The Alloy of Law

Set in the Mistborn world, 300 years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, this Sanderson book is a bit of a departure from the epic fantasy one might be expecting from a Mistborn book. When I read it, my closest association was that it was a mix of western and urban superhero story. It was a bit weird, but I thought it was also very entertaining.

Wax aka Lord Waxillium Ladrian used to be a lawkeeper in the Wild West, erm, Roughs, but he has returned to the city of Elendel to run his family, after the death of his uncle and sister. The papers of the city are currently full of stories of a mysterious group of robbers called The Vanishers who manage to steal whole loads of precious cargo from trains, without leaving any trace of the cargo. Wax gets involved when his potential fiancee Steris gets kidnapped by the Vanishers and the head of the group is someone from his past.

Wax is an Allomancer, but he's also a Feruchemist, making him a so-called Twinborn. Prepare for many super-hero stunts because Wax knows how to rock a mistcoat. He is joined by Wayne, his funny 'deputy' and Marasi, Steris' cousin, who turns out to be a quite capable lady.

The ending is rather cliff-hangery and strongly alludes to the Mistborn trilogy, which I liked. I liked references to the previous books and the weird religions that have sprung up around them.

If you enjoy a bit of almost pulp fiction, and liked Mistborn, this one's definitely not a bad one to read at all. I love me some Sanderson.

Another fine addition to the Mistborn universe.
Good characters and lots (and lots) of action. The world building is mostly set already from the prior Mistborn books, though it takes it in a new direction and hints at things to come. [a:Brandon Sanderson|38550|Brandon Sanderson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1201547425p2/38550.jpg] is planning 2 additional trilogies in the Mistborn universe and this novel feels like a stepping stone between the first and second trilogy.
You won't get the deep sense of satisfaction from the original trilogy: there isn't a lot of new world building, the list of characters is small and only a few develop meaningfully, and the plot, while fast-paced, ends with a few things unfinished. It left me wondering if the next trilogy will be set a few years from this event or will be decades later and incorporate what the 'bad guys' were trying to accomplish. I'm hoping for the later.

If you care about the world building and the greater scope, the Ars Arcanum (the appendix) is for you. I felt it was great with descriptions of all allomantic and ferruchemic powers (with the exception of 1!) as well as an interesting commentary on the three powers and a mention of the Cosmere.

I recommend this book to any fan of the Mistborn series. If you haven't read any of the books, I'd recommending starting with the first: [b:Mistborn: The Final Empire|68428|Mistborn The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312038619s/68428.jpg|66322], which is actually well-contained in a single novel despite being a trilogy.