
Nothing wrong with being physically powerful
But being mentally and emotionally strong is also important.
Give me a female protagonist who only uses her wits to bring kingdoms to their knees!!! 
This kinda sets out unrealistic expectations that a girl has to use weapons to be seen as a fierce person.
Now, Siri’s other sister.
Honestly, she’s the only reason I’ve managed to finish this book
Her character arc was the one that I enjoyed.
She’s a cinnamon roll! We see the development of her from a naive teenager to a badass queen
She’s not perfect. She has her flaws that made her IMO even more realistic.
Ohh, and she thinks FOOD is the solution to every tense situation, lmao# relatable.
Then there’s the love interest aka THE EVIL KING aka Loki 2.0
Imagine Loki But make him naive and innocent.
Aaaaaand you’ve got the King hehe. 
Oh… did I claim that he’s my new book boyfriend? Uh, YUP!! He’s my new boyfriend!!!
*Clearing the throat*
Return to the review Mrin!!!
He’s basically ALL you can expect from a book boyfriend!!!:
Misunderstood
Faithful af
Confused 24/7
Damaged Hero
Powerful but frightened to use those powers
Shy /Awkward
Shares his food (This earned him brownie points lol)
Supports you no matter what you do
Is in love with your insane self
HE IS A BIBLIOPHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYY !!!
There were other characters, too, but I found them to be meh
Now the main thing that was bothering me in this book was the misogyny.
It was subtle, but it was still present
And as a woman, you’re going to be able to pick it up very easily
Let me make it clear that Sanderson was not trying to blame or attack women.
He tried his hardest to write strong female leads
I think that’s the difference between male and female authors.
Male authors write female characters as they *think* women are
They’re trying to make one female better by dragging another female down SMH.
Amazing, how good she looks in something like that, he found himself thinking, when she takes the time to respect herself
Was that line necessary? Uh, NOPE
Did you add anything to the plot? NOPE
Did it objectify women? YUP!!
This man gave his opinion and judged her when nobody asked him to do that. 
God forbid that a woman enjoys dressing herself
According to this character, the woman was not “respecting” herself because she was wearing “revealing” clothes.
There were men in this book who were going shirtless, and NO FEMALE EVER complained that their shoulders/stomach/neck were distracting!!
Cause women mind their own business and avoid judging others
Visualize shattering this guy’s skull and then saying, “Oops!!! I was under the influence of feminism:)”
There’s slut-shaming AND girl on girl hate as well!!!
Find someone else’s bed to climb into, you little slut!!
I am yet to meet a woman who degrades another woman like this
I swear to God I haven’t heard any woman EVER be this cruel
NO ONE has time to fight for men!!! Most of us are trying our best to keep our grades up!!
There is no time to waste on petty squabbles !!
I mean, this is the 2000’s rt?? I have not TIME TRAVELLED or something rt??
Because I thought I was in the 1900s for a moment
And I KNOW that the women of that time weren’t like this as well!!
They were suffragettes after all!!!
Women help and support each other
It’s the patriarchy that is trying to drag us down.
With this trope, I’m done.
This has to end asap
AND it’s not going to end if we keep ignoring it OR if we think it’s OK because “this is a fantasy book
The world in which this is set is backward and male-dominated”, so it’s OK to have misogynous comments
It’s not OK!!! If the world is sexist, the author should address it and SAY it is bad
The above statements were only degrading
It had nothing to do with the “cultural values” of the world.
Books can have an impact on a young mind
There needs to be a positive impact
It’s got to start somewhere!!!
I am very close to losing my voice ngl
Now for the spoiler section
If you haven’t read the end, you might want to skip this.
I’m going to write the spoilers for the imperialism component of this book.
If you’ve got a trigger for imperialism as I do, you might want to read about it before you get into this book.
If I had already been aware of this… I might have skipped the book completely
LAST CHANCE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GET SPOILED!!!
So basically, these two kingdoms were at war.
After the war ended, they colonized this country that wasn’t strong enough.
Now keep in mind that the indigenous people have been oppressed by both countries
Their land was taken from them and they were treated as second-class citizens.
They barely had any rights
They have decided to rebel against these two oppressing countries
But the problem here is that the indigenous people have been portrayed here as the villain!!
HOW THE HECK IS POSSIBLE?!! They were FREAKING trying TO FREE their COUNTRY!!!
The only reason they were labeled villains was that we followed the POVs of protagonists from oppressing countries.
And according to them, the war was fought many decades ago, so everything was forgotten.
How could that be forgotten? The land was never theirs, to begin with
They formed a colony and ruled by power and tyranny.
Look, this wasn’t a “merging of cultures”
I belong to a country where a lot of cultures have blended over the years.
I know what it means when different cultures live in harmony.
What the oppressive countries did in this book was imperialism!!!
And just because a few years had passed, doesn’t give them the monopoly to rule that land.
The British ruled India for almost 200 years.
That doesn’t mean we would have accepted them as citizens of India!!
They were Invaders!!!! NOTHING WILL CHANGE THAT!!!!
Now imagine the British would have said in 1947 that India belonged to them just because they had been living in India for so long.
Nooooooo!!! It’s not how things work!! There are dynamics of power to be considered as well
And this book was doing a horrible job of it
The indigenous people (I call them revolutionaries) have done a lot of morally gray things.
But they’ve done it to defend their country
They’ve executed it for freedom
Maybe freedom doesn’t mean much to many people, but as someone whose country has lost so many brave souls, just so that our generation can be free…it means everything
My hands are shaking while I’m writing. I’m so mad
I never expected to spend most of the novel sympathizing with characters who would end up being conquerors.
I am very disappointed
I’m going to come back to this review when I calm down a little.
(Note that these were MY opinions. I don’t mean attacking someone who has read and appreciated this novel. My concern was NOT the readers who enjoyed this with the book. I would appreciate it if you would also value my opinion. If you don’t think sexism and colonialism should ruin the fantasy aspect of the book..good for you!! I take those into account.
I swear I’m going to curse you and your entire family if I get even one comment saying that I’m stupid for not understanding this high fantasy or some form of trolling. For discussions, I’m here. NOT to deal with bullies. I’ll be more than pleased to discuss this book with you, but only on the basis that we respect the opinion of each other)
Do Note: That I will still be giving Sanderson another chance. I will be reading his Mistborn series. I have NOT given up on him
Trigger warning/Content warning: Violence, torture, body horror, underage sex(fade to black scenes), animal cruelty, child neglect, religious bigotry, racism, extreme poverty, slut-shaming, misogyny, colonization, and infertility
(Feel free to ask me if you need some details on triggers. I would be more than happy to provide the information)
UPDATE 1
Does this mean that I am starting my year with yet another fantasy ?? YES
Do I regret it??!! NO
This is my first book by Brandon Sanderson
There’s no “WELCOME CEREMONY” in Cosmere fandom??!!
I REALLY expected someone to welcome me!! *sighs*(Maybe not Bollywood style BUT I would have appreciated it ngl)
It’s alright…I will welcome myself
Hii..my name is Mrinmayi
I am new to the cosmere universe
I guarantee that I will be a good addition to the fandom
My notable contribution will probably be memes though 
Thank you!! I am really awkward during the whole “introduce yourself” ceremony
My 2021 goal was to read “different” genre
YET here I am guys with fantasy again 
The recapitulation will be divided into two parts :1 ) overall my thoughts and the spoiler-free review2 ) Spoiler filled reviewSo lease ‘s begin with a free-of-spoiler analysisThis book, I think, was OKYet I had high standards going into thisSanderson is a reasonably hyped author, and I had heard about his world-building.While the magic system in this matchless was unique and capture, The report was, at best, average.Reading more adult fantasy was one of my goals for 2021So I decided to start my year with an adult illusion book.But this book seemed like a classic YA koran ! ! ! I am well mindful that the age of the MC does not classify the ledger as YA or Adult.But my complaint was not about the age of the MCIt was the diagram, the misogyny, and imperialism in this book ( More about imperialism in the spoiler sectionThis was YA sans the chemical element of the love triangle ( Thank God for belittled mercies ) But the chief reason I was excited about gamey fantasy was the detail magic trick system and the limitations and rules of this world.While Sanderson did a fantastic job of explaining the limitations, I was left with more questions by the end of this bookI would have liked us to have at least some backstory about the war that created the different kingdom in this book.Sanderson explained how the MAGIC SYSTEM was working.But he lone provided the basic information IMOFor exemplify, We know that people draw their magic trick from colors, but we have n’t been given any information about how it all started.And the explanations I was given left me more confusedWhat sneaky magic trick Sanderson pulled off was that, according to him, the population in which the fib is set is not mindful of the full electric potential of this magic trick system.They are all new to magic, so there is little cognition left for the readers.BUT that ‘s the luff ! ! ! I paid to understand it ! ! ! Explain it correctly ! ! Sooo many loosen endings IMONow the plotline … This book follows two sistersVivi and Siri.Vivi is thewhereas Siri is theVivi is set to save their kingdom from the “ evil king ” by marrying him.Their father can not, however, bring himself to give up Vivi, because she isand soooo special.Instead, he decides to sacrifice SiriHere ‘s the plot twistVivi is not a adequate human being, let alone an “ ideal child ” She ‘s “ perfect ” because she ‘s soft-spoken, obedient, and well-managed.When are people going to understand that this does not make person a good human being ? This Vivi is basically a younger translation of Karen ! ! ! She ‘s prejudiced, arrogant, she ‘s looking down on unprivileged people, and she ‘s bluff enough to start judging them for their life choices ! Sanderson tried his best to make her sympathetic, but it failed miserably.She ‘s a hypocrite ! ! ! I love the morally gray characters, but they are complex and multi-layer.Vivi felt 2 dimensionalShe was the privilege pull the leg of who thought she was limited and got mad when the limelight was taken away from her.We were supposed to believe in the exploitation of her characterHowever, character growth does not mean being able to use a swordThis is n’t how you write firm female charactersNothing wrong with being physically powerfulBut being mentally and emotionally firm is besides important.Give me a female protagonist who entirely uses her wits to bring kingdoms to their knees ! ! ! This rather sets out unrealistic expectations that a girlfriend has to use weapons to be seen as a fierce person.Now, Siri ‘s other sister.Honestly, she ‘s the alone reason I ‘ve managed to finish this bookHer character arch was the one that I enjoyed.She ‘s a cinnamon roll ! We see the growth of her from a naive adolescent to a badass queenShe ‘s not perfect. She has her flaws that made her IMO even more realistic.Ohh, and she thinks FOOD is the solution to every tense situation, lmao # relatable.Then there ‘s the love interest akaaka Loki 2.0Imagine Loki But make him primitive and innocent.Aaaaaand you ‘ve got the King hehe.Oh … did I claim that he ‘s my newfangled book boyfriend ? Uh, YUP ! ! He ‘s my new boyfriend ! ! ! *Clearing the throat*Return to the follow-up Mrin ! ! ! He ‘s basically ALL you can expect from a book boyfriend ! ! ! : There were early characters, besides, but I found them to be mehNow the main thing that was bothering me in this book was the misogyny.It was subtle, but it was still presentAnd as a woman, you ‘re going to be able to pick it up very easilyLet me make it clear that Sanderson was not trying to blame or attack women.He tried his hard to write hard female leadsI think that ‘s the remainder between male and female authors.Male authors write female characters as they *think* women areThey ‘re trying to make one female beneficial by dragging another female down SMH.Was that line necessary ? Uh, NOPEDid you add anything to the diagram ? NOPEDid it objectify women ? YUP ! ! This man gave his public opinion and judged her when cipher asked him to do that.God forbid that a woman enjoys dressing herselfAccording to this character, the womanhood was not “ respecting ” herself because she was wearing “ revealing ” clothes.There were men in this reserve who were going shirtless, and NO FEMALE EVER complained that their shoulders/stomach/neck were distracting ! ! Cause women mind their own business and avoid judging othersVisualize shattering this ridicule ‘s skull and then saying, “ Oops ! ! ! I was under the influence of feminist movement : ) ” There ‘s slut-shaming AND girl on girlfriend hate as well ! ! ! I am yet to meet a woman who degrades another woman like thisI swear to God I have n’t heard any woman always be this cruelNO ONE has meter to fight for men ! ! ! Most of us are trying our best to keep our grades up ! ! There is no meter to waste on junior-grade squabbles ! ! I mean, this is the 2000 ‘s rt ? ? I have notor something rt ? ? Because I thought I was in the 1900s for a momentAnd I KNOW that the women of that prison term were n’t like this a well ! ! They were suffragettes after all ! ! ! Women avail and support each otherIt ‘s the patriarchy that is trying to drag us down.With this trope, I ‘m done.This has to end asapAND it ‘s not going to end if we keep ignoring it OR if we think it ‘s all right because “ this is a fantasy bookThe global in which this is set is back and male-dominated ”, so it ‘s very well to have misogynous commentsIt ‘s not oklahoma ! ! ! If the world is sexist, the writer should address it and SAY it is badThe above statements were lone degradingIt had nothing to do with the “ cultural values ” of the world.Books can have an shock on a youthful mindThere needs to be a positive impactIt ‘s got to start somewhere ! ! ! I am very close to losing my voice nglIf you have n’t read the end, you might want to skip this.I ‘m going to write the spoilers for the imperialism component of this book.If you ‘ve got a trigger for imperialism as I do, you might want to read about it before you get into this book.If I had already been mindful of this … I might have skipped the bible completelySo basically, these two kingdoms were at war.After the war ended, they colonized this state that was n’t impregnable enough.Now observe in take care that the autochthonal people have been oppressed by both countriesTheir estate was taken from them and they were treated as second-class citizens.They barely had any rightsThey have decided to rebel against these two oppressing countriesBut the trouble here is that the autochthonal people have been portrayed here as the villain ! ! HOW THE HECK IS POSSIBLE ? ! ! They were FREAKING trying TO FREE their state ! ! ! The only reason they were labeled villains was that we followed the POVs of protagonists from oppressing countries.And according to them, the war was fought many decades ago, so everything was forgotten.How could that be forgotten ? The land was never theirs, to begin withThey formed a colony and ruled by might and tyranny.Look, this was n’t a “ merging of cultures ” I belong to a country where a lot of cultures have blended over the years.I know what it means when different cultures live in harmony.What the oppressive countries did in this koran was imperialism ! ! ! And good because a few years had passed, doesn ’ metric ton give them the monopoly to rule that land.The british ruled India for almostyears.That does n’t mean we would have accepted them as citizens of India ! ! They were Invaders ! ! ! ! nothing WILL CHANGE THAT ! ! ! ! nowadays imagine the british would have said in 1947 that India belonged to them merely because they had been living in India for so long.Nooooooo ! ! ! It ‘s not how things work ! ! There are dynamics of power to be considered as wellAnd this book was doing a atrocious job of itThe autochthonal people ( I call them revolutionaries ) have done a lot of morally gray things.But they ‘ve done it to defend their countryThey ‘ve executed it for freedomMaybe exemption does n’t mean much to many people, but as person whose state has lost so many brave souls, merely so that our generation can be free … it means everythingMy hands are shaking while I ‘m writing. I ‘m so madI never expected to spend most of the fresh commiserate with characters who would end up being conquerors.I am identical disappointedI ‘m going to come back to this review when I calm down a little. ( Note that these were MY opinions. I do n’t mean attacking person who has read and appreciated this novel. My concern was NOT the readers who enjoyed this with the book. I would appreciate it if you would besides value my opinion. If you do n’t think sexism and colonialism should ruin the illusion aspect of the book..good for you ! ! I take those into account.I affirm I ‘m going to curse you and your entire syndicate if I get even one gossip saying that I ‘m unintelligent for not understanding this high fantasy or some class of trolling. For discussions, I ‘m here. NOT to deal with bullies. I ‘ll be more than pleased to discuss this book with you, but only on the footing that we respect the opinion of each other ) : That I will calm be giving Sanderson another prospect. I will be reading his Mistborn series. I have NOT given up on him : ferocity, torture, body repugnance, underage sex ( fade to black scenes ), animal cruelty, child fail, religious bigotry, racism, extreme poverty, slut-shaming, misogyny, colonization, and sterility ( Feel free to ask me if you need some details on triggers. I would be more than glad to provide the information ) Does this mean that I am starting my class with yet another fantasy ? ? YESDo I regret it ? ? ! ! NOThis is my first script by Brandon SandersonThere ‘s no “ WELCOME CEREMONY ” in Cosmere fandom ? ? ! ! I REALLY expected person to welcome me ! ! *sighs* ( possibly not Bollywood style BUT I would have appreciated it ngl ) It ‘s very well … I will welcome myselfHii..my list is MrinmayiI am new to the cosmere universeI guarantee that I will be a good addition to the fandomMy celebrated contribution will credibly be meme thoughThank you ! ! I am truly awkward during the hale “ introduce yourself ” ceremonyMy 2021 goal was to read “ different ” genreYET here I am guys with fantasy again
