The Alloy of Law

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The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson

Hello to everyone who stopped by because Eva mentioned my name! Nice to see you.

It's been a while since I've read a nice Sanderson book for grown-ups (Warbreaker is on my TBR pile!). I really enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy a lot, and it seems that he's planning a second and then a third trilogy, each set further on in time. This book is just a fun little interlude--a short story by Sanderson standards, since it's only 325 pages long instead of 1000--set over 300 years from the original story. It's a Western! There are lots of guns, and train robberies, and law-keepers, and of course Allomancy. (If you're not familiar with Brandon Sanderson, he likes to create worlds around very complex magic systems. The Mistborn books have three separate, but related, magic systems centered on metals. Magic users can access the properties in different metals. It's modern high fantasy at its finest.)

There are some great characters in The Alloy of Law, and I hope to see more of them sometime. I couldn't help picturing Nathan Fillion in the role of the protagonist, Wax, so I think someone should make a movie. In fact, Adam Baldwin would make a pretty good Wayne! Marasi would have to be played by someone new, though.



I've been really slow with the reading lately. Life caught up with me this month and I have too much to do! So here's an interim report on what I'm reading:

I have fewer than 100 pages to go in The Romance of the Rose, which got very tedious in the middle. I like Guillame de Lorris just fine, but Jean de Meun is my new nemesis.

I got an ILL of a book I've been wanting to read for some time called The School of Freedom, about liberal education through the ages. It's really a collection of historical tidbits. I'm almost done with Cicero's thoughts, so there's a way to go yet.

I've started John Keegan's history of World War I and am going very slowly so far. I'm learning a lot about Schlieffen at the moment. WWI always seems so depressingly avoidable in hindsight.

I've read a few chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop because it's Dickens' 200th birthday!

Comments

  1. EvaFebruary 16, 2012 at 4:40 AM

    Oh I have not read any Sanderson, but now I really want to (and squee for Firefly, hehe). Should I start w Mistborn?

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeanFebruary 16, 2012 at 8:19 AM

    Mistborn would probably be a good place to start reading Sanderson--I loved it and plan to re-read the whole trilogy sometime. You could actually read this one as a stand-alone, but it does help some to know the history.

    I spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to get the whole Firefly cast into my movie! :) Gina Torres would be a great Ranetta, and I imagine Jewel Staite as Lessie...

    ReplyDelete

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