The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson: A Mistborn Return That Actually Feels New
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Why I went in nervous and came out grinning
I loved the original Mistborn trilogy. I picked it up right after finishing The Wheel of Time because I had learned that Brandon Sanderson was chosen to complete Jordan’s saga, and that choice came after Harriet McDougal read Mistborn and said, “yes, him.” It did not disappoint. So when I heard there was a second Mistborn era set centuries later, with trains, industry, and a lawman who carries guns instead of cloaks, I hesitated. Time jumps in fantasy often change the calendar but not the world. Technology stays the same, people talk the same, and society politely refuses to evolve.
The Alloy of Law won me over almost immediately. It is Book 1 of the Wax and Wayne sequence, and it takes place in a Scadrial that has genuinely moved on. There are rail lines, headlines, robber barons, and dinner parties where Allomancers worry about stock prices as much as steel pushes. The magic you know is back, yet it has been adapted to city streets, rooftop chases, and a new kind of crime story. The banter between Waxillium Ladrian and Wayne is quick without trying too hard, and Wayne, chaotic gremlin with a heart of gold, might be one of my favorite fictional sidekicks full stop.
Spoiler-light plot summary
Waxillium “Wax” Ladrian is a rare Twinborn, which means he can burn steel like a classic Mistborn gunslinger and store weight with Feruchemy. After two decades keeping the law out in the Roughs, he returns to the metropolis of Elendel to shoulder unexpected noble duties and rebuild his faltering house. He would like to retire the duster and become a respectable lord. The city refuses to let him.
Enter a string of audacious train and carriage robberies. Young women from highborn houses are vanishing, and the thieves are using metallurgy and Allomancy with unnerving precision. Wayne, Wax’s old partner, blows into town with hats, disguises, and opinions, and Marasi Colms, a smart constable with a mind for evidence, keeps the investigation grounded.
What follows is part heist, part conspiracy, part family reckoning. The case pulls Wax back into his Roughs instincts, forces him to balance duty to his house with duty to the city, and points toward a deeper plot that Era 2 continues to unravel in later books. If you want the official dust-jacket angle, it is “Twinborn lawman returns to a changing city and finds the law needs him more than ever.” If you want the reader angle, it is “a lean mystery that feels like Mistborn grew up, moved to the city, and learned to wear a waistcoat.”
What worked brilliantly for me
The city feels alive
Elendel is not a backdrop. It hisses, clanks, and argues with itself. Newspapers shape public perception, noble houses maneuver, and the law is political as much as practical. You can feel the gravitational pull of modernity on an old magic system. That friction generates many of the book’s best scenes, from formal balls that go sideways to shootouts where physics and Investiture have to compromise.
Banter that reveals character
Wayne’s jokes are not there to break tension. They tell you who he is and what he has lost, and they show why Wax needs him. Their rhythms feel lived-in. Add Marasi’s competence and curiosity, plus Steris’s awkward, very real attempts at being useful, and the cast starts to click in ways that matter later in the series. Critics who argue the novel is “light” often overlook how well this foundation sets up deeper emotional payoffs in the sequels.
A mystery spine that holds
The Alloy of Law has a clean, forward engine. Crimes escalate, clues connect, and the reveals land without tricking the reader. I appreciated how the investigation plays fair. You can follow the trail, enjoy the set pieces, and still get that Sanderson-style swirl of “oh, that is how those rules interact” when action turns on a clever application of metal and momentum.
What might not click for every reader
If you finished The Hero of Ages yesterday and want another titanic revolution, this is not that. Some readers bounce off the tonal shift or off Wayne’s humor, especially in the opening chapters. Others hope for more page time with the larger Cosmere implications. I get it. For me, the narrower scope is a feature, not a bug. It lets the book feel fresh rather than a retread of an already complete revolution. (And if you are reading on for the bigger picture, Era 2 does keep widening the lens.) For a sense of the divide, skim a few reader reactions that mention the different vibe and rough start before momentum kicks in.
How the time jump actually works
This is the part I feared most and ended up loving. Centuries have passed, and Scadrial shows it. Industry changes daily life, religion has institutional memory of Era 1’s figures, and warfare has moved from mist-shrouded alleys to rifles and rail lines. The magic system remains consistent with what you know, yet the applications feel purpose built for the new world. You can tell Sanderson asked “how would people use this today” rather than “how can I reuse my old tricks.” That design choice keeps the book feeling inventive instead of nostalgic.
Do you need Era 1 first?
You will appreciate this more if you have read the original trilogy. The book stands alone as a crime adventure, yet the most satisfying moments come from seeing how myths calcify into history and how old ideas cast new shadows. If you are curious but not ready to commit to all of Mistborn, this is one of the friendliest entry points into any larger Sanderson world because it uses a self-contained plot and a smaller cast while hinting at deeper layers.
Verdict
The Alloy of Law is exactly what I want from a second-era pivot. It respects what came before, changes the stage, and lets new types of stories bloom. I went in wary of six-shooters and city skylines. I came out wishing more fantasy worlds would dare to age, complicate, and modernize like this. The plot is clean, the banter earns its place, and the worldbuilding proves that time jumps can do more than swap names on a map.
Pacing and tone. The Alloy of Law definitely brings a lighter and faster tone than the first trilogy. True. It has the humor and snap of a buddy-cop western with a fantasy engine under the hood. I would add though, that the lighter tone never undercuts stakes. People die, reputations shatter, and Wax’s past in the Roughs leaves scars that the book treats seriously.
Era shift. The big change is the industrial feel. I think the important detail is how the magic system is recontextualized. Steel pushes become tactical tools for urban movement, not just battlefield maneuvers, and Feruchemical weight makes gunfights and crashes feel different from anything in Era 1. The world has genuinely changed, which is the hurdle most time jumps fail to clear.
Character focus. The quartet of Wax, Wayne, Marasi, and Steris is very well written and developed, with Wayne stealing scenes. Marasi’s “by the book” approach, despite generating some hate online, is not a foil for laughs, in my opinion. It is the skeleton that keeps the plot from sagging into pure hijinks.
I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson, and can’t wait to write my review on the next books in the Wax and Wayne series!
Rating: 4.9 out of 5
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I loved the original Mistborn trilogy. I picked it up right after finishing The Wheel of Time because I had learned that Brandon Sanderson was chosen to complete Jordan’s saga, and that choice came after Harriet McDougal read Mistborn and said, “yes, him.” It did not disappoint.