Monday 24 November 2014

MISTBORN IS BACK! :D

Hey guys! :D
Sorry it’s been awhile, I’ve been trying to catch up with all my books haha!

But I am back with a new review for you all!


Here’s the blurb:
Centuries after the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is on the verge of modernity - railroads, electric streetlights, and skyscrapers. Waxillium Ladrian can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After 20 years in the dusty Roughs, in the city of Elendel, the new head of a noble house may need to keep his guns.

So, the book I am reviewing for you guys is none other than Brandon Sanderson’s ‘Alloy of Law’.
This is a sequel to the Mistborn Trilogy, which was possibly my favourite trilogy I’ve ever read (Yes. It beats LotR, by a freaking long shot!)

When authors, video game developers or filmmakers create a sequel or a spin-off to something that is loved worldwide, it tends to lack the love and care the originals had/have.
It sometimes doesn’t have the same effect and feel that the originals have and it feels as if sometimes the creator is too busy living in the past to write something for present.

This book completely turns that upside down and steps out into a new light.

I was very excited and very apprehensive at the same time when beginning this book; having read and utterly adored the Mistborn trilogy, I was becoming a little sceptic to my thoughts of ‘as amazing as tFE, WoA and tHoA’ or ‘I am surely going to love this!’
I got maybe 6 chapters in and I was instantly drawn back into the world of Mistborn.

The story is set 300 years after the events of the original Mistborn trilogy.
It’s an age where technology has become a more viewable source of power and that has been implemented across the land of Scadrial.
As it says in the blurb there’s trains, electricity, horseless carriages (or, in laymen’s terms, cars) and other inventions that make every-thing about the Mistborn universe you love and know, seem so futuristic and different.

Weapons have had a dramatic change aswell; swords and daggers still exist and are still used, but the most common sort of arsenal now are guns.
Guns are one of the main impacts of the story that allows it to diverge from the stories we know and love, it generally does give the book a ‘wild-west’ feel.
Plus, considering our main character is known as a Lawman, it gives it more of a ‘Western’ feel. 

(Which confuses me when people get annoyed at this, the books are basically being written out in a time-line system. For example: the Mistborn trilogy is an era with literally squat for technology and it shows the world in a sort of medieval period, where-as AoL captures the growth and start of technology, and what Elendel/Scadrial will become once it is a more developed city/land and I’m guessing his newer Mistborn books are going to be set in future settings which will implement much more technological advances and improvements and future settings)

I generally really enjoyed this story though; it was quickly paced and had good scenes throughout. I honestly didn’t get bored at one point during this read.
The characters where written quiet well and the plot was thick and was also really easy to follow even if you hadn’t had the knowledge of The Mistborn Trilogy. The only problem I had with it was that it was 95% predictable; where-as with the other Mistborn books there was a cliff hanger at each end.

Another thing I liked about AoL was the involving of ‘Twinborns’. People with powers of both Allomancy and Feruchemy; this allowed for either greater power or a special advantage when fighting. For example, Wayne is a Bloodmaker and a Slider. He is able to but up a speed bubble using his ‘Slider’ ability and heal himself from any wounds quickly with his ‘Bloodmaker’ ability… pretty useful!

The main character is a man named Waxillium Ladrian or Wax for short; a law keeper who has grown up surrounded by madness, murder and violence in the Roughs but is originally from the city. He is also a Twinborn, a coinshot allomancer and a Skimmer Feruchemist. 
He is quite a normal, predictable male character honestly. He is courage’s, brave, intelligent and sometimes funny.
I didn’t feel like he was as developed as he could’ve been though, as sometimes his character became slightly over-used and boring. There were also points where he should’ve been shot or at least hurt, but seemed to avoid all danger immaculately… which became pretty convenient.

Wayne is the second male main character and is also Wax’s best friend both in the Roughs and in the city.
Wayne made this book. He is stupidly funny and amazingly clever.
At points I would literally chuckle for a few minutes because of what Wayne had said, he has quite a sarcastic, dry sense of humour, which is exactly like mine so it made it funnier.
For some weird reason, there was hardly any development towards Wayne’s character. As you start seeing a softer or deeper side to Wayne, suddenly a childish grimace and a joke would follow, utterly re-shifting your view on this character back to your original thoughts…
He is my favourite character at the moment. I’m hoping if the next Mistborn series is set just after this one, he’s in it because he is hilarious.

Marasi is the main female character in this story.
She’s an intelligent woman who is also quite shy when it comes to romance and intimacy.
I liked Marasi; she was pretty level headed and ‘real’ when it came to certain events in this story. She was trying to act tough or acting to scared, she naturally did things that she felt were right and worked upon them.

Characters form the original books such as Vin, Elend, Kelsier, Marsh/Ironeyes, Sazed, etc are now largely religious figures and gods.
(I mean, Sazed is technically God but he’s worshipped even more now)
I really liked how Sanderson subtly implemented characters from the original trilogy.
I honestly got really excited when I read things like Deamoux promenade or ‘Vindication’ which was a gun that got given to Wax.
It made the universe seem so much more realistic and made it actually believable.
One bit of Elendel city I found great was a small area in the middle called ‘Field of Rebirth’ which has a statue showing Vin and Elend as the Ascension Warrior and the Last Emperor (which is where Vin and Elend were when… well, you know slowly start crying and curling into a ball)

Overall, this book was the perfect sequel to the Mistborn Trilogy; it was funny, witty, quickly paced and greatly independent.
Plus, the cover design is as beautiful as the last 3 books... I believe that the guy who created those also created this one... He's done an awesome job in my opinion.
I cannot wait for the second set of the Mistborn books to come out which I shall buy in both Hardback and Paperback… because why not! >.<
And I cannot wait for the next set of Steelheart to come out… because BRANDON SANDERSON. (I’m definitely not a fan-boy.)

Thank you for reading his review! :D
I hope you enjoyed it! :D 

If you want to buy this book and the entire mistborn series then go here:
http://www.bookdepository.com/Mistborn-Trilogy-Brandon-Sanderson/9780575118560/?a_aid=BookolioBlog
http://www.bookdepository.com/Alloy-Law-Brandon-Sanderson/9780575105836/?a_aid=BookolioBlog

Thanks you reading guys! :D
Joe :)

9 comments:

  1. Hi Joe, I found your blog through Goodreads, it seems great and I've followed you guys on Bloglovin'! I'm a big fan of the Mistborn trilogy too and I was wondering if you've read The Way Of Kings. If you don't know it it's the first book in Sanderson's new series, The Stormlight Archive, and it is probably one of the best fantasy books I've read, which is really saying something. If you haven't read it yet, please remedy that.

    I've also just started a blog of my own (http://leaf-on-the-breeze.blogspot.ie/) where I review books and music. I've only just started so I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look at it and maybe leave a comment if it wouldn't take up too much of your time. In any case I've subscribed to your blog and am looking forward to reading more of your reviews!

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    1. Hey there Killian!
      Thank you so much! :)

      I haven't yet! I bought the first part yesterday and I'm planning on reading it as soon as I finish Legion/Emperor's Soul (which you should definitely check out, if you already haven't!)
      My girlfriend said exactly the same haha! But yeah, I plan to start it soon! :)

      I checked it out man, It's awesome! We kind of have the same music taste's haha!
      Have you checked out AM by Arctic monkey's? T'is such an amazing album >.< everything is produced so crisply >.<

      Thank you so much! :)
      I've followed you on Bloglovin' aswell (under my real name)

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    2. I read Legion/Emperor's Soul a couple of weeks ago and they were both great fun. I'm so jealous that you get to start it for the first time! Kaladin is one of my favourite characters ever. It's pretty slow at the beginning but the world is so cool and the plot gets really intense in the last 200 pages (of part 2, that is).

      I listened to AM once a couple of months ago and didn't really like it but it's next after Suck It And See in my Arctic Monkeys Discography review so I'm looking forward to giving it another listen. Thanks for following me, seeing as I'm so new it's a great feeling.

      What other bands/artists do you like? I like some really weird shit, as you can see on my About Me page, so I'm always struggling to find people who have a similar taste.

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    3. I finished Legion a while back and have written a review for it, i loved that story (especially the Hebrew parts, that language is a bitch to learn!)

      Ahh, I know what you mean, the first time you listen to it, it's a bit 'meh' but the second and third time it just becomes so amazing; it's produced so crisply and the vocals are so nicely crafted >.<

      Oh god, erm Nirvana (Also) Circa Survive, Chasing Safety (more formally known as Us, From Outside), Trippz Michaud, D-Pryde, Cannibal Corpse, Two Steps from Hell, Tori Kelly, etc. I have a pretty diverse taste in music >.<

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    4. Nirvana! YES! Besides Nirvana I've only heard of Cannibal Corpse and I don't think they're for me. To be honest I've listened to very little metal. In the last month or so I really got sucked into punk and I haven't had much of a chance to listen to anything else. Have you listened to Sunbather by Deafheaven? It came out last year and it's a fusion of shoegaze and black metal. If you don't know it listen to the song 'Vertigo', it's pretty incredible (although it is 14 minutes long).

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    5. I don't listen to too much metal, My favourite (and more preferred genre) is Hip-Hop/Rap, Trippz and D-pryde are possibly my two fav's (defo check them out if you fancy it :))

      I've heard of them, but I haven't heard their music, I'll defo check it out though :) thanks :)

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    6. I've been getting into a bit of rap/hip-hop at the moment. The album that got me into it, Run The Jewels 2 (listen to it, it's great), is my favourite album of this year. I also like Death Grips and clipping. That's all I've listened to really, it seems like a very interesting genre that I plan to explore more of in the future.

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    7. Ahhh, I love Hip-Hop/Rap; I haven't heard but will definitely check it out :)
      I haven't heard of those two, are they metal or H-H/Rap or a collaboration of both? :)
      It's an awesome genre, just very shunned and very under-rated due to mainstream media and chart songs :L

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    8. The other two are both experimental/industrial hip-hop acts. If you want to give Death Grips a go listen to their album The Money Store. clipping had a great release this year with CLPPNG and I'd really recommend that you listen to it, it's a tad easier on the ears than Death Grips.

      I really had no interest in rap for ages because the mainstream stuff was so awful but now that I've discovered some underground acts it's a genre I'm really interested in.

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