The Alloy of Law is a Mistborn book, which takes place roughly 300 years after the events in the original trilogy. Theoretically, you could probably read this without reading the rest – but I wouldn’t recommend it, because you’d be missing out on some awesome world-building.
The Blurb
Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.
Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.
One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.
My Review:
More, please.
….
What? You need more than that? Oookay… if you say so. Sanderson is a brain-astounding world- and magic-system-builder. I enjoyed the punniness of the character names immensely. (You’ll see this almost immediately. If you don’t, hit yourself in the face a few times and start over at the beginning.)
Why is this book awesome? Let me count the ways: Allomancy! Gun fights! Kidnapped damsels in distress!* Train robberies! Sky-scrapers! Explosions! Do you really need anything more??
*Yes, I could choose to take issue with the damsels in distress. There appears to be only one** woman in the book who is anything resembling something that is not a damsel – and even she has her flaws. Namely, she is a pampered young lady who, while apparently being a crack shot with a rifle, has never been in a gun fight. She spends most of the book blushing. No, that is not an exaggeration. I’m willing to give Sanderson a break on this for one reason: Vin.
**No, I am not counting the woman who is murdered on what is, essentially, the first page. And no, that isn’t a spoiler because if you don’t see THAT coming about a nanosecond after the scenario is set up then you, Sir (or Madam) are an… Well, suffice it say that you may need to change your light bulb, and let’s leave it at that, shall we?
If you have not read Sanderson yet, then go scrounge in your couch cushions for your pennies and dimes and go out and GET SOMETHING already. You will not be disappointed. If you are disappointed, you should follow the parenthetical instructions in the first paragraph.
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I can't even begin to express how much I enjoyed this book. Brandon's many references to "the gang" were funny and touching and made me want to re-read the entire series again.
Great review and I vehemently endorse your suggestion to read each and every Mistborn book. Preferably, multiple times.
And yes, I want more, too. :o)