The Well of Ascension: Book Two of Mistborn

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's the second in the mistborn series and highly addictive. I read the first one in paper back and once I got my kindle it was the first book I purchased. I would recommend for anyone who like sci-fi.

Brandon Sanderson is one of the most amazing authors. His action packed stories are filled with wonder and excitement with never a dull moment. Very few authors can write like he can. By Far my Favorite series and one of my Favorite books

This book, along with the rest of the trilogy, is one of the best, most entertaining books I have read in a while. I wouldn't say I'm the most prolific reader, working on a Masters degree and preparing to start my Doctorate program can be a bit time consuming, but after reading a little of the first book to get a taste for the series, I made time for it.

All of the books in the series are very well written, and the characters themselves are very believable. I would recommend the series to anyone with any interest in a good read.

Built well on the first book. The plot becomes more complex and you learn more about the world and characters in it. I like the way the author allows the reader to follow several characters' journey at the same time.

If you are a fan of Ice and Fire (George RR Martin) or The Golden Compass, you will enjoy this book. This is no cliche fantasy epic. From the start to the end, you will be surprised, intrigued, and amazed. I can't wait for the sequel!

When I read book #1 I was pleased to have found a fantasy book I enjoyed. In my experience there is long between good fantasy books/series. Having just finished reading this book, however, I feel disappointed. Disappointed because it feels like the author don't trust me to have good memory, so it repeats and repeats and repeats. Quite annoying, and I feel this is becomming very common, at least in this genre. And Vin, our beloved mistborn, goes on and on about her not being worthy enough of her beloved. Apart from that, it is a good book #2, with a good story. But I won't buy the next book.

This book still has the same great magic and lore as the first. Great plot lines and character development. Looking forward to the third book.

My main problem with this book is the way Mr Sanderson brings up events from the first book. It seems as though a significant portion of the dialogue, especially in the first half, is elementary reflection on past events. Bringing up the faculties of Mistborn or Allomancy, Keilser's history, etc. I found those parts redundant and frankly boring.

All in all, satisfying read. I'm no writer myself and appreciate Mr Sanderson's skills.

I consider Robin Hobb to be the best fantasy writer going. Her characters are so interesting and complex-- even though maddening and obtuse at times. I come away from a Hobb book feeling as if I lived a life in her world. And I want to go back.

With the second book of Mistborn, I think Sanderson has equalled Hobb. His main characters live interesting emotional lives. They struggle with ethics and self-worth. They live examined lives, and yet they take action, too.

I must say, usually I roll my eyes at female warrior characters. Too often they are written as indistinguishable from men. They might as well *be* men, but one gets the sense that the author has got some sort of literary affirmative action program going (witness George R.R. Martin's inexplicably no-magic-or-anything unbeatable female knight in his Song of Ice and Fire. Give me a break.) I'm old school. I prefer to read about women who nurture and knights who fight over them. Do you find my attitude annoying you oh-so-modern enlightened reader you? Then I have two things to say A) screw you, and B) listen, Sanderson's female assassin, Vin, won me over. She makes sense. She's a warrior, and a believable (at least to me) young woman. Yes, this is me talking.

I want to be on Vin's team. I want to fly her banner. That takes some sensitive and solid writing, pal. So, this is the best thing I've read since since I ran out of Hobb books (get writing Robin!).

(Also, FYI, I read both books on my Kindle. It was very comfortable. I'm going to read all fiction on my Kindle from now on.)

Not to impressed by this serie from Brandn Sanderson, typical fantasy writing with a twist on the magic system. No big suprises in the plot, and characters are not espesially interesting. All in all a mediocre book

The second it the series, this book continues the story of the Mistborn and the legend that is Kelsier. The dialogue is less than satisfying and the story a bit predictable, but overall it is a solid story and good book---it lives up to the first book and gives the reader more.

I just received the hardcover version of WOA and am very irritated at TOR books. They apparently saved some money by using the smallest possible font size they could get away with - making the book 500ish pages long rather then 700ish? They also apparently saved on ink. The text is a medium to light brown in color with poor contrast offwhitish paper. I do use reading glasses on some books and on some I do not. Even with reading glasses, it was a chore to read this book, and required me to get the strongest possible reading light to do so.

For those of you who have never considered this sort of thing, at random , in your home library, pick up several books, open them to any page and read a line. then compare the books. It will emphasize what I'm saying and point out again, the publisher's who are 'cheating' us.

As much as I enjoyed "Final Empire", I was thoroughly disappointed withe the two sequels. The utter lack of action is as painful as it is in the "Wheel of Fortune" series. The dragging on and on regarding characters' moods does not deepen our understanding of their personalities. Very few new facts and twists are added in the two sequels, and these could have been summarized in much fewer pages for a more dynamic read. Actually the entire trilogy could have been packed into one great book. The trend nowadays for fantasy writers is at minima a trilogy (if not more...).

So enjoy "Final Empire" as a self-standing book, skip the two sequels

This is one of those all too rare books that I hate. It is a wonderful read, great story. I am torn between wanting to read it as fast as possible but also I don't want to read it because then the story will end and I'll be left wanting more. Damned if I do and damned if I don't.

Quite honestly one of the best series I have read this year.

I haven't yet finished the book. The story looks great so far, however the number of typos found in the kindle edition is very annoying (5-10 in the first 3 chapters only).
It looks like nobody proof-read it.

As can be expected the second book is somewhat more of the same but with other bad guys.
There are some expected twists in the plot, but on the whole it's a nice book - maybe since the charm and freshness of the idea is gone since it's the second book - it drops a mark for me...

I don't understand how this book has so many positive reviews! It felt as though I was reading what I imagine to be a young reader/teen drama novel. Nothing against young readers, but isn't that what the Harry Potter and other similar books are out there for? The dialogue was so corny! There are a lot of interesting ideas, unfortunately someone else should have written about them. Maybe I've been spoiled by the likes of George R.R. Martin. I don't want to be overly negative, or snobby. Or it could be I'm just missing something, because I distinctly remember enjoying the first book. Who knows, but this book is definitely not worthy of many stars.

I don't understand how this book has so many positive reviews! It felt as though I was reading what I imagine to be a young reader/teen drama novel. Nothing against young readers, but isn't that what the Harry Potter and other similar books are out there for? The dialogue was so corny! There are a lot of interesting ideas, unfortunately someone else should have written about them. Maybe I've been spoiled by the likes of George R.R. Martin. I don't want to be overly negative, or snobby. Or it could be I'm just missing something, because I distinctly remember enjoying the first book. Who knows, but this book is definitely not worthy of many stars.

I got into Sanderson for the same reason a lot of others did - WOT. Read Mistborn and thought it was OK. Thought the magic system and associated fight scenes were pretty cool, the plot was fine. Some interesting parts.

I read the first 100 pages of this and put it down. Extreme tedium and boredom. It made me realize the weaknesses in the first book - poor character development, uninteresting characters, poor dialogue. Unfortunately pages 15-? were all of things. I simply couldn't get through it.

Also seems like the author read all the books about writing fiction and followed them = fail. Sorry fans who disagree, but I'm just not interested in any of the characters at this point.

I was so close to just not finishing this one. A decent twist at the end (not all that great or unexpected after the great twists of the first book) can't save a book that is far too long and has next to nothing happen.

At the end of book one, I feared that book two would be The Vin Show, after finding her both boring and incredibly inconsistent as a character. I did not fear quite enough - Elend also becomes a POV character and good god I wish he had died in book one, he is the ultimate bore.

So much of the novel is spent trying to convince the reader that Elend would make a great king, but all the 'proof' shows far more accurately that although he is a morally good person he not just unskilled but profoundly unsuited to being a king. He prefers to hide in his books, to wallow in his doubts, and to moralise and pontificate at others. He has no instinct for leading or skill at it - at best, he has a knack for writing laws and dreaming of a more equal future/society. He lacks charisma and isn't particularly likeable - almost all of his popularity comes from trading off Vin's reputation and abilities. He'd make a great priest or lawyer/judge, but a truly lousy king.

I found Vin's romantic antics last book annoying and out of place, but that's nothing compared to this book. Vin and Elend's romantic problems are more suited to a badly written young adult melodrama. It is wildly out of place in adult fantasy, especially when every character has at least five far more pressing concerns than anyone's love life, yet everyone drops all other plots (spies, armies, demonic contracts, enemy politicians, surviving siege conditions) to focus on Vin and Elend's romance and make announcements of their unwavering belief in how destined and perfectly matched the two are. There is nothing that makes me believe LESS in a romance than everyone around the couple telling them how perfect they are. (Also looking at you, Mockingjay.)

Sazed is also a POV character, which excited me until I realised how much time he was going to spend being the #1 cheerleader for Vin and Elend's supposed epic love. When he actually focused on religious and historical matters, he was far more interesting. He and Marsh should have gone on epic exploration adventures instead, it would have been a much more interesting story.

Zane was horribly wasted potential. He started out well but fell into almost every YA love triangle trope there was, to the detriment of his many actual interesting points.

The plotting, pacing and story are woefully constructed. There are three armies surrounding our heroes. Tension should be at an all-time high! And yet, the characters all put this off to focus on much lesser concerns, such as romance and whether Breeze has a working libido or not and whether politicians like Elend or not. If the characters aren't concerned about the armies outside, why on earth should a reader be?

I'm also quite annoyed at the casual misogyny - everyone in a position of power is man. Sazed's new ladyfriend only gained a position on the Keeper council by spending thirty years constantly being whored out in the Lord Ruler's Terris breeding program. Poison is a cowardly, jealous woman's weapon! (Also, mid twenties is old and ugly and useless, who knew.) Elend and Vin's own friends tell Elend he ought to be embarrassed and ashamed that Vin protects him in a fight. Vin, the girl who's the super special powered ultimate magic assassin who killed the freaking Dark Lord. Yeah, god forbid she be better than you in battle.

Vin also has terrible 'tacked on' femininity. She might be the ultimate fighting badass but it's okay because she likes dresses. But wait, she thinks she shouldn't like dresses because she doesn't think of herself as feminine enough, so she'll punish herself by not letting herself wear dresses. Yeah! Let's angst about denying ourselves pretty dresses while three armies camp outside the city and threaten to starve everyone and then murder all our friends. It's okay to just write a badass without having to be super girly on top of it to prove she's still 'feminine' (picturing Celaena from Throne of Glass, another ultimate assassin who also giggles over pretty dresses). Or write a girly badass and own that. Why must there be an angst-ridden dilemma about how the part of her that likes dresses must be fake and therefore repressed?

But mostly this book just gets the low score for being so boring. And I want to point out that I love overly political fantasy and siege warfare both. But this book really doesn't bring either of those to the table, too busy with it's bad-YA love triangle melodrama instead.

** Disclaimer: I love YA, I've read good love triangles, I've read good melodrama. I'm not saying those things make something bad by default. This book just does them BADLY.

1. The Final Empire - 5/5
2. The Well of Ascension - 5/5
3. The Hero of Ages
4. The Alloy of Law (takes place 300 years after #3)
5. Shadows of Self
6. The Pits of Mourning

What is it about?

Book 2 occurs one year after the uprising in book 1.Elend Venture has spent this time shaping the government while Vin fights assassins in the dark misty nights. But now, Elend's father has brought an army to reclaim the city and the mists are starting to behave strangely.

Was it good?

It was brilliant. I didn't love it as much as the first book, but I did love it. Especially the Kandra; I need more Kandra!

The world and characters are all consistent with the first book but we get to learn more about them and learn more about the original hero and his quest to fight the deepness. I really can't get enough of Sazed or OreSeur. I wish I had a friend to talk to about this book because there is so much I want to say but I cannot because of spoilers. Just know that this story is so good it makes you obsessed.

Book 1 of the Mistborn series asks what happens when the dark lord wins. Book 2 asks what happens when he is defeated. The Well of Ascension is not an easy book to review without giving a lot of spoilers. Like The Last Jedi, it is a middle volume in a trilogy that rely relies on the final volume to succeed or fail. The good news is that, while I still very much have my doubts about Star Wars: Episode IX, Mistborn book 3 is out and it gives us a highly satisfactory payoff for the setup in this book.

Bottom line: The Well of Ascension suffers a bit from middle-book-syndrome, but the trilogy is none the less for it, and The Well of Ascension is ambitious, if nothing else.

Sanderson shows his now well known skill at worldbuilding by continuing to expand the world of Mistborn (and the Cosmere). We see the koloss we only heard about in the first book. We learn much more about the kandra.

Vin and Elend don’t just have koloss and kandra to worry about. Vin faces off against another mistborn, and there are two armies on the doorstep. Inside Luthadel, Elend learns that running an empire is harder than winning it.

Where Sanderson really shines, though, is in how he plays with prophecy. But that is spoiler territory.

Vin, Elend and the remains of Kelsier’s crew are left managing the remains of Luthadel after the events of The Final Empire this sounds simple but there are armies descending on them from all sides wanting to take control of the city in addition to weird goings on in the mists which mean this unlikely bunch have to be stronger than ever to overcome everything being sent their way.

Yet again Brandon Sanderson presents a tome with a solid epic fantasy, this is not a quick read but there is so much going on all the time that you can delve in for hours at a time. The allomantic play by the mistborns is wonderful to read, so vivid that you can see them dancing around on the page clearly, pushing and pulling bouncing around on rooftops. We meet a new mistborn in this novel, Zane, and I very much liked his character and the way he connected with Vin.

There are a lot battles in this novel, some brutal, and the way Sanderson has written them from multi-POV’s and over multiple chapters to really bring you as a reader into the depth of the battle is just how I like it. I love Sanderson’s knack of writing plenty of detail, of reeling you in so that you can see, hear, smell everything, exactly how I like to read my fantasy. The worldbuilding in these books has been stellar and I have such a perfect picture in my head of every location, every building, every outfit and every person.

I’m really looking forward to delving into the next book in this series. Lucky it’s on my bookshelf already!

*Just a heads up, this review is filled with spoilers*

Recently I was browsing my local book store, and picked up Mistborn on a whim. This being my first experience with a Sanderson novel, I came away very impressed. While Mistborn certainly wasn't a perfect novel, the world created by Sanderson was fantastic, and the story and characters were lively and really captured my interest. Unfortunately, the follow up seems to have taken a massive nose dive in quality.

To start with the positives, like it's predecessor, the world of The Well of Ascension is fantastic. Sanderson has done a great job crafting a world that has a deep and interesting lore that managed to keep me turning pages to discover the next revelation. The magic system of the Mistborn universe as well feels like it was created with an attention to detail and is definitely one of the more unique systems I've come across.

Sanderson also posses a solid writing style that can easily jump between action and dialog, or from character to character, while still feeling natural.

Unfortunately, that's about where the positives end in my opinion. In general, I feel that this novel has two fatal flaws. Those are, the story and the characters.

To start, the story, if you can call it that, is almost non-existent. I'm not exaggerating when I say that nothing happens for 80% of this novel. It's too bad because the premise of this novel is great. A city under siege by three separate armies, all the while a supernatural threat is moving across the land. Sanderson however completely squanders this interesting premise by having the characters spend the majority of the novel bickering and doubting themselves, all the while doing nothing to address the threats they face or move the plot forward. There are several points in the story where the protagonists are faced with a problem, such as the encroaching mists or the discovery a spy in their midst, which they then completely ignore for hundreds of pages in favour of repetitive conversation. It isn't until the last 100 pages of the book that something of significance finally happens, which is a problem considering the book is 750 pages long.

Now, a slow story isn't necessarily a fatal blow for a novel if the characters are interesting. Unfortunately, the characters, or at least the leads, are as dull as can be. The biggest offender of this is Elend. This is a character with exactly one character trait. He is a "good man". You know this because every character feels the need to mention it every single time Elend is the topic of conversation. He has no real faults, he has no interesting back story, he doesn't really accomplish anything, he just seems to exist for other characters, particularly Vin, to fawn over.

What's worse though, is that Elend somehow manages to be both dull and annoying. For a character everyone seems to think the world of, Elend is surprisingly useless. Everything he achieves is completely undeserved. He becomes King through no feat of his own, but simply because of his association with the person who killed the last king (Vin). Seriously, who would want this guy as king? In Mistborn Elend was a lazy heir to a rich family who wanted nothing to do with the real world, but instead liked to spend time reading. What exactly qualifies this guy to be leader of hundreds of thousands of people? Even as king, he fails spectacularly. Elend fails to prevent the siege of his city, fails to negotiate with the enemy generals, fails to find the people sabotaging his city, and fails to prevent himself from being ousted from power (by his own laws). In the end, mister "good man" Elend abandons the city in its time of need, and only gets power back because Vin murders and threatens everyone into swearing loyalty to her boy toy. At the end of the story Elend even becomes a Mistborn because.... reasons. After reading Mistborn, where every character was portrayed in shades of grey and accomplished nothing without some kind of sacrifice, Elend being squeaky clean and never having to work for anything just feels so out of place.

Its not just Elend that got hit with the Dull Hammer though. Vin, who in Mistborn was portrayed as a relatively complex character, seems to have lost all nuance in this novel. The primary reason for this is, you guessed it, Elend. Vin's entire thought process in this novel seems to revolve around Elend and their relationship. Does he love me? Do I love him? Is he too good for me? On and on these angsty questions go. I had a hard time believing that a girl who grew up on the streets and murdered a god-king would be this weak. This infatuation with Elend even manages to undo her character arc from the previous novel. In Mistborn Vin started out distrustful and reserved, before Kelsier and his crew broke down her walls and she became trusting and open. In this novel however, her angst over Elend manages to regress her back to being distrustful and reserved. The relationship between Vin and Elend in general felt very hollow and there is no reason it should have taken up this much screen time in the novel.

It's unfortunate that the leads are so dull because the side characters are quite interesting. Secondary characters like OreSeur, Sazed, and Breeze all managed to steal every scene they were in. If any or all of them had stepped up in Kelsier's absence instead of Elend, I probably would have enjoyed the novel a lot more.

In the end, The Well of Ascension is a slog. The story is almost non-existent and the main characters are at best dull, and at worst infuriating. The world is still interesting, but I have a hard time crediting that to this novel as most of the world and mysteries were established in the previous novel. The only reason I don't give this novel a worse score is because the ending is actually pretty solid and leaves me intrigued for where the story will go next.

I first decided to give up on this series after reading bad reviews, but then changed my mind later, thinking surely it couldn't be that bad, even without Kelsier. I liked Vin and the other main characters, and wanted to know what happened. I should've listened to the top review, which brilliantly describes the book to a T. If it's too long for you, here's a shorter version.

People talk about stuff, and then talk about the same stuff over and over and over and over. And over. There are pointless meetings and more pointless meetings. In between every other sentence, the author repetitively (and tediously) explains how everything works like we didn't just read that four pages ago...or worse, melodramatically tells what angsty thing each character is thinking...and they think the same thing—over and over and over. (Apparently this is to make them more human/believable. Instead, it's just a tedious course in 'telling' rather than 'showing.') This alone makes it stressful to slog through.

You keep believing it's going to eventually get better. But sadly enough, nothing much happens until the last quarter of the book, and by then, characters you thought you cared about feel more one-dimensional than ever before and you suddenly realize you really don't care that much (and some of them have even become annoying). Plot twists or sudden events/payoffs that should have emotional impact or even be exciting just feel meh. In fact, some of the plot twists are pretty predictable (or given away by the obvious 'this bad thing is happening so that you'll be surprised when it turns around!' type of thing). A bunch of mysteries that are *endlessly* discussed and stressed over throughout the story end up not really being much of a mystery. The last time I found myself involuntarily saying "So stupid" or "I don't care, move on" was reading the worst Clive Cussler paperback ever, which is sad because Sanderson probably has 10x the writing talent/potential.

Worse, major plot points rest upon the author making characters do or not do things in moronic/illogical/not-believeable ways (based on everything else we're told about them). I feel like I'm starting to see this as a pattern with this author, even in his books with better plots such as the Stormlight Archives, although it's a little easier to ignore there if you don't think you're about to read what's supposed to be a masterpiece. Sanderson is super prolific, so I don't fault him too much for not having totally pristine plots, but I can hardly believe this sort of seemingly thoughtless writing when I recall just recently hearing him say that plots should never cheat like this. Where's the editor who could be helping us all out by cutting out at least half the repetitive parts and be pointing out plot problems? It's almost as though neither of them really read the whole thing through after the first draft was done.

Some reviews said it's worth suffering through for the ending, but even that turned out to be pretty hastily scrawled out. It actually felt like I might have been better off just reading a plot summary of this book and moving on.

As a few others have said, albeit in their own way, the author had a good idea, and basically blew it. Firstly, whatever the merits or demerits of the basic plot, characters, dialogue and narrative, this book is ridiculously overlong, there simply isn't enough literary meat to fill the pages; if it really was meat cooking in the oven, then the roast has been burned to a crisp.

The very basic storyline is OK - (presumably) an alternate universe, still with humans, but with other creatures too, and is a massive tale of elite and ruthless nobles, and an extremely downtrodden peasantry, with some of the elite having incredible powers, although others also have them (the power to ingest metals and 'burn' them inside to gain a variety of powers and skills for one).

One of the main problems is the indecisiveness of some of the main characters - extreme angst duly suffered while trying to decide who they really are, what are they in existence for. Let's reduce it to the poetic and sometimes comedic scene or sketch where someone pulls the petals off a flower while going 'He Loves Me', 'He Loves Me Not', then magnify this to nauseating levels / repetitiveness, and you just about have the gist of far too large a slice of this tome.

I am really sorry to say that, in my opinion at least, this book does not match up to the plethora of incredibly positive and sometimes gushing reviews plastered all over the paperback version. So much so, I wonder if they are genuine reviews?

Book 2 of the phenomenally successful Mistborn series finds our street urchin-turned-powerful Mistborn facing even more challenges as she not only navigates her evolving relationship with Elend (enter dark love rival who is literally Elend’s dark opposite), and the possible destiny that awaits her as the prophesied hero of the ages.

Elend is trying on his role as king of Luthadel, even as his corrupt father Straff tries to wrest it from him, and Elend soon finds the threat comes not just from that quarter. For much of the book, the city of Luthadel is under siege, and the action flags just a little from this impasse, which is not insubstantial, considering it is more than 750 pages in length. But given the pattern of 2nd books in trilogies, which act like the exposition section of an epic-length novel, it is not too surprising. To be fair, there is much political intrigue and sabotage to occupy the reader, as all sides try to outwit one another.

The reader learns a lot more about Vin’s character from her inner struggles, and the Terrisman Sazed, who was Kelsier’s steward in the first book, also plays a significant part in this second book, and his story arc moved me the most, more so than the at times cloying romance between Elend and Vin, who are after all, very young lovers. The kandra Oresur, who played Uncle Renoux to Vin’s Valette in the first book, now inhabits an animal, and surprisingly, that is where his humanity shines through, and the conflicting relationship he has with Vin was especially well executed, although it gets lost in the later events of the novel.

An overall engaging enough novel that makes you want to see how Sanderson eventually ties up all the loose ends and the fates of the huge ensemble cast in the final book.

EDIT
I originally wrote a review of book two, below, then went on to book three. It made me reflect that my disappointment in book two had much to do with my expectations I would love it the way I did book one. I didn’t, but it is still masterfully written, with incredible characters and a great story. Book one is among my top favorite books. I am into book three without expectations and am enjoying it.

Original Text
With the first book I was hooked. Loved the characters and the story. I waited long enough to post my review of that book before starting the second. (Same day as finishing the first.)

I didn’t feel the same after this one, it’s been months since i finished it. I have not moved onto the third book. Book two was longer, which I don’t mind if I’m engaged. It dove into character detail, and to me it seemed to lengthen it significantly without adding enough value to make it worthwhile. For me. Please note this is subjective, I see others posting that they love that depth and that’s fine. But I personally stopped reading another series because of the intricate detail that took so much time to describe, it lost my interest. It’s a balance that is different for everyone.

Finally, I do like closure at the end of a book. I felt it at the end of book one and still could not wait to start two. This one had some things left unresolved that really bothered me, and maybe book three addresses them, but I spent 30 hours on book two and just couldn’t fathom more time to get to where I hoped it might go. Again, that’s just me. I don’t mean to be unfair, the characters are brilliant, I love the unique concepts and the stories within this series. Just that this book fell a little short for me. I may get book three at some point.

Reader thoughts:
This book was pretty dark, had quite a bit of death and despair, but it had a redeeming ending (still dark, but in a twisted this-is-going-to-make-book-three-awesome sort of way).

Also, it felt (just a little) like not much was happening. Siege. Negotiations that go wrong. Posturing. Repeat. Vin could have done more to search for the imposter (that was brilliant!), and why didn't more people use the secret tunnels to escape? Why did all the meetings have to be weeks out . . . it was almost like the people were trying to starve themselves when they should've been able to move up the times. (We're running out of food, so let's wait until next week to negotiate with Straff.)

Condra. Yes. Trust? Cool.

The prophecies and Qwon's writing; I knew the revelation would come at the end, and I wanted to see the answer before that, but, alas, I could not figure out what was wrong with his story. Shocking. Write the words in metal.

I love how academic Sanderson's characters always are. Even Vin, who grew up on the streets, conducts her own research! Sadly, I didn't like Vin as much; she was willing to give up Elend, and she brooded a lot. The horseshoe trick was cool.

Writer thoughts:
Vin gets even duller in book 3, and I think I know why. Characters have to have flaws to be interesting, and Vin is just too powerful. She can do too much physically. In book 1, she was still learning, and she had lots of doubts about her place and what it meant to be half skaa. In books 2 and 3, her doubts are less interesting. They're about whether she and Elend should be together (the answer is too obvious, and so this is not worth pondering for an entire book) and nebulous doubts about how to defeat Ruin and draw on the mists.

If you've read the first one in this series, you'll know what I mean when I say that there's just too many elements in these books to properly review and give thought to each of them. Honestly, there are just so many ideas, themes, concepts, and goldmines presented to be able to remember them all or comment on them all. All you can do is read and have your mind blown by it all, and then reread to experience it all over again. Bravo, Brandon Sanderson. You are a literary God!

As I said, there are just too many aspects of this book that go above and beyond everything for me to be able to coherently gush about or even remember them all, because I am bound to forget something. Out of these 763 pages, there's a goldmine on every single one... Amazing!

So, on this read, I am just going to gush about one aspect: the concept of time! I've never read a book where time is such a relevant factor for the characters. They talk about what happened centuries ago and then they talk about what it'll be like centuries after them, in the future. That is just so crazy to me! When or after making their important decisions, someone will make a comment about what the world will be like hundreds of years from then. It's just crazy to me to see them look at their world as a timeline where the Deepness ravaging the land and then the Lord Ruler took the power a thousand years ago, to the second century of his reign where the Keepers were created, to the present where the Lord Ruler has been defeated, to speculating how the skaa and their viewpoints will be different two hundred years after the rebellion... It's amazing and so unique. I've never read anything like it!

LOVE: Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Breeze, Ham, Clubs, Spook, Dockson!!!

Some interesting new characters: Tindwyl, Zane, Allrienne...

Amazing sequel to perhaps the best book ever written!!!

Vin, Elend, and the rest of the crew now must face the realities and politics of running the city of Luthadel. This is a big challenge and brings with it new friends and foes as well as a compelling calling for Vin. As with the first novel in this series, I give The Well of Ascension 4-1/2 stars. I’m really loving these characters and this story of a group of well-intended friends attempting to make their world better. The adventure is terrific. The intrigue is high. The action is gripping. The relationships are refreshing. I find it to be very satisfying. This was a long novel and I was never bored. I kept wanting to check in and find out how the characters were doing and how their circumstances were changing and clarifying.

Again, the narrator was Michael Kramer and I had no problems with his narration this time. I give him an A+. He seems perfectly suited for this story and the things that annoyed me during Mistborn did not seem to bother me at all with this one.

As many have said, this book is slow in the beginning. There is much talking and debating and information gathering, but there isn't any action . Action seemed to fuel the first book in this series and this book lacked that for a very long time--or what seemed like a long time. Once this book picks up, it is very difficult to put down. The characters are all so much more than they were in The Final Empire. Each character has grown and taken on the responsibility of a new empire. It has its challenges, but each man and woman does what they can to protect their city.

I find the fight scenes in this book to be even more beautiful and heartbreaking than those in the first book. (view spoiler) The skill each member has taken to learning and improving really shows as the armies draw near and as the book progresses.

I'm not sure what else I can say about this book that hasn't already been said or that wouldn't be full of spoilers, but it is a wonderful second installment in the Mistborn series and I cannot wait to pick up the next book.

This is the second book in Sanderson's original Mistborn trilogy and while he has created a layered world and mythology in this tale that is hard to beat, I didn't like this book anywhere near as much as the first one. I guess I just still miss Kelsier because, in my opinion, this book lacks a character with the requisite amount of charisma needed to get me through the slow parts. And this book had a lot of slow parts. The final four or five chapters did finally ramp up the interest factor but the rest of the book spends far too much page time devoted to the woeful inner musing of both Vin and Elend as they contemplate the status of their relationship - and never mind that there are THREE armies breathing down their necks. Personally, I find their relationship the least interesting thing about the any of this. At times it seemed as though the two were competing for the title of "Most Insecure Under-Thirtysomething in Luthadel". And Elend, oh Elend, he's a good man, to be sure. He's as pure as the driven snow. He could give any of the Disney princesses a run for their money he's so good and pure. It's not a bad thing; it's just...boring. Then there's Vin. She's so all powerful now, like superpower powerful, that no one and nothing can beat her. The last book in the trilogy should only be a couple of chapters long because there's nothing she can't do at this point. I don't dislike Vin and Elend, they're good people, I'm just a little bored by them now and they tick off all the usual fantasy cliches and, I have to admit, that's a little disappointing.

I still give huge props to Sanderson for creating this world and his writing style is one I do like. Personally, though, I would have preferred to read about the exploits of Kelsier, Dockson, and the rest of the crew (including a still living Mare). They were/are imperfect people with multi-layered motivations and desires but that's exactly what made them interesting, what gave them their spark. Alas, that's not the story I'm getting so I will accept it and finish out the trilogy - not because I'm really all that interested in seeing what happens to Vin and Elend, but because I want to get past them to the new books which will, hopefully, bring more dynamic and charismatic main characters.

After the fall of the Lord Ruler the Final Empire is finding its footing in this new world without their ‘God’.
Elend has been put on the throne in Luthadel but holding on to it and defending the city from armies interested in invading might be bigger problems than he had anticipated.
Vin is all for helping Elend defend his title and the city but there is something that keeps stealing her attention. The last words of the Lord Ruler hunt her and she fears that the Deepness is gaining strength once again. There might be something far more sinister than armies and assassins out in the mist.

Like the first book I really loved book number two.
The characters are great (even though I miss Kelsier a lot), there are some good actin scenes and I could not predict what the outcome would be in the end.
This book is more focused on political aspects than the first book and some might find the story a bit slow overall, but I really enjoyed almost everything about it and was at the edge of my seat many times while reading it.

"The Well of Ascension" is where the Lord Ruler gained godlike powers to battle the Deepness and then transform the world instead of just releasing it, or that's what Kelsier's crew believed throughout the second Mistborn book by Brandon Sanderson. The middle volume of the Mistborn trilogy not only has the magic of allomancy of the first but realpolitik as the Final Empire collapses into numerous kingdoms.

The book begins a year after the Collapse following the death of the Lord Ruler with more point-of-view characters from the beginning than "Final Empire" had initially, giving a sense of the bigger scope that "Ascension" is meant to have given the plot threads throughout the book. The primary character continues to be the street urchin-turned-Mistborn Vin who not only protects the city from antagonistic allomancers bent on assassinating Elend Venture who rules Luthadel as King and who wants to marry her. Elend along with Vin and the rest of the Kelsier crew must deal with three armies arriving and besieging the former imperial capital as well as dealing with internal political intrigue. And only to add stuff on top of that, the ever present nightly mist is starting to crept into the day, form spirits, and kill people.

At about 760 pages, "Ascension" is a 100 pages longer than "Final Empire" and given the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and political conflicts within the book this seems a reasonable. Unfortunately there were brief stretches in which the writing drags in the middle and last third of the book as internal conflicts are rehashed once again for Vin and Elend in regards to themselves and the other, the sheer amount of times it's repeat gets wearing to the reader. The book has a lot of unforeseen twists that catches the reader off guard both positively and negatively depending on the clues only picked up on after the fact, if there are any. However unlike the "Final Empire" in which the last 100 pages turned out to be a weakness, the last 100 pages of Ascension was a strength as subplots were resolved and the story threads quickly interwove for quiet a interesting ending that makes you want to see what happens next in "Hero of Ages".

As with all second acts, all doesn't go well for the heroes even though they survive (for the most part) and strive to build a better world than the one they've had. "The Well of Ascension" builds upon what Brandon Sanderson began in "Final Empire" not only in the present time frame of his world, but into it's past and setting up a potentially fantastic ending to the "Mistborn" trilogy.

The Well of Ascension is book two in the Mistborn fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson. The story continues about Vin, the young Mistborn girl, who suddenly finds herself and her companions in a very different position of ruling an empire after she killed the godlike ruler. At 815 pages or nearly 30 hours as an audiobook this story tends to be a long one.

Basically, the story focuses on Vin as she struggles to find her place and protect her love from assassins while the city is besieged by multiple armies wanting the riches and power the city supposedly has.

I enjoy the Mistborn world but have to admit that it felt like a chore to get through this book due to the length and meandering plot. Yes, there are armies surrounding the city but much of the story revolves around government meetings and Vin trying to discover secrets about the mists. I give it three stars but thinking a shorter story would have been more enjoyable and be better paced.

Picking up a year after the events of the first volume, this book shows what has become of the Final Empire. In the wake of the Lord Ruler's death in book one, political scholar and aristocratic fop Elend Venture has become the king of Luthadel, the central city of the Final Empire. Being well-read on political philosophy, he establishes an Assembly made up of equal parts from the nobility, the merchant class, and the worker class (known as Skaa). The Assembly shares in decision making with the king, though naturally differences of opinions rise. Elend manages it as best he can. It's hard to maintain control and give people freedom at the same time.

Meanwhile, Terrisman scholar Sazed is wandering the remains of the empire, teaching the people about the ancient religions (that was his research specialty) and researching ancient legends concerning the rise of the Lord Ruler. Since the Lord Ruler's death, the mists that cover their world have become stronger, lasting further into the morning and in some rare cases killing people. The rumors of death are hard to believe but Sazed gains some evidence on his travels. So maybe the Lord Ruler was holding something worse than himself in check while he lived. Things are getting out of control.

Mistborn action heroine Vin has also done some research, even though she grew up as a Skaa waif wandering from thieving group to thieving group. She becomes convinced she may be a new Hero of Ages, which is what the Lord Ruler thought he was before he went to the Well of Ascension and gained god-like powers. She thinks she must seek out the Well of Ascension and use the powers properly in order to undo the damage inflicted by the Lord Ruler and stop the Mists, which she believes are an embodiment of the Deepness, a force or creature that the Lord Ruler presumably vanquished when he took power at the Well of Ascension.

All of this is set up in the first fifty pages of the book. But before she sets out for the Well, there's the security of the capital to consider. Other kings want to conquer Luthadel and claim the Lord Ruler's throne (and the secret stash of atium (a metal used by Mistborn)). So the next five hundred pages go through a lot of political intrigue, battles, plot twists, and world building. Also, Vin's feelings for Elend aren't settled yet. They aren't sure they are right for each other but only time and definitive choices will get them together. They finally set out for the Well only to have more plot twists come up.

I enjoyed the main story in this book but did feel like it has a lot of side plots and action (the five hundred pages I mentioned) that don't ultimately contribute to the core story. Of course, they could be set-up for the end of the story in the next volume, which brings up another problem. This novel is the typical "part two" of a fantasy trilogy. In many fantasy trilogies, the first book is written as a stand alone story. If that story is successful, a sequel or two seems justified. Several trilogies I have read seem like the second and third books are really one long story broken over two volumes, rather than two stand alone novels. The end of book two has a big cliff-hanger that doesn't resolve the narrative satisfactorily, forcing the reader to get the next volume to finish the story. Happily, the Mistborn trilogy was written years ago, so I don't have to wait around for the next volume, which I will be starting soon.

At least I'm not caught in an ongoing cycle that may never end *cough*Game of Thrones*cough*.

Book two of this extraordinarily original fantasy series created by one of the profession’s elite is a smooth, fun, fast, and exciting read right from the opening page. Vin - the once street urchin - is still in love with young King Elend, and young King Elend is till in love with Vin. Most of the old gang have returned, and even the dead ones tend to linger via their ghosts. There are even hints of someone’s return, but I may be reading too strongly between the lines there for that comment to be valid.

The story opens with a siege. The city is surrounded by more bad guys than you can shake a (metaphorical) stick at, and its up to the heroes of book one to come together again and develop a solution that will ensure their survival, as well as that of the city’s inhabitants, too.

Mr Sanderson’s writing never seems to get bogged down in ’boring bits’. The chapters are relatively short, but even the longer ones are comprised of mini chapters that are obvious places to put the book down (why would you?) if you have the need. Kudos must again go the publisher for these beautifully presented paperbacks. Gorgeously stunning covers (that match the originality of the story found within) and lovely thick, smelly paper to adore as the reader traverses the land of The Final Empire.

And maps. I like maps. Maps rule.

Of course this book is not just about surviving a siege. There is the hunt for the legendary stash of atium that is rumoured to be hidden (somewhere...) way back when, by the Lord Ruler. There are lands for the reader to explore (via minor and major characters such as Sazed) and he comes upon a doozie of a monster species called the blue-skinned Koloss. Very violent, very fast growing, very very ugly and very quick to die. I love these guys!

The writing is not goose-bump inducingly beautiful. How can it be when the entire fable is based on a riddle that you read backwards. Book one opened with a dead city, being governed by the bad guys and it was only the efforts of a small group of revolutionaries (that had no idea that plants and trees are meant to be green, and that the sky is meant to be blue - not black) who have made such an impact on the lives of the populace they were fighting for.

Of course other heinous characters return, but not in such an intimidating way. The Steel inquisitors are a truly brilliant creation, and they feel like something that belongs in a horror novel, as opposed to a fantasy one. But such is the world that was created by the author of this incredible tale, that they fit right in.

The story is a tad slow in the first third, until we meet the book’s arguably pivotal character. Zane is his name, but nothing more will I add about him to this review for fear of spoilers. His place in the story is significant (obviously) and he is one seriously dangerous dude from many perspectives.

Of course the story goes on. Just like the WELL OF ASCENSION itself, book two is a deep, deep, deep, and always thrilling ride into an unknown land, populated with men, women, children, monsters, and even ash that falls from a black sky, and where the populace are too scared to venture out at night for fear of death waiting for them in mist form.

And so this book gets a very solid four stars from me. Now, back to reading of the rescue of THE FINAL EMPIRE I go. Wish me luck, fellow book lover. If I fail to return, feel free to send out a search party. I am heading north, to the TERRIS DOMINANCE, home of the sacred Well of Ascension. For that is where rumour tells me the stashed source of mystical attium can be found.

BFN Greggorio.

http://readfantasybooks.wordpress.com

Plot

The Well of Ascension takes place one year after the events of the previous novel. Elend is King of Luthadel, but his kingdom ends up becoming besieged by three different armies who want the atium that is supposedly stored somewhere in the city. The entire novel focuses on Elend trying to figure out what to do about these armies and how to save the people he worked so hard to free. Not only does he have to worry about this, but Vin and Sazed realize there is something terribly wrong with the Mists. There is also more information uncovered about the previous Hero of Ages among other things.

Even though the plot of the book seems simple and maybe a little boring, it wasn’t. Sanderson was able to make me interested in the novel from beginning to end; almost 800 pages! The pace of the book was absolutely perfect just as the previous novel. I never had to skim pages or skip them altogether because I found it uninteresting or slow. Just perfect!

Again, the plot was completely unpredictable. I had a feeling it was going to turn out a certain way and it did, but not in the way that I thought. Also, I did not see that ending coming! OMG! I still don’t know how I feel about what happened to Elend. However, I was entirely satisfied by the ending and thought it was amazing!

I suppose I should mention the one thing that kind of bothers me. When Vin ends up in a fight I think it is almost a little too detailed. It could have been shortened just a bit without taking anything away from the novel allowing it to flow more smoothly. I love the magic system and have come to understand it more now, so in the second book I don’t need a step-by-step guide on how she fights with her Allomancy. At least these encounters didn’t become boring per se. I just thought they were a little too wordy, but how he writes these scenes really does give you a sense of urgency and I think that is why he explains everything.

Characters

I have very strong feelings for the characters in this book! I love some and despise others, which tells me that Sanderson really knows how to write some awesome characters.

Vin and Elend are my favorite characters, and I love watching them struggle with their relationship throughout the book. I love the way it turns out, but it took them awhile to get there. The relationship between Vin and OreSeur also develops and is quite interesting, especially towards the end of the novel when something I never suspected happens.

I liked reading about how Vin is getting incredibly good with her Allomancy and I thought it was really interesting that she was finding different types of metals to create new abilities. Her encounters with the mysterious Mistborn was interesting too, but I thought she was a little too trusting of him. Also, I liked being able to know what she was thinking, especially about having to kill people, etc. There is a lot of Vin reflecting on who she thinks she is in this novel and am glad that she seems to be figuring it out.

Elend is also an interesting character and we get to see a lot more of him in this novel. He spends a lot of time trying to figure out who he is, how to be a King, and his relationship with Vin, among other things. It was great to watch him develop into an amazing person by the end of the novel.

The other character that I really enjoy reading about is Sazed because I think he is so interesting. In this book we get to know a lot more about him, and he even gets his own chapters! I love him as a character and he is so well developed. By the end of the novel there are many changes going on with him and I hope to see that it all turns out in the next book.

Writing

Sanderson’s ability to write amazes me! He is so captivating! I love how well the story flows and how good he is at world-building. His magic system is so unique and incredibly interesting, and I can’t wait to read some of his other books!

Overall Thoughts

To find a series that has amazing characters, world-building, and an incredibly interesting plot that is also original is very difficult to find. That is why I highly recommend reading this series! It is incredible! Young adults and adults alike will really enjoy this book and it is a great way to get into fantasy! I can’t explain how much you have to read this book, but be sure to read the first book! READ IT!

My rating: 4.5/5 stars!

This series continued to pull me along, deeply invested in the world, but this one had some trouble the first did not. I think my first issues was Elend. I liked him so much in the first book from Vin's perspective. He was less appealing from his own. His insecurities were a bit frustrating. More than this however, was the romance--two people assuming the other couldn't care for them because of something THEY'VE done, and the other seeing that avoidance as proof when in both cases it is their own self-loathing. It is the reason I don't read romance and I found it frustrating in fantasy too. Just talk to each other, dammit.

OTHER than that, I really liked the threat to Luthadel, the efforts of Kelsier's (now Elend's) team, the twists, the turns. The creeping mists. It was a page turner and a book I carried with me to see what would happen next. It is a great strength that a book can do that in spite of a flaw that would have killed most books for me.

Mistborn: The Final Empire, was everything the first book in a trilogy should be. It had all the action, intrigue, and cool characters it needed to get me booked on the series. The emotional beats were great, and it demanded that I read Well of Ascension immediately.

Well of Ascension caught me off guard a little bit, though. It’s not the same book that Mistborn was. Sanderson took a dangerous route by changing up the plot structure, and though the world itself still has the same dark atmospheric feeling, the book itself feels very different from the first.

As expected, Sanderson managed to pull this off with aplomb, crafting yet another thrilling tale.

While Mistborn was a tale of thieves trying to overthrow an empire, a tale of the dark alley ways and shadowy places of Luthadel, Well of Ascension is a political novel and a war novel. With the Lord Ruler and Kelsier gone (I did warn you about spoilers…), and funds running low, the remainder of the thieving crew must try their hand at running an empire, a task that is proving even more difficult than overthrowing it.

An old villain comes into new prominence, and he’s very nasty. Straff Venture, Elend’s father, is one of the generals who is leading an army against Luthadel, trying to claim the city—and the empire—as his own. But he’s not alone. Others want the city too, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it. The impending armies give the book its main sense of drive, and for the most part, they’re enough to keep it going.

Elend is forced to play the part of king, and the novel delves deeply into what this really means, and what the politics of the Final Empire might really look like. I must admit that I found this element of the pacing slow at times, and these were some of the least enjoyable sections of the book.

The rest of the book more than made up for it, though. Vin, growing every more confident in herself and her powers, is up to her usual mistborn antics, and there are plenty of nerve-wracking fight scenes, including two of particular note. The first is still one of the bloodiest, most revolting massacres ever, and I love it for both the visual aspect and the impact it has on me—and the characters—every time. The other, well. Let’s just say it involves Vin, a lot of iron, and a very large sword, and ranks in the top five scenes that I want to see on the big screen. Heck. I’d pay for an entire movie just to see that one scene.

But that’s not to say that the awesomeness is limited to our favorite mistborn. The whole crew from the first book is here, and there are plenty of new additions. The old characters gain new depth—in particular, Sazed continues to develop into one of the best written non-religious (or poly-religious, I’m not sure) characters I’ve ever read, and I truly admire Sanderson’s ability to write viewpoints he disagrees with so very, very well. Everyone gets their own scenes in which to shine, and the variety of the cast makes it an entertaining book.

My favorite character, perhaps because his situation is the most relatable, and because I can understand why he takes every action that he does, is Spook.

And, as you saw in Mistborn, nobody is safe. The feels that Sanderson unleashed on page 573 of Mistborn (Kelsier. Yes, I have the MMPB page number memorized. 588 in the YA TPB edition.) are a good indicator of what is to come. With a whole host of armies sitting around, all of whom want the same thing, you really can’t expect everyone to survive. Have the chocolate ready, especially as you approach the end.

And what an ending it is. While Well of Ascension is the middle book of the trilogy, and almost by necessity, is a little slower than the other two, the ending is still a completely amazing piece of work, and the number of twists and surprises that Sanderson pulls really make it utterly thrilling. And it’s not over until the last page. The last time I saw someone read this book, she went from amazed to horrified, to swearing she would never read Sanderson again to crying from happiness, to demanding Hero of Ages immediately, all in about 10 minutes. This is a fairly typical reaction.

In summary, The Well of Ascension, the second book in the Mistborn trilogy, is another triumph for Sanderson, and while it feels slow at times, it has some of my favorite scenes ever, and adds depth to pretty much every character in the series, all the while raising the stakes constantly and building towards a surprising, twisting ending that will leave you demanding the third book as soon as you can get your hands on it. Five of Five stars.

This review is SPOILER FREE. If you want my full thoughts, with spoilers included, leave me a comment and I'll post one. I would love to talk about these books for ever and ever.

Without giving too much away, this takes place about a year after the first one. It's very different, too. The characters have matured and, reflecting on The Final Empire I almost can't imagine them like that. What a testimony to Sanderson's writing, that characters have grown so much. Another big difference lies in the central theme. No longer is this a heist story, rather a war story. Additionally, where the first is a bit of a conversation about religion, this one is a conversation about politics.

I loved this book so much. I can't say I loved it more than the first book because I loved them equally in different ways. The character development, for one, blew me away. Those of you who aren't fans of Breeze, by the end of the book I swear you'll be sold. Besides him, Sazed and Elend have the most drastic of changes. I can't believe they're the same people! Vin, too, goes through a lot, but I feel like it's a more predictable trajectory.

This book ends with one heck of a cliffhanger (it had me turning to the page with Sanderson's picture and cursing him out of love...) and can't stand on its own. Which makes sense, since it is a trilogy. Like with Final Empire this one had some pretty mind blowing surprises about 70% of the way through that continued to build and finally, in the climax, shatter my mind. My. Mind.

Five star reviews are hard to write because it's literally me just gushing and gushing. So I won't say anymore. Hopefully you're planning on picking the first book up because it's well worth it. It does take a while to read, though, so be warned that other reading might get shoved to the side. This one took me almost two weeks (although they were especially busy weeks, I grant you).

Anyways, happy reading!

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon.com. Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.

Vin has toppled the Lord Ruler. What is left is a country increasingly in peril. Although Vin strives to become more than a tool, ultimately she is in service to a greater cause.

Vin has finally become more than just a pretty girl in Kelsier's shadow. Her role in the fading empire isn't clear, but she tries to do the best she can. She has to be the most convincing self-sacrificing heroine I have seen in a while. This is offset by her violence, which sometimes seems unjustified and dangerous.

The romance between Vin and Elend is refreshing. The trust between them is something that we should all strive for. Theirs is a relationship fraught with danger, and so is more wonderful for that.

Elend is a bit weak for me. That's not to say his character building is weak, it's just that him as a person is weak. His character progression is clear, and ultimately he rivals Vin for power and self assurance.

This novel has the big battles that you would expect in an epic fantasy like this one. When the odds seem poor, there has to be a way. It's not necessarily the politics that will save them, perhaps it will tangle them up even more?

The kandra are an inspired creature creation by Sanderson. One part bones, one part muscle, and the other part composed of The Contract. Although they play an important role in this novel, it comes to a head in the third book.

Just as good as the first book in the series, and a pleasurable and surprising read.

In his Mistborn series, Brandon Sanderson has done several things right: he has come up with not one, but two (linked) new systems of magic; he thought not just about the current state of the world he was designing, but also its history and mythology- believably so; his characters are not all purpose or perfect, but flawed and unique; and he breaks his trilogy into logical stories that can stand as quality on their own. Many authors can successfully do two or occasionally three of these, but it takes a master to do all of them.
The book rejoins the story of Vin and her friends a year after the events in the first book. The characters have been busy. They have (variously) developed a government, travelled, and built an army. One problem, none of them had ever done this before... they made mistakes, they learned, and they grew. Vin has grown in power through practice, and seemingly through destiny. Elend has become ruler of Luthadel and is putting into practice the new political ideas he and his young nobleman friends used to discuss. Probably one of the compelling figures in this story though was the eunuch Terrisman- Sazed. Sazed is the character who, in my opinion, grows and changes the most in this book (in ways I won't write as spoilers).
As good as the book is, there are a couple of minor holes (so it seems)... items that could have been plot points, but which disappear. I am guessing these will be cleaned up in the next book of the trilogy.
If you like thoughtful fantasy that combine politics with battle, you will enjoy this series in general and this book in particular.

The first book was already a terrific story, but I will admit that the plot wasn't it's strongest aspect. It wasn't bad, but it was the most standard part of a story that was so unique in every other aspect. That problem doesn't exist here. Instead of exploring what happens if the prophetic hero failed this book asks "What happens after the great evil is defeated?" It's something that remains surprisingly unexplored, mostly because the story usually ends after the evil empire falls. A majority of the book is just spent trying to pick up the pieces left behind by the last book's conflict and having the characters make tons of mistakes and learning from them. Every problem presented is complicated in its own way and the characters often have to think outside the box in order to solve things and often the best they can do is to band-aid over some things until they can think of a better solution. It's much more nuanced than just trying to stop a malevolent ruler and it's wonderful to see Vin and Elend get back up after getting thrown into the dirt over and over again. However, what really elevates this book in my eye is the ending and without giving much away, let me just say that it uses genre expectations to set up one hell of a curveball.

A different approach than it's predecessor, The Well of Ascension involves Vin, Elend and the rest of Kelsier's crew dealing with the aftermath of the Lord Ruler's death. Rather than go down the usual fantasy path of having everything turn to roses and butterflies the moment the evil tyrant is dead, they now have to deal with the fact that the one person who kept the world stable (albeit ruthlessly) for the last thousand years is dead, and now every noble and would-be warlord is vying for power as society collapses.
Now Elend is the king of the Central Dominance, and although he is a good person he is unsuited to the role, while Vin has become revered by the Church of the Survivor as the Survivor's Heir.
There is less struggle and battle in this book, but there is still a simmering tension that keeps the pace moving along nicely, and a few twists that had me silently applauding their execution. I think I preferred the first book to this one, but not by much, and as they take such different approaches to things I feel that this is a somewhat unfair judgement to make.

THE WELL OF ASCENSION is everything a second book in a trilogy should be, it is the fulcrum upon which the entire trilogy turns, and it is a fulcrum of such strength that it apparently effortlessly bears the load of the weighty epic that is the Mistborn series. In saying that the trilogy "turns" on this second book, I mean that in every sense of the word, and there are not just one but several jaw-dropping twists to accompany those turns. The book even has shades of the detective novel in that there ARE clues at the beginning to what is to come in the climax, but they are extremely well hidden and subtle, making their eventual revelation oh so delicious and quite stunning!

The nature of the epic fantasy genre demands that there must be certain similarities between the many series of books that circulate within its orbit. But it is the differences that make certain series stand above the rest, that make them something special. As the second book in an epic fantasy trilogy, THE WELL OF ASCENSION conforms to type in that it must spend a substantial amount of time setting up what is necessary not only for the climax of this book but also the book that will follow and conclude the trilogy. These preparations make the pacing of the story through the middle of the book feel slightly more sedate than usual. However, this waiting period in the plot is simultaneously filled, and thus compensated for, by one of those special differences that make Mistborn stand out from the crowd of epic fantasy series - the depth of character development is extraordinary, and is particularly dynamic throughout the first two-thirds or so of THE WELL OF ASCENSION. So while the plot is engaged in its "deep breath before the plunge," the characters truly come alive, and the reader can indulge in watching their relationships grow and change and become imperiled, just as the characters grow and change and become imperiled.

And then comes the other major feature that sets the Mistborn series apart from the pack - its heart-pounding, mind-boggling climaxes. The climax of THE WELL OF ASCENSION is even bigger and better than that of THE FINAL EMPIRE. This climax is long but completely action-packed, pushing our favorite characters to their limits and beyond, challenging them body, mind, and soul. And more than ever, it is the challenges to their minds and souls that leave them, and us, reeling. Without giving too much away, all I'll say is this: Expect the unexpected.

New characters, new settings, new world-shattering evils, new mysteries, new epic butt-kicking allomantic duels, and new plot twists. Gone is the world’s largest con-job/revolution, and instead comes soul-searching while waiting to die. (Oh. That doesn’t do it justice at all, but that’s actually a pretty accurate description.) Here, how’s this instead? I liked this book so much that I powered through all 700 pages or so in one snow-day extended weekend. Yeah, it’s good stuff.

Some other reviewers have commented on how slowly the book starts. While it isn’t balls-to-the-wall action packed, I wouldn’t call it slow. I would call it a little irritating: whiny characters, laughably naive rants about how the world should work, and romantic moments from awkward hell. Fortunately, these, too, passed, and the book moved right along to a really good middle, and a rip-roaring end that literally opened a world of possibilities. (I even used the word literally accurately there. It wasn’t hyperbole. Nice.)

My two quick quibbles: the “romantic” scenes between Vin and Elend are just laughably bad in the beginning of the book. I know that Sanderson is a relatively wholesome writer (something for which I give him much credit for), but their conversations and cuddlings are just so wholesomely awkward, it made me want to either fall on the floor laughing, or vomit. A tough decision, I know. My other quibble is a carryover from the previous book. Sanderson (or some evil editor?) has this terrible habit of stating the obvious, just in case the reader was too stupid to make the observation him/herself.

A quick almost quibble: At first I was disappointed by the overly simple worldviews of several characters. These characters had such strong convictions and these convictions were written about in a manner that a reader usually associates with I-the-author-am-now-telling-you-how-I-see-the-world moments. Eventually, I just accepted these characteristics as qualities that I didn’t care for, but that were not book-ruining for me. The neat things was, though, that as I continued to read, these strong convictions were completely dumped on their heads and several characters went through genuine moments of confusion. Even as I read the third book, many of these characters are still struggling with how the world should work vs. how the world does work. These changes of character were handled very well, and I am most impressed in Sanderson’s ability to pull them off.

I’m really enjoying this series, and I hope Sanderson write more full-length novels in this universe (I thought The Alloy of Law a little weak.)

If you liked the first book, you’ll like this one, too. Just don’t give up until you get passed the first two hundred pages or so. Sanderson is a breeze to read, so it’s not hard.

Oh, and the covers for the mass market paperback are still AWFUL! Do you have any idea how hard it is to hand this book to a dubious fifteen year-old boy?...all because of these IDIOTIC covers! Barf.

This was a real slog for me - I couldn't finish it. It was so repetitive with very little meaningful action. Some things just seemed illogical. I enjoyed the first book so much, and this was a disappointment for me. Mostly pushing and pulling, and Vin's constant battles were tiresome. It's more like a written video game. I got about half-way through it before I gave up - I kept falling asleep. I wish I'd read some of the synopses written by other reviewers. Now I can't decide whether to read the third book or give the entire trilogy away to someone who would appreciate it more. If anyone wants it, just pay for postage and it's yours!

This series was recommended because I purchased Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles, which were excellent. (Can't wait for the third book!)

I guess I should start by saying that if you read the first book, you'll know that for certain reasons the main character (or one of them) shifts from Kelsier in The Final Empire to Elend Venture in the Well of Ascension. Clearly, this would naturally make the material a little less exciting as Elend is purely a politician. As a result, much of this book revolves around political maneuvering, civilian rights, voting processes, law structuring and other things of the ilk. While this is pretty boring in and of itself, there are still great interactions between many of the characters other than Vin that I had come to love from the first entry in the series like Ham, Breeze, Sazed and Spook. This is what kept me interested in throughout the diplomatic portions of the book. Much of the book is spent building tension and while perhaps too much time passes before anything climactic actually happens, when it does, the book really shines. Some monumental changes occur pretty fast that make up for the dry and slow portions of the story. The pace quickens and the plot becomes very exciting. While the ending is definitely a huge cliff hanger, more so than the previous story, I am definitely anxious to see what will happen in the final entry.

Overall, this is a quality book. I really enjoyed it. That's not to say that it isn't laboriously slow at some parts and maybe too much time was dedicated to diplomatic issues but the characters are so strong and you learn way more about a few of them that makes up for it. Plus, the ending is pretty awesome too.

I purchased this hardcover book from this company. It took a very long time to arrive and when it did arrive the book had no cover. It was aggravating because I was expecting a cover. Anyways, I have wrote the company and the store. So far no response from company and no refund. :( DISAPPOINTED

Brandon Sanderson has become one of my favorite authors since finding this trilogy based on a friend’s recommendation. Sanderson does an amazing job of creating an image of the scene in the book without being too wordy, he can be very concise in his descriptions which I personally enjoy because then I can create the image in my head, but not get bored reading about how precisely everything in the room is placed. He also does a great job of describing the concept of how allomancy and allomantic powers work in a way that makes more sense than that the characters can just push on metal which is why they “fly.” When my friend described to me the concept of this book I assumed that after ingesting metal the characters could fly, but Sanderson’s detail in the description of the characters actually Pushing and Pulling on the metal brings a sense of scientific and anatomy to the concept instead of just magical powers.Although they are longer books, the war tactics, political strategies, and emotion of the characters is described in a way that keeps you thinking about the complexity of the tactics themselves, but also understanding the events unfolding. Some books I have read in the past get so caught up in describing what they are trying to do that I forget why they are trying to do it. Sanderson’s writing is so straightforward that there is no guesswork or rereading paragraphs to figure out why the king decided not to seize the armies outside the city walls. The fight scenes are also so vibrant that there is a bit of an adrenaline rush as you try to picture Vin flying over a Thug three times her size just by swallowing some Iron while simultaneously Pushing on the coins being sprayed her way to try and stop her lethal attacks. Very gripping!

I've been watching the videos of Brandon Sanderson's writing course at BYU, and it's interesting to be reading one of his books at the same time (particularly since he draws on his own writing for examples sometimes). Here is a spectacular example of plotting. At the end of each of the six parts, there's a twist or a big reveal. There are constant surprises and turnarounds, which kept me glued to the page. I was always wondering "How on earth is he going to get them out of this one?"

There's lots of action, too, but every fight is different. He never writes the same scene twice.

Mistborn has a couple of things going for it in terms of my personal taste, as well. I love superhero novels, and basically the Mistborn and the Mistings are superheroes, albeit in an epic fantasy setting. I'm not a fan of the same-old-same-old epic fantasy formula, on the other hand, but Sanderson puts wonderful spins on that formula. The result is a fresh story that wouldn't be quite the same if we didn't know the formula he's playing against. The ideas of the Chosen One, the Dark Lord, the wise mentor, even the returning king all get turned inside out and upside down. It's not just play for the sake of play, either. It makes for some deep and moving moments as the characters discover how their expectations were tragically wrong.

One of Sanderson's stated goals is to achieve "Orwellian language", which isn't (as you'd expect) doublespeak, but language that is like a clear window through which you see the story, without noticing the language itself. But, he has a distinctive language quirk that occurs over and over again and which, once I had noticed it, I found very distracting. I won't say what it was to keep from driving someone else crazy with it, but the previous sentence in this review contained an example of it. It's not wrong, exactly, just unconventional.

Other than that, I am thoroughly enjoying the Mistborn series, and will be hunting out other Sanderson books as well.

the second installment of the Mistborn series is a worthy successor to The Final Empire. It's pretty lengthy at 763 pages and I'm glad I didn't jump into it immediately after finishing The Final Empire. It opens a year after the end of the first book and sets itself up as obviously the second in a trilogy. We are now dealing with heroes of action and daring-do attempting to play rulers and politicians, dealing with the realization that some of the evils they so despised had very good reasons for existing. They are also dealing with trying to grow up from the childish petulence of rebels to stable rules. Finally, they are dealing with a very literal change in culture as they attempt to deal with Elend Venture's unorthodoxed style of leadership, democracy.

The book lags a bit in the middle as it dwells too long on the uncertainties of Vin and Elend's relationship and each of their uncertainties regarding their roles in the largeer scheme of things. That is a huge theme in this book for all characters. Where book one was about bravery and friendship, book two is about insecurity and maturation. There is a point where the whol book shifts though and action returns. The finale of the book is an excellent call back to the action of book one. I don't know how Sanderson does it but he manages to ratchet up the intensity without letting it get away from him. His characters were already super human in the first book. In book two they do things they even they acknowledge as beyond their own comprehension yet it all seems plausible in the framework setup.

This book is defintely worth the read.

I know some folks have said this book is not as good as the first, and I agree and disagree. Here's why:

The first book was a bit confusing for me (although not nearly as much as other fantasy magic systems have been). I felt as if I spent a lot of it learning how things work and figuring out how to picture the descriptions. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, but by the end of the book I was ready to dive into the second book because I knew that, now that I had the magic system down, I'd be able to jump into the story itself.

It's easy to forget throughout the first book that Vin is just a girl - she's a teenager, she's young, she hasn't had any sort of female influence in her life (except for a warped view of her dead mother). She's confused, scared and she's been thrown into a very impossible circumstance that's demanding that she actually stand up and make herself heard and seen - which goes against everything her existence as a thief and a girl has taught her. For that very reason I loved the bit of romance thrown in and the triangle created between Vin, Eland and Zane. I loved that it showed her insecurities and that it reminded us that, although she's a fierce assassin and a person who carries the majority of the weight of this story on her shoulders, she is still a teenage girl with the same teenage insecurities. That's a big portion of why I loved this second book so much.

Another reason is that, in spite of knowing more about the factions and the characters (although still not as much as I would like), Sanderson continues to surprise me with very rationale reasons for the way things work and with twists and turns in the political structure of the world he's created. Simply put, I never stop guessing. I LOVE that.

Now, what I didn't like - it's a short list and some pretty minor stuff actually. I want to know more about the actual characters surrounding Vin and Eland. I know those two pretty well by this point, but I was sad to see some of them dying off before I really got to know who they are. (Seriously? You had to take one of my FAVORITE dudes, Sanderson?) The book is long enough that more depth could be explored with these characters but I still feel as if I hardly know them and that they are pretty one-sided.

I'm looking forward to the third book, in fact, I'm forcing myself to write this review before I go pick it up. Very excited to see how this trilogy ends and I have already placed these books on my wishlist- unheard of for me when I haven't read the entire thing yet.

To sum up my feelings about this book: It was really good, . . . but I am disappointed.

I admit that it may be unfair of me to be disappointed. Brandon Sanderson has simply set the bar too high in the previous books of his that I have read. I now think of Sanderson as an author who writes phenomenal, mind-blowing endings, and in my opinion, The Well of Ascension simply did not fit that mold.

Sanderson added a good deal more supernatural-ness in The Well of Ascension than there was in Mistborn. There were blue monsters, religious prophesies, and a new Allomatic metal that essentially made Vin super-powered (as if she were not super already). It was a lot--perhaps too much.

My primary complaint about the book was Vin. Vin was still trying to figure out who she is and was trying to make her peace with being the significant other to a king while also being a Mistborn killing machine. Her most difficult struggles were internal. Externally, she kicked ass all day, all night, and all the time. Frankly, I got a tad bored with watching Vin kick ass. When Vin was around, her friends were safe. Vin would win the fight with some injury to herself, but no one important would die when Vin was present. Eventually, I started to think: "Okay, I get it. She is powerful." I would have liked to see her fail at protecting someone.

Now that I've complained, please note that my rating for this book is four stars. So I really did like it a lot. Allomancy is still a brilliant concept. Sanderson is still a brilliant writer. Elend is a fantastic character, as are Ham and Breeze. Elend's transformation from a scholar into a king was believable, as was his internal struggle regarding his relationship with a powerful Mistborn. I greatly enjoyed getting to know Breeze better; he's a good man who does not want to appear as though he cares about others as much as he does. I also really enjoyed the introduction of a second kandra (i.e., a being that can take the body of a deceased other being). I did not predict how that was going to turn out!

I look forward to reading the next book, which I hope clears up some of my issues with this one.

This book is as good as the first. I give it an extra star though this book probably has similar faults as I mentioned in the first book because by this point I swallowed everything, hook, line, and sinker (I read it in a day and a half, which is much faster than I normally read books).

This was a brilliant sequel. If you liked the first, you must move on to this one.

The only other thing I have to add, and it mostly applies to the first, is that, while I have read a lot of books and have forgotten much of what I read, while reading this book I felt like it has the best action scenes of any book I've read.

I feel like many books rely on emotional and plot tension to give action significance, and while this is indispensable, unless my memory fails me, the average action scene in a books are fairly simple and often short.

Most action scenes are: significant plot point -> fight -> hero struggles -> succeeds! -> moves on.

These books don't dispose of that format, but they execute it with such technical detail that it's beautiful. Furthermore, Sanderson allows power differentials that rarely occur in most books: generally you can't have someone totally raping face. But Sanderson is able to write action so that it fits consistently within the world and doesn't feel cheapened by its glorious fancifulness, where the pure ownage doesn't take away from the conflict and tension that drives the book.

In short, they are like daydreams I've often have, with all the juicy and technical martial details ;), not vague combat.

PS. I forgot to mention: The "trust" theme was a bit overstated and kinda redundant.

The Well of Ascension is a wonderful book ( in my opinion ) by Brandon Sanderson. The characters are soundly written, and grow and develop well in the story.

The book is mildly suggesgive, like most of Sanderson's stories, and does contain mild profanity.

Vin struggles even more between her relationship with Elend and her sense of duty when the Lord Ruler is toppled from his throne. As tensions build between new lord-doms and Elend's new central empire, old and new friends and foe join the hunt for atium...and power.

I really loved the first Mistborn novel. I will say this novel didn't hold up as well as the first, but I'm still looking forward to the rest of the series. The beginning of the novel was very slow. It starts about a year after the revolution of the first book. Luthadel is besieged by three noble armies, one of them giants called Koloss led by Elend's former friend, one by Straff Venture, Elend's father, and one by Lord Cett, a brash handicapped nobleman. To make matters worse Elend is impeached by his parliament while Vin spends her evenings battling Zane an insane mistborn loyal to Straff. There are a lot of themes explored in this book; democracy, leadership, loyalty, politics, and responsibility. Most of these are explored well. The one that isn't is the love story between Vin and Elend. I loved them in the first book and spent most of this one annoyed. Literally their entire plot could have been resolved if they had taken 5 minutes to have a conversation during the year this novel takes place. On the bright side Sazed becomes a viewpoint character and he's fascinating. In summary, this isn't an improvement on the first book, but I'm still looking forward to the rest of the series.

The Final Empire has fragmented into numerous squabbling bandit kingdoms and rebel states. Elend Venture has taken control of the former capital, Luthadel, aided by Vin, a powerful Mistborn, and the other leaders of the rebellion. But Elend's idealistic dreams of a democratic government are sorely tested when two other rulers lay claim to the city and arrive to besiege it.

Meanwhile, the Terris Keeper, Sazed, is worried by reports of the return of a deadly form of the mists that appear at night, and begins an investigation into the prophecies that led to the Lord Ruler gaining power, searching for clues as to the location of the Well of Ascension, the only power in the world that might save it from destruction...

Picking up where The Final Empire left off, The Well of Ascension sees a marked change in pace in the development of the Mistborn series. The first book was a bit of a caper story mixed in with a traditional 'rebelling against the evil ruler' narrative with a great magic system on top. Book 2 now sees the former rebels coping themselves with the pressures of governance. Elend, a rather thin character in the first book, becomes a lot more interesting in this volume as his former idealism clashes with an increasingly cynical outlook brought about by events. There's also a lessening of focus on Vin. Whilst still the central character, Elend and Sazed come much more to the fore in this novel as well. There's also a new Mistborn character, Zane, who enters the story and provides an effective sparring partner for Vin. Sanderson's worldbuilding also comes on a lot in this book, with a logical development of his metal-based magic system.

On the minus side, the change in narrative style means a slackening of the pace. There's a lot of talk and intrigue in this book, although it isn't entirely convincing and leads to a static pace as the various factions are engaged in a stand-off for most of the story, no one side able to move without being defeated by the others. This makes for a slightly less engaging story than the first book.

However, in the last 200 pages or so Sanderson suddenly turns everything up to 11. All hell breaks loose and as well as featuring major battles there are a series of stunning revelations about the prophecies that our characters have been following so far. The prophecy is a particularly annoying staple of epic fantasy literature but Sanderson's treatment of it at the end of this book is fascinating, making for a great twist ending.

The Well of Ascension (****) takes a while to get going, but decent character development keeps things ticking over until the action and revelation-packed finale. The novel is available now in the USA and will be published on 10 December 2009 by Gollancz in the UK.

The second book in the mistborn series starts off...slow. It's much more disappointing at the beginning than the first book was, but it redeems itself in the last 200 pages or so. Unfortunately, the characters seem a little flat in the beginning, with no real umph to their step. Sanderson, though, is a great wordsmith, and even though the characters seem to be a little mono-toned, the story keeps going, and it keeps pushing onward and upward, and then when the hook comes in, the reader is once again enthralled by every aspect of this novel.

There are many challenges to face after you overthrow a man who has ruled for a thousand years, as Vin and Elend are finding out after their unlikely victory against the Lord Ruler. It is also very idealistic of Elend Venture to think that the people, who have been oppressed for so long, have any interest in participating in a parliamentary government. Many think that to restore the balance of power, the only real option is to crown another ultimate, single ruler. Three men who follow that line of thinking have come to be heard, and each brought his army. Vin believes that she can save the way of life they have fought so hard to win if she can find the source of the Lord Ruler's power, the Well of Ascension.

I was concerned that after such a complex first book that there just wouldn't be enough left in the author's tank. I was wrong. Boy was I wrong. There is a lot going on in this book and I had to stop periodically through the book to wonder if it would all come together. Honestly, I cannot remember the last time I was this impressed by a book. Brandon Sanderson wrote a book where everything had a place; everything belonged and nothing was left to chance. Sanderson masterfully crafted a sequel that was even better than its predecessor.

The Well of Ascension begins about a year after the events that occurred at the end of Mistborn. The novel takes a while to get going and generally has less excitement to offer than its predecessor. After all, we're now mostly familiar with the world of The Final Empire and we understand the rules of the unique magic systems that rely on the burning of metals for powers and the storing of attributes such as strength, age, and eye-sight into metals. The loss of Kelsior, the most dynamic of Sanderson's characters, creates a void not only in the other characters' lives, but in this book as well.

The pace is slow in the beginning, but things finally take off when we're introduced to Zane, an unbalanced Mistborn who can't decide whose side he's on (and who may or may not be insane), and when we find out that there's an unknown kandra spy in the palace. I was fascinated by the kandra -- creatures who can ingest a corpse and impersonate the person or animal whose body it has eaten. Not only was that really cool, but it gave the opportunity for some quirky humor. (The humor in this novel is very sparse but very funny.)

Besides the kandra, Mr. Sanderson has created some other intriguing creatures: the koloss who never stop growing even when their skin can no longer stretch and who think of themselves as human, the inquisitors who have metal spikes through their brains and bodies (we don't know the purpose of these spikes yet). This is my favorite aspect of this series -- Mr. Sanderson's wonderful imagination.

The Well of Ascension is very well written (other than the constant "pausing" that I mentioned in my review of Mistborn) and the audiobook, read by Michael Kramer, is a treat to listen to.

The Well of Ascension answers a lot of questions which we were left wondering about after Mistborn, but there are just as many questions still left. I have no doubt that all will be made clear in The Hero of Ages (which I am already listening to). This is a well-planned trilogy and this middle book ends with the promise of plenty more surprises yet to come.

Brandon uses voices in peoples heads to cover up gigantic plot holes.

Characters point out the obvious in dialogue, then proceed with inner monologue for around 200 page deliberating the obvious, prior to doing the obvious.

The direction of the plot can be seen and dissected easily at most points, yet for some reason completely nonsensical and obviously impossible conflicts are created to try and make the inevitable less transparent.

This...this was really bad. I was very happy when the book was over. Not sure why I even progressed to book two.

Summary:
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"The Well of Ascension" is a bit of a misnomer. Only the last 150 pages really deals with the Well of Ascension. The first part of the book focuses on three armes camped outside of the Capitol. The first part of the book is paced too slowly and could have used some serious editting down.

Overall, the milieu created by Sanderson is very interesting but is not expanded very much.

The book feels like a middle novel in a series -- some character development, resolution to various plot points with some advancement of larger plot arcs, and the culling of some characters. Some of the new story arcs are interesting which makes me want to read the last novel in the series.

World Setting - 4 stars:
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The world setting is not developed very much beyong the first book in the series, Mistborn. You do find out more about some of the Lord Ruler creations and how they fit into the world.

Characters - 4 stars:
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You get to find out more about the Terris people through Sazed and Tindwyl. Many of the original thieving crew get killed during the capital assault by the koloss army attack. The deaths seem rather random and abrupt but it is effective in describing the fericosity of the attack and the koloss. Van and Elend both get more development but it could have been compressed a fair bit. Marsh gets a larger role in the story.

The Zane character is a nice addition to the character mix.

Action -- 3.5 stars:
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The action was fairly good but the pacing of events seemed a bit off to me. The action descriptions were good.

Prose -- 3.5 to 4 stars:
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The writing style is fairly good. I would have rated it higher but the first part of the book should have editted down in length but not content.

The Well of Ascension is a fun and occasionally funny book with a lot to like. First and foremost, there's the plot. Unexpected things keep happening, few of the plot twists are predictable, and there are plenty of secrets; I get the feeling the author has read a lot of mysteries. Besides which, things happen that you don't often see in fantasy (or anywhere else for that matter)... for instance, between the end of last book and the beginning of this one, Elend has turned Luthadel into a sort of constitutional monarchy, and a church has sprung up worshipping Kelsier, and by extension Vin.... when's the last time you saw that in a book?

Second, the main characters are endearing. You care about them because they're likeable people, and in over their heads without being annoying about it. It's fun to read about them and watch their relationships develop; I know a lot of people aren't looking to read long conversations between Vin and her canine kandra and have accused the book of being boring, but I enjoyed it.

Third, the author just seems smarter about real life than a lot of others out there. He realizes, for instance, that if you eliminate the emperor without replacing him, there will be chaos and warlords will spring up, that armies need food and it has to come from somewhere, and so on. Also, he follows through with his magic--I'm not nearly as excited to see an original magic system as I am a book that's internally consistent with it.

Then there's the bad. The biggest problem I noticed while reading was the writing style, which is amateurish. The action scenes were sometimes hard to follow (Vin tends to spend several pages fighting multiple opponents one or two at a time, with me wondering what the rest of the enemies are doing during all this), and the antagonists didn't feel quite sinister as they should have. And while I initially didn't agree with the reviewers who complain about the lack of sex (I have nothing wrong with authors choosing the fade-to-black method), Sanderson does have a problem with sexual tension--it's hard to believe Vin and Elend are in a relationship, rather than just friends.

Overall, a decent second book that leaves you wanting the third immediately. What it lacks in literary merit, it makes up by being just plain enjoyable.

In the riveting sequel to Mistborn: Final Empire, Sanderson doesn't hold back, continuing on from where he left off: the Lord Ruler is gone, but this was just the first mighty battle in the ongoing war. In The Well of Ascension times are still hard for many, even though the skaa have been freed and Elend is now king of Luthadel and the surrounding territories. The nobles must now learn to live in a democratic society where they cannot have slaves. It is a different world for many.

Before the dust even has time to settle, King Elend faces problems from various fronts: there is dissension in his democratically elected cabinet who wish to return to the old ways; then there are three armies marching toward Luthadel. Before our main characters can decide what to do, they find themselves under siege from two massive fronts. One is controlled by Lord Straff Venture, Elend's father who wants his son to hand over his kingdom to him, no questions asked. Then there is Lord Cett looking to seize control of Luthadel with his own substantial army. Elend finds himself in a unique position where he can ally with one army and therefore be able to overthrow the other. The question is who to ally with?

As he contemplates this a third army arrives, of koloss. These are tall 9-15 feet creatures that vary in size but are terrifying to humans. Originally created by Lord Ruler for his army, their skin is extremely wrinkled and hangs off them in places like loose clothing; while there are great tears in the skin and yet the koloss ignore this. But their red, blood-rimmed eyes strike terror in all who view them. They may seem dumb and slow, in battle they are fierce and destructive, and it's unknown whether they may lost control at any second and begin rampaging into the city of Luthadel.

Then there is Sazed, a loyal member of the group who is a Terrisman, a special person with the ability to store thoughts, memories, and knowledge in metal that is worn in the form of rings or armbands. Stored in these armbands are also other abilities such as great strength and speed. But in Sanderson's world, it's all about balance, as the energy stored in each armband is finite, and in some cases can take many years to be stored up, but can be used and extinguished in a matter of minutes. Sazed is a scholar and knows much is not right with the world. Somehow the mists that are feared by many for a long time throughout the realm begin killing people and even wiping out whole villages. There is the Deepness, a mythological force that was supposedly stopped when the Lord Ruler came to power, but is not fully understood and may bring terrible things to pass. Sazed must also find the correct location for The Well of Ascension, for it is here that the Hero of Ages - who he believes Vin to be - will release the power and save the world.

Then there is the OreSeur, a kandra, an ancient race who are able to absorb the bones of a dead person or animal and take that form and appear almost identical to them. OreSeur is Lord Straff's kandra, and is sent to spy on Vin, but it's also discovered that there's another kandra somewhere within Luthadel who, with the kandra abilities, could literally be anybody.

Finally there is the supposed Hero of Ages, Vin, who isn't sure what she is, but knows she is one of the most powerful people in existence, but must use her power wisely and not kill recklessly. She befriends another allomancer, Zane, who seems very familiar, and she becomes close to him, for they have so much in common, and yet he is the allomancer for Lord Straff and therefore an enemy.

Sanderson continues the complexity of the world, with many moral and sociological questions coming into play, as well as adding new plots and subplots. While it may seem a little overbearing, he skillfully keeps everything organized and separate and maintains the reader's interest throughout. It is a sequel worthy of its name, as The Well of Ascension keeps the pace going from the first book, making the reader hunger for more at the last page. The trilogy is concluded in The Hero of Ages.

[...]

This book's cover is misleading. On it, the heroine Vin, who possesses supernatural powers called "Allomancy" is fighting a man in robes with tatoos on his face. In Brandon Sanderson's world, these men are known as "Obligators" and Vin doesn't fight a single one in this novel. In fact, I don't think she's even in the same room as one throughout 700+ pages of story. A story which is titled, "The Well of Ascension" instead of "The Siege of Luthadel" despite the fact that the siege takes up far more time in the story than the subplot Well does.

The aforementioned 700+ pages are a complete slog. The reader has to wade through page after page of political maneuvering, character exposition and Vin or her boytoy Elend whining about their "relationship" -- an element that remains the weakest thing in the series, for me. In the first book, I felt that their relationship never rang true. It wasn't written well enough for me to understand why they were in love or believe it as anything other than a plot device. The depiction in the second book is, if anything, worse. Their relationship seems almost platonic. I'm not saying I want the novel to morph into "50 Shades of Grey" but it would have been nice to see that these two at least had some physical passion for each other, since they don't seem to have a single other thing in common whatsoever.

Finally, once we actually do get to the subplot that the title is based on, it really makes no sense at all. I think it was rushed for this mystic thing that no one could find or understand to suddenly show up in the last 30 pages along with an unexplained fight scene and more occurrences that didn't make sense. I suppose reading the third book will clear up most if not all of what's missing in this last section, but it's annoying to have the supposed focal point of the story be so bereft of substance, while a lot of desperately boring political garbage takes up so much of the story. There are a few action scenes, but they're all undercut by character moments that do not make sense. In one memorable scene, a character with no superpowers whatsoever " . . . in one fluid stroke, he drew his sword and sheared [omitted]'s head from his shoulders." Doesn't Sanderson realize how impossible this is? Even with a heavy axe, you can't just nick off someone's entire head with "one fluid stroke" that easily. And no, there was nothing special about the sword used either.

Overall I could not be more disappointed in this book. I was really excited to read it after finishing the first one and had a lovely long plane ride with which to do so uninterrupted. I actually stopped reading this in favor of watching edited airplane movies, that's how bad it was. And I admit frankly that my eyes glazed over during a lot of the political stuff that just went on and ON . . . it involved characters we had never met before who simply were not that interesting, and had no hope of being compelling with that level of unnecessary detail and frankly mediocre writing. Sanderson's strengths in this series are in the battles, fights and descriptions of Allomancy. Mythology, character and intricate plots are where he falls short, and this book is perfectly built to display all of his weaknesses as a writer. I really hope the third one does him more credit, answers the questions and wraps things up with more of a bang than a whisper.

This book is all bloat. Also I hate it for reducing Vin to a dribbling, inconsistent teenager from the schizophrenic, paranoid badass from book 1. Also Elend is nothing but author wish fulfillment - he's stupidly good for no reason in particular, its hard to see how he assumed any power at all post the Lord Ruler's deposition. Zane is a painfully cliched bad boy character. Everyone else barely matters in this book. After many many boring pages, the action finally ramps up with Vin taking the quad damage and being v overpowered. After carefully setting up allomantic rules and limits, this book just turns Vin's power level up to absurd levels so the tricky rule based combat barely matters to her, so the fights are more like Vin walks in, a hundred people fall dead as opposed to the carefully choreographed sequences from book 1. The end was an interesting twist on the hero of the prophecy foretold cliche, if not entirely original (Diablo comes to mind in the malevolent God influencing theology to serve its own ends department). Making Elend a mistborn was a terrible choice imo, adding to the wish fulfillment factor and the fact that he is unbearable as he is. Thank God for the kandra dog.

There's one problem with a book that follows up the first novel in the series - in book one there was the Lord Ruler, and the impossible, convoluted task of ousting him. And in the end, Kel and Vin and the rest of the crew were successful. How is an author suppose to follow that up? Even with a great idea, how does one create the same sense of suspense, the same sense of impending doom, as the previous book? The answer - he doesn't. But he does come pretty close. There is no lord ruler, but there are 3 armies parked at the city gates all waiting for the right moment to attack. And there's also a spy who could be practically anyone, leaving you to question all the characters motives.

This book's pacing is a lot slower than the first, a fact that seems to bug many of the reviewers. I saw a couple reviews saying how dull the first couple hundred pages are. The bulk of this book is about character development and about explaining how and why the characters develop as they do. Vin battles with insecurities, Elend learns responsibility and what it means to be a leader. We learn more about the world, the kandra, and the religion behind the steel inquisitors and the lord ruler. And true, the Well of Ascension only comes in play towards the end of the book, but the title of this second mistborn novel seems to be really about the journey, spiritually and mentally, of getting there.

I give this book 5 stars. It isn't quite as good as the first, in terms of how epic the first book felt and how impossible the task ahead of the protagonists was. But, the author still did an amazing job keeping the story going and evolving it. I can't wait to read the next novel to see how it all ends.

Did I enjoy this book: I’m in love. Sanderson twisted the best bits of Middle Earth and The Land together, added a generous dose of his own brilliance, and created The Final Empire in all its post-evil ruler glory. Where Tolkein or Donaldson might add a new enemy or a healthy dose of self-loathing, Sanderson opts to tell the story of what happens after the good guys win, and he does it brilliantly. There’s plenty of coin-tossing action, loads of character development, and some new faces (and new metals) to shake things up. Oh, and don’t forget that tiny issue of the impending collapse of not only Luthadel but the whole of the Final Empire.

Would I recommend it: Absolutely.

Will I read it again: It’s a great second installment, and I’m mere moments away from cracking book 3 (The Hero of Ages).

As reviewed by Melissa at Every Free Chance Book Reviews.

The Well of Ascension, book two in Sanderson's Mistborn series, is a good follow-up to Mistborn: The Final Empire, though it suffers some from the common failing of fantasy sequels, namely that it has to rely much more exclusively on plot, rather than worldbuilding, to move the story forward. This is to be expected somewhat, and Sanderson does a good job of not revealing all about his world in the first book (the prophecy, the kandra and so forth get more detail here). Still, much of any "first" in a series is about detailing the world itself, the cultures, the history, and any systems of magic/supernatural abilities that exist. If you're like me, you find these things fascinating and it makes the first book of a series one of the best, regardless of series length. Eventually, however, such things become known to the reader, much as the system of magic, the city of Luthadel, and the history and cultures of the Final Empire are known to anyone picking up this sequel. This, then, leads to more reliance on the plot moving forward and, while there are some very good moments in this book, the plot sometimes moves a little too slow. For the most part, however, this is a rewarding read. Much like the first in the series, this really picks up the pace in its final third and rewards the reader for following along with the more everyday interactions of the characters that occur prior to the unfolding of major events. And, much like the first in the series, Sanderson reveals many plot/character twists to make his story interesting and worth following to its conclusion.

As a sequel to "The Final Empire", "The Well of Ascension" answers the question that arises very often: what happens after the revolution? The good guys won, the tyrant is dead... what happens in "happily ever after"?
I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'll say only that I did like the way Sanderson answered this question - he is as realistic, as possible in fantasy genre, his heroes have their ups and downs, not all of them get what they deserve, so there is no Hollywood happy ending for the world of the mists.
I gave the book only four stars, because sometimes I missed the energy of the "Final Empire". Also, the allomantic fights, with their "pushing" and "pulling", became too boring for me; I began to skip these scenes altogether, knowing that the only difference between this one and the previous one would be in the number of enemies Vin fights. (It's ever increasing number, as you may guess!)
Some of the reviewers say that part of the romance between Vin and Elend lacks the passion. That didn't bother me too much, as I am tired reading again and again about passionate nights sandwiched between the battles on the pages of many other fantasy books. What disturbed me, though, it's the fact that Elend (as a king, probably) gets all the attention and character development, while Vin stuck with her conflict of insecurity versus power ... and this conflict simply escalates to the different levels toward the end of the book.

All in all, it's a good reading; the book has enough surprising plot twists to compensate the reader for the shortcomings, and I really like some of the new characters, like Zane and Alrianne. For me, though, the ending seems too much in Terry Goodkind style... not that it's necessary bad, but I expected something more original from Sanderson.

This book's cover is misleading. On it, the heroine Vin, who possesses supernatural powers called "Allomancy" is fighting a man in robes with tatoos on his face. In Brandon Sanderson's world, these men are known as "Obligators" and Vin doesn't fight a single one in this novel. In fact, I don't think she's even in the same room as one throughout 700+ pages of story. A story which is titled, "The Well of Ascension" instead of "The Siege of Luthadel" despite the fact that the siege takes up far more time in the story than the subplot Well does.

The aforementioned 700+ pages are a complete slog. The reader has to wade through page after page of political maneuvering, character exposition and Vin or her boytoy Elend whining about their "relationship" -- an element that remains the weakest thing in the series, for me. In the first book, I felt that their relationship never rang true. It wasn't written well enough for me to understand why they were in love or believe it as anything other than a plot device. The depiction in the second book is, if anything, worse. Their relationship seems almost platonic. I'm not saying I want the novel to morph into "50 Shades of Grey" but it would have been nice to see that these two at least had some physical passion for each other, since they don't seem to have a single other thing in common whatsoever.

Finally, once we actually do get to the subplot that the title is based on, it really makes no sense at all. I think it was rushed for this mystic thing that no one could find or understand to suddenly show up in the last 30 pages along with an unexplained fight scene and more occurrences that didn't make sense. I suppose reading the third book will clear up most if not all of what's missing in this last section, but it's annoying to have the supposed focal point of the story be so bereft of substance, while a lot of desperately boring political garbage takes up so much of the story. There are a few action scenes, but they're all undercut by character moments that do not make sense. In one memorable scene, a character with no superpowers whatsoever " . . . in one fluid stroke, he drew his sword and sheared [omitted]'s head from his shoulders." Doesn't Sanderson realize how impossible this is? Even with a heavy axe, you can't just nick off someone's entire head with "one fluid stroke" that easily. And no, there was nothing special about the sword used either.

Overall I could not be more disappointed in this book. I was really excited to read it after finishing the first one and had a lovely long plane ride with which to do so uninterrupted. I actually stopped reading this in favor of watching edited airplane movies, that's how bad it was. And I admit frankly that my eyes glazed over during a lot of the political stuff that just went on and ON . . . it involved characters we had never met before who simply were not that interesting, and had no hope of being compelling with that level of unnecessary detail and frankly mediocre writing. Sanderson's strengths in this series are in the battles, fights and descriptions of Allomancy. Mythology, character and intricate plots are where he falls short, and this book is perfectly built to display all of his weaknesses as a writer. I really hope the third one does him more credit, answers the questions and wraps things up with more of a bang than a whisper.

This book is all bloat. Also I hate it for reducing Vin to a dribbling, inconsistent teenager from the schizophrenic, paranoid badass from book 1. Also Elend is nothing but author wish fulfillment - he's stupidly good for no reason in particular, its hard to see how he assumed any power at all post the Lord Ruler's deposition. Zane is a painfully cliched bad boy character. Everyone else barely matters in this book. After many many boring pages, the action finally ramps up with Vin taking the quad damage and being v overpowered. After carefully setting up allomantic rules and limits, this book just turns Vin's power level up to absurd levels so the tricky rule based combat barely matters to her, so the fights are more like Vin walks in, a hundred people fall dead as opposed to the carefully choreographed sequences from book 1. The end was an interesting twist on the hero of the prophecy foretold cliche, if not entirely original (Diablo comes to mind in the malevolent God influencing theology to serve its own ends department). Making Elend a mistborn was a terrible choice imo, adding to the wish fulfillment factor and the fact that he is unbearable as he is. Thank God for the kandra dog.

There's one problem with a book that follows up the first novel in the series - in book one there was the Lord Ruler, and the impossible, convoluted task of ousting him. And in the end, Kel and Vin and the rest of the crew were successful. How is an author suppose to follow that up? Even with a great idea, how does one create the same sense of suspense, the same sense of impending doom, as the previous book? The answer - he doesn't. But he does come pretty close. There is no lord ruler, but there are 3 armies parked at the city gates all waiting for the right moment to attack. And there's also a spy who could be practically anyone, leaving you to question all the characters motives.

This book's pacing is a lot slower than the first, a fact that seems to bug many of the reviewers. I saw a couple reviews saying how dull the first couple hundred pages are. The bulk of this book is about character development and about explaining how and why the characters develop as they do. Vin battles with insecurities, Elend learns responsibility and what it means to be a leader. We learn more about the world, the kandra, and the religion behind the steel inquisitors and the lord ruler. And true, the Well of Ascension only comes in play towards the end of the book, but the title of this second mistborn novel seems to be really about the journey, spiritually and mentally, of getting there.

I give this book 5 stars. It isn't quite as good as the first, in terms of how epic the first book felt and how impossible the task ahead of the protagonists was. But, the author still did an amazing job keeping the story going and evolving it. I can't wait to read the next novel to see how it all ends.

Did I enjoy this book: I’m in love. Sanderson twisted the best bits of Middle Earth and The Land together, added a generous dose of his own brilliance, and created The Final Empire in all its post-evil ruler glory. Where Tolkein or Donaldson might add a new enemy or a healthy dose of self-loathing, Sanderson opts to tell the story of what happens after the good guys win, and he does it brilliantly. There’s plenty of coin-tossing action, loads of character development, and some new faces (and new metals) to shake things up. Oh, and don’t forget that tiny issue of the impending collapse of not only Luthadel but the whole of the Final Empire.

Would I recommend it: Absolutely.

Will I read it again: It’s a great second installment, and I’m mere moments away from cracking book 3 (The Hero of Ages).

As reviewed by Melissa at Every Free Chance Book Reviews.

The Well of Ascension, book two in Sanderson's Mistborn series, is a good follow-up to Mistborn: The Final Empire, though it suffers some from the common failing of fantasy sequels, namely that it has to rely much more exclusively on plot, rather than worldbuilding, to move the story forward. This is to be expected somewhat, and Sanderson does a good job of not revealing all about his world in the first book (the prophecy, the kandra and so forth get more detail here). Still, much of any "first" in a series is about detailing the world itself, the cultures, the history, and any systems of magic/supernatural abilities that exist. If you're like me, you find these things fascinating and it makes the first book of a series one of the best, regardless of series length. Eventually, however, such things become known to the reader, much as the system of magic, the city of Luthadel, and the history and cultures of the Final Empire are known to anyone picking up this sequel. This, then, leads to more reliance on the plot moving forward and, while there are some very good moments in this book, the plot sometimes moves a little too slow. For the most part, however, this is a rewarding read. Much like the first in the series, this really picks up the pace in its final third and rewards the reader for following along with the more everyday interactions of the characters that occur prior to the unfolding of major events. And, much like the first in the series, Sanderson reveals many plot/character twists to make his story interesting and worth following to its conclusion.

As a sequel to "The Final Empire", "The Well of Ascension" answers the question that arises very often: what happens after the revolution? The good guys won, the tyrant is dead... what happens in "happily ever after"?
I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'll say only that I did like the way Sanderson answered this question - he is as realistic, as possible in fantasy genre, his heroes have their ups and downs, not all of them get what they deserve, so there is no Hollywood happy ending for the world of the mists.
I gave the book only four stars, because sometimes I missed the energy of the "Final Empire". Also, the allomantic fights, with their "pushing" and "pulling", became too boring for me; I began to skip these scenes altogether, knowing that the only difference between this one and the previous one would be in the number of enemies Vin fights. (It's ever increasing number, as you may guess!)
Some of the reviewers say that part of the romance between Vin and Elend lacks the passion. That didn't bother me too much, as I am tired reading again and again about passionate nights sandwiched between the battles on the pages of many other fantasy books. What disturbed me, though, it's the fact that Elend (as a king, probably) gets all the attention and character development, while Vin stuck with her conflict of insecurity versus power ... and this conflict simply escalates to the different levels toward the end of the book.

All in all, it's a good reading; the book has enough surprising plot twists to compensate the reader for the shortcomings, and I really like some of the new characters, like Zane and Alrianne. For me, though, the ending seems too much in Terry Goodkind style... not that it's necessary bad, but I expected something more original from Sanderson.

Book Two. The Final Empire (Mistborn, Book 1) is book one; read it first, before you even read this review.

They 'handled' the Lord Ruler and inherited his empire. This book is how Vin and Elend deal with the civil wars fracturing the Final Empire while frantically trying to restore the basis of the economy, (Atrium) which is missing in action. It's darkish, less grandiose than the first, and has more of a 'lets stabilize as rulers' theme, as opposed to 'let's be audacious heroes.' Expect angst/teen drama mid-book, because Vin and Elend are teens wrestling with the extraordinary responsibility of managing an empire, and they do make poor decisions. The book is not as rogue-like as the first entry, and the plot becomes more byzantine. Focus is also more distributed between characters; some secondary characters are done superficially (the crew). Plenty of plot twists, and an ending that segues nicely into book three.

Less focus on Allomancy, more on political factions and world building. Series went from pure action to political action, which I didn't mind, but you may not like. Mid-book pacing may bore readers, and romance between Vin and Elend is more a distraction than story focus, making it wooden and awkward. Skip to around page 400 if it's too slow for you. Personally, I found the magic system and world well drawn, and liked the novel.

The Well of Ascension is the 2nd book in the Mistborn trilogy. The book begins about a year after Mistborn: The Final Empire left off. Elend has taken over the government and Vin is his bodyguard/love interest. Two major problems present themselves at the onset of the book: first, the mists are harming people and second, Elend's city is under seige by two different army's. The first problem is put on the back burner for most of the book. The political situation becomes more and tenser until it gets out of hand and death, destruction, and carnage are inevitable. Also going on, the skaa (peasant class) have started forming a religion around Kelsier.

This book in the trilogy is much more political in nature than the first. Happily, the politics are eventually well balanced with action. Like the first book, the Mistborn battle scenes can seem extremely tedious. Especially in the beginning. I think the tedious nature of these scenes is the biggest problem in the book. That said, once the story action reaches full snowball, the Mistborn passages are extremely well executed and greatly add to the flow, urgency, and awesomeness of the story.

The story is once again in 3rd person shifting between characters. Every now and then Sanderson uses a completely random and (in my opinion) unimportant character's viewpoint to show the story from. This was really weird. I'm not sure why he did it, and I'm not sure that it added anything to the story. The predominant viewpoints in the story are from Vin and Elend and Sazed.

I was pleasantly surprised with awesomeness of the plot in the final 2 parts of the book. Vin's character has become something amazing. Her growth over this book was well done.

I'm really looking forward to the final installment of the series, The Hero of Ages: Book Three of Mistborn, which is due to release on Oct 14, 2008.

Vin, Elend, and company struggle to maintain hold of Luthadel a year later in "The Well of Ascension", second book of the "Mistborn" saga. Every chapter has a purpose, little is wasted conveying useless information unless one finds the political maneuvering boring waiting for the amazing Allomancy encounters. The political intrigue is carefully thought out, the romance between Vin and Elend develops properly, and the unique creatures are practical and suitably placed.

Additional characters join the cast, the more notable ones are Mistborn Zane and Keeper Tindwyl. I enjoyed learning more about Feruchemy. The clever concept behind the Deepness and its overwhelming influence sets a fresh approach as an antagonist.

The possible major editing issue concerns the confusion at the start of Chapter 24 when Vin asks Clubs to burn bronze for sensing Allomancy but as a smoker only burns copper. He stated he heard nothing, which is true in a way but only because he cannot burn bronze. The summary of book 1 is at the end, it better serves a reader placing it at the beginning.

Check out the author's web page at [...] for excellent inside information and deleted scenes (he provides warnings before any spoilers).

I highly recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre.

Thank you.

I won't say it's slow pace because I thought the author tried to develop his characters carefully. So it's not extremely comical fun and fast pace as the first book, but it grow more tensed and a lot political scence get concerned which the allomance power thing can't handle it itself. Nevertheless, the politic plot confused me sometime and i can't understand it accurately, it exhausted me.

Meanwhile there're a lot scene of meeting and war therefore it develop Elend's character truly while make develop surrounding character. You'll see how the very Kel crew responded in different situation which was not just an effective attacking pack while Elend learned and grew so much in these kind of scene.

And i loved Vin a lot more. How uncertain and how she doubt herself which give her and plot more interesting. Because it's something you faced when your capacity become worthless in som condition, it's what you feel when you lost someone important and something you doubt how reserved you are when you love someone so different.

However, there's something i felt guilty in this book, which is i missed Kel so hard. This book could reminded you when you lost someone you trusted, someone you believed in and someone you relied on. There's time you search everywhere and every details in your memories to find him, and you know exactly he would never comeback. You lost and feel something collapsed inside.

By the way, i hardly understand the if Zane is really necessary in the plot. He seems to be so important and he has related to Elend house but he hadn't done anything or made any great impacted to the plot. Or he came to be Vin's symbolic of uncertainty ? I really don't know.

I can't say i enjoyed it actually because it's so tensed. But i love it, i love this series.

So please enjoy it. It'll take your time but i think it worth reading.

This was the test. Now that you're not "wowed" by the uniqueness of the magic system and since the first book had a lot of closure was this book going to be just filler living off the reputation of its predecessor?

The answer for me was no. Same lovable cast of characters and they're evolving (which is good. Lots of (alemantic) action, and the characters constantly in sticky situations. Then there's the overall mystery of the well of ascension and the hero of ages. It all works for me.

It's not my favorite kind of fantasy (see China Mieville for that) but I do like it a lot. The narrator is also great on this one. He does different voices for all the characters and it really makes it fun to listen too.

So I guess I'll get to The Hero of Ages sometime this year to finish off the trilogy.

Gosh darn it. The twists in this book got to me. I love it!

Being the second book of the series, The Well of Ascension met my expectations and then some. This epic novel had me on the edge of my seat (or on my bed due to it delaying my sleep...), and was such a page turner. If you loved the first book (Mistborn: The Final Empire) and wonder what happens to the heroes, read this book! This book is surprisingly much different than the first one - it deals more with political relations rather than rebellion. There is plentiful when it comes to action, perhaps even more so than its predecessor. Moreover, the characters are more fleshed-out this time around. We finally get to see more of Breeze, Elend, Sazed, and many other characters! In this book, Sazed is my favorite character. His mien is quite dignified and collected - he has a personality of being wise and accommodating to others. I respect that. He inspires me as a person! The characters feel so alive that they've become apart of me - they're one of my favorite sets of characters in a book ever. But yes, read this book. If you read Mistborn, you might as well read this book.

Wow. This second book in the Mistborn series focused more on politics, war tactics, and mounting tensions and problems. I loved it and sped through it, despite the massive size of this book. It was slower than the first, but I don't mean that negatively. We got more time with side characters, more development, and more insight into the world. If you liked The Final Empire, you'll enjoy the richness of it. Vin is definitely one of my favorite characters of all time, and so is the entire cast of characters, actually. I cannot wait to see what epic things take place in the final book!

The Lord ruler has been defeated. Elend Venture with Vin by his side now has to establish a fairer society where everyone is treated equally. But not everyone is happy with the thought of Elend being in charge of the Empire. 2 army's are at his door step and he has little ability to repel them. With the Empires fate in his hands can him and Kelsiers crew win this one?

Let me preface by saying the first book, The Final Empire, was phenomenal and an excellent piece of fantasy writing. I literally could not put it down.

Not so with this one, where it actually sat on my desk for a few days between each reading session.

The first major flaw was the dialogue. Sanderson seems to have a habit of making his characters sound like modern-day teenagers, not characters in a fantasy world that is modeled after what I assumed to be France or England in the late middle ages. Maybe most people don't care about this, but it jumped out at me and bothered me. It was present in the first book, but the story and characters were so awesome that it overshadowed the bad dialogue. The irritating nicknames they called one another like they were the best of friends ("Saze," "El," "Dox," "Kel,") were nauseating.

Next was a subplot that literally looked like it was taken from a WB/CW series. You have the love triangle between the "good boy," the "bad boy," and the female protagonist who felt that she was growing apart from the "good boy" that she fell in love with. Maybe Sanderson was trying to appeal to a large female demographic by adding some "chick flick" elements to his book, but I would think having a fantasy novel with a strong female character as the lead should suffice without the cliched romantic nonsense.

The next major flaw was the complete lack of events in the first 75% of the book. I am not joking. NOTHING seems to happen at all. We get a lot of chapters of Elend trying to be king and Vin kicking some ass (which was not all bad...). Throughout it all, we have the boring internalizations from Vin and Elend about their relationship.

On a side note, I find sex between a 16 year-old and a 22 year old disgusting. If Elend was 30 and Vin was 24, then fine, but not 16 and 22....

The final major flaw was pointless characters that were thrown in as filler. Tyndwyl and Zane were a waste of time. How can I make this statement? If you eliminate them from the story, it changes nothing. Without spoiling anything, Vin's revelation near the end of the book could have been done a different way.

I have said a lot of negative things so far, but the book got 3 stars because the final two acts were difficult to put down, and the final battle and the ending was truly awesome.

Onto the Hero of Ages....

Well of Ascension is the second in theoutstanding Mistborn series and the story picks up with two previous characters moving to center stage, the young Mistborn heroine Vin, emerging hero Elend, and the soulful terrisman, Sazed. The plot is moves forward with an entirely new feel while retaining many elements from the first story.

This time around the story centers on the trials of building a brand new government after the battle to overthrow the previous oppressive one. It was a more subdued journey of learning more about the fascinating aspects of how Allomacy came into existence and watching world of the Final Empire evolve and grow.

The entire story arc delves into all the elements one expects from an epic fantasy storyline, war, political intrigue, a complex magical system, moral issues, and love. I enjoyed this second book as much as the first one.

I'm really not sure about the complaints on this book. It picks up about a year after the last book ends and it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I will agree that there is a lot of information in the middle that can be interpreted as unimportant, but I believe the slow progression of the characters is absolutely necessary in order to connect the dots to where Elend and Vin start and end the novel. Also, what is a book without suspense? If he got right to the heart of the story, right away, this book would be 150 pages and make absolutely no sense...

I loved the second half of The Final Empire, after having almost given up on the book during the first half. If you don't enjoy suspense and realistic character development, well, then I guess you'll be disappointed by The Well of Ascension, but I thought that this book was even better than the first one.

The Well of Ascension picks up where Mistborn left off; Luthadel is in chaos after Vin defeated the Lord Ruler. Elend is left as king but his leadership is clumsy and inept. Sazed calls on his fellow Terris(wo)man, Tindwyl, to help train Elend and teach him how to become an able leader. Unfortunately, she is attempting to teach him these skills when three separate armies sit outside the city gates, planning a siege. His people are starving and his soldiers are vastly outnumbered. Meanwhile, ghosts are forming in the mists and the mists are killing villagers in surrounding areas of the Central Dominance. Thus begins Vin’s quest to protect her King and city. To read the rest of my book review, click here: [...]

This second book of the Mistborn series is, of course, a well written saga. Brandon Sanderson is an amazing author and well versed in creating characters and new worlds that we care about. My only criticism is that is is extremely wordy. I think that a good quarter of the book could have been edited out without sacrificing quality. I admit to skipping quite a bit so that I could get to the meat of the plot more quickly.

Is it as good as Mistborn: The Final Empire? No. It's four stars compared to that book, but as a book itself, it really deserves five stars. Yes, it has its problems, but it's an addictive read, and it's very hard to stop once started. The last 200 pages or so really deserve six stars. I didn't mind the first 400 pages or so; in spite of the slower progression and perfunctory action sequences added, I enjoyed it. Furthermore, the continuation of the story after what seemed to be a stand-alone fantasy book made for an interesting read. Sanderson's world of politics feels very real as the characters encounter realistic problems.

The book falters in a couple of places, however. My biggest issue with The Well of Ascension is the romance. The romance is as awkward and wooden as is is in the Twilight series. I know that's a very grave insult to compare this series to Twilight, but I make no apologies. The romance between Vin and Elend is just very frustrating to read. I understand the conflicts of interest that cause the issues, but the resulting relationship was far less interesting than it could have been. The other aspect that really bothered me was a lack of a character that really captured my interest. While the absence of Kelsier is a necessary evil due to the plot of book one, I found it hard to connect with any of the other characters in the same way Kelsier grabbed the reader by the belt buckle in the first book (Sazed emergence as a more central character helped but did not alleviate this problem).

Don't let those issues stop you from reading this book. It's still a great book, and I'd take it any day of the week over 1984, Brave New World or most of the books from the Wheel of Time series.

Highly recommended.

(Note: Spoilers for the previous book.)

After "Mistborn: The Final Empire" left the prototypical Dark Lord dead and the heroes triumphant, "The Well of Ascension" starts with, well, "What's Next?" The overarching plot of the middle book of the Mistborn trilogy is the attempt by Elend (now King) and the other heroes to maintain power in the face of old nobility and their armies. This is largely ignored territory for Epic Fantasy, and it's handled well here, although the slow pace of siege warfare makes plotting it trickier.

Sanderson builds heavily on the foundation he established already; the Feruchemy of the Terrismen Keepers, such as Sazed, is further developed, and another allomatic metal is added. The biggest improvement here is the better development of the supporting cast; while not everyone was fully developed it was much more balanced than the first book. Elend, Vin, Sazed, and newcomer Zane get more screen time, and are fascinating. The fight scenes return and Sanderson manages to keep the variety up, although Allomancy now looks to have a large number of unknown metals.

There are a few missteps, however. Much like with Alendl's diaries in the first book, notes from the philosopher Kwaan are placed above the chapter headings and in the book proper. Again, they're used to foreshadow a subtle but crucial plot point; however, they are somewhat overused in the attempt, becoming annoying rather than mysterious. A certain use of Allomancy - one that is key to the plot - is poorly explained, and there are a few too many questions at the end.

Still, it's fairly clear that the questions will be answered, even if this book doesn't end as cleanly as the last. Sanderson handles the issues that arise out of being the middle book of a trilogy better than most in a book that covers mostly new fantasy ground. Anyone that liked "Mistborn: The Final Empire" should definitely stay with the trilogy.

I have read a number of books by Sanderson and loved them all. I loved Warbreaker, Elantris, and the first Mistborn book. I was excited to read more about Vin and Elend, and find out about the bigger disasters that happened after they took over the city. This was a great book and a great addition to the series.

This book starts shortly after Mistborn ended. Vin is spending time trying to keep Elend safe from assassins and Elend is trying to set up government in the city of Luthadel. Unfortunately two armies have camped outside of Luthadel and they both want Luthadel for its Atium. Elend is trying to figure out how to stave off envasion when he finds out about the threat of a third armed force. Vin is pushing herself trying to guard the city full time when she runs into another mysterious Mistborn, to add to the mystery she thinks things are changing with the Mists and that Luthadel may be facing a danger much bigger than any invading armies.

This was a really wonderful book. Sanderson has such a way with characters; they are all so lovable and human. He balances out politics, action, and characterization so well. I was really attached to the characters in this book...and there are a lot of them. I never felt like it was hard to keep them all straight and I never found the magic system and politics too confusing. It takes a great writer to craft a story this complex and still make it easy for the reader to follow.

This book was politics heavy, especially for the first two-thirds. I am not a big fan of complex prolonged politics, so I didn't like this book quite as much as the first one. That being said it is a testament to Sanderson's skill that I was still completely engaged in this story despite the fact that the first part focused almost solely on the politics surrounding Luthandel. The end of the book races by twice as fast as the first part and is packed with battle and action.

This book touches on a lot of deep issues as well such as good vs evil, democracy vs. dictatorship, morality and ethics. These are all well balanced with the other elements of the book. Sanderson makes epic fantasy more personable and I love the fact that women play large roles in his books. When I was younger I always got sick of epic fantasies that either ignored women or featured them in weak, less desirable roles. This book is about Elend and Vin in equal parts and it is wonderful to see that.

We learn a lot more about the history of some of the different races and also a lot more about Allomancy. The story ends in a great spot, tying up many of the issues presented early on while starting a big story for the third book.

Overall an absolutely excellent book. Sanderson is just such a fabulous writer; his writing is complex, easy to read, engaging, creative and absolutely engrossing. I am very excited to read the final book in the trilogy, The Hero of Ages, to see how it all plays out. If you are a fan of epic fantasy this book is for you.

As with most middle entry into a trilogy, the timing in this book is off, there is a lot of filler and Vin (main protagonist) is becoming whiny. Vin is great when she is being the all powerfull ass kicker, however she often returns to being an insecure little girl doubting her boyfriend's love way too often.
With the main treat now out of the picture it seems to me that people like Vin would rise up and become the power holders instead of the previous nobility. Vin and other "Allomancers" are basically one-man armies, all powerfull and unstoppable (except by other allomancers) why isn't one of these allomancers setting themselves up as Emperor!
I still liked the conlcusion and the overall book, but I wished it was shorter so that more of the stroy would be advanced.

Below is an excerpt of my full review of the Mistborn trilogy:

I believe that the true genius behind a great story is in its simplicity in execution, and Sanderson did that with his characters, the magic system he created and in unfolding the many secrets that kept me asking questions. I love a good mystery, and while the Mistborn trilogy is a fantasy/science fiction book, it has a good level of mystery intertwined that does not get in the way of the plot and further enhances the story. You can walk away from the books with concise, well thought reasons to how it all played out. I had several questions after finishing The Final Empire, but at my friend's suggestion, I continued reading so as to prevent spoiling myself. This is how I believed Lost would have ended, with answers truly being answered and not simply thrown into place for the sake of things. It goes back to deus ex machine, or the lack thereof. This book delivers in so many ways.

There are many characters in the book and initially I thought that perhaps I would become inundated with character overload, but that did not happen. The interaction between characters is believable. No one says the right thing at the right time all of the time, mistakes are made, facts are proven wrong, and secrets reveal a greater wisdom than one could have imagined. It takes a great story teller to have their audience sympathize with a tyrant and become attached with so many characters. The trilogy even has a love story involved, and much like everything else, it is believable and fits.

Words such as hate, love, and epic are grandiosely used in society and on the web so much that they have greatly lost their value and significance. When I called this story epic, I sincerely mean that it is one of the best stories I have ever read.

While the storytelling and pacing was excellent, I found myself rooting against Elend though the whole first part of the book. I was clear to me that the real danger came from the mists, and I knew that Vin wouldn't leave the city until Elend lost his throne. Instead of feeling suspense, I was frustrated and skimming parts of the book because I wanted Vin to get out there and confront the real threat. (I have a friend who didn't have that problem, though.) For those who might have my problem, I'll let you in on a secret--preserving the city turns out to be important to the greater battle after all.

Other than that, the book was good--good pacing, great world building, interesting characters, and so on. I also found the ending a bit more predicitable than the first book in the series, though I expect most people wouldn't find it so.

Genre Reviews
[...]

The first book was excellent and ended on a good note; though there were hints that there were problems ahead. This book explores those troubles while taking a look at the issues associated with implementing a new form of government. It effectively shows the difficulty of governing a people used to authoritarian rule and how difficult it would be to implement major reforms.

Sanderson also explored what happens to people that suddenly gain or lose great power and how they deal with it. Overall I found the character development to be very interesting.

The world that Sanderson builds also continues to fascinate me. The use of allomancy is very consistent and I am amazed at how much detail he went into.

I highly recommend this series. This book once again ends with trouble looming. I am excited to finish this series.

You can read the summary of the story elsewhere. These are some of my thoughts about the book.

I loved Mistborn so I eagerly looked forward to The Well of Ascension. Where Mistborn looked at the consequences of what happened if the hero of legend failed, The Well of Ascension looks at once the heroes succeed, how do they govern and create a stable world.

I find Vin and Elend two interesting characters. Vin I like because with all her powers, she still is frail in many ways and can definitely make mistakes, including a costly one she makes in this book. Elend is a man of great ideas who has to learn to strike a balance between physical power and intellectual power.

The story itself builds on elements that were only minor players in the first book and now are growing in importance.

I can't wait to read The Hero of Ages.

The Well of Ascension is book two in the Mistborn trilogy. Elend Venture, the new Lord Ruler of Luthadel, clings to power while Luthadel's aristocrats and merchants grumble and two enemy armies, one lead by Elend's father, camp outside the city gates. Fortunately, Elend can rely on help from his unofficial assassin and lover, the young allomancer Vin. Vin's magical metal burning ability makes her a target. Vin is having trouble adapting to her position as royal consort, especially since the underclass skaa, freed by Elend, look to her as their protector. Meanwhile, the ancient evil known as the Deepness is rising once again.

The Well of Ascension is an entertaining read especially if you want to know what happened after the good guys won. This book was just as good as the first book in the series. I look forward to reading the third book.

Another great book from Brandon Sanderson. In the process of obtaining and reading the rest in the series! Such an interesting use of 'magic'. Sanderson does such a great job of making it real and logical. A little hard to imagine, but what magic isn't? Great fantasy series!
Highly recommend.

THERE ARE MINOR SPOILERS
I'd like to first start off and say that book 2 is NO book 1. Granted the last segment is good. It was too much of a burden getting there. There were many points in the book where I wanted to burn the book it was so annoying. I would give this book a 2.5 if I could but since the ending was good. I gave it a 3.

I'll go into detail below about the negatives.

1) Vin and Elend's relationship. It is one of the most UNBELIEVABLE and AWKWARD romances. In book 1, you kind of saw the chemistry and it made sense. One could see them pushing through their differences and, hopefully in the future, grow into a mature relationship. In book 2, all hope of that is destroyed. There aren't ANY scenes where you feel that they should even stay together. I found myself many times rooting for Vin's other love interest just because it made more sense. I completely understand how opposites attract but it was just so strange reading Vin go slaughter a group of assassins and then come act like a Tween couple stuck in the puppy love stage with Elend immediately after. It was just too unrealistic and extremely tiresome to read.

2) Extremely slow paced. I won't get into this too much but let's just say this book could've been named something completely different like "Mistborn: People Gathering Outside While We Bicker Inside" or "Mistborn: Teen Insecurity and Its Dire Symptoms on a Kingdom" or my personal favorite "Mistborn: Being Redundant Helps for Redundancy". This book has so much filler I would put it up there with some of the Wheel of time books. You know, how the whole book is tiresome and then something EPIC happens at the end. Ya, its like that but not as interesting because the politics and teen insecurity happens over and over and over and over and over again. Very tiresome.

3) Elend in this book. Its not entirely the character that's the problem, but the situations that he is put in. They are so stupid and could've been completely avoided. I don't understand why Sanderson would make Elend so righteous that he lose his status as king because he couldn't tell a lie/not say anything about the clause and THEN turn around have Elend shank his former friend and then kill a Koloss just because he was wondering what was in its pouch. WTF? You ask. Yes, indeed Elend is psychopath (jking). I still don't understand how I can like the character but hate almost everything they do but the paradox is here.

3) Vin's disapproval/misconception of Kelsier. I HATED THIS ABOUT THE BOOK! This drove me up the wall, more than the teenage puppy love awkward scenes, more than the stupid political ploys that wound up doing nothing, and even more than the sheer Elend's uselessness as king. We know Kelsier as the self-sacrificing hero of book 1 that wooed us all over with his awesomesness. With that being stated, can any of you please send me the memo where Elend in any way, shape, or form is better than the Survivor? There was a section in the book that Vin states Elend is a better than Kelsier and then goes to say Kelsier was ruthless blah blah blah. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?! I'm sorry but Sanderson EXTREMELY dropped the ball here. Vin goes on to turn Kelsier in a ruthless maniac that eats babies and kicks the elderly in her mind. All the while, Elend is the golden boy that can do no wrong and is the Heaven in human form to her, while he forsakes his kingdom and its people to another man who is a supporter of one of the books main bad guys!!! I feel Sanderson tried to make Kelsier the good "bad" guy to make Elend and Vin seem more righteous. It only pissed me off. Kelsier died, paying the ultimate sacrifice for the good of all skaa in book 1 and book 2 Vin belittles his actions. I can go on and on about this because it's so frustrating.

4) Vin is a poor replacement for Kelsier in book 2. Before I go on, yes, I am a fanboy of Kelsier. He was an awesome character that did many things to earn him respect in my eyes. After he died, we had vin. At the end of book 1, Vin was pretty bearable. In book 2, Vin's loses all credibility and just becomes one of the most annoying main characters I've read in a series. The reason I say this is because Vin seems REALLY bipolar in this book. Yes, I understand Sanderson is trying to make her SEEM more human by giving her uncertainty but you just want to take her out back and shoot her many times during this book she is so annoying. It would have been a different case if there was more development of her personality. I felt, even in book 1, she didn't really have too much of a personality other than her "holy crap hide and become small". Yes, she had her moments, such as her blowing up at the crew, but it still felt out of place because there wasn't a REAL distinct feel to her. You didn't notice it too much because Kelsier had enough personality for both of them. Without him in the equation, you really start to notice her character design faults. When you add the annoyances of being in a unbelievable, puppy-love romance, Vin is the most annoying character in the book.

5) The final bad thing about the book is how easy things come to Vin in this book and how great she is. It just seems so fake. Examples of this are, of how her handwriting is amazing or of how she was dancing in her new dress at the shop and the keeper says he has never seen someone so graceful. Or how her bluntness usually turns out to be the best for the situation. Or how Everything just works for her. TOO EASY!!! Hell, she even gets stabbed in the chest by a dagger, shrugs it off, and goes on to defeat the attacker who is using Atium. Her killing Rashek left a bad taste in my mouth because of how stupid the fight was. It's turning into a really bad episode of Dragonball Z, where the main character is getting rolfstomped the whole time and then out of nowhere gets a bunch of power and wins. No originality, no skill.

Positives of this book

The last 1/5 of the book

I gave this book 3 stars for the ending section of the book. Doesn't make up for wasting my time throughout most of the book but whatever. The stage is now set for book 3. Hopefully, it is mind blowing

The Well of Ascension is the sequel to Mistborn, and is the middle book of the Mistborn trilogy. Middle books are typically the weakest volume of any trilogy, and unfortunately, Sanderson's trilogy is no exception.

While the action sequences are still well-written, the book suffers from fantasy-level-up-escalation, carried to the extremes, as the main character, Vin grows in power, and as a result, the rest of the threats have to scale up as well. This would be OK if the other characters on her team grows in power as well, but they don't, so you're treated to increasingly lopsided situations that could be mistaken for the typical Mary Sue fantasy.

The unfortunate thing is that Sanderson's ability to do character development seems to be limited to depicting characters agonizing about dilemmas that in no way feel real (i.e., the reader has so much information that he knows what the right choices are, and in no way feels like the characters will do anything but). Worse, some long running supporting characters are killed off in cheap fashion that do not serve the plot in any way.

Finally, the ultimate reveal sucks: not only was the reader misled in every way, the entire state of the world is left dangling and obviously hanging for the final book in the trilogy. In some ways, this is some of the worst sins of writing a fantasy series: an entire book in which nothing substantial happens, and you could easily have skipped an entire book and gone on with the series without missing much. While this book isn't as abusive of readers as A Dance With Dragons or A Feast For Crows, Sanderson's not doing anyone any favors with this novel. I'm debating between plowing ahead and finishing the series for the sake of completion or abandoning Sanderson permanently altogether.

Not recommended.

The world, the magic, the creatures are wonderfully creative and unique. I read this series after reading his Stormlight series, which was actually written after Mistborn. I gave this a 3 star (instead of 4) because the story becomes too focused on each character's individual thought process and a stream of melodramatic moments. I found my self skimming through entire sections. The first book in the series has much more action and it "shows" you more than it "tells" you how the characters are responding and evolving. The 3rd book, however, took the melodrama even further than the 2nd, which unfortunately made the finish line a little grueling to get past. That being said, the book is well worth the read!

I trusted her as my favorite POV in the series. I loved her personality: humble, quiet, cautious. She struggled with her fear of betrayal; surely she'd never betray me. But she did (spoiler ahead).
Halfway through the book, we're introduced to two characters: Jarloux and Wellen. The characters appear in no more than two pages of text. But that was enough.
These guys were on 'Mist duty'. They had no power. They were afraid of the mists. They didn't even want to be there.
The vivid description of the carnage stunned me.
Then we flash to Vin, her pewter enhanced muscles, her incredible power as a Mistborn. She started off as a relatively weak character in terms of power. She acquired power in book 1 and for a while she handled it. Then she allows herself to be corrupted by it and kills people who, while not entirely innocent, did not deserve to be killed like that. She stepped on them like ants. In that instant, I saw the moment at which a character goes from good to evil. It wasn't a 'flaw'; it was pure evil. Sure, she feels guilty about it later, but not nearly enough. She died to me then and I still can't finish the third book because of it (she becomes this inhuman entity that doesn't even really seem to love Elend much anymore, she prioritizes 'saving the world').
I'm not sure where Jarloux and Wellend came from or why Brandon added them, but the impact sticks with me. I wrote an entire book with this scene as inspiration but I didn't do it justice. In mine, the protagonist kills somewhat by accident. Vin did it deliberately. I almost want to try to write another with that approach but for me its like sticking 2 magnets together (same poles). I'm just too repulsed by it. So, while I thank Brandon for writing something that moved me so greatly, I hate what happened. Vin was truly a GOOD character and never did I suspect she'd do anything remotely like what she did.
Vin, you betrayed me, your reader, and it makes me sad.

I, unlike a lot of readers here, enjoyed this one more than the first, slightly. Yes, Kelsier's gone, but the crew has enough charisma to keep reader's attention. Another review suggested this novel to be a "YA Novel", which to some extent I agree. As a "new" writer, Sanderson has yet reached the levels of Jordan, but his plots and twists overshadow the shortcomings. The storyline continues to be intriguing and well thought out. I think the twist in this book is on a greater scale than the first book. With some books, you can see where it will be going but with this one, it's quite unexpected. The political warfare is entertaining to me, but it could use more stategic warfare action. I also liked the mystery and suspense levels of this book. It keeps the reader wondering and thinking. When a book makes me sweat like this one and gasping at times, then I realize how entrenched it makes one feel. The ending is some what a cliff hanger, and that's the only gripe I have with this book. I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding this book, but overall it is a great great read and I truly recommend it. Otherwise, I cant wait for the finale, but at the same time, I dont want it to end. Sanderson created something great and I expect and hope that his future series will be longer and more powerful.

I read this entire book in 36 hours! I thouroughly enjoyed Mistborn#1. This book is an even better read. I highly recommend this book with all due haste. This book was as solid as a single story book as any I have read. He has mastered telling a story Plot in one book, even though the series may be headed for multiple books. The plots in the past two books have started with a goal/problem, and by the end of the book they get resolved/fixed etc.

I think it is a shame that emerging authors have a weak way of connecting with the mass market. I will honestly say that I would have maybe never read any of his books, if it were not for Harriet "tapping" him as the author to finish the Wheel of Time's final book. I wanted to read Brandon's book to get a "measuring stick" of his writing style. He is unequivocally capable of holding his own with the "big boys" of Epic Fantasy. Look out Martin, Goodkind, Weis&Hickman, you have a young buc on the scene that will BE a force in this genre.

On his webpage is an Ebook that is in beta... Yea tech-term-style beta. You can read the story now even though it has not been officially published. I think it is on edit 4 or 5 OF 12 with TOR.

Sanderson you have a life time reader.

After reading Elantris, it was easy to see that Sanderson is an author to be reckoned with. Mistborn only further supported that notion. After reading these books, by girlfriend told me that I absolutely had to read them and they were some of her favorites to date. Now usually when something is really hyped up to me, it tends to fall short after I experience it. This was not so with this trilogy. The world that is created in Mistborn is given the kind of attention and thought that Tolkien gave his world (not quite as deep and detailed, but on its way). I felt such an attachment to Vin and Kelsier, it was hard to imagine that there were only three books in this series. I felt like just as much happened in these three books than a few 10 book series that are out there, an without missing any of the rich detail that has become a staple of the fantasy genre.
Elements such as the presence that Kelsier has throughout all three books is what keeps me in awe even after I have finished reading. These characters do not even exist, yet I feel like I would jump right into the crew and lay down my life for all those involved. Spectacular stories, and each as good as the next. As a reader you will never begin to expect the directions that Sanderson takes you. What a journey! A must read.

I enjoyed this book much more than the first one. The attacking armies pose an interesting problem for Elend and gang, though they spend a large amount of time talking about what to do, and not actually doing anything. Zane and Vin were entertaining and there were plenty of twists and turns in this novel. The last two parts were especially good. Unfortunately I think the fight scenes are a bit drawn out and the plot doesn't progress fast enough for my liking. There is plenty of complaining and people feeling sorry for themselves as well. Even with those drawbacks this novel is well worth your time. I wanted to know about the Well of Ascension and the thumping and the armies and Zane and so many other things! I can't wait for the next novel. There is much to love in this series.

What's left to tell after the villain is defeated, and the prince and the heroine are reunited? Plenty, as it turns out. This book has a very different tone from the first volume, which should come as no surprise. It is the second act of a three-act story, so it is naturally a bit darker than the caper at the heart of the first book.

If you go into the book with that expectation in mind, I think you will enjoy it. But if you go in looking for more of the same as in the first volume, you may be disappointed,as several reviewers were. I enjoyed the ride, and I'll climb aboard for the third act of this fascinating fantasy trilogy.

Just when you think you've got it figured out, Brandon pushes one more curtain and reveals a twist or a secret that has been percolating since the first book. His world-building is awesome because of this same reason, because he'll probably keep digging into the same mythology of half-truths he built on the first book. That's why his books seem so organic. Most writers seem to juggle a lot of things and it's harder for them to keep up the tension in sequels to successful books. Not this man, he had it all figured out.
As a fellow author, I'm impressed. Even though this one isn't as good as the first book, in many respects (mainly because the first one reads as a great caper and has more tension), this one didn't have any less of an emotional punch.
I'm anxious to see how he caps it off with the third book, and I've already bought "The Alloy of Law" because I'm addicted by now.

I enjoyed the first mistborn book, and so I thought I'd pick up this one. I was satisfied with the story in general, but not as much as the first book.

Pros: Once again, the excellent magic system of allomancy is amazing, and feruchemy is explained and used in more detail. It also sets us up to find out more about the mysterious third system, hemalurgy, that Brandon mentions will be introduced in the third book.
-Much better characterization of the side characters. You get to learn more about ham and breeze, as well as finally begin to see more about Elend (though he's really not a side character).
-The "New Element." Like mistborn, this story has enough original material in it to not be boring, and not remind me of every other fantasy/sci-fi book I've ever read.
-Good character growth. The characters seem to learn from their mistakes, and have very real relationships with each other.
-It leaves a perfect set up for the third book to be absolutely spectacular.

Cons:
The Main Plot (the impending war) tends to sometimes get overpowered by Vin's concerns about the deepness and the mist spirit, which I would guess will be critical to the third book.
-The plot is not as engaging as the first, though still very fulfilling and still a very interesting read.
-There isn't as much resolution as the first book, and it actually starts a major plot thread in the last chapter. I think it's worth it, though. It's INTENSE.

So, in summary, this book is an excellent read for anyone who liked the first book, and I would recommend this series as a whole to anyone who likes fantasy.

I, unlike a lot of readers here, enjoyed this one more than the first, slightly. Yes, Kelsier's gone, but the crew has enough charisma to keep reader's attention. Another review suggested this novel to be a "YA Novel", which to some extent I agree. As a "new" writer, Sanderson has yet reached the levels of Jordan, but his plots and twists overshadow the shortcomings. The storyline continues to be intriguing and well thought out. I think the twist in this book is on a greater scale than the first book. With some books, you can see where it will be going but with this one, it's quite unexpected. The political warfare is entertaining to me, but it could use more stategic warfare action. I also liked the mystery and suspense levels of this book. It keeps the reader wondering and thinking. When a book makes me sweat like this one and gasping at times, then I realize how entrenched it makes one feel. The ending is some what a cliff hanger, and that's the only gripe I have with this book. I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding this book, but overall it is a great great read and I truly recommend it. Otherwise, I cant wait for the finale, but at the same time, I dont want it to end. Sanderson created something great and I expect and hope that his future series will be longer and more powerful.

I read this entire book in 36 hours! I thouroughly enjoyed Mistborn#1. This book is an even better read. I highly recommend this book with all due haste. This book was as solid as a single story book as any I have read. He has mastered telling a story Plot in one book, even though the series may be headed for multiple books. The plots in the past two books have started with a goal/problem, and by the end of the book they get resolved/fixed etc.

I think it is a shame that emerging authors have a weak way of connecting with the mass market. I will honestly say that I would have maybe never read any of his books, if it were not for Harriet "tapping" him as the author to finish the Wheel of Time's final book. I wanted to read Brandon's book to get a "measuring stick" of his writing style. He is unequivocally capable of holding his own with the "big boys" of Epic Fantasy. Look out Martin, Goodkind, Weis&Hickman, you have a young buc on the scene that will BE a force in this genre.

On his webpage is an Ebook that is in beta... Yea tech-term-style beta. You can read the story now even though it has not been officially published. I think it is on edit 4 or 5 OF 12 with TOR.

Sanderson you have a life time reader.

After reading Elantris, it was easy to see that Sanderson is an author to be reckoned with. Mistborn only further supported that notion. After reading these books, by girlfriend told me that I absolutely had to read them and they were some of her favorites to date. Now usually when something is really hyped up to me, it tends to fall short after I experience it. This was not so with this trilogy. The world that is created in Mistborn is given the kind of attention and thought that Tolkien gave his world (not quite as deep and detailed, but on its way). I felt such an attachment to Vin and Kelsier, it was hard to imagine that there were only three books in this series. I felt like just as much happened in these three books than a few 10 book series that are out there, an without missing any of the rich detail that has become a staple of the fantasy genre.
Elements such as the presence that Kelsier has throughout all three books is what keeps me in awe even after I have finished reading. These characters do not even exist, yet I feel like I would jump right into the crew and lay down my life for all those involved. Spectacular stories, and each as good as the next. As a reader you will never begin to expect the directions that Sanderson takes you. What a journey! A must read.

I enjoyed this book much more than the first one. The attacking armies pose an interesting problem for Elend and gang, though they spend a large amount of time talking about what to do, and not actually doing anything. Zane and Vin were entertaining and there were plenty of twists and turns in this novel. The last two parts were especially good. Unfortunately I think the fight scenes are a bit drawn out and the plot doesn't progress fast enough for my liking. There is plenty of complaining and people feeling sorry for themselves as well. Even with those drawbacks this novel is well worth your time. I wanted to know about the Well of Ascension and the thumping and the armies and Zane and so many other things! I can't wait for the next novel. There is much to love in this series.

What's left to tell after the villain is defeated, and the prince and the heroine are reunited? Plenty, as it turns out. This book has a very different tone from the first volume, which should come as no surprise. It is the second act of a three-act story, so it is naturally a bit darker than the caper at the heart of the first book.

If you go into the book with that expectation in mind, I think you will enjoy it. But if you go in looking for more of the same as in the first volume, you may be disappointed,as several reviewers were. I enjoyed the ride, and I'll climb aboard for the third act of this fascinating fantasy trilogy.

Just when you think you've got it figured out, Brandon pushes one more curtain and reveals a twist or a secret that has been percolating since the first book. His world-building is awesome because of this same reason, because he'll probably keep digging into the same mythology of half-truths he built on the first book. That's why his books seem so organic. Most writers seem to juggle a lot of things and it's harder for them to keep up the tension in sequels to successful books. Not this man, he had it all figured out.
As a fellow author, I'm impressed. Even though this one isn't as good as the first book, in many respects (mainly because the first one reads as a great caper and has more tension), this one didn't have any less of an emotional punch.
I'm anxious to see how he caps it off with the third book, and I've already bought "The Alloy of Law" because I'm addicted by now.

I enjoyed the first mistborn book, and so I thought I'd pick up this one. I was satisfied with the story in general, but not as much as the first book.

Pros: Once again, the excellent magic system of allomancy is amazing, and feruchemy is explained and used in more detail. It also sets us up to find out more about the mysterious third system, hemalurgy, that Brandon mentions will be introduced in the third book.
-Much better characterization of the side characters. You get to learn more about ham and breeze, as well as finally begin to see more about Elend (though he's really not a side character).
-The "New Element." Like mistborn, this story has enough original material in it to not be boring, and not remind me of every other fantasy/sci-fi book I've ever read.
-Good character growth. The characters seem to learn from their mistakes, and have very real relationships with each other.
-It leaves a perfect set up for the third book to be absolutely spectacular.

Cons:
The Main Plot (the impending war) tends to sometimes get overpowered by Vin's concerns about the deepness and the mist spirit, which I would guess will be critical to the third book.
-The plot is not as engaging as the first, though still very fulfilling and still a very interesting read.
-There isn't as much resolution as the first book, and it actually starts a major plot thread in the last chapter. I think it's worth it, though. It's INTENSE.

So, in summary, this book is an excellent read for anyone who liked the first book, and I would recommend this series as a whole to anyone who likes fantasy.

Another good story by Sanderson. While this book is better if you have read the first in the series it does stand alone. Very good character development. The world and universe where the story takes place is interesting with enough description you can know it without being bogged down in details.

As big of a fan as I am of Brian Sanderson and the first Mist Born book, I found well of Ascension somewhat disappointing.

Sanderson seems to loose his way a little bit with this novel. While Well of Ascension is not a bad story, it is extremely slow to develop... I found the first half or so of the book to be somewhat tedious. The main characters are faced with several internal conflicts that I found to be very frustrating and in some cases did not make much sense.

The story ends with a satisfying conclusion; however, it is very slow getting there. All in all, I would rate Well of Ascension as an "ok" fantasy novel that was not quite on par with the first book.

The second in the Mistborn series, this installment did not disappoint. Vin learns to step up and lead as she and Elend Venture try to build a new society, following the destruction of the old empire. Unfortunately, others want to rule. Soon Vin and Elend are besieged by three separate armies and need to find something to help them overcome the far greater forces against them.

(no spoilers)
I loved the first book, especially the thorough descriptions of magic fights and the pace at which interesting things happened. I also like Brandon Sanderson's writing in general.

The first 2/3rds of this book are spent just establishing the premise that is on the back of the book. Characters have the same pointless discussions over and over during this period, with a focus on feelings instead of actual events. Then it picks up and some interesting things happen, but ultimately ends with a similarly unsatisfying ending to the first book, where you don't really know what happened or why.

I can only guess that Mr Sanderson was pressed for time and had to rush this one out, as the plot that's covered is only enough for about 1/3rd of a book. I read it on a plane otherwise I would not have made it all the way through. It's a big shame, because I really loved the world he established and the mechanical magic system he created.

In This book the the scope and the setting in Mistborn is greatly expanded, we finally get to read about the kolasas, that were talked about in Mistborn, but now we get to see them fight and get a haunting picture of their description. we get to See Elend really step up and try to be King of Luthdal. Vin gets tempted by the dark side, and shows a very vicious side. Breeze one of my favorite characters from the first book has some interesting a quite humorous character developments. Sazed gets to really fight in this book, and that's pretty epic. There are a lot of deaths in this book, but if you read Mistborn you know Sanderson can write a surprise death of a beloved charter, very well.

The Twist and turns in this novel I did not see coming, many times I was surprised and wondered how characters were going to get out of situations. There's way too many shocking moments to mention.

Why I gave this book 4 stars: This book had a little bit of a hard time going, the first 150 pages were a little bit rough and in need of some of Keslier's humor from the first book. Breeze enters at about that mark giving the book some humor. The way allomancy works was just overkill for people who read the first book. The story is amazing and the last 200 pages are can't put down, The final twist is really good and leads you in to the next book perfectly, which I'm starting after I finish this book.

It took me a while to finally pick up the second novel in this amazing series because I didn't want it to end (I'm doing the same thing with the last book of the Noughts and Crosses series). I took my time with it, however, it still went pretty quickly because of the amazing writing/pace of the story.

Again my favorite character was Vin, from the last book as well, but I did enjoy the new POVS from Zane (a new character), and other members of the group. Some of the POVs were a little unneeded, like Breeze and could have been replaced with more Vin POV.

The world building kept on being brilliant and the powers that the characters have are epic. I love how Vin, a small lower class girl, is such a badass character.

I can't wait to start reading the second book because of the interesting cliffhanger at the end of this book.

I recommend this series.

I don't know how he does it, but he's done it again. He's written a story that is both captivating and deep, and despite the length it doesn't drag on. The characters are interesting enough to keep you hooked, and the background he provides for the world makes you forget that it's fiction.

Definitely an enjoyable read, and a great buy for any fan of Fantasy.

Another Page turner. I'd find myself up till the wee hours of the morning simply wanting to find a good stopping point before bed. For a slow reader, I read this book in 10 days. Now I am on sabbatical from reading the Mistborn series because it became so consuming for me. I find myself in a state of angst because WOA has left me with more questions and a sense of unresolve, making it mandatory to read Hero of Ages, but that must wait for a bit. As much as I could engulf myself in the world of Vin and Elend, I have duties to attend to in the real world. Excellent read.

The second book in the Final Empire series starts up a while after Vin defeats the Lord Ruler. Elend Venture has taken over as king of Luthadel, trying to establish a modern, more enlightened type of government, including a Congress-like Assembly made up of merchants, skaa and noblemen. Vin acts as Elend's bodyguard, protecting him from several assassination attempts by kings who have taken over other sections of the Final Empire after the Lord Ruler's demise.

But all is not good. Two armies have set up camp outside of Luthadel, Elend's father leading one and an influential politician from the West leading the other, and a siege has begun. Everyone is hoping to get their hands on The Lord Ruler's secret stash of alium; unfortunately, Elend and the remaining members of Kelsier's crew have not located it.

To make matters worse, Sazed, who has been traveling to spread his knowledge now that The Keepers no longer have to live in hiding, has heard accounts of the mist killing people. The mist also seems to be staying around longer and longer into the day. Prophesy comes back into play, and a strange mist-creature and a faraway pulsing beat begins to haunt Vin. It seems that the Lord Ruler's dying words--that he was preventing some great evil from taking over the world--might have been true after all.

Again, one main problem with this novel--the characters are again a bit clichéd, but in this book it gets slightly worse with a drawn-out "drama" between Vin and Elend where they can't seem to communicate to each other and misunderstandings take place and love is thwarted and blah blah blah. That is not a plot line I ever enjoy in books, I just find it old-hat, annoying and laaaaame. I thought it was completely distracting in this book and unnecessary and I wish Sanderson had left it out. I feel like one fault of his is his inability to make engaging love stories. I can't even put my finger on why exactly, I just don't really find myself caring about Vin getting with Elend or Sazed and his interest or Ham and his macguffin wife. Like, with Vin and Elend I can get why they would love each other, I just don't "feel" it--you know? I don't know, they're no FitzChivalry and Molly, I'll say that much.

That said, the Vin/Elend drama is an extremely minor aspect to the overall book, which is just as fast-moving and otherwise creative as the first. The plot twists, for me, were also equally surprising as they were in the first book, and the mysteries remained mysterious until the book wanted them revealed. I am unbelievably excited for the third book. Like the first, this book has a quasi-satisfying ending , but the overarching story line is still up in the air. Cannot wait for October!

I really enjoyed the first book, and loved the characters, but found that this volume fell victim to the classic mid-trilogy problem of pacing. The plot plodded along (and sometimes stalled) for chapters at a time with not much new information, and the legislative maneuvering was less interesting to me than the heist plot of the previous book. Also, as in the last book, it rushed to a conclusion in the last few pages, leaving me wishing the book had spent more time focused on those revelations, rather than just setting up questions for the next book. Still, I enjoyed the characters, and there were moments of good emotional impact.

I agree with the reviewers who said this was a slower moving story. But, I still found it intense. Much of the conflict occurs WITHIN the characters, not BETWEEN them.

I found it very believable to discover the harsh reality following the great victory of Book 1. Kelsier DID leave a mess for the others of his crew to mop up. And, of course it wouldn't be easy.

I really enjoyed how the author allowed us to snoop on the characters' deepest thoughts and emotions as they struggled with who they are and what they should or should not do -- and why.

I disagree with the one review who said the villains were just silly. I thought they (as well as their actions) were believable and understandable -- even though I didn't like them.

And, just because WE knew how powerful Vin was, doesn't mean the villains really knew (or believed) it. So, their actions were not out of character. Nor was Vin really portayed as invincible. She clearly had her weaknesses, despite her obvious ability to cause some serious damage.

I'm very much looking forward to the third (and I believe final) installment.

Brandon, I won't mind if you decide to continue the Mistborn series beyond the third. Maybe you can simply create another trilogy, allowing this story to come to a complete finish, but still allowing us to enjoy the interesting world you've created.

There was nothing really "wrong" with this second book of the Mistborn Trilogy. However, I found it a difficult read for a few reasons.

The first of these was that the first book ended so perfectly that I didn't see a need for a continuation. Mistborn was one of the top ten books I've ever read and the ending was perfect in my opinion. The fact that the series continued seemed...anti-climactic.

The second reason is that without Kelsier the book just didn't have the same flare. It just didn't flow as well. I never really found myself looking forward to reading any of the characters. They were all kind of...blah.

The third reason is that Vin seemed to lose her identity. She turns from an awkwardly unique (and quite endearing) character that shows real development throughout the course of a book to an unimpressive, one-dimensional girl who defines herself wholly based on the man she "loves". The chemistry between Vin and Elend vanishes and leaves a relationship that is neither believable nor particularly interesting.

All told, the second book just didn't meet my expectations. It wasn't a bad read and it was well written but it left me thoroughly disappointed.

This book could have been half the length it was and the only thing that would've been left out was a bunch of repetitive internal monologue and some nonsensical plotting. Sanderson harps on the same points over and over, and the characters behave in ways that are neither in line with their nature or believable. Mistborn was a better book overall, and after reading through this one I'm not sure I'll continue with the third. The end of the book was the best part; the rest was a chore to get through.

In my review of Brandon Sanderson's The Final Empire, the first volume in his Mistborn trilogy, I lauded it as a novel that returned me to my roots as a reader of Fantasy. It brought back memories of first getting into the genre and reading the likes of Terry Brooks, Raymond E. Feist and R.A. Salvatore.

Furthering its success was Sanderson's ability to take the cliches of the genre, which the aforementioned authors were chock full of, and flip them on their head, pulling the rug out from under readers, so comfortable with genre tropes, just as they began to feel like they had a grip on the story. The Final Empire was a story of likeable characters, imaginative world-building and genuinely shocking twists. Unfortunately, The Well of Ascension takes most of these strengths... and tosses them out the window in favour of a hard-to-swallow love story and a drawn-out siege with the heroes caught between two armies. Luckily we still have one hell of a twist to end the novel off.

With the Lord Ruler seemingly defeated, Sanderson was set to explore territory not often touched upon in the Fantasy genre: how a world reacts when the evil lord has fallen and freedom is within grasp. Sanderson presents a world on the edge of chaos, one that has to transition from a society ground under the oppressive rules of the Lord Ruler to one that has to manage itself, to figure out how to right the wrongs set by a thousand-year-old regime, and why it might not be so easy to rule with kindness, compassion and democracy. Where The Final Empire was a successful character-driven caper novel, The Well of Ascension is a political stalemate led by a naive youngster.

The Well of Ascension is defined less by what it has, and more by what it's missing. Kelsier, the dashing lead of The Final Empire is gone, and with him goes most of the charisma and fun that defined the first novel. In his place is Elend Venture, the aforementioned naive youngster, who made a strong impression when he was first introduced in The Final Empire, but utterly fails to live up to it in The Well of Ascension. Gone is the confident, aloof individual that helps bring down a tyrant, and in his place is a nervous, self-righteous boy who has little idea how to handle his newfound power. Of course Sanderson sets up The Well of Ascension as a novel about growing into oneself, and making sacrifices for the greater good, which gives Elend (and Vin) room to grow. Still, I couldn't help but feel that the extended siege (which takes up the majority of the novel) was an excuse to halt the more interesting aspects of the story (what exactly the Lord Ruler was warning against at the end of The Final Empire; where Kelsier discovered the fabled Eleventh Metal; Marsh and his infiltration of the the Steel Inquisitors), allowing Sanderson to self-indulgently explore his philosophies on leadership and bog down the story with boring politics that just don't hold up against other novels in the genre.

The action is still there, and Sanderson continues to grow and showcase Allomancy (his magic system developed for Mistborn), which is well and good, but it often made me wish that he'd just get on with it, and really delve deep into the mythology of the world and the magic system. Every chapter that passed held promise for what was to come, but ended up being nothing but setup for the final novel. Often it seemed like Sanderson would throw in fight scenes simply to remind us of how the magic worked, as though he knew that too much politicking and unbelievable love stories was boring.

The worldbuilding that is in the novel is interesting and holds promise for the final volume. Sanderson further explores the Terris culture (and their mysterious magical ability) and the Kandra, both elements being highlights of the novel. But again, each time Sanderson fed me a little bit of information about the world, it just made me more eager to get past the politics and love stories and get to the more Fantasy-heavy elements.

Still, I'd be remiss to ignore the end of the novel, which fixes all of my complaints. The action is frenetic, the consequences of the Lord Ruler's fall finally rear their head, and Sanderson blasts open the scale of the story, spinning every misconception I had on its head. To say the novel ends with a huge twist is an understatement, leaving the heroes with a mountain to climb, when they thought they were looking only at a molehill. But is the final 150 pages enough to makeup for the first 400? I just don't think so.

The Well of Ascension suffers more from `middle book syndrome' than almost any other novel I've ever read. The pacing is glacial, but the promises made for the third book were enough to keep me going. It's clear that Sanderson knows how to tell a thoughtful story, and built empathetic characters, but where he failed with The Well of Ascension was choosing what story to tell. I couldn't help but feel that he told the story he thought needed to be told, rather than the story that should have been told.

Is Evil always evil? Or is Evil only evil depending on your viewpoint? That's one of the central themes in Brandon Sanderson's entertaining sequel to Mistborn.

Once "Well of Ascension" gets over its sluggish beginning, the book moves along like one of the earlier entries in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The pacing and characterizations are done well, there is plenty of political 'House of Games' intrigue, and some of the absolute best action sequences you'll find in the genre.

The book would have benefitted from more sizzle between Vin and Elend (who seem more like brother/sister than lovers); I understand that in this genre there shouldn't be too much sizzle, but just some sizzle would have been effective.

Recommended.

Sanderson's development and refinement of the creatures within this world and the power's therein continues to impress, yet this 2nd installment has some serious flaws.

Most of the book is truly trivial as it does little to significantly push forward the plot of "The Well of Ascension". It focused on the internal conflicts of two main characters, and dedicates itself to mostly "filler" action which allows time for certain other characters to conduct research into various secrets. I was able to skim through entire chapters without loosing the flow of the story and the gist of the plots within them.

Its only in the last 1/5th of the book that the story pics up and "focuses". I didn't need most of the previous pages to get to that point.

From this point on, spoilers.

I found the "duels" between The Heir and The Watcher, a sideshow, though admittedly well written. The spy sidestory was brilliant, though fluffed.The constant internal insecurities of the two main characters are overdone. The reader doesn't need to see such insecurities every other page for 200 pages.

I continue to think about The Well of Ascension long after I read it. That is what makes it a great book. It is a clever, provocative, and entertaining sequel. I like how Sanderson grounds it in simple ideas and emotions: love, duty, religion, trust, etc. This novel should be read carefully; the author is precise with his words and creates a riddle that is both hard to solve and satisfying once it is resolved. I can think of no other fantasy author who compels me to think about what I've read--to the extent of rereading pages--as much as Sanderson does.

As good as this novel is, it is not without its shortcomings. I still think that the Allomantic action is hard to follow with its Pushes and Pulls. I also think that the romance between Vin and Elend lacks passion. They behave more like best friends than lovers. Not only is there is a notable absence of sex, but their attraction seems to stem from respect and curiosity more than physical desire.

If you are looking for a new fantasy series that lives up to the hype, I recommend Sanderson's Mistborn novels.

I really enjoyed Brandon Sanderson's work in finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. His Mistborn series is amazing as well. His writing is richly descriptive without disrupting the flow of the story. His characters have a depth that is lacking in many fantasy stories. I highly recommend this book.

This is a continuation of the Mistborn series, and thus still very original. This one gets into a little more of the politics of the Mistborn world, but still with plenty of action, and with great originality in the fantasy world. The heroes are facing the collapse of their society and figuring how to save it. I love the author and read everything he's written.

Some people are great writers but in this case I'd say that Sanderson is a great story teller. This book wasn't fantastic, but it was a very good sequel and was probably necessary to bring the conclusion about in the third book. The first book was better and I anticipate the third being better still. This book kept my attention even though it started pretty slow. Will read the trilogy again I'm sure sometime in the future.

If you liked the first in the series, then stay away from this one because it is completely different. The author builds toward a presumed conclusion all the way through the book, and right at the end you are told it is a scam and you have to wonder how the author is going to pull anything of value out of that and so you read on, ... and, ... well, ... he doesn't. You have been scammed.

Oh, and don't fall for the same scam all over again in the 3rd book like I did.

I liked the first book in the series and was expecting the same interesting characters, action and suspense in the 2nd book. Unfortunately, this book is not even worth the time. This book is nothing more than drudgery. Not only does anything rarely happen, the few times there is action it is nothing more than graphic violence, such as people getting decapitated, arms chopped off, slashed by knives, pierced by flying metal, etc. During the lengthy periods of nothing happening, it is just people sitting around whining about how bad they feel about themselves and how hopeless their situation is. While I can understand that the author wanted to paint a bleak picture, he goes over the top in the endless reminders of everything bad and evil happening in their world. Also he seems to just throw things in for shock value that in my opinion just added pages to the book with no value to the story, such as a women getting stabbed in the breast, a woman accepting her slavery as a prostitute so she can secretly propagate her species, constant depictions of sexual abuse of women, women disrobing for men to avoid physical abuse or death, frequent reminders that a main male character has been castrated, a character has schizophenia, etc. It was as if the author had nothing to write about so he just dumped every bad thing he could think of into the book even though they had little or no effect on the story. In his attempt to "develop" the already good characters from book 1, by telling parts of the story from their perspectives, he simply ruined them. Yes, we get it already, they all hate themselves and feel inadequate. Do we need 400 pages of that? I kept reading, expecting it to get better, but wished I hadn't.

Love the book series, and love this book. I felt that the author kept the thrill and suspense going from the first book. I also felt that this book flowed better than the first book. It took me a month to get through the first one and only 2 weeks to get through this one!

I hunkered down for a lengthy read through of the Mistborn series to date and besides the most reason magazine-grade release (ALLOY OF LAW), this book was really the worst of the bunch. While the first Mistborn novel started with a good jump, the momentum clearly wore off and we're now in the fantasy series rut, far too soon.

As I've said in my other reviews, I do believe Sanderson is a better author still in development, but for right now, the Mistborn series is clear evidence of his need to develop and grow much more as an author. I'm a little shocked he was picked to helm the WHEEL OF TIME series (one of my favorite book series of all time) and I actually consider his contributions to Jordan's legacy as his best work to date. Sometime I didn't expect when I started the Mistborn books.

While I won't rush out to read another Sanderon novel any time soon, I will keep my eye on his career as it develops and consider future releases.

Do I have to give this book a star? It doesn't deserve one.

Don't worry about spoilers, nothing happens in this book - there's nothing to spoil.

Final Empire was so great. I read it through the night and then suffered the consequences of work on no sleep the next day. It was worth it - thoroughly enjoyable (though I think if Kelsier had winked one more time he would have developed some kind of eyelid spasm, it was his only conversational response for the latter half of the novel) Excessive winking aside, excellent book - then I wasted my money, time, and sanity on Well of Ascencion.

These books are the literary equivalent of letting a random buy you a drink at a bar. The first bit's great - you enjoy the drink and some small talk, but then they start whining and following you around, and you don't feel like you can get rid of them because you did enjoy that first drink.

If you like whining, then Well of Ascension is the book for you. Vin whines about whether she is good enough for whatever-his-face-I-stopped-caring, and would clearly rather be bonking his maniac half-brother in the mist. Whatever-his-face whines about whether Vin really likes him anymore, and both of them agonise over this, and their worth as people, for the first 85% of the book. (This was the point at which I deleted it from my ipad out of sheer boredom.)

Who knows, maybe in that latter 15% a story arrived to the party, late, with a few beers and oh, you know, some suspense, action, maybe a joke or two ...pretty much anything other than teenagers wondering whether they like each other but like ... are they worth liking? Because if they don't like each other maybe they're not worth liking ... UGH.

Seriously, bottom 5 books I've ever read, and I read Twilight. Don't bother.

Plot, Magic, Political intrigue, war, love, despair, triumph. What more cane you ask for? Anyone who loves fantasy as I do, MUST read this series.

Sanderon was a largely unknown author until recently when he was selected to finish Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series. That of course led me too Brandon Sanderson to investigate his skills as a writer of fantasy and the Mistborn series. I can already say, (not having read Hero of Ages even) that the the Wheel of Time is in good hands.

That being said, I can only express my excitement about the potential of future work that Sanderson will produce. Read the Mistborn series. It's GREAT!

Book 2 continues the saga of Elend and Vin - two very complex and likeable characters. Exploring their relationship with each other and with the people around them forms a framework for Sanderson to expound on various themes such as philosophy and religion (without sounding pedantic). There is plenty of action, suspense, pathos and joy as the story unfolds as Sanderson creates a world that is at the same time fantastic and believable. If you aren't already a Sanderson fan, you will be.

This book is excellent fantasy, with new ideas and well-written, a really different world.
It seems to me that much of the fantasy genre has turned to horror in the last few years and many books seem to have too many sado-masochistic overtones.
It is true, as one reviewer stated, that there is not much passion in Vin and Eland's relationship but the characters are well-drawn and very real.
I can't wait for October so I can read the last book.

This book is a slower, and larger instalment than the first book in this series. Be warned, there's a lot of politics involved as Vin and Elend try to cope with solidifying their initial success with overthrowing The Final Empire - only to find that theory and reality don't always mix well, and other emerging Warlords and Kings don't particularly want Eland on the throne and will do anything to get him out of the way if it will help them find The Lord Ruler's fabled stash of atium.

This middle book by its end sets up the stakes for the final instalment in this series, and still makes me impatiently waiting to see how it will all end with book 3. It's a recommended read though the first half is a bit slow to start.

I should have known. I finshed the first book in a weekend, ending in a marathon sitting that had me finishing it at 7AM, having read the whole night through. My girlfriend said it was like I disappeared for a couple days. I guess I was in Sandersons world.

A day later, I had some free time, so I thought: I'll just take a quick peekeroo at the sequel. And make sure not read too much: I got crap to do.

So it's about 15 hours later, and I just finished reading the 800 pages of whatever the hell mistborn 2 is called: well of ascension or something? I READ IT TOO FAST TO EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S CALLED. And I still have that crap to do.

On to the book! So there's a couple armies laying siege to our heroes' city blah blah blah you know the summary. And there IS a lot of blah blah in this book, compared to the tight plot of the previous book. A lot of time is spent in a sort of political deadlock or whatever. Not as interesting as the first book. And the relationship between the new mistborn and Vin rang false for me. But I liked Sazed's story as well as the humanizing of Breeze who was a kind of a stereotype on the previous book.

It DOES pay off with a crazy exciting finale, though. Obviously a set-up for the final third book. Which I'm deleting from my kindle. At least until I finish that crap I have to do.

Mistborn 2: The Well of Ascension is a book that I was somewhat weary of... sequels never did go to well with me, especially when the last book ended with such a powerful note. But I couldn't deny the air of mystery that went unsolved in the first book. The book started with a logical and chaotic aftermath that brought a high tension to the book. Brandon Sanderson's typical writing style where the book starts as a slow somewhat enjoyable read and builds up to an awesome ending that blows the world away. By the end of the book I lost all control and was in love, I've been recommending Sanderson for sometime now ever sense I read Elantris, but after Mistborn I call him my favorite all-time author. 5/5 stars for an awesome intense ride that builds in tension and doesn't release till the last book. What I love as well, is how he solves the main conflict of the second book, but leaves a new air of mystery for the second. That made it all the more incredible.

First of all, this book read really slow. Second, there are a lot of inconsistencies and sloppiness within the book as well. (Spoiler: A major fight scene where Vin burns duralumin, and then proceeds to burn another metal--tin, I think--without downing another vial) To be honest, I felt kind of cheated at the end too. It seemed like the whole book led up to a revelation, like a mystery novel, but unlike one, the revelation wasn't satisfying at all--in fact it wasn't much of a revelation at all. So rather than this being an exciting adventure like the first, it was just a long drag out leading to more unanswered questions.

All that said, the world Sanderson has created is spectacular, and I did like the book overall. I'd probably give it 3.5 stars but that isn't an option. I just feel like Sanderson had gold (atium?) in his hands with this book, but he kind of just sloppily put it together.

If you've already read the first, I'm not sure how you could stop reading the second--and the series will ultimately be decided by the third--crossing my fingers it ends the tale well.

Good continuation of the series. Compelling book, hard to put down. Yet there are flaws in the flow. ( Zane misleads Vin, yet she never questions his actions. Hard to believe an always suspicious thief suddenly becomes so naive. Apart from that, the rest of the story holds together (if you ignore the university professor rambling about religion/philosphy and all the frippery that really has no place in the story). Onto the last/final book

Book 2's often don't meet the expectations after a good book 1. This one does. I enjoyed it, liked the continued character development, and loved that things happened I didn't expect. Can't wait to start Book 3.

The problem with this book (and many of Sanderson's books) is that it reads like a study guide. It lectures you on the pros and cons of dictator rule instead of telling you the story of the aftermath of a slave uprising and letting you analyze the political philosophies yourself. The plot has a lot of potential and I almost wish Sanderson would go back and rewrite it. Sanderson's story telling was much better in The Way of Kings.

I actually could not finish reading the book. I got to about page 450 and decided i was reading a pile of crap. Have you ever wanted every plot point to end exactly opposite what a character was trying to achieve? I swear as soon as a chacter even tried to accomplish something you could rest assured it would fail. Stop reading here if you don't want spoilers. Seriously though 400 pages of Vin having the exact same emotional issues over and over and over and over. Elend having the same problems over and over and over, every time he found a solution to a problem. Nope! It backfires and doesnt work out, did you want him to man up and finally be king? Well every time you think he will it ends in him just meekly acecpting the complete opposite of his intention. And this is after multiple times the main characters seemed to have dealth with their problems and accepted who they were. Nope sorry guys still gonna have drama. I absolutely loved the first book, and this one had so much potential, but how much depressing crap can you read before you put it down? It just gets downright frustrating. Vin and Elend need, to put it very simply, to stop freaking whining. Unbearable whining for 400 pages. What a let down, i hear the end is amazing but once SPOILER ALERT he lost his crown to penrod, i just put the god forsaken thing down.

I devoured this book and enjoyed it a lot--until I got near the end. One of the characters has a piece of information in front of him and then for no plausible reason doesn't comprehend it. Yeah, the author tries to give us a reason, but it wasn't adequate to convince me. I felt duped at the end. Too bad, after loving the book.

I felt the main theme throughout the first book was hope. Hope that the common man would rise up, hope that the impossible could be achieved, that there was some good and greatness left in a desolate and despairing world. This book steals all that hope away. Imagine the end of SW:The Empire Strikes Back with the rebel alliance almost completely destroyed, Chewbacca and Yoda dead, Leia crippled, a new fully operational death star with no weaknesses slaughtering people, along with all the other bad things that happened in that movie. That's pretty much how I felt at the end of this book. Every bad thing that could possible happen takes place, with no hope that things will ever get better. You'll leave this book feeling depressed, unhappy, and used.

I bought the entire trilogy at once and wish I had not. This middle book is so boring. The first 500 pages or so of the book has the characters waiting around and doing nothing but being all emo, or trying to be political. However, the politics is boring and unsatisfying, and I read fantasy books because I want fantasy action and adventure, not to read about some moron king who can't even do politics. I kept reading, wondering "where is the well of ascension" ???

Compared to the Night Angel trilogy (which I also bought all at once and did not let me down), this middle book really disappoints. In the Night Angel trilogy, the middle book has a strongly evil villain reminiscent of a "empire strikes back" sort of feel, whereas this book spends 500 pages waiting around in a non-threatening, boring situation. The main character's (Vin) excessive emo and insecurity makes you just want to quit the entire book. In the Night Angel trilogy's middle book you get a good feel for the "Vi" character, who has alot of issues but doesn't like in Well of Ascension make the reader hate her for having to slog through 500 pages of emo self-disgust; in this book you have to for "Vin", and this is what makes this book in my consideration a failure.

Also the title is mis-leading and a misnomer. I don't know what the author was thinking -- he should have cut the first 500 pages into 100 pages and then added more content that actually has to do with the title.

Also, Elend also spends 500 pages in self-emo-pitying disgust, and is 10x more annoying than Vin (who is also already very annoying). Kelsier was a much better character (similar to Durzo Blint of Night Angel).

Mistborn fans, do not start this book if you don't have a chunk of time to read it through. The second of the series, Well of Ascension is very fast-paced with a lot of twists and turns, action, and new information. There are detailed fight scenes which appealed to the teenage boys I've talked to, but I admit to loosing interest in following them too carefully. With the allomancy-magic they seemed almost Matrix like, only in print. I did find myself pulled along by excellent character development, (of both new and returning characters,) and by the way the story evolves and changes. This is a large book to read in one sitting, but it is very compelling, and if you decide to wait till the action slows down a bit to take a break you will never put it down. My only real disappointment with the book is that it does not have nearly as finished an ending as the first in the series, (it's pretty much a teaser for the next book,) but the boys insist that they really, really, so very much, liked the way it ended. And, all of us agree, we are enthusiastically waiting the final volume.

I can honestly say that Brandon Sanderson has amazed me once again, he keeps on writing simply the most amazing books. One thing i can say about this book and a lot of Brandon Sanderson's books in general is that they might be long but they are always exciting. This book is no exception, he has yet again managed to capture my complete attention so that i didn't even want to put the book down. I advise this book to any fantasy lovers who have read the first book of course, and are willing to get hooked for the third and the 4th that is just a little 300-400 pg book.

I must say that I somewhat agree with the other reviews that say that the first 400 pages are much slower than the last 200: however, to say that the former is therefore a waste of space is overly harsh. The transformation that Vin and Elend undergo in the book make it worth the read; the introduction of the Terris Tindwyl makes this book great; the stunning ending makes this one of my favorite fantasy books of all time. I highly recommend the book to any fantasy lovers.

I have just finished the best series of all time, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, and though I am glad to have seen the end I find myself saddened at the same time. This series was one such that I wish could have gone on and on. I know I will greatly miss the interactions of the many characters in this series as well as the comradeship of it all. I will miss how the series managed to explain such complex issues as "why does God let bad things happen?" I can say now in good conscience and knowing full well I speak the truth, that Brandon Sanderson is the best writer I have seen. In fact, I'd say he is the best writer of our time, if not of ALL time. I recommend all who those who have any love of reading to read the Mistborn series. I guarantee you will find yourself cheering on Vin as she struggles with who she wants to be, who she must be, and who she truly is.

The action scenes are excellent (per usual with this author), but it isn't enough to overcome the oddly sexless (both figuratively and more literally) romance between the books two main characters. It never felt convincing and since major plot points relied on it being so the book felt flat. Oh well, I might dip into the third book of the series to see how things end

Brandon Sanderson has been called upon to finish Robert Jordan's master work for a reason, his world-building is innovative and compelling, his characters are well-fleshed and developed and his plotting is near flawless. In this, the second of the Mistborn series (write faster!), the question of what happens when the dark-lord is vanquished is answered as the heroes of the first find themselves struggling to maintain control over the events they created. And maybe they did not know as much as they thought...

Since this review is very early in the sequence of what will undoubtedly prove many favorably ones to come (or see hardcover edition), I'll avoid the spoilers, and again simply call on Mr. Sanderson to get us the next in the series as fast as possible -- my only caveat is that I want Memories of Light (the last WoT) book too.

I recommend this series without reservation, and suggest likeminded readers treat themselves to Sanderson's Elantris as well.

The second book of this series was really fun to read. I enjoyed it more than the first. But there was too much bloodletting and killing for me. It wasn't necessary to that extent.
Anyway, a good read with lots of twists and turns.

I must say that I somewhat agree with the other reviews that say that the first 400 pages are much slower than the last 200: however, to say that the former is therefore a waste of space is overly harsh. The transformation that Vin and Elend undergo in the book make it worth the read; the introduction of the Terris Tindwyl makes this book great; the stunning ending makes this one of my favorite fantasy books of all time. I highly recommend the book to any fantasy lovers.

I have just finished the best series of all time, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, and though I am glad to have seen the end I find myself saddened at the same time. This series was one such that I wish could have gone on and on. I know I will greatly miss the interactions of the many characters in this series as well as the comradeship of it all. I will miss how the series managed to explain such complex issues as "why does God let bad things happen?" I can say now in good conscience and knowing full well I speak the truth, that Brandon Sanderson is the best writer I have seen. In fact, I'd say he is the best writer of our time, if not of ALL time. I recommend all who those who have any love of reading to read the Mistborn series. I guarantee you will find yourself cheering on Vin as she struggles with who she wants to be, who she must be, and who she truly is.

The action scenes are excellent (per usual with this author), but it isn't enough to overcome the oddly sexless (both figuratively and more literally) romance between the books two main characters. It never felt convincing and since major plot points relied on it being so the book felt flat. Oh well, I might dip into the third book of the series to see how things end

Brandon Sanderson has been called upon to finish Robert Jordan's master work for a reason, his world-building is innovative and compelling, his characters are well-fleshed and developed and his plotting is near flawless. In this, the second of the Mistborn series (write faster!), the question of what happens when the dark-lord is vanquished is answered as the heroes of the first find themselves struggling to maintain control over the events they created. And maybe they did not know as much as they thought...

Since this review is very early in the sequence of what will undoubtedly prove many favorably ones to come (or see hardcover edition), I'll avoid the spoilers, and again simply call on Mr. Sanderson to get us the next in the series as fast as possible -- my only caveat is that I want Memories of Light (the last WoT) book too.

I recommend this series without reservation, and suggest likeminded readers treat themselves to Sanderson's Elantris as well.

The second book of this series was really fun to read. I enjoyed it more than the first. But there was too much bloodletting and killing for me. It wasn't necessary to that extent.
Anyway, a good read with lots of twists and turns.

Elend: There is an army outside Luthadel. It happens to be led by my father. I'm king now, maybe I should do something about this.

Dockson: Indeed- wait, what? We made you king? Aren't you, like, 15 years old?

Elend: Ah, shucks, that isn't very nice. I'm 21.

Dockson: Well, you are a good guy so I'll let it pass. This will be mentioned repeatedly throughout the book. Honestly, you are so good.

Vin: (Glances around the room, making sure everything is safe) Hey guys.

Elend: Holy crap you are so paranoid! I love you though. I worship the ground you walk on. Let's make a bunch of mist babies. Have I mentioned how adorably paranoid you are?

Readers: Actually, considering her upbringing and the fact that you are now king, she doesn't seem paranoid. She is just being smart.

Elend: No, no, trust me guys. She is soooo paranoid.

Readers: But, don't you mention how assassins try to kill you every month? And that she is essentially the only one protecting you?

Elend: Guys, seriously. She is paranoid.

Readers: Sigh, Ok...

Vin: You know how I seemed conflicted about my role and who I was in the last book? Well, that was unresolved and we are now going to drag it out for 400 pages.

Zane: Hey, what's up? I'm another Mistborn and I'm the bad boy. I wear all black. By the way, Elend wears all white. There is no symbolism in that AT ALL.

Vin: Woah, who are you?

Zane: Oh, I work for Elend's dad...you know, the one who is currently commanding an army that is besieging the city?

Vin: Considering my predilection for not trusting anybody, it would be consistent with my character to treat you as a hostile enemy. But, I'm just so intrigued! Another Mistborn!

Zane: Elend is using you Vin. You are nothing but a tool to him.

Vin: If that were true, wouldn't Elend just command me to go slaughter his father's army by myself? I mean, I'm so powerful now all I have to do is blink and people's heads explode.

Zane: Nope, he is using you.

Vin: Actually, I'm the one who insists on being his personal body guard and roaming the mists at night. He never once asks me to do that and in fact hints that he would prefer I stay safe inside the castle.

Zane: Read my lips. TOOL.

Vin: You have convinced me! It's not like you have an ulterior motive for causing me to doubt Elend.

Zane: Not at all. While I'm here, I could easily kill all the team members with a single coin while they slept. In fact I could kill your entire army very easily simply by being quiet and not continually letting you know I'm here. But I won't.

Vin: Because you are honorable?

Zane: Um, no. Just because.

Sazed: Hey guys I'm back! Guess what? The mists are eating people now. We should maybe do something about that.

(The characters proceed to pretty much ignore him).

Vin: Crap, it looks like someone has killed one of the team members and replaced him with a Kandra! You know, like Renoux in the last book.

Elend: Wow, this is serious. BUT Kandra can't use Allomancy. Seeing as how the entire group can use Allomancy except for Dockson, and Vin can pierce copperclouds, you should go and test them right away. Like now.

Vin: Eh, how about I wait for 200 pages and you continue to tell them all your secret plans?

Elend: Sounds good!

Vin: Ugh, I'm so conflicted! I wish I could be the girl Elend deserves, wearing pretty dresses and being supportive all the time. This line of thought is not supported by anything Elend does and actually conflicts with the whole "You are a tool to him" theory, but oh well. I love the mists! But I'm so angsty about my relationship with Elend! Ah, the mists! But angst! Hmmm, mist, angst, mist, angst, mist.....mangst?

Readers: This is incredibly boring.

Elend: Alrighty, I'm going to meet my father. Alone.

Breeze: That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

Elend: Hey, don't be a meanie! You see, that is the point! He will think me stupid for meeting him without protection!

Breeze:...That's because it is stupid Elend. At least take Vin. Oh, and while you are there, you could take the Kandra working for you. That way, you could kill your dad and replace him with your Kandra, therefore effectively being in control of his army. He could just order the enemy army to attack the second army now at your gates. Problem solved.

Elend: Um, no.

Breeze: Ok, why not?

Elend: Cuz I'm a good guy?

Breeze: No, you are confusing "good" with "insanely inept at being a king". God I wish Kelsier was here.

Cett: So I'm in charge of the other army. Mind if I cause the government to depose Elend and then set me up as king?

Readers: Wait, how did you get in the city?

Elend: We don't ask those kinds of questions.

Readers: But he is a cripple! He can't walk! If he was able to get into the city, then why didn't he just send a couple of his troops in each night and hide out until the entire army is in the city, thereby taking everybody by surprise??

Sanderson: (covering ears) La la la la la, I can't hear you! Stop asking questions, the characters don't ask these questions!

Readers: Ugh, who cares anyways, I'm just glad Elend is no longer allowed to act like an idiot while in power.

Elend: But wait! I'm a good, honorable guy!

Readers: So we have heard.

Cett: How about while you guys are deciding, I bring my troops in here? That ok?

Elend: Ya, sure, what could possibly go wrong?

Readers: (Loud groaning) So, it's now been 400 pages, nothing has happened and we have yet to even address the title of this book.

Vin: Well allow me to up the drama! I think.....THE MIST IS ACTUALLY THE DEEPNESS.

Readers: We already figured that.

Vin: Oh ya, well what about.....I THINK I AM THE NEW HERO OF LEGENDS.

Readers: That was clear from Book 1.

Vin: Fine! Then I think I need to.....GO TO THE WELL OF ASCENSION.

Readers: Thank the Lord baby Jesus, finally!

And the book proceeds as it should from there. The ending (and the really cool and developed magic system) is the only reason this book gets 3 stars.

Definitely enjoyed this book. No surprise really. It is every bit as good as the first, although I still miss some of the characters from the first. Brandon Sanderson definitely has a talent for writing.

This book starts out slow, but towards the middle and end, it will be really tough to put down. A few of the scenes in this book will be stored into your brain under the awesomeness category for sure.

The Mistborn trilogy is perhaps the best tale I have ever heard or read. The plot goes smoothly, and connects amazingly throughout the whole trilogy. The characters each become a personal friend or enemy to the reader, and the details make the reader feel like they are actually there, in the book. The story has many astonishing (yet logical) twists. Each book left me ecstatic, and the last book left me sobbing tears of happiness and sorrow. (Yes, SOBBING. I am an emotional person, but still... for a book to invoke those feelings... WOW.) I recommend this book to any true reader; there is action, politics (not much, though), romance, and everything that makes a wonderful book. Easy 5 out of 5.

This story really pulls you in, I don't remember the last time I was so into a book. I read this one in just a few days. If there's on criticism that I can level against it, I would have to say that the conclusion of the trilogy was disappointing. Don't let that stop you though, the first two and most of the third are really great.

Having loved Mistborn: The Final Empire last year, I was really eager to read its sequel, The Well of Ascension. The ending promised a lot of things to come, which made me curious as to what would occur next.

Unfortunately, The Well of Ascension didn't do it for me. Not at all, truth to tell. Indeed, for some reason it failed on basically every level to interest me. If this had been a book by anyone but Brandon Sanderson, I would have quit long before the end.

I really like Brandon. He's one of the nicest guys around in the genre, a class act and always accessible. I enjoyed both Elantris and Mistborn: The Final Empire, and I was truly looking forward to reading The Well of Ascension. In a way, I feel a bit bad about having to write such a negative review concerning the work of an author I respect. And yet, I have to be honest if I'm to maintain any semblance of integrity. Having said that, I'm glad there are some very positive reviews out there, which demonstrates that many people found it to their liking. I wish I could claim the same. . .

On the upside, once again I found the magical system to be the most fascinating aspect of this novel. We learn a bit more about it, and it's evident that Sanderson created something special. The action scenes are as cool as in the first volume, though they don't have the same sort of impact the second time around. The worldbuilding is interesting, yet I would have loved to learn more about the Deepness and the Well of Ascension. Still, I'm intrigued enough to pick up the third volume of this series.

In retrospect, I feel that there simply wasn't enough material to warrant a novel-length project. Yes, I'm well aware that this book weighs in at 589 pages, yet "filler" is predominant throughout. If you strip The Well of Ascension down to the bare essential, I feel that we'd be left with less than 100 pages. For the most part, by the halfway point of the novel, I was just going through the motions, plowing on without veritable interest, yet hoping that something would turn this one around and get me into it.

The Well of Ascension, with its banter and "funny" dialogues, shows once more that Brandon Sanderson is David Eddings' heir in terms of style, although he's more action-oriented than Eddings ever was. Which means that those who used to love David Eddings should enjoy Sanderson's work. On the downside, those people who couldn't stand Eddings will, in all likelihood, find Sanderson off-putting for the same reasons.

Unlike its predecessor, the characterization in The Well of Ascension is the facet which I found left the most to be desired. I believe the tale missed Kelsier a lot more than I ever thought possible. Vin and Elend's relationship makes for the better part of the story's backdrop, and I found it quite on the lame side. I was hoping for either or both to be killed by page 50, but alas this is no GRRM book. . . Without Kelsier, the rest of his crew lost all their erstwhile appeal.

The narrative doesn't flow well, mainly because Sanderson interrupts the flow of the story with constant thoughts and feelings from every single POV character. There is a lot of "inner" dialogue going on in their heads, often reflecting on what the narrative has just explained. This results in a somewhat sluggish pace, forcing us to go through a lot of emo crap which serves little purpose in the overall scheme of things. . .

The politicking -- the whole "let's make Ellend the bookworm a king" -- was clumsy and unrealistic. And since intrigue and politics are at the heart of the tale, I felt that this one read like a YA novel.

The ending is good enough to make me want to read the final volume of the series. But The Well of Ascension was a letdown, making this book my biggest disappointment of the year thus far.

I loved - loved! - the first book in this trilogy - The Final Empire. I wanted to like this one so much. But it really was a let down. It was tedious and slow. Looking back, I can hardly remember the story - I just remember thinking, very often, "Ugh! Why isn't anything happening??!". Sad face!