The Alloy of Law

The Alloy of Law (2011) is a fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson. It is the first book in the Wax and Wayne series, which serves as the second era of his larger Mistborn saga, blending elements of the Western and detective mystery genres. The story follows Waxillium Ladrian, a lawman from the frontier “Roughs,” who returns to the industrial metropolis of Elendel to assume his duties as the head of a noble house, only to be drawn into a conflict with a sophisticated criminal conspiracy. The novel explores themes of Reconciling Personal Identity With Social Duty, The Tension Between Law and Justice, and The Disruption of Modernity and Tradition.

Sanderson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author known for his extensive world-building in series like the Mistborn saga and The Stormlight Archive, and for completing Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. He won a Hugo Award for his novella The Emperor’s Soul. As Sanderson explains in the book’s preface, The Alloy of Law was an intentional experiment, written to bridge two larger trilogies and to explore his fantasy world of Scadrial as it undergoes a technological and social evolution mirroring that of the American West in the early 20th century.

This guide refers to the 2023 Tor Publishing Group trade paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence and death.

Plot Summary

In the frontier region known as the Roughs, lawman Waxillium “Wax” Ladrian hunts the notorious serial killer Bloody Tan. Wax is a rare Twinborn, meaning he has both Allomantic and Feruchemical abilities. His Allomantic power is Steelpushing, which allows him to “Push” on any steel objects around him, either propelling them away from himself or himself away from them, depending on whether he or the object is heavier. His  Feruchemical power is Skimming, which allows him to store his bodyweight in “metalminds” worn on the body, thus increasing or decreasing his weight by moving weight between his body and the metalminds. Using these abilities, Wax navigates the abandoned town of Feltrel with his wife and partner, Lessie. After discovering Tan’s gruesome gallery of posed victims, Wax confronts him in a ruined church. Tan takes Lessie hostage, holding her at gunpoint, and Wax, an expert marksman, tries to shoot Tan without harming Lessie. At the last moment, Tan pulls Lessie into the path of the bullet, killing her. Devastated, Wax shoots and kills Tan.

Five months later, Wax has returned to the metropolis of Elendel to assume his title as Lord of House Ladrian after his uncle’s death. His house is nearly bankrupt, and he is expected to marry into wealth. Fleeing the pressures of high society, he patrols the city and encounters a gunfight but freezes, traumatized by the memory of killing Lessie. Ashamed, he resolves to abandon his past, locking away his guns. Eleven months later, Wax is preparing to finalize a marriage alliance with Steris Harms, the pragmatic daughter of the wealthy Lord Harms. His former deputy, Wayne, a mischievous Twinborn with time-manipulation and healing abilities, arrives unexpectedly. Wayne is investigating a gang called the Vanishers, who are responsible for a series of audacious train robberies. Wax meets with Lord Harms, Steris, and a quiet young woman named Marasi Colms, who is introduced as Steris’s cousin. Steris presents a detailed, business-like marriage contract that outlines everything from their courtship schedule to provisions for extramarital affairs. Wayne, disguised as Wax’s uncle, uses a time bubble to give Wax an aluminum bullet recovered from a Vanisher crime scene, a weapon that is Allomantically inert and cannot be Pushed away by a Steelpusher like Wax.

At the Yomen-Ostlin wedding dinner, the Vanishers attack. Led by a masked man whose voice is familiar to Wax, the gang robs the guests. When a former constable, Lord Peterus, confronts them, the leader kills him, spurring Wax and Wayne into action. In the ensuing gunfight, they use their powers to battle over 30 bandits. The Vanishers kidnap Steris and attempt to take Marasi as well. Wax manages to rescue Marasi, and with her help as a sniper, he and Wayne defeat the remaining bandits before the city constables arrive.

In the aftermath, Lord Harms begs Wax to find Steris. Wayne infiltrates the constabulary in disguise and learns the location of the Vanishers’ hideout. Marasi visits Wax at his mansion, where they deduce that the Vanishers are kidnapping women from powerful Allomantic bloodlines to breed a new generation of Allomancers. Wax also realizes that Marasi is Lord Harms’s daughter from an extramarital affair and thus is Steris’s half-sister, making her a target. Their conversation is interrupted when Wax’s butler, Tillaume, tries to assassinate them. Wayne drinks the poisoned tea that Tillaume intended to serve to Wax. His healing power saves him from the poison, and Tillaume then detonates a bomb. Wayne uses a time bubble to slow the explosion, and Wax uses his Feruchemical Skimming to increase his weight, smashing them through the floor just as the bomb detonates above them. Presumed dead, they escape the burning mansion.

They investigate the Vanishers’ abandoned foundry and find a cigar box belonging to Miles “Hundredlives” Dagouter, a formidable lawman from the Roughs and a former colleague of Wax. Wax realizes Miles is the true leader of the Vanishers. Soon after, Miles attacks Wax on a train, revealing himself to be a gold Compounder (an extremely rare type of Twinborn whose Allomantic and Feruchemical abilities use the same metal, allowing them to use Allomancy to supercharge their Feruchemical abilities), granting him a healing ability so powerful it makes him virtually immortal. After a brutal fight on the exterior of the moving train, Wax manages to throw Miles off with a powerful Steelpush. Seeking refuge and new weapons, the group goes to the workshop of Ranette, a brilliant but eccentric gunsmith. She provides them with custom weaponry, including special “hazekiller” rounds designed to counter specific Allomancers. Wax devises a plan to trap himself inside House Tekiel’s new high-security railcar, the Breaknaught, during its maiden voyage. Wayne and Marasi stage a fake attack, creating a panic that allows Wayne to lock Wax inside the car just before it departs.

The Vanishers execute their heist, using a massive crane on a barge to lift the entire Breaknaught off the tracks and replace it with a replica. They transport the car to their new underground lair beneath the Ironspine Building, unaware Wax is inside. When they rip the door off the car, they trigger a dynamite trap set by Wax. In the ensuing chaos, Wax battles Miles’s men and two elite Allomancers sent by the conspiracy’s leader. Wayne and Marasi join the fight from above, and with the help of the hazekiller rounds, they defeat the elite Allomancers. During the battle, Wax discovers his old trunk containing his mistcoat and Sterrion revolvers, placed there by the god Harmony. He rescues Steris from an adjoining warehouse, destroying it in the process. Miles takes Marasi hostage, forcing a final standoff. Using one of Wayne’s time bubbles for precision, Wax performs an impossible trick shot, deflecting one bullet with another to kill the guard holding Marasi. He then fights Miles hand-to-hand but is overpowered. Meanwhile Marasi enacts her part of their plan, using her Allomantic power to secretly trap Miles, Wax, and herself in a bubble that slows time, giving Wayne hours to summon the constables. When she drops the bubble, Miles is overwhelmed and captured.

Marasi attends Miles’s execution. His healing powers allow him to survive multiple firing squad volleys before he finally dies, delivering a cryptic speech about a god named Trell. Meanwhile, Wax confronts his uncle, Lord Edwarn Ladrian, revealing he knows Edwarn is the mastermind known as “Mister Suit.” Edwarn confesses that the Vanishers were a front for a massive insurance fraud scheme to bankrupt House Tekiel, allowing his secret organization, the Set, to acquire it. He also reveals that Wax’s sister, Telsin, is alive and is a member of the Set. Powerless against Edwarn’s Allomancer guards, Wax is thrown from the train but manages to steal his uncle’s appointment book. After the execution, Marasi is approached by a robed figure with steel spikes for eyes, the mythological Ironeyes, who gives her a book of information for Wax. At a train station, Wax and Wayne regroup. Now possessing intelligence against the Set, they resolve to stay in Elendel and fight this new war.