joka reviewed The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Without the Magic
2 stars
I can't really put my finger on it, but this new Mistborn era feels like it lost all of its charm.
The original world was really interesting even without the magic system. Now, we are left with an unimaginative, run-of-the-mill, early industrialization setting.
One of the strongest points of the original series, I thought, was the focus on the characters and their development. They were quite quirky, but with a good amount of depth and room for growth. In contrast, now we have characters that are set in their ways, with little insight into their personal conflicts. They feel like puppets that only exist for the occasional quip and to move the story forward.
Finally, the story is advertised as a "detective story", but I found the criminal case at hand to be pretty boring and found myself completely disinterested in the main plot.
