The Alloy of Law
A Mistborn novel: The Wax and Wayne series, Book 1
Brandon Sanderson
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy/Western
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Three hundred years ago, the age of ash and darkness ended and the world of Scadrial was remade by a new-risen god. Though the metal-powered magical talents of Allomancy and Feruchemy persist, today's wonders come in the form of electric lights and steel railroads and towering iron-boned skyscrapers - wonders everyone, not just the gifted, can enjoy. But even in this remade Scadrial, evil lurks in the most unlikely places.
Waxillium Ladrian thought he'd left his noble blood and city life behind him when he ventured into the untamed Roughs. As a rare Twinborn, his Allomantic ability to repel metal and Feruchemical talent for altering his weight helped him become a legendary lawman. When his uncle dies, however, Wax must return to the city of Elendel and take up a title he never wanted... even considering a cold, arranged marriage to deal with insolvency issues from mismanaged house funds. But even if he takes off his badge, he remains a lawman at heart - and when the Vanishers, a group of mysterious criminals known for high-profile heists, strike too close to home, he finds himself up against a mastermind worse than anyone he ever brought down in the Roughs.
REVIEW: Nobody can accuse Brandon Sanderson of a lack of scale or ambition. Here, one of modern fantasy's most prolific authors revisits the world of his epic fantasy Mistborn trilogy in what is essentially a western, as industrial revolution meets frontier expansion, still mingled with copious amounts of metal-based magic systems. It's the sort of world evolution not many would attempt, but the setting works very well here, adroitly blending old magic with new tech for a "weird west" where, unlike many mixed worlds, the two forces aren't inherently at odds or mutually destructive. This works, in part, because of the "hard" nature of Sanderson's magic; it's essentially another branch of physics, with specific applications and limitations.
If only the rest of the story were so well balanced.
While the industrially advanced Scadrial held my interest, the plot and characters, unfortunately, felt like they rolled off the factory line with barely a dab of paint to differentiate them from countless other stories. We have the brooding former lawman haunted by the one villain who got away (and the girl who died - essentially "fridged" to give him a reason to be extra broody and standoffish about romance.) We have the comic relief sidekick whose banter isn't always as witty as the characters believe. We have the eager young love interest (always about half the male hero's age for some reason known only to writers who just can't shake this trope), who lacks real world experience but makes up for it with obligatory book smarts and raw pluck. We have two tiers of villains: the one who directly engages the hero at several point (and delivers multiple monologues to about how alike they are), and the higher-up who lurks like a shadow for future installments - and whose tie to the hero is not exactly original. We have constables so incompetent they couldn't catch a criminal if one ran right into them red-handed. We have widespread sexism and peripheral characters who fell out of the western stock bin, lightly redressed for the fantasy slant Sanderson put on this story - which itself is composed mainly of snap-together parts. At some point, I realized I wasn't seeing the story or the characters or even the world: I was seeing Trope A clicking into Plot Device B by way of Complication C. I found I could successfully predict the outcome of pretty much every scene the moment it started based on familiarity. I should not be thinking that about a Sanderson title.
Between my interest in the world itself and my lack of interest in the people and the story, I found myself left with a rather flat feeling about the whole book, which grants it a flat, three-star Okay rating. Much as I wanted to enjoy it, and interested as I was in how Sanderson successfully aged Scadrial, I just couldn't get past the tired sense that I'd seen it all before a few too many times.
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