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Mistborn: The Alloy of Law

The Perma-Medieval Crutch
Imagine a fanciful medieval setting: noble houses, an oppressed lower class, riders on horseback, bows and arrows and magical powers to boot. The challenge of telling a compelling story in this world are not new. Indeed, medieval fantasy is perhaps one of the most successful and well-trodden genres around. Consider a story of this genre told in a trilogy. It has everything one could ask in a series: action, romance, character development, and shocking (yet extraordinarily clever) twists. Alone, this is a marvelous, familiar accomplishment.

Consider now a follow-up series that takes place in the same world in the far future; say, 300 years. This also is not new: yet many fantasy series are guilty of the "perma-medieval" crutch. What does this mean?

Human-like species can reasonably be expected to optimize their way of life. This is seen in fiction and nonfiction in many ways, such as competing for resources, exploring alternative ways to do something, etc. A medieval fantasy setting has already demonstrated the human-like species' capacity to innovate and explore by the invention of manufactoring steel, ships, glasswork and the development of music, art, and trade.
Now here's where it gets fishy: many of the fantasy series that exist at this level of advancement (i.e. medieval technology) have stagnated at this point of technology for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. The idea is that this time period has been romanticized by society in literature, cinema, and video games, so much so that these universes are forever stuck in this technological bubble forever: the perma-medieval crutch. Examples of this include Lord of the Rings, The Blade Itself, Dungeons and Dragons, A Song of Ice and Fire, and many others.

The Alloy of Law
The Mistborn series is the first series I have seen strides free of the medieval crutch: technology had stalled for a thousand years, it's true, but this was a calculated machination by the Lord Ruler to maintain stability in the Final Empire. Once the Lord Ruler was slain, the technological bottleneck was destroyed, and innovation was allowed to boom once again.

This is evident in Mistborn: The Alloy of Law, which takes place approximately 300 years after the death of the Lord Ruler. Cars are interspersed with horses, and bows have been replaced with guns. Fuck yah.
Allomancy has been diluted over hundreds of years, no longer kept relatively pure by noble inbreeding. As such, mistings are rare, though not unheard of, and mistborns are nonexistent. The Terris people have integrated with the rest of the population, and as a result a new type of being has emerged: the ferring. Unlike a ferrochemist, who can tap any ferrochemical metal, these individuals can tap a single type of metal mind. Even more rare are the twinborn, who are both a misting and ferring. Even more rare are the twinborn of the same metal, known as compounders. These gifted individuals can invest an attribute in their metal minds, then draw them out later for a net gain of said attritute: this is at odds with ordinary ferrochemy, which is a net zero phenomenon. Miles Hundredlives is a gold compounder, and as such has a virtually limitless resevoir of health, making him a power ally... or a formidable enemy.

Perhaps the most striking change is how society itself has evolved. In Era 1, the Scaa were subservient to the nobility, either farmers or slaves for said noble houses. Surprisingly, great houses still exist in Era 2 of Mistborn: some old and venerable that survived the Catecendre, and some new, that were established when Harmony rebuilt the world. However, the operaation of these houses has changed in a dramatic way. Houses are now the overseers of thousands of workers, who are not tied to the house by slavery, but instead through employment. The workers depend on the survival of the house for financial stability: indeed, houses are now more akin to massive companies. However, the some aspects of the culture of days long past lives on: balls are still thrown by the nobility, and the mist, which persists, yet now only comes occassionally, is held in mystical reverance by many. Indeed, Survivorists, yet another surviving (heh) slice of culture of the past, teach that Kelsier will appear on misty nights and bless the independent.

I haven't even mentioned the main characters or plot of the story, but I don't feel I need to. Suffice it to say this: The Alloy of Law has lovable characters and a fun storyline, but lacks the immense character development and jaw-dropping plot twists of the original trilogy. Perhaps that's fair, as the first book is only half the length of any of the novels in Era 1. This should not be interpreted as as insult to The Alloy of Law, but a testament to the greatness of the original trilogy. I had an excellent adventure with Wax, Wayne, Marise, and even Miles, and by Harmony I'm avid to find out what's in store for our heroes next.

PS: The next book is Shadows of Self. I'm calling it right now: Shadows of Self is in reference to either gold or electrum, which allow you to see an "shadow image" of yourself.