Alloy of Law Reactions *spoilers*

[Ete'ni]

I loved it. From the first pages to the last word. I think author should be restricted from writing more than 250 pages per book.

[Fish-in-a-barrel she/her]

I really liked spotting the references to the previous trilogy, and guessing the identities of their new gods (like the Ascendant Warrior), before it became vary obvious who was being refered to. I'd love to know more about the religions that have sprung up. Obviously Sazed has his own, which allows him to communicate with his followers via earring. And people still worship Kelsier, though I wonder how the church of the Survivor's changed. And the one that worships Ironeyes, at first I thought it meant worship of Marsh/Inquisitors (or even just plain old Death)... but if the Words of Founding included all Sazed's religious knowledge, maybe it's actually the Lord Ruler. I'd love to hear if Vin has her own specific church devoted to the AW, and what it teaches.

 

I hope we get to find out more about Twinborn, and other Mistings. The trilogy seemed mainly focused on Mistborn, with the odd focus on Tin and Soothing, so it's lovely to see Mistings in their element. The whole world in general is something I really want to get my teeth into. I want to see how it's changed, and how much people really understand about the world before. What happened to the kandra? And the koloss? How did society get to where it is now from the end of HoA?

 

The characters are amazing, as always! I especially love Wayne's humour and the way he 'trades' things. His backstory is pretty depressing too,so it's a nice angle on his otherwise sunny disposition. Miles was a pretty interesting and had a whole 'sympathetic villain' angle that I like. I like villains where you can kind of understand where they're coming from. Like Rashek, retrospectively. Hope we see more of Steris and Ranette, I like their quirky personalities. I can see someone as stiff as Steris undergoing some great development. It was also marvellous to hear about Sazed, even indirectly, and to see Marsh again (especially since he's not suffering horribly this time).

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I have good news for you, Brandon has said we will find out more about Steris in the sequel.

[Pinpoint he/him]

I also agree that it was the cop that got kandra'd obviously Harmony wants Wax to stick around and have a free hand investigating things, so he had the obstructive cop offed and replaced.

 

Harmony seems like the kind of guy who wouldn't want to get involved that extensively. completely removing a cop? That seems like that sort of thing he would be a lot more hesitant to do. He did things like giving Wax weapons at the end of the book but removing a life seems a bit much.

 

Also, how is Sazed able to read Wax's mind? I know the earring is serving as a hemalurgic spike, but I'm in the middle of reading the end of HoA to my sister, and the one thing that Ruin can't do is read minds. That's something that Vin and Elend keep using against him. So how did Sazed get that power? Is it because he has both shards? But why would that let him read minds?

 

Maybe he doesn't read minds. Maybe he reads expressions and he can talk to their minds in response. This is what the old Hoid and Midius (the Hoid that we know) do. In the Liars of Partinel sample chapter it mentions that Midius' master was good enough at reading expressions that he could know their thoughts.

Yeah, I knew that Scadrial didn't have a moon, but I was kind of hoping it would get one by the end. Like Sazed got bored and pulled a random meteor into orbit, and this event also had some kind of major plot significance.

Just watch, Sazed will randomly decide to pull a couple moons into orbit making one of them glow red just to be unique. then people will randomly start getting these epic powers and will proceed to destroy the world. Harmony will decide that this wasn't such a good idea after all and rename Scadrial instead calling it Earth. He will then eject the planet from the cosmere with great disgust.

 

Wow I almost forgot to share my own thoughts.

The character struck me most was Wayne. He borrows everything he fancies. he replaces what he borrows with cheap drawings or other cheap stuff. The only thing he is allowed to steal is accents. What in the Cosmere is up with this guy? He isn't any normal sidekick something is definitely up with him.

 

I also have a question. Could a Kandra snap?

Edited December 11, 2013 by Pinpoint

[Kurkistan he/him]

Harmony seems like the kind of guy who wouldn't want to get involved that extensively. completely removing a cop? That seems like that sort of thing he would be a lot more hesitant to do. He did things like giving Wax weapons at the end of the book but removing a life seems a bit much.

 

I think most of us have been assuming that he died (very conveniently, I'll admit) of natural causes and TenSoon just took advantage of the opportunity. 

 

Maybe he doesn't read minds. Maybe he reads expressions and he can talk to their minds in response. This is what the old Hoid and Midius (the Hoid that we know) do. In the Liars of Partinel sample chapter it mentions that Midius' master was good enough at reading expressions that he could know their thoughts.

 

No, he reads minds because he's a combo of Ruin and Preservation. Historically, Ruin could "write" and Preservation could "read". This was answered about a year ago.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Kurkistan

[Oudeis he/him]

 

I think most of us have been assuming that he died (very conveniently, I'll admit) of natural causes and TenSoon just took advantage of the opportunity. 

 

 

No, he reads minds because he's a combo of Ruin and Preservation. Historically, Ruin could "write" and Preservation could "read". This was answered about a year ago.

 

Which is odd cuz there's a chapter in Well of Ascension where Ruin clearly and obviously reads Zane's mind. What's odd is, Zane is sitting down at dinner with his father, and has shown no problem talking out loud to Ruin in front of his dad, so logically there's no reason Zane wouldn't have said his thought out loud, yet he didn't, and Ruin still answered. Not in the way Tanavast was just sorta talking and Dalinar assumed it was the answer to his question.

 

"He beat you as a child!"

It made me stronger, Zane thought.

"Then use that strength to kill him!"

 

It strains credulity to assume that Ruin simply thought those two sentences happened to go together, and that they simply work better if we as the omniscient observers know what Zane was thinking.

[Kurkistan he/him]

They could have had that conversation a thousand times, or Zane-the-crazy could have muttered or sub-vocalized it.

[Oudeis he/him]

Except it didn't say, "He muttered," it said, "he thought."

[Kurkistan he/him]

Hence "Zane-the-crazy." Unreliable narration is possible.

[Aether he/him]

I seem to remember Vin hearing Reen even before she started wearing the ear-ring again, not saying she was mad, but Reen was part of her inner dialogue, and Ruin just added to that.

 

As to Zane, in the annotations Brandon says that Ruin (or his inner voice, whatever) lied, and that Zane pretty much was mad. I don't think Ruin did, or even had to do, most of those dialogues. He only needed to nudge him along.

[Oudeis he/him]

Hence "Zane-the-crazy." Unreliable narration is possible.

 

...So do we just take nothing from his POV as fact?

 

 

As to Zane, in the annotations Brandon says that Ruin (or his inner voice, whatever) lied, and that Zane pretty much was mad. I don't think Ruin did, or even had to do, most of those dialogues. He only needed to nudge him along.

 

Yes, but that same voice took credit at the end for telling him to kill everyone, when he told Zane, "of course I never told you to kill her; I need her."

[Kurkistan he/him]

Darnam, it's settled. Brandon confirmed directly that Ruin doesn't read minds. Now it's down to reconciling any seeming contradictions with that fact. Aether and I have both provided plausible alternatives to Ruin reading Zane's mind. Perhaps other plausible alternatives exist. But in no world will we settle on an answer of the form "Well, I guess Ruin can read minds after all".

[Aether he/him]

Darnam, it's settled. Brandon confirmed directly that Ruin doesn't read minds. Now it's down to reconciling any seeming contradictions with that fact. Aether and I have both provided plausible alternatives to Ruin reading Zane's mind. Perhaps other plausible alternatives exist. But in no world will we settle on an answer of the form "Well, I guess Ruin can read minds after all".

Bad-chull Kurk is Bad-chull

[Oudeis he/him]

Darnam, it's settled. Brandon confirmed directly that Ruin doesn't read minds. Now it's down to reconciling any seeming contradictions with that fact. Aether and I have both provided plausible alternatives to Ruin reading Zane's mind. Perhaps other plausible alternatives exist. But in no world will we settle on an answer of the form "Well, I guess Ruin can read minds after all".

 

Dude, it's a typo, that's all I was saying. Obviously this was intended to be a spoken line, and it got missed in the re-writes. I was pointing it out like an easter egg.

 

Slow your roll, Kurk, there's no need to jump down my throat.

 

And for the record, "everything from Zane's perspective is a fever dream and probably a lie" is not a "plausible alternative".

[Kurkistan he/him]

Sorry then, I suppose I misinterpreted you. I guess I went down the wrong mental trail when you said "Ruin clearly and obviously reads Zane's mind," interpreting it as you attempting to point out an in-text, canonized fact rather than a typo.

 

So far as Zane's perspective being a fever dream, perhaps I failed to be clear in what I meant. I meant that it could be quite possible that Zane unconsciously mutters or mouths words to himself at times at times. Not noticing an unconscious tic is a horse of a different color from simply perceiving the entire world wrong. Aether's explanation is more likely, though, I'll freely admit.

[Oudeis he/him]

I think I figured out how Bloody Tan killed Lessie.

 

I don't think it required the Metallic Arts. They said that they've been in this situation before. Possibly, someone knows what they do.

 

Lessie was counting down for Wax; it was a timed move. If Bloody Tan somehow knew that Wax would fire on the count of three, and if he was somehow able to get in the same time as them (obviously difficult, since she was blinking and he was behind her), he would only have had to jerk at the absolute right moment, no allomancy or feruchemy required. Granted, this isn't a perfect theory yet, I still need to figure out how he knew Lessie was blinking. If there had simply been a mirror behind Wax, someone would have mentioned seeing it, I would think. Still, it's a theory that doesn't require magic of any kind. Sometimes bad guys don't need special powers to be clever and evil.

[duladen he/him]

Hey y'all, this might be a silly question, but it's been a bit since I read AoL and I couldn't find an answer searching on this site:

 

Can a compounder consciously choose to burn the stored feruchemcial traits/abilities and not the actual metal? I think the answer is yes, or Miles would be going nuts all the time. Also, I'm pretty sure I remember passages from his viewpoint that would indicate he can burn his Feruchemical gold for super healing without being constantly reminded of what could have been...

[Kurkistan he/him]

It's unclear. The fact that aluminum can't be compounded (just "poofing" away when you try), as well as how Vin only sensed Sazed's stored strength after she started burning pewter suggests that you have to burn allomantically for at least a moment before the feruchemical reserve becomes available to burn. But then Brandon said that you can't burn it allomantically at all, though he seemed less than certain at the time.

 

Most agree, though, that it's likely the case that, once you're burning something for its feruchemical effect, you don't get the allomantic one any more. We have WoB that basically says as much.

 

Long story short: no, Miles almost certainly does not have to constantly be experiencing the effects of Allomantic gold in order to compound Feruchemical gold.

[AerionBFII he/him]

Just finished it like right now!!

I admit i was a little pensive with a more modernized version of Mistborn but i loved it!!

I love the idea of those Twinborn!!

 

Just realized how epic the Lord Ruler must have been 

[Pathfinder]

So to ring in on the Bloody Tan and Lessie debate. I am in the camp that thinks he was NOT a slider. One person pointed out Wax is familiar with Wayne sliding numerous times by that point so could have recognized it. Another person stated he only saw it from inside so wouldn't see it. This in my opinion is incorrect, Wax saw Wayne slide when Wayne visited Wax during the first introduction with Steris. Wayne changed his appearance and Wax commented during his internal monologue that there is a shimmer or distortion in the air that occurs during a slide and that if someone isn't paying attention, it could be easily missed. I think it's safe to say Wax was completely paying attention/focused on Bloody Tan and Lessie. I have a theory of my own. Why can't Bloody Tan just be a steel ferring? He stored speed before the meeting, and tapped it when Wax shot allowing him to react and move fast enough to position Lessie. As to finding bracers on the body after, who is to say he didn't implant them somewhere in his body? He knew enough about the human body to taxidermy them, would implantation of metals be so far fetched? Just my own two cents. 

[BreathTaker he/him]

So I know I'm necroing this thread a bit but I didn't want to start a whole new thread. I'm on my approx. 4th reread of AoL and in chapter 13 pg 232/233 Wayne talks about Marasai's build. From the sound of it, she's pretty smoking hot. Did anyone else come to this conclusion?

Edited May 17, 2014 by BreathTaker

[David Coppercloud]

Has anyone picked-up on the pun in the names?

Wax and Wayne

waxes and wanes

[Kurkistan he/him]

What pun? There's no moon on Scadrial...

[Left he/him]

 

Has anyone picked-up on the pun in the names?

Wax and Wayne

waxes and wanes

 

 

I did! Me and my sister make that joke quite a bit actually.

[David Coppercloud]

Does anyone think that Miles will make a reappearance in the sequel?

 

His own abilities would be the mechanism, so it wouldn't that much of a deus ex machina.  

Edited July 17, 2014 by David Coppercloud