The Alloy of Law

The vibe of this entire book was polar opposites to what I'm used to from Mistborn and honestly, I'm not mad at it. The characters were not as gray and complex and intriguing as I would be used to seeing in a BranSan novel, but the dynamics were pretty fun. This felt like a bit like BranSan-lite, but I'm really not mad at that.

Some background info: I read Book 1 of Mistborn Era 1, skimmed through Book 2 and skipped Book 3 all together, before catching up on the overall events of all of them via the Coppermind summaries before I dived into this book. I was really quite so-so about the first book in The Final Empire trilogy and the series just didn't really improve much for me. I can't pinpoint what didn't really catch me about Mistborn because I love Stormlight Archives.

Despite my unsatisfactory sojourn with Mistborn Era 1, I was still pretty interested in trying out Era 2. What was the most interesting to me in Mistborn had been the magic system and we still get a ton of that in Era 2, but in a completely new environment with new characters and a new overarching plot. I was excited to give it another go, but was even then surprised by just how different this felt from a Cosmere novel. For one, Alloy of Law takes place in a sort of late Victorian-esque setting with horse-drawn carriages, newly electric lights, steam trains, and lots and lots of guns. It was really interesting to see how the Mistborn magic system, so dependent as it is on metals, would fare in a steampunk world full of metal.

Waxillium and Wayne were actually really fun characters. They weren't mega-tortured and brooding like Kaladin (from Stormlight Archives) or even Vin from the first Era, but that's kinda what I like about them. They provide a breath of light-hearted fresh air. Of course, they have their own histories, I'm sure, but there's still something more light-hearted about these two than other BranSan heroes, Wayne more so than Wax.

Between the two notable female characters in this book, I actually kinda like them both. We see a lot less of Steris, Waxillium's sort-of fiancee, and I basically thought she was going to be a fleeting character who will only serve as a foil to bring out the other female character at first, but I was particularly intrigued by her when she says to Waxillium: “You are what you choose to be, Waxillium... I did not make these rules. Nor so I approve of them; many are inconvenient. But it is the society in which we live. Therefore, I make of myself something that can survive in this environment.” By the end, I was... kinda rooting for her? I'm not sure how my opinion will change in subsequent books, but that's the way it ended.

Marasi is, of course, the main female protagonist in this one. She did have her moments and I liked that she was not just a scholar (obviously unusual for a female), but also that she owned up to not liking to be out in the Roughs and enjoying her city conveniences and dresses, etc. and while she almost feels embarrassed about it sometimes, she didn't feel like she should be. Her character is a bit more of the “popular” type, in the sense that she's likeable and obviously written to be rooted for by readers, which is maybe a good part of the reason why I'm actually leaning towards Steris a bit, but I'm not mad at seeing more of Marasi in subsequent instalments. I'm intrigued to learn more about how her Allomantic powers are going to play out - everytime someone says their powers are useless, BranSan will find a way to make it super awesome in the end. We got a glimpse about that at the ending of this one when Marasi's powers were critical in the capture of Miles, but I feel like there'll definitely be more.

If you're into gun-toting steampunk Victorian fantasy with metal-burning magic, this one is for you. If you're already a Cosmere fan, don't go into this one expecting anything like Stormlight Archives or Mistborn Era 1, because the tone and setting is so much more light-hearted than the other two and that's not a failing in my books.