Alloy of Law? "Only" ~400 pages?

[Waylander]

Hey guys,

at first, please don't spoiler me :-).

My Question is: Today the german version of the new mistborn book "Alloy of Law" is being released over here. Since I finished the last book two days ago I almost can't wait for ordering it, but I'm a bit confused.

Why does this book "only" have around 400 pages (332 on english, 416 on german)? This is kind of confusing me, since the other book always had around 900 to 1000 pages.

I hope this isn't just a book release for making some money without doing effort by the author (I really don't think so, that wouldn't be the way I think about Brandon Sanderson).

What are your experience? Did you also stumble upon the much shorter length of the book? Is it still worth buying and reading? (I hope so!)

Thanks a lot every answer :-)

[Windrunner he/him]

There's a reason this book is so much shorter then the others. Brandon started out writing it as a short story that he was going to give away to us. However as he was worldbuilding this specific time period he found that he liked it a lot, and the story ended up being longer then he had originally intended. It couldn't be as long as his other books because he wants to give WoT fans their conclusion and then get back to working on his ideas as soon as possible, so he couldn't make it a full novel.

In my opinion at least, there is absolutely no way that Brandon wrote this story just to make money off of it. He's said before that he'll only tell stories he thinks we'll be interested in, never to only make a profit. That being said, Alloy is a bit different then the other books. The more modern era lends it a different feel, and Brandon wrote it in a short of pulpy fun style. So it isn't as dark or frightening as the original trilogy. But I still loved it. It had some really deep moments to it (one point where I actually teared up, and I'm not an emotional reader), great humor, and wonderful easter eggs and references to the first trilogy that made me stand up and scream for excitement. Not mention the fantastic new types of ways the Metallic Arts can be manipulated using Allomancy and Feruchemy. And the Ars Arcanum with every Feruchemical power listed and an amazing essay on the Metallic Arts as a whole written by a Worldhopper. I would easily pay three times as much for this book, and love it no less. So yeah, I'd say you should buy the book.

[happyman he/him]

What Windrunner said.

At first, the different setting and feel put me off a little, but it didn't last long. It's an interesting story in its own right, and it was definitely not written just to make some extra cash.

As for the ending, well, let's just say it didn't wrap up every loose end. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. It means hopefully more books with awesome characters!

[CrazyRioter she/her]

it's definitely worth reading! It's a lot lighter then his other books, but that's not a bad thing, at least in this case.

[Kurkistan he/him]

I'll agree with the others here. While I feel that AoL isn't as excellent as most of Brandon's other works, it is still quite good and an interesting read.

[Aethling he/him]

Alloy has a completely different feel from the other books. It is more Wyatt Earp meets big city than the epic that was the original trilogy. That said, it was meant to be that way, so you have to look at it from a different angle.

The writing is up to his standards. The story is interesting and gives more insight into the workings of the system and culture. It is a good, quick read. Still, you should probably just wait until it reaches your local library or you find it marked down at a bookstore.

[Thought]

AoL is a brilliant book, just of a different type than the first Mistborn trilogy. Those were epic fantasy, AoL is not. That explains why it is also a "shorter" book (although, it is actually full sized: 50-100k words is normal for books): when writing epic fantasy, one has to have friggenly huge books just to build up enough tension and resolve everything. The stakes are smaller, but very satisfying.

This book also contains some of the most enjoyable scenes in the mistborn series, both from an entertainment and a craft standpoint. I love the first trilogy, but I was greatly impressed with how much Sanderson has grown as a writer in the "short" time between those and this.

It is well worth the full price, but, as Sanderson has said, he's happy that people read his books, so if you want to scrimp and wait until its marked down or at the library, I'm sure he'll still be happy. Just remember, every time you do that, you make old Ironeyes cry... I think... it's kind of hard to tell since he doesn't have tear ducts anymore.

[Waylander]

Thanks a lot for your posts, guys

I have orderd the book already (at full price ) and can't wait for getting it on Sunday. Your posts were very helpful and letting me calm down.

Now I'm very excited to see what happens and maybe, who knows, maybe some day we will see a good made movie?

It's very cool to see how many responses I've got in that short period of time. I guess I will come back to this forum and tell you what I think about this book once I'm through.

[Aeshdan he/him]

Just remember, every time you do that, you make old Ironeyes cry... I think... it's kind of hard to tell since he doesn't have tear ducts anymore.

No, Ironeyes makes you cry.

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

No, Ironeyes makes you cry.

In Soviet Scadrial...

[CrazyRioter she/her]

it makes Ironeyes cry, and then he makes you cry.

[Chaos he/him]

While Alloy does feel different from the Mistborn trilogy, it still felt right to Scadrial. And honestly, seeing how the world evolved over time made it worth the price of admission by itself. It's a great story (though the ending was too open for me) but what I liked most was just being on Scadrial again. So fun!

[Inkthinker]

...although, it is actually full sized: 50-100k words is normal for books...

This. If you (like me) have been reading too much epic fantasy, it's easy to forget that most fiction runs in at 400-600 pages.

[Waylander]

Book came today Lets see what happens now...

(By the way, it's funny how someone gives me bad reputation when I'm just asking a normal question. I'm also a great fan of the mistborn books, why are you so mad? )

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I've no idea why somebody would give you bad rep, maybe they just hit the wrong button, it happens.

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

I've no idea why somebody would give you bad rep, maybe they just hit the wrong button, it happens.

I've done that before. I wish there was someway to undo that.

[Aethling he/him]

Reputation as used here is more per post. They probably just did not think the particular post was worth being upvoted. I think your post about ordering the book used to have 2 upvotes, but now it is only one. The person probably just didn't think that a post stating you ordered a book was worth 2 upvotes. There was actually a discussion saying that type of stuff is one of the intended uses of the up/down vote system. That said, if the post had never been upvoted and someone downvoted it, that would need some type of explanation to me.

Back to the original topic. While Alloy is pretty short in the english translation, at least they didn't pull a trick from another author that will remained unnamed and use extra wide margins to add pages to the book to make it look a better deal. Truthfully, the only thing that disappointed me about Alloy was its length. In today's economy, it just did not seem worth the price to me, so I got it from my local library. I WILL eventually buy it when I see it on sale, but not before then.

Someone stated that many books are short these days. I think that may have been true in the past, but not so much so now. Admittedly, I have not read everything out these days, but to me a non-YA book under 400 pages is more the exception. Even most of the Percy Jackson books were closer to 400 pages with some being 5 to 600.

[name_here]

300-400 pages usually strikes me as pretty decent. I mean, an awful lot of books are longer than that, but it's fully possible to tell an entire story in that length.

Apparently Alloy is going to get a sequel with the same characters, too. Which is good, because the ending is most definitely not sufficent for a stand-alone.

Edited June 11, 2012 by name_here

[Aethling he/him]

Yeah, you could almost tell by the way that it ended there would be at least one sequel. OF all the books he is planning to write, I can wait the longest for this one. SLA2, Warbreaker 2, and Elantris 2 are far more important in the overall scheme.

[Thought]

Sanderson likes to leave his stories somewhat open ended, though. AoL seemed about as wrapped up as, say, Elantris, and Sanderson intended that to be standalone, if need be. Though that said, I'd be far more excited for an AoL sequel than anything else. Wax and Wayne are brilliant characters: I'd be happy just reading about them doing laundry, I'm sure.

[name_here]

I don't really think it's as wrapped up as any of the others that lack sequels except The Way Of Kings. Essentially, it felt like the ending was a natural breakpoint in the story but not actually the end. While most endings throughout media leave unanswered questions, and the characters probably go on to further adventures afterwards, the primary plot thread is largely resolved in series endings that are considered good.

Although Sel still had a bunch of things on it that could happen, and Shu-Dereth was still going strong, the main plot was essentially wrapped up. The evil plot was foiled, the Reod was figured out, and things more-or-less stabilized. It doesn't lock out the possibility of a sequel but does stand on its own just fine. Alloy, however,

ends with most of the kidnapped women still kidnapped, the masterminds still at large albeit down a minion, no confirmation on what the master plan is, and the heroes preparing to move against the next level of the conspiracy

If it were a TV show, the ending would be followed with a To Be Continued... screen. I'm perfectly fine with it now that I know a sequel is planned, but at first I was quite upset when I thought it was a stand-alone.

Basically, in Elantris, the story is over and we want to hear the next one, while in Alloy the story hits an act break.

[Brendan]

It was too open ended for me, I love Brandon’s writing but I bought AoL expecting an as advertised standalone novella. It annoyed me that I was left desperately wanting to read the sequel when I know it won’t be around for a long time. It was sold as a standalone and a standalone shouldn’t leave a reader waiting impatiently from the sequel.

Neither Warbreaker or Elantris left me demanding a sequel, AoL did.

Moral of the story, Brandon should stop writing so well that I get frustrated that he plans to write more books then I previously thought!

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I agree, it's definitely not as wrapped up as Elantris and Warbreaker. I'd like a sequel to those, I need a sequel to AoL to feel like it's a completed story.

[Kurkistan he/him]

*AoL Spoilers*

I've never really been one of the "it's not wrapped up" crowd for AoL. I saw the book as about Wax rediscovering himself, stopping Miles, and saving the girl. We got hints throughout that something bigger was happening behind the scenes, but the core of the book was resolved by the final chapter, with only the epilogue really screaming for a sequel.

Honestly, I feel that the book "Alloy of Law" ended with the last chapter, while the epilogue was quite explicitly laying groundwork for a sequel. If we're going to keep going with television comparisons, the epilogue was more like a preview of the next episode than a cliffhanger ending for the current one.

I agree that the questions brought into the light by the AoL epilogue were far closer to the surface of the main text than unanswered questions in Sanderson's other standalones, but those questions were still below the surface before the epilogue. If the book had ended with a simple "Wax had saved the day this time, but he still needed to find the rest of the kidnapped women, and wouldn't rest until he brought Miles' shady backers to JUSTICE *rides into sunset*," then I doubt it would be called "open ended." It's the fact that we got details and characters about to do something--rather than simply planning to do it--that makes the book feel too open ended, but I feel that the epilogue is meant to be read separately from the main text.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Thought]

I don't really think it's as wrapped up as any of the others that lack sequels except The Way Of Kings.

I'd argue that there are two reasons for that. First, as Kurkistan noted, the epilogue was far more blunt about setting things up for the next one. Second, the scope of the book and the characters themselves make us more invested in the future of these specific characters, and thus the problems that they will face, than Elantris did.

Actually, the two endings do compare quite nicely, even. Though, this will contain spoilers.

Ahem, now, in Elantris the book ends with two tiny nations having survived a sneak attack by an otherwise world-encompassing nation, largely through the use of a nuclear deterrent (that is, Aon'Dor). The story's main villain (Hrathen) has been defeated, but the Big Bad Mastermind (Wyrn Wulfden) is still free and largely unconfronted. While the immediate goals of the book were achieved (preventing invasion, restoring Elantris), the larger problems presented in the text are still there, waiting to be addressed (that is, both tiny nations are still unstable and will have to deal with significant external military pressure).

Almost the exact same set up ends AoL. The story's main villain (Miles) has been defeated, but the Big Bad Mastermind (Edwarn) is still free and largely unconfronted. While the immediate goals of the book were achieved (saving Steris), the larger problems presented in the text are still there, waiting to be addressed (that is, the other kidnapped women are still missing, and the secret society is still plotting).

The scope of AoL, however, is much smaller. We see a lot more of Wax and Wayne, and so we like them more (indeed, I'd argue that they are also inherently more likeable than the Elantris trio). This means that we care more about their continuing problems. And those specific problems are ones that we can identify with more easily. We have no real clue how Prince/King/GrandPoohba Raoden will go about saving his nation from the big bad Wulfden. But, we have a fairly good idea that saving the other kidnapped women will require Wax to, you know, hunt them down and save them. That is a lot of what AoL itself was about. We can visualize Wax completing this task a lot better than we can visualize Raoden completing his task, hence we care more about Wax's. It's also less abstract (saving specific people v stopping war).

In both cases, the plot was wrapped up to the same extent, but we care more about the unresolved threads and the characters of AoL than we do about the unresolved threads and characters of Elantris. Thus, AoL seems to need a sequel more.

Not that Elantris was bad, by any means. But Sanderson has had several extra years practice, at this point. We should expect that a more recent book will hook us more than an older one. I don't doubt that his future books will make us want sequels even more.