Ironic Contradictions

I can now officially state that Brandon Sanderson is my favourite living fantasy author. There is something he adds to his work that causes me to love it. The fact that he creates great novels regularly, with that essence that I admire and with powerful storytelling is a gift.

I had bestowed upon his work a rare five star rating for all his novels before reading this one. And I was a little anxious and wary that perhaps this would only be a four star novel, or maybe even a three star (forbid that it should fall lower). However after the prologue I knew that my fears were allayed and after concluding this book satisfactorily I knew that I had read something incredible.

The real reason I feared for Alloy of Law was due to the very premise of the book. I had loved the previous Mistborn trilogy immensely and rank it among The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time and The Chronicles of Narnia as one of my favourite series. However the thought of Sanderson returning to the world of Allomancers made me a little uneasy. I felt that the Mistborn trilogy had neatly concluded everything and felt that there could be no room for an additional book or books. I was thankfully proved wrong.

This book transported the world of Allomancers into the future, three hundred years after Vin, Elend, Sazed and Spook. The characters I had emotionally invested in were no longer a part of this world. Fortunately, however, Sanderson created two new characters that I could connect to: Wax and um…Wayne. Despite my literary penchant for puns even I had to groan a little at that one.

Wax and Wayne are Twinborn and living in a time remarkably similar to Victorian London. When I say Twinborn I mean to say that they are those rare few individuals gifted with Alomancer and Feruchemist abilities. Sad to say there are no more Mistborn in the future but then that was to be expected given the end of the original trilogy.

I loved the change of time and place in this novel. I loved the new characters by the end and I am glad that I did given that it seems Sanderson will continue the storyline he begun in this novel. I particularly loved the idea of how guns and bullets are adapted to cope with Allomancers and I highly appreciated the new Allomancer and Feruchemist abilities put on display in this novel.

If you loved the original Mistborn trilogy and have not read this book yet then you likely will. Sanderson appears to have the knack of creating intriguing worlds and packing them with more things and characters than you realise until you suddenly reach the end of the book and find yourself reflecting on how much had just happened within three hundred odd pages.

The story begins with a bang and a shock. There really is nothing like a fast paced action scene to kick things off. In fact I think I appreciate that the most about this novel, the fact that there is no slow build up but that Sanderson kicks things straight into high gear with action and death. This of course allows for the author to slow things down with delving into the world details in the next few chapters. I personally think that is a brilliant storytelling technique.

Anyway if you want an action packed fantasy then this is the book to read and is even more highly recommended if you loved Mistborn as I did. You will find it at once similar with the religious ideas, political intrigue and action and also find it a completely different world to enter. And thus you will see that fantasy worlds do not have to be stagnant at all – they do change with time.