The Well of Ascension: Mistborn, Book 2

One of the best fantasy epics I’ve ever read
The Well of Ascension is one of those very few novels that upon completion, you simply say “wow”. This isn’t just a good sequel to the already incredible first novel The Final Empire. It’s one the greatest fantasy epics I’ve ever read and it easily surpasses the original.One of the many reasons The Well of Ascension works is because author Brandon Sanderson is able to avoid one of the biggest pitfalls when writing a sequel: predictability. Many authors make nearly identical sequels to pad out their story lines, making them lackluster and their series stagnant. Brandon Sanderson is able to avoid this downward spiral and then some. The Lord Ruler is dead, the good guys are victorious, the enslaved skaa have been freed from their oppressive overseers, and our heroine finds true love. Of course that still leaves the world in a complete state of disarray and chaos. After nearly an eternity of oppression and censorship by the Lord Ruler would it really sense for everything to just fall into place? How does a world recover from such an existence? That question resonates throughout the entire book. This has allowed Sanderson to change the focus of the of the Mistborn series from one of rebellion and oppression to political intrigue and survival. It’s a refreshing change for the series yet at the same time it retains its already established identity.Describing the sense of scale in The Well of Ascension’s story as “epic” would be a drastic understatement. With the aforementioned Lord Ruler being killed this allows the various tyrants and warlords across the Final Empire to fight for supremacy across its various dominances. With Luthadel no longer the seat of power for the Lord Ruler it has come under siege by Straff Venture and several other armies all vying for the prize of the massive city and its supply of atium; and of course their problems don’t stop there. Discord and desperation run rampant among the remaining nobles making it difficult for Elend Venture, now king of Luthadel to even hold onto his crown let alone stop the invading armies from destroying their new found freedom. All of this while the prophesied evil The Deepness slowly begins to reemerge onto the unsuspecting world. The characters are thrust right into the middle of this crisis and must find a solution to a seemingly impossible situation.This is one of those few books that literally never stops entertaining you. My only gripe that I had with the previous novel The Final Empire was that it eventually fell into an entertaining yet formulaic pattern towards the middle of the book. That is not the case in The Well of Ascension at all. Nearly every chapter brings something new to the story like characters, unforeseen twists, and various political issues and foreign threats. There’s no boring sections and no uninteresting or boring characters to drag the narrative to a halt. Sanderson does all of this flawlessly while continuing to illustrate some of the most intense and adrenaline filled action scenes that I’ve ever read from any genre.With the throne empty after the skaa rebellion, the heroes are forced to step out of the shadows and into the ravenous world of politics where they’ll learn the harshness of leadership. Taking power was the easy part, holding onto it is the true challenge. As Orson Scott Card ever so happily praised, Sanderson understands how leadership in society works. He portrays a very Machiavellian sense of burden which leaders must overcome in order to protect their kingdom. Elend Venture’s reign couldn’t have come at a worse time, the materialistic Luthadel nobles don’t exactly take to kindly to the man who has limited their sense of power in society, keeping their cut-throat intentions in check is only the beginning. Despite having freedom and a voice in politics due to Elend’s fair legislation, the skaa cannot be fully trusted either. The removal of their abusive owners comes with the loss of their food and shelter. They were slaves, but they at least were able to survive. After what seemed like an eternity of servitude to the Lord Ruler and his nobles, the skaa simply cannot comprehend the premise of freedom.Character development was one of Sanderson’s strongest areas that he showcased in The Final Empire which he continues to demonstrate to an even greater extent. The individual members of Kelsier’s crew have been installed in various positions of power within Elend’s government. It was interesting to see the once thieves and conspirators having to adjust and find a place in the spotlight. I particularly enjoyed the attention given to Sazed, he was a particularly stoic character in the last book so giving him more personality was a welcome change. It’s also very clear that the Mistborn trilogy will always feature dual protagonists for each of the three novels. The Final Empire featured the charismatic Kelsier as the mentor to the cynical Vin. The Well of Ascension focuses instead on Vin and Elend as lovers, both trying to keep each other and their kingdom safe from harm. Many fantasy and romance novels that I’ve read have always boiled down to a weak sexually driven relationship instead of a strong well-written character driven one that focuses on the characters’ needs and vulnerabilities. Brandon Sanderson puts the competition to absolute shame in the Well of Ascension which felt like a coming of age story for the two. Vin and Elend aren’t looking for thrills and pleasure, they’re both flawed human beings who gain balance through each other. The stalwart yet feeble King Elend gains courage through Vin’s bravery and strength while Vin finds comfort through Elend’s love and compassion, something she has never felt in her entire life. Sanderson can literally write a better romance than most authors can when he isn’t even writing a romance novel to begin with. Every one of these amazing characters despite all the power at their fingertips and existing on a completely different plain of reality feel genuinely human. They actually feel like real believable people which is something many fantasy authors have trouble replicating.I knew the sequel to The Final Empire would be good, but I didn’t think it would be this incredible. Where many authors’s stumble on their second iteration Brandon Sanderson soars. I will personally remember The Well of Ascension as one of the greatest sequels that I’ve ever read and one of the greatest books in general. The incredibly well written plot with non-stop action, and some of the most lovable characters that I’ve ever seen will keep you guessing and begging for more. Once you finally reach the end Vin will most likely become one of your most favorite characters of all time, if she isn’t already.

Brilliant! . . . but slow
After reading the outstanding “The Final Empire”, I think it’s safe for me to say that I am a big fan of Brandon Sanderson, and wouldn’t miss continuing the Mistborn Trilogy for anything.It was a strange experience to read “The Well of Ascension.” It is, simply put, a mix of some of the best authorship and storytelling in fiction, mixed in with the taint of middle-book syndrome, quite possibly the worst case of “transition book problems” that I’ve ever read.I’ll start with the good. On one hand, Sanderson is an absurdly good writer. Characters are three-dimensional and fleshed out. Minor characters are interesting and unusual. Character development is deep and incredible. Dialogue is some of the most entertaining and realistic stuff I’ve ever read. Action scenes are so intense and spectacular that sometimes it’s hard to follow all the complex moves and executions, rendering the finishes even more incredible. Complex politics and issues to be explored abound, seeing what really happens in the aftermath of the Dark Lord’s fall, and the subtle morals and issues examined greatly enhance the storyline.Best of all, revelations shoot out of nowhere and hit the reader again, and again, and again. Things thought to be fact are revealed to be falsehoods or deceptions. Things once thought trivial are revealed to be major. New ground is explored over all issues, both from the words of the ancient Keeper Kwaan and the personal discoveries of the main characters. The story is so deep and interconnected, so complex and masterfully spun, one can do little except stand in awe of Sanderson’s towering genius of tale-spinning. If this book had been as fast-paced as The Final Empire, it would be just about impossible for me to critique it in any even remotely negative way.However, like a perfect statue that’s been chipped, or a painted masterpiece with a huge smudge, The Well of Ascension has one great flaw that sours the quality of the piece as a whole.It’s boring.How could such a fantastic and fast-paced story become so . . . dull? I’ll tell you why. While I was reading the Well of Ascension, I couldn’t help but get the impression that Sanderson got some influence from Robin Hobb. It seems strange to compare the two, given how much I enjoy Sanderson’s writing but can’t stand Robin Hobb’s. I’d sometimes like to think of Mistborn as the techniques of the Farseer Trilogy done right, but even that’s difficult. The point is, the same problem that made “Royal Assassin” one of the worst books I’ve ever read has come onto this novel and rendered it imperfect.Politics, politics, politics.Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for politics playing a role in a story. It fleshes out the characters, adds new schemes and plots, and makes the whole world more realistic. Unfortunately, tWoA has fallen into the trap of having loooooooooong periods of almost nothing happening but boring political maneuvers that would have been better off cut from the final product. The waistline of the Well of Ascension has been expanded and fattened by unnecessary drivel to the point where the seams are bursting, mostly due to Elend’s ridiculous political arc. Then there were the sections with Sazed, which showed better what Feruchemy was capable of, but were quite simply too long and boring. This book should have been at least 100 pages shorter than it was, preferably 200-300 pages shorter.On the bright side, both the initial premise and the final 170 or so pages were fantastic. Sanderson again demonstrated his ability to wrap up innumerable plot points and conflicts without rushing or resorting to deus ex machina. The final events were breathtaking and grindingly suspenseful, making me very, very glad that I had already gotten “The Hero of Ages” before I finished this book. Waiting to get back to the story would have been torture.But that’s the rub. All the story of the book was compressed into the beginning and the end, leaving the middle a fat, saggy mess that should have been ruthlessly burned down to a fraction of it’s size. C’mon, Sanderson! The story is brilliant! Why drag out pointless happenings about the assembly and whatnot when we should be concentrating on this epic storyline? As I said before, if the story had permeated the whole thing, this book would have been almost beyond compare.The Well of Ascension is still a book of remarkable quality and professional authorship, but sadly weighed down by the bloated state of it’s middle. Hopefully, this transition book was all we’ll see of this vile corruption of boringness and “The Hero of Ages” will focus on the story and take the books back up to near-perfect levels.

The story is great although I found the middle part a bit drawn out with explaining feelings. However the main ending was amazing and I read the last 300 pages without putting the book away.The physical quality of the 10th anniversary book cover (the version I read) was lacking. The cover looks amazing but wears VERY quickly. I read the book once, no traveling etc and the edges have suffered greatly on the places I held the book in my hands. This can be seen in the picture where I compare a new one (the hero of ages) with the well of ascension

Livro incrível, ótima evolução de personagens comparado ao primeiro