The Alloy of Law - a new entry in Sanderson's Mistborn world

Mistborn (series review) is one of the most enjoyable series I have read in the last few years, so I was very excited to hear that Brandon Sanderson has penned a new novella set in the same world. Being one of those dedicated writer types, Sanderson wrote The Alloy of Law as a 'break' from The Wheel of Time and The Stormlight Archive. Way to relax! As the cover suggests, this new entry in the Mistborn saga taps into the Steampunk trend that has been gripping segments of the Speculative Fiction genre.

Here is the blurb:

Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is 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.

Review: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn – Brandon Sanderson

- The Final Empire (Published 2006)

- The Well of Ascension (Published 2007)

- The Hero of Ages (Published 2008)

Genre: Fantasy

Sub-genre: Epic Fantasy

Completed: April 10 2010

Brandon Sanderson wrote and released Mistborn at a similar time as Joe Abercrombie produced The First Law (review) – and the results are very different indeed. It is possible to enjoy these two thematically and stylistically divergent stories equally, but after reading them within weeks of each other I can’t help but compare them.

The world of Mistborn is a dark place. Sanderson’s intention, in his own words, was to turn fantasy convention on its head by depicting a world in which the bad guy won. Hence The Final Empire begins with the world in the grip of the evil overlord known as the Lord Ruler. Oppression of certain classes, suppression of new ideas (and very old religious ideas) and executions to maintain order are intrinsic to the Lord Ruler’s system.

Thus Sanderson gave himself license to portray an intensely dark and gritty fantasy… but didn’t. The darkness and some of the heinous deeds of the Lord Ruler and his followers are usually simply referred to, and ultimately condemned. Sexual habits and desires are discussed but not depicted. When the heroes kill, sometimes even on a large scale, they feel remorse or their friends question their motives and sanity. What really sets Mistborn apart from The First Law is that at the heart of Sanderson’s tale are good people who are attempting to preserve life because it is the right thing to do, not for an ego trip of global proportions.

Mistborn sits more comfortably in traditional heroic fantasy tradition where there is a degree of black and white morality, not just myriad shades of grey. Though it sits entrenched in tradition Sanderson avoids some of the awful fantasy clichés that ruin many stories. There are no orcs or elves and nobody wields inexplicably omnipotent magic. In fact, the magic is one of the most imaginative yet rational systems I have ever read (as ridiculous as that sounds), which is just as well given how central it is to the plot. I don’t want to suggest that detailed explanation and development of this system overpowers the story, rather when Sanderson describes the use of Allomancy the writing is at its most beautiful and engaging. You will want to be an Allomancer.

Sanderson was equally rigorous in creating his world, which flows from the premise outlined above. The premise isn’t a gimmick - there’s an incredibly vivid world that has developed in the grasp of the Lord Ruler (where ash regularly falls from the sky like rain) - but it is primarily about the setting. I felt a little let down that the whole ‘bad guy wins’ idea didn’t go where I expected because I had heard interviews with Sanderson where he talked it up quite a lot. It does resonate and impact on events throughout, but the genre hasn’t been revolutionized.

What Sanderson has done, which is interesting, is combine several genres and sub-genres to great effect. The story is an Epic, with powerful nods to Heroic Fantasy in the development of the past and person of the Lord Ruler. Elements of Urban Fantasy pervade The Final Empire, which also draws in tropes of the Hollywood heist movie. It’s not surprising that I found The Final Empire to be the most tightly written and inventive of the three books in the series.

The Final Empire also focuses on my favourite character from the series, Kelsier. The moment in that book when all of Kelsier’s plans take ultimate effect, and the purpose of all of his actions and dialogue snap into focus is one of the more brilliant moments in any genre novel I have read.

Generally the character development is strong, but it would have been nice if some of the characters could have grown without pages of introspection and self-doubt. Even this wouldn’t have bothered me too much if a few viewpoint characters weren’t all going through this phase at the same time. I have also read some criticism of Mistborn which suggests that the dialogue and the philosophies of his characters are too modern for the setting. I don’t disagree, though I didn’t feel pulled out of the story by any particular conversations or ideas. Sanderson has himself acknowledged this problem but, without dismissing it, he argues that he isn’t writing historical fiction and isn’t interested in portraying anachronistic thought.

I enjoyed the entire Mistborn series as much as I enjoyed The First Law so it gets 4.5 stars, however individually I felt that The Final Empire was a stronger book than the sequels (because it’s that good, and was a lot more focused).

Read it – if you enjoy more traditional fantasy with genuinely heroic (if slightly flawed) heroes and surprising plot developments

Don’t read it – if you are only intrigued by the promise of a tale where the bad guy won (that’s an element of setting, not necessarily plot – notice the past tense)

A couple of things worth reading

I should have a few reviews to post next week, but for the time being here are a couple of things I've come across during the week.

Firstly, an excellent conversation (hosted by Amazon) between two of the biggest names in Fantasy, Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss (who featured strongly on the blog a week or so ago). These guys have written two of the biggest releases of the past six months (both in sales and literal size - they define 'doorstop Fantasy epic'); The Way of Kings (Sanderson) and The Wise Man's Fear (Rothfuss). Enjoy the link.

Secondly, major Speculative Fiction publisher TOR ran a vote over on their official blog to find the 10 most popular releases of the decade (not limited to TOR releases at all). Here is the main page and official results.

I think the results are very interesting. They show diverging tastes and there was no runaway, landslide winner, considering that the number one book got 295 of 10 000 votes. I also think that there's a slight skewing towards the winner, Old Man's War, because of Scalzi's online presence and occasional writing work on the blog, but on a ballot done for fun and interest it hardly matters.

For each of the top ten a fairly prominent figure in the community did a review of sorts for the book. Some of my favourites include The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss), Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson) and A Storm of Swords (George R. R. Martin).

Suvudu Cage Matches

Suvudu (the official blog of Random House's Fantasy unit) runs an annual competition called the Cage Match. They pit characters from Fantasy stories against one another and readers vote on who should win. Realistically, yes, that makes it a popularity contest, though I'm sure some fans who take their Fabtasy very seriously take the time to weigh up the powers of the characters involved before casting their vote.

However, it sort of needs to work that way. This year the folks at Suvudu have decided to introduce some characters who are fun and have a place in readers' hearts but realistically would suck in a fight. Like Tasslehoff Burrfoot from the Dragonlance books. Tas makes everyone laugh but he would get stomped by almost anyone else in the contest. Here's Brandon Sanderson's thoughts on that very issue.

The best part is when the writers who own the various IPs referenced pitch in to provide descriptions of how the battles might go down. Here is the best example (in my opinion) from last year:

George R. R. Martin on the final bout between Jaime Lannister and Rand al'Thor (very touching, written in memory of Robert Jordan)

In conclusion, Suvudu Cage Matches are fun, check them out. Don't take them seriously. Please.

Fantasy Maps and Joe Abercrombie's Circle of the World

A couple of posts just for fun today.

One of the staples of Fantasy stories has been the map. If you're going to move characters through a fictional world, let the readers have a clear refernece to help them follow. At least, that was the conventional wisdom. I'm not sure if he was the first to do it, but Tolkien's map of Middle Earth is a very prominent early example of this approach. In more recent times we've seen maps from the likes of Robin Hobb, George R. R. Martin and many others.

The newer wave of authors however have taken it upon themselves to buck the trend. Obviously, if you want to distance yourself from that traditional Epic or High Fantasy, ditch the trappings that are so common. Joe Abercrombie didn't include a full map with The First Law Trilogy or any subsequent book (Best Served Cold has a bit of the map). Neither did he release one online. Here is his reasoning.

However, a fan recently made a map of their own, using information from the books, and I haven't heard anyone argue with it's accuracy (yet). It's nice!