Alloy of Law

by Brandon Sanderson

Info

Date Finished: 10/13/2026

First Sentence: Wax crept along the ragged fence in a crouch, his boots scraping the dry ground.

Last Sentence: When one of your own went bad, it was your job to see the mess cleaned up.

Companion Album:

New Cover

A sage-green background has black Victorian ornaments. Near the top, scrolling floral flourishes frame a thin-ruled box that holds the title in tall condensed serif type, with the author’s name below. A wide band of empty green fills the middle. At the bottom, a matching scrollwork frame holds a vintage engraving of a steam locomotive pulling passenger cars past telegraph poles, with smoke trailing behind it.

A Few Thoughts

The Alloy of Law is standard Sanderson for me: paint-by-numbers characters, occasionally eye-roll-inducing dialogue, and tedious magic systems. But it's saved by its premise, its climax, and its epilogue.

We follow Waxilliam Ladrian (Batman mixed with Sherlock Holmes), his sidekick Wayne (wisecracking Watson), and Marasi Colms (actually an interesting character) as they unravel the mystery of the Vanishers, an outlaw gang robbing and kidnapping the rich.

What makes The Alloy of Law interesting is that it's set 300 years after the Mistborn series. Mistborn characters are now legends and religious icons, and we've progressed to a steampunk era with trains, outlaws, and the beginnings of electricity.

As always, it doesn't really matter what I think of the book once the classic "Sanderlanche" gets going. Sanderson is great at picking up steam towards the end of the book, leaving you on a high note. The epilogue in particular introduces a wider world and a compelling next phase that has me wanting to read more.

The Alloy of Law is a solid 6/10. Not bad but not great, either.

Cover Notes

I found this book of type specimens via the Brand New blog that has a ton of illustrations from 1900, pretty close to the time period emulated in The Alloy of Law. Spent perhaps too much time looking for the perfect borders and illustrations and ran out of time, so I traced bitmap and picked some colors and called it a day.