Mistborn: The Alloy of Law

Mistborn: The Alloy of Law

First edition cover
Author	Brandon Sanderson
Cover artist	Chris McGrath
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Mistborn
Genre	Fantasy novel
Published	8 November 2011[1] by Tor Books
Media type	Print
Pages	336 pp
ISBN	0-7653-3042-3
OCLC	707969381
Dewey Decimal	813.6
LC Class	PS3619.A533
Preceded by	Mistborn: The Hero of Ages
Followed by	Mistborn: Shadows of Self

Mistborn: The Alloy of Law is the first novel in the high fantasy series Wax and Wayne written by American author Brandon Sanderson. It is a sequel to the trilogy of the Mistborn series (which consists of Mistborn: The Final Empire, Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, and Mistborn: The Hero of Ages), and the setting of the novel is approximately 300 years after the conclusion of the trilogy.^[2] It was released on 8 November 2011 by Tor Books.^[3][4] The first in the follow-up trilogy, titled Mistborn: Shadows of Self, was released on October 6, 2015, and the second, Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning, was released on January 26, 2016.

The story includes two Twinborn, who are able to use some abilities that were not featured in the trilogy, and introduces the concept of Twinborns to the Mistborn mythos.^[5]

Conception

The work that eventually turned into Mistborn: The Alloy of Law was originally a creative writing exercise, not necessarily intended for publication, to help clear Sanderson's head before continuing work on A Memory of Light from The Wheel of Time and the next book in The Stormlight Archive. It turned out better than expected and was released for publication.^[6]

Plot summary

The book opens with Waxillium and his partner Lessie who are investigating a serial killer in a small city in the Roughs. They decide to split up and Wax follows the murderer's tracks, leading him into a small church, where he finds that Lessie had been captured and held as hostage by the serial killer. While trying to free her, something goes awry, and Wax accidentally kills Lessie.

The story then shifts five months forward, and it is explained that after the death of Lessie, Wax had given up the role as peacekeeper, and returned to Elendel, where after the death of his uncle and sister (who were involved in an accident), he has become the head of his house.

Due to his uncle's inadequate financial operations, Wax is trying to save house Ladrian from bankruptcy. The only way to do it is to find a suitable high-born lady, from a financially stable house, to marry.

Just before meeting with Lady Steris and her father, Wax is unexpectedly visited by his best friend and deputy Wayne (who is also a Twinborn with the abilities to create Time Spheres, outside of which time is slowed down, and store health in his goldminds), who has come to Elendel to investigate a series of robberies and kidnappings for which a rogue band called "the Vanishers" is responsible. He wants to acquire Wax's help to solve the case, but Wax is reluctant to do any peace-keeping, due to Lessie's unfortunate death. During the meeting with Lady Steris, her father, and her half-sister Marasi (who is posing as a distant cousin to Lady Steris, due to the fact that she is illegitimately born), Wayne is pretending to be Wax's distant uncle from his mother's side. Wax and Lady Steris come to an agreement to marry after several months of courting, and introducing themselves as a couple to the elite society.

At a wedding party held by house Tekiel, the Vanishers show up and try to kidnap Steris and Marasi. Wax and Wayne, working as a team, manage to save Marasi, and kill most of the band members, after their leader shoots a renowned peacekeeper. It is then that Wax decides to solve the case and rescue his wife-to-be.

After a careful recollection of the events on the wedding, Wax comes to the conclusion that the band is led by his previous colleague, the former lawman Miles, who is a Twinborn with the ability to cure any injury almost immediately.

Wayne discovers the bandits' hideout after interrogating one of the captives, who is held in police custody, and meets with Wax and Marasi in house Ladrian's mansion to share his findings. There Wax's butler tries to kill his master, by first poisoning him, and then detonating a bomb, but the trio manages to escape.

Wax and Wayne, accompanied by Marasi, go to the bandits' hideout, and find it deserted. After a careful search they discover an empty cigar box with numbers written on it. Because they have nowhere else to go, they decide to visit an old acquaintance - the gunsmith Ranette. There they form a plan to capture the bandits during one of their robberies.

Wax deduces that the Vanishers will try to rob a train, which transports large amounts of aluminium (which is really expensive both because it's rare and cannot be affected by allomancy). He manages to slip into the cargo hold of the train. Meanwhile, Wayne and Marasi watch as the bandits switch the train's wagons, and manage to follow them to their new hideout.

There after a long battle, in which all the bandits are killed except Miles, Wax and Marasi manage to distract Miles long enough (with Marasi's allomantic ability to speed up time around her), so that Wayne can come back with enough law officers to subdue and capture Miles.

Lady Steris is saved, and although Wax feels attraction to Marasi, he decides to continue with the planned marriage.

It is then revealed that the person who had recruited Miles in the first place is the presumed dead Lord Ladrian, Wax's uncle, who is still keeping the kidnapped women.

Wax and Wayne decide that they will stay in Elendel and try to stop Lord Ladrian and his organization from fulfilling their plans.

Characters

• Waxillium "Wax" Ladrian: a descendant of Breeze's house from the original series, he is in his forties with twenty years of lawman experience. After leaving his life as a lawman in the Roughs, he returns to rebuild his House, which his uncle left poor and destitute. He is shown to be an excellent shot with pistols and rifles, as well as an astute investigator. He is a Twinborn with the allomantic ability to push metals and feruchemical ability to increase or decrease his weight.
• Wayne: Wax's best friend and deputy, Wayne follows Wax back to the city and continues to pester him into rejoining the law career. Being a Twinborn as well, he is able to make time bubbles, in which time speeds up so that he can change into a different disguise, have a private conversation, or simply catch his breath during a fight; and store health in goldminds to heal quickly, in exchange for a period of poor health.
• Marasi: an intelligent, but shy young woman, she studies law in the university and occasionally blurts out random statistics. After hearing the rumors regarding Wax and Wayne's good deeds in the Roughs, she becomes a fan and tags along with them. She has the opposite of Wayne's power, slowing down time inside the bubble, while outside the bubble time flows freely.
• Steris: is a highborn lady bethrothed to Wax. She is characterized as a stiff, formal and somewhat boring young woman. Wax is aware of these traits yet agrees to marry her hoping to settle down in the city. When she is kidnapped by a gang of robbers called the Vanishers, Wax takes it upon himself to track them down and rescue her.
• Miles: is a former lawman and acquaintance of Wax from his time in the Roughs. He has turned bitter against the system and believes that the wealth and pomp of Elendel is the cause of the deprivation in the Roughs. He is also a Twinborn with the ability to heal any wounds to his self near instantly.
• Lessie: was Wax' love interest and also worked as a team with Wax when he served as a lawman. Wax kills her by accident when he shoots a serial killer. This affects him psychologically and he is not able to work as lawman anymore. The sad incident becomes the impetus for Wax to leave the Roughs and come back to Elendel. Marasi is shown to have several attributes similar to Lessie, which makes Wax attracted to Marasi.

Follow-up Trilogy

On December 18, 2014 Brandon Sanderson said he will be writing a follow-up trilogy to The Alloy of Law.^[7] The working titles for the books are Mistborn: Shadows of Self, Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning, and Mistborn: The Lost Metal.^[8]

References