A Mistborn novel, written by the Mistborn creator, Brandon Sanderson. A link to the book can be found here. I really needed a place with half-way intellegint people with a thirst for reading to converse and brainstorm on about this book.

The book itself is a good read. Entertaining plot with above average characters, and as always a good show from Sanderson in writing an all around polished book. The man is a monster of an author. However, the book is not his best work, not even of his Mistborn series (which is must read for any self-respecting fantasy fan). Admitily, this book is a sort of bridge between two trilogies, so that should probably give a bit of perspective. It is slightly different from the original Mistborn books, shifting from a heist/political thriller to a who-done-it style detective novel. Sanderson pulls it off quite well but some parts do fall flat. Mistborn fanboys will be adjusting their shorts with all the development in the magic system. I'd say it is probably the most original and in my opinion, entertaining systems to date. Previous fans will also notice some similar names and tenets in the geography, noble houses and religions. All in all I'd give it a solid 8/10, leaning towards 8.5 when you consider its epilogue.

That being said, spoilers are now ahead.

Again, SPOILERS beyond this point.

Spoiler

Thought you ought to know, if it hasn't been made clear by the first three warnings, I intend for this post and rest of the thread to contain spoilers.

Caring on. Like I said, the plot of this story is reasonably generic, but then again, I think it is almost what Sanderson is shooting for. He is trying to move his fantasy world along a parallel time line like that of our own. Going from a monarchy/tyrant empire of the B.C. era to that of a more western themed, industrial evolution styled backdrop in this most recent book is a bit of a culture shock when you start the first few pages (especially after having just reread his first Mistborn trilogy). I think the classic cops and robbers type of play, with a haunted lawman, battling his own inner demons while solving mysterious train car thefts, is a way to keep the reader grounded in the story while still infecting the world with his own brand of history, magic and social class.

The characters themselves are as interesting as Sanderson typically creates. He flows smoothly through first person, telling his story from Wax, Wayne, Miles and Marasi with great success. Each character's inner-monologue is interesting and believable. Joining with Wax right after the tragic accident of shooting his (unofficial)wife gives you a real sense of displacement, Wax having just moved back to the sprawling metropolis of Elendel not knowing what to do with his life of new responsibilities. Wayne is an awesome character, and the way he humanizes and breaks down damn near every person he meets by there accent gives you a different way of viewing things while we read his journey. Wayne is definitely one of my new favorites due not only to his personality, but also for his love of hats and combination of metal magic powers. Miles psychosis is creepy, yet plausible, especially when you give yourself a minute to ponder what it would do to a person when they heal so rapidly that a shotgun to the face doesn't kill them, and dynamite exploding in their hand merely burns away clothes. I think that type of power would make the mind slowly drift away from most people's definition of sane. Lastly, Marasi seems a bit flat compared to the other characters, but that doesn't necessarily make her bad. She's just easy to overlook with other so close at hand. Her demeanor and tendency to spout statistics is fun, and her lack of self-confidence from being a bastard and Misting of near uselessness also shapes her into a easy character to overlook, however essential she actually is.

Now I could nitpick about the book, or extol even more about the wonders of this new magic system in the first post but I think I will leave this for later. Now I'm going to get to the nitty gritty of what I think is the best part of this book, the epilogue.

Understand, I didn't love that the book was ending, opposite of the case in fact, but the tastiest, most greasy cliffhangers come right here.

I was not even shocked by the reappearance of Wax's uncle. I figured that one out between Mile'ss first conversation with Mister Suit and had it confirmed with the butler's botched assassination. Very interesting none the less and certainly it thickened the plot, but when Marsh re-entered the story I was all lightheaded and faint like I had just made out with Stana Katic. At first I wasn't sold on it being him, but maybe just a recently created Inquistor meddling in affairs, but the description of tattoos, collapsed eye socket and reference to Keslier it is the most likely option.

Now for my shot list of theories and ponderings.

-The earring worn by Worshipers of Harmony has got to be a way for DeifiedSazed to talk to his followers and communicate with them. That would be how Wax communed with him during his battle (he stated in an early scene that he would need all the luck he could get). But how he reads someone's thoughts is beyond me. That was always a no-no for Ruin.

-Secondly, I would like to say that Marsh probably used Cadmium (what Marasi can burn) to slow down time for himself so he can appear so far in the future. Either Sazed gifted him with the ability or Marsh still participates in the occasional Hemalurgic session to gain powers. I don't think Sazed would make Marsh immortal or anything, and Inquisitors do age and die, it just takes a long time. Most likely because of their ability to burn their gold metalminds. With the near constant burn of Cadmium and a little isolation he could jump in and out of time as he sees fit. This is sort of touched upon by Wayne when he talks to Marasi about her allomancy.

Beyond this I have to do another read before giving more input. Hopefully this thread isn't a waste and some other people out there are in as much love with these books as I am. Also I need to hear some more cool combination of twinborn powers. I've been ticking through them and I really want to start some fanfiction soon to sate my thirst for more Mistborn.

 

It was a tough call, but of the two Sanderson books out last year (Way of Kings and Alloy of Law), I'd say this was the better one, if only because there wasn't a single stretch of it that felt like filler. It might not be his most ambitious novel - like you say, it's quite generic at some points - but it was easily the most entertaining and downright fun book of the year. I'm really looking forward to further continuations.

 

Honestly, I enjoyed it, but it felt like a strange crossing of Sherlock Holmes and Brisco County, Jr. But in a good way, y'know?

I also loved that the main characters' names were Wax and Wayne; I thought it was cute.

The echoes - the references to the first trilogy, mostly in names - was awesome. Particularly the callback to Vin.

Dammit, now I need to re-read the whole series.

 

:facepalm I hadn't spotted that. Nice touch.

 

I think this book, with it giving us all the 16 metals for allomancy and feruchemy, has opened doors for some good fanfiction. I really wish a good author would pick up the series and try something. I'm really toying with idea of a chromium ferring (stores luck). A character like that would be awesome to write. Not only would it be cool when he tapped luck but when he is storing luck, becoming inversely unlucky. Store too much too quickly and a meteor could fall on you.

 

I thought that Miles was written pretty well and i liked his twinborn powers, virtually immortal. Holding some pocket sized dynamite incase of capture was an awesome idea.

 

I think Exile is right; the fanfic possibilities are kind of endless. Not just with characters, not just with metal types, but with time periods - Sanderson has said he wants to do a modern, urban fantasy type trilogy next, then a futuristic, sci-fi trilogy after that. I'd love to see an allomantically powered SWAT team, or what a modern kind of war would look like with feruchemists bouncing around the battlefield. Or would space-travel be touched off by trying to make astronauts weightless by manipulating their ironminds?

Endless possibilities, really.

 

I found the book entertaining, and good for a day's read, but I definitely don't feel the burning curiosity about the book's cliffhanger that I did with his other books - maybe it's just that I'm currently too wrapped up in series I've invested more time in. Again, the book was good, but not Sanderson's best work.

I much prefer his more "epic" books like Way of Kings and Wheel of Time, or even the original Mistborn series, which I felt had a drama and urgency to them that this one lacked.

That said, I liked how the two magic systems were combined; the references to the previous set of characters was neat too (and the fact that Spook's street talk is now High Imperial was amazing).

Also, am I correct in thinking Harmony is/was Sazed?

 

Unless there is a significant reveal later then yes, at the end of Hero of Ages, Sazed was deified into the balanced powers of Preservation and Ruin. The actual religion of the Path follows his ideals as well; no worship, free thought, and a utilitarian theory of doing more good in the world than bad.

And yes, this was definitely less of an epic book. However, it is a short bridge between trilogies. And I don't think we need to speculate on whether or not Sanderson's actual modern urban fantasy will be on scale with his previous Mistborn books. This is going to wait a bit more as Sanderson has said that he will more than likely be making a sequel containing the characters from Alloy of Law.

Another interesting thing though- BSanderson has stated that a Mistborn video game will be coming out near the end of this year. He has finished the main arc and is now just working on the dialogue in game. It is suppose to be on PC, Xbox360 and PS3 and take place a few hundred years after the Lord Ruler takes power at the Well of Ascension (before the first book). I'm looking forward to it, even if it will more than likely flop. I hope it looks more like an assassin's creed free form game with a cool combat system. Not a final fantasy style.

 

I don't think you need to have read the Trilogy, it works as a stand alone just fine. Everything is explained and the differences in the setting are enough to make it similar but not a copy.

That said, there are plenty of references to the Trilogy. Nothing too major, but an experienced reader will able to recognize a few things. It's also worth mentioning that reading the Alloy of Law will likely foreshadow things in the Trilogy. I wouldn't go as far to say it will spoil things, as in a lot of cases actual names aren't mentioned but rather just their actions or nicknames they earn later, but it's something worth being warned about.

All in all I found it a quite enjoyable read and you'll probably be fine without reading the Trilogy.

 

Don't read the epilogue. There is a major spoiler in there. I don't remember any other glaring ones but that one certainly is.

And as for the next trilogy set in the modern times (which will be a while down the road as Sanderson has mentioned doing a sequal involving Wax) is supose to start around a SWAT team of Mistings trying to hunt down a serial killer Mistborn. How doesn't that sounds awesome?

 

Argh, where are you guys getting these little tidbits about future works? I follow his blog, but I haven't seen any mention of some of this stuff. :/

 

It was in a blog post from awhile ago. Link

He outlined a very rough schedule of books he wants to publish.

 

Small bump, but worth mentioning, I should think as many of you who enjoy the Mistborn series but are not hardcore gamers may not check the Games forum all that often.

A Mistborn video game has been announced and, accordingly, I have started a thread for it in the Games forum.

https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=21518

 

I couldn't find a thread for just Brandon Sanderson, or for just Mistborn, not simply Alloy of Law, but I found out something AWESOME today.

Many of his books take place in the same universe, known as the Cosmere.

We have seen 6 of the 10 confirmed planets, and he has discussed writing a conflux book where the different magical systems on the various planets meet.

Fucking epic.

 

That's one of the things that drew me into the series. Sanderson does epic on a scale that even Joe would be hard pressed to match, and I get the feeling we'll be seeing a lot of crossing over when he eventually gets to the end of the meta-story.

Spoiler

Spoilers time!

The best part of the Cosmere I've seen so far is that there are already characters crossing between planets. I've seen Captain Demoux and, I think, Spook in the Way of Kings. They're both from the Mistborn series, and Brandon has made several mentions of a man named Hoid who keeps showing up in his various series.

Seems to me that we're already seeing the meta-story take shape, with minor characters from other books becoming major characters in their own right through the background.

---------- Post automerged at 11:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 AM ----------

On a completely different note, since we know all the allomantic and feruchemical metals/abilities now, I've decided to try and work out how space travel could be developed using them, because work is just that boring.

So my first thoughts on the subject were to use a lot of Mistborn burning duralumin and steel, but that's impractical, and not just because Mistborn are extremely rare after the events of The Hero of Ages. Maybe if a Twinborn with Compounded Steel as his metals had a Nicroburst (Nicrosil Allomancer) boost his powers (presuming he's not a full Mistborn Feruchemist). Still, that's highly impractical for space flight on any reasonable schedule and that specific combination of abilities, with the will to use them for space flight, would be almost unique. Assuming that they'd even be able to call upon that much power.

A second thought using the same projectile spacecraft idea would be a ton of (Compounder) Coinshots + Nicroburst standing beneath the craft and launching it that way. That still runs into the problem of providing enough lift to have a spaceship exceed escape velocity.

Spoiler

Vin didn't get anywhere near that high, and she was using the power of Preservation itself to augment her abilities.

A possible way to boost the power even more would be for a Nicrosil Compounder storing Investiture, then burning it to boost his Nicroburst power. This would, theoretically (given that Investiture is what Metalborns tap to use their powers) give the Compounder a practically unlimited boosting ability. Combined with a Steel Compounder, it could possibly take a craft out of the planet's gravitational field. Of course this is presupposing that I've got the right idea about Investiture and how it works.

Of course all of this relies on the pilots of the spacecraft surviving the lift, since to launch a craft up there using a space gun (from Earth) you'd need to reach over 100g, which is more than three times the limit for human survival. Of course, most humans can't heal themselves by eating gold, so there are ways for Metalborns to survive the flight.

All that said, the really interesting part is what happens once they get up there. Imagine a Compounder Pulser encasing a partially built orbital space station in a time bubble, so that only a short period of time passes on the station, but years pass on Scadrial. This would make building the thing an easy task from the astronaut's point of view, since they'd be able to work on the station without having to wait years for new parts and the likes.

This isn't even touching on the possibilities of turning the entire spacecraft into one huge hemalurgic spike. Of course that would require sacrificing tons of ferrings and mistings (or their more powerful versions), so it's a bit less appealing.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the subject, since it's basically a stray thought that transformed into a way to keep the boredom away. Anyone else want to chime in with ways Metalborns could make it into space?

 

I think the greatest potential of time manipulation is in faster than light travel.