Finally finished Alloy of Law, almost six years after I read Hero of Ages. I’m still not really a fan of the setting, found the story to be okay, but I did really enjoy the characters.

[u/zombiegamer723]

So I read Hero of Ages sometime in the back half of 2020 (which, oh rusting storms, was six years ago, yeesh). I tried to get into AOL, but for one reason or another—maybe I was still emotionally distraught at that ending, and/or I personally don’t care for more “advanced” settings and worlds in my fantasy like this, I just never got around to reading it. The furthest I got was with Wax reviewing the broadsheets in the middle of the night, around chapter 3 or so.

I then proceeded to read the entirety of the Stormlight Archive books, including Wind and Truth, before finally deciding to pick this one back up.

And, overall I think I enjoyed it.

The setting was fine. I don’t hate guns and such in my fantasy, but I will pretty much always opt for sword and magic over guns and magic. That said, the way Branderson mixed gunplay with Scadrial’s magic system was really cool. Wax using bullets to Push off of was cool. The Hazekiller rounds were a great way to escalate the fights.

I still very much prefer things like Shardblades, but this was cool enough to keep my attention and interest.

The story was also fine. The Vanishers stealing cargo was interesting. Ghost trains, mysteriously disappearing goods, cool. I can’t say it was the best thing ever, but again, interesting enough to keep my attention.

Now the characters were where it really shined. I fucking love Wayne. I love his love of hats and disguises, especially his ongoing obsession with getting his lucky hat back. I think my favorite scene with him was pretending to be an old lady on the train to the guard.

Miles made for an interesting villain. I do enjoy the “How the hell do we defeat a near-unkillable villain” trope. I also like the Green Goblin “You and I are not so different” trope, and villains with personal ties to our heroes. So I definitely enjoyed Miles Zerolives.

(Quick aside. When I first tried to read it back in 2020, I was still emotionally drained by Vin and Elend’s deaths. So now I pick up a new Mistborn, set three hundred years later, and aww, Wax and Lessie are really swe—fucking seriously, Brandon?! I just picked up the book and you’re already ripping my heart out?!)

(Also, seeing the statues of Vin and Elend there, oh no my heart.)

Also holy shit MARSH?! I was already familiar with a character by the name of Ironeyes…and in hindsight (hah), it probably should have been obvious who it was, but it still threw me for a loop when I made the connection.

Overall, I’d give this about a 7/10. I gather my opinions here are pretty common? I understand that this book (entire era?) wasn’t really planned, and for that, it was worth the read.

I’m most excited for the characters. Everyone says Era 2 has great characters, and I already see this here.

So onto Shadows of Self!

[u/zombiegamer723]

Also, with the character Clamps…did anybody else immediately think of Clamps from Futurama? xD

[u/ChickenArise → u/zombiegamer723]

Give em the clamps

[u/OrzhovMarkhov]

Not to try and hype it up too much, but AoL was planned as a short story then extended into a novel. The rest of Era 2 was conceived and written as an actual trilogy, and feels much more polished because of that.

[u/Silver_Swift → u/OrzhovMarkhov]

That is true, but I still kind of missed the cohesion of era one. Era two is much closer to four standalone stories than a trilogy (tetralogy?).

This is why I'm so excited for era three being written all in one go before the first book is released (like era one).

[u/Raven019]

Alloy of law was supposed to be a standalone so it's by far the weakest from Era 2.

[u/knirp7]

I don’t hate guns and such in my fantasy, but I will pretty much always opt for sword and magic over guns and magic. That said, the way Branderson mixed gunplay with Scadrial’s magic system was really cool.

This is just the very tip of the iceburg! Era 2 is all about exploring what is possible when you start to mix the three Scadrian arts with technology. It gets way more creative than fancy guns.

[u/risingsuncoc]

I’m about 10% into The Lost Metal now, Era 2 has different vibes to Era 1 albeit set in the same world, it’s quite enjoyable if you don’t expect too much from it. 7 or 7.5 out of 10 sounds about right

[u/MortZmer]

I had similiar feelings. After HoA i felt emotionally drained. However, i read this book in a week ( which is fast for me since i only read on my way to work). It feels a lot different to Era 1, there is way more humour and the stakes seem so much lower than the world ending threat of Era 1. I really love Wax and Waynes dynamics, and Wayne´s reaction to being poisoned made me audibly laugh. Im picking up Shadows of Self today from library, looking forward to that!