This Ain't No Place For No Hero

As a few of you may have guessed today's post has virtually nothing to do with the song.  Short Change Hero is a fine song, I have nothing to bad to say about it.  But single greatest virtue of Short Change Hero is that it was used in this following fan video for Mistborn: Alloy of Law.



If you have not read Mistborn, then you should.  If you can't bring yourself to read fantasy, read Steelheart.  For god's sake, just read something by Brandon Sanderson.  After you read Sanderson, you will grow taller, your hair will be thicker and more luxuriant, your IQ will go up, you will be finally able to hit that curve ball. (Fuck you, Jobu!)  Or you can just trust me and read Sanderson without needing any of those ridiculous promises.  Sanderson books are all very good to fantastic.  I used to say he was my favorite living author after David Gemmell.  He is now my favorite authour, period. I still think Stephenson is the best living author but his works are not as entertaining as Sanderson's.

Brandon Sanderson writes books with well thought out magic systems.  In Mistborn, the gifted are able to use metals to achieve various superhuman feats.  No wands or silly spells here in Scadrial.  Sanderson also writes interesting relatable characters that you care about.  In the first Mistborn Trilogy it is Vin, an orphan girl whose fate it is to almost save the world. (No spoilers here)

The Video from above is a fan made recreation of the prologue to Alloy of Law.  This prologue finally dethroned Stephenson's opening to Snow Crash  for best book opening I have ever read.  You can read the prologue and first chapter here if you wish, or you can just get the book.  If you are poor and live near me, I will loan you the book.  You don't need to read the first three books to enjoy alloy of law, but I recommend reading all four.  These are outstanding books.

Don't be fooled by Tor rebranding Mistborn as YA books, they are just trying to make sure kids don't miss out on these awesome books and want to get them into school libraries.  Maybe such efforts will pay dividends if librarians and reviewers like Rachael King take notice.  Maybe by reading great books we will raise a new generation of people who will not need a pictograph to enter your order at Burger King.  By reading these books you will be making the world a better place for future generations.

Alloy of Law is an action book.  It is set in the Scarialian equivalent of the Edwardian/Victorian era and our protagonist is a law man from the frontier returning to civilization to assume his duties as  the head of a great house.  Picture Bret Maverick being summoned to Casterly Rock to take over house Lannister.  This book has great balls (No the dancing type, cretins) and train heists.  Wax is perfect leading man and his sidekick Wayne would leave Artemus Gordon feeling like he buys his disguises at a cheap party shop.  Sanderson is especially adept at writing action sequences and this book has some truly outstanding ones.  I would love to see the scene where Wax destroys the building up on the big screen.  I'll wager that if you read this book, you would too.


Later

Bob