Jared

Trying to get this written before all the craziness of Christmas. It was great to get back into the world of Mistborn……Yes, I know it has an actual name but it’s odd and can never remember it.

This book began as a writing exercise to clear his head after some of his bigger projects. It obviously became much bigger than that and aren’t we grateful for it. Sanderson also, just did his annual “State of Sanderson” this past week and I’ve crawled though it looking for all the little tidbits.

Title: The Alloy of Law
Series: Mistborn; Wax and Wayne Series; Book 1
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU/Cosmere, Early Industrial, Unique Magic, Steampunk/Western
Synopsis: Three hundred years have passed since the events that reshaped their world. Guns, trains, and electricity are changing every aspect of society, but one thing that never changes are those who break the law……and those who keep it.
Recommendation: Adult or late teen. This book is highly recommended. However I do suggest reading the Mistborn Trilogy first, but that technically isn’t required.

Somewhere between Steampunk and a Western set in a High Fantasy world. And I loved it! Normally Westerns aren’t my thing, but the rare exception pops up that I just love. (Browncoat4Life!) I think the fantasy and steampunk-esque elements tempered it a bit so it blended well into something much bigger, unique, and entirely enjoyable.

There were some points in the beginning that felt a touch rough, but that’s just nitpicking at this point. The pacing and story elements were both well done and structurally nothing stood out.

The world has progressed approximately 300 years since the events in the Mistborn Trilogy and as just society and technology have been progressing steadily as well. The similarities are striking enough to see the connections and the differences are stark enough to reinforce the time jump. Masterfully done, really. In addition, there are “new” metals that hadn’t previously been shown in the previous books. This keeps things feeling fresh and a reason for the reader to keep engaged so as to not miss anything.

Waxillium Ladrian, aka Wax, is the main character of the book and the new head of House Ladrian after an unfortunate accident killed his uncle and sister. Previously, he had been in the “Roughs” as a Lawkeeper catching bad guys and protecting people. Of Wax’s many skills and talents the most prominent are his Twinborn abilities. Twinborn, meaning he has both an Allomantic power and a Feruchemical power. These being able to push on metal, Coinshot, and storing his mass in a metalmind, Skimmer. This combination makes him quite formidable.

Wayne is, of course, prominent in the book but he takes a more secondary role. The dynamics between the two are lively and good natured which lend a positive air to some pretty dark and intense scenes……or aftermath.

It was nice to step into this one fairly blind. I knew I’d either love it or hate it so I didn’t want anything to negatively influence that. Honestly, I didn’t really like any of the characters in the beginning. Even halfway through they hadn’t warmed on me. But in the end, I knew them enough to appreciate their imperfections as part of who they are. Those imperfections made them real.

I can’t wait to read the next two that are out. I’m trying to stagger them a bit because the last one isn’t expected to be released until the Fall of 2018! Until then, I will feast on his other books and hone my skills.

Robert

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Links

• Brandon Sanderson’s Official Website