The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Dec 30, 2007 Schnaucl marked it as unfinished

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the first one a lot. But it turns out that putting together a government is far less interesting and exciting than overthrowing one. It's possible the pace picked up later, but after reading well over 100 pages it just wasn't working for me. I think there's actually a point to be made that overthrowing a government is easy and exciting, creating one from the ground up is much more difficult and not nearly as exciting. Still, I genuinely like politics an ...more

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Feb 15, 2010 Mike rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: xcharity-2012, fantasy

Finished at last! I am going to give The Well of Ascension 4 stars because Vin is the best fantasy heroine you will find. That girl can kick ass. I absolutely love her-and would be on my best behavior around Vin! Without her, this book would be forgettable. This book covers the siege of Luthadel by 3 armies about a year after the Lord Ruler met Vin and was dealt with severely. But fer cryin’ out loud, almost 800 pages? Really? You get unending political hijinx and negotiations for the first 650 Finished at last! I am going to give The Well of Ascension 4 stars because Vin is the best fantasy heroine you will find. That girl can kick ass. I absolutely love her-and would be on my best behavior around Vin! Without her, this book would be forgettable. This book covers the siege of Luthadel by 3 armies about a year after the Lord Ruler met Vin and was dealt with severely. But fer cryin’ out loud, almost 800 pages? Really? You get unending political hijinx and negotiations for the first 650 pages before the action starts. A lot of repetition from the first book clogs up the start. Look, you can’t read this as a standalone so why waste time covering all that went before. And, if you are going to write this much, at least get some action in every once in awhile. When the battle begins, it is short and compact, although his battles are vivid. At the end of the book, you find out that there was something big going on elsewhere in the Final Empire during the same period. But there is no hint of this until the end. Why not have multiple story lines going on? A number of times I was just frustrated that it was taking so long to get through the setup. The last 150 pages are packed with action.

My complaints from the first book continue here. Serious word bloat yet he does write well and it is not hard to read, just long. Also, the main justification of the protagonists’ actions is “to free the skaa”, the underclass, virtually slaves, of the old empire. But I never felt sympathetic to this group, they are simply there and seldom become part of the action (except to be slaughtered in various attacks). They are just passive as compared to the “nobility” which used to exploit them and continue to be the main actors. Vin came from the skaa but she feels so much brighter when she is masquerading as a noblewoman.

There are elements of Terry Goodkind’s hero, Richard, present in Vin. She is a throwback to the power of the old “Mistborn”, so much more powerful than any contemporary one, just as Richard is a throwback to the old wizards. The misunderstandings between Vin and her kingly lover Elend reminded me of the Richard/Kahlan relationship. Also, the gang in the Mistborn series is much like Locke Lamora’s Gentlemen Bastards gang of thieves with good hearts. And, just like Scott Lynch, Mr. Sanderson is more than willing to kill off a main character or two. Don’t get too attached to some of the characters in this book, they may not last.

I am glad to be on to the next and final book of the trilogy at last. Mr Sanderson certainly has not found a way to make the 2nd book in a trilogy stand on it’s own merits. A good, not great, book. ...more

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Mar 09, 2021 Lasairfiona rated it liked it

I expected this to be like the first one - start for the plot idea but stay for the fight choreography. However, I think this one is actually better in the character department. There are fewer funny scenes but they are even more fantastic than in the first book. AND I'm really bought into the plot now - I want to know what's going to happen next rather than just reading for fun. ...more

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Jul 10, 2025 Rindis rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, fantasy

My copy of this book is enhanced by an interesting preface, where Brian Sanderson talks about the particular challenges of writing this book. Apparently, he'd been writing various books for a while, finishing them, moving on to the next book. The Final Empire had a very definite hook to a sequel. But it was also the first book that he sold, and got published. Otherwise, apparently, he would have moved on to a new project. Now, he had to write a sequel, which was a new challenge for him, even tho My copy of this book is enhanced by an interesting preface, where Brian Sanderson talks about the particular challenges of writing this book. Apparently, he'd been writing various books for a while, finishing them, moving on to the next book. The Final Empire had a very definite hook to a sequel. But it was also the first book that he sold, and got published. Otherwise, apparently, he would have moved on to a new project. Now, he had to write a sequel, which was a new challenge for him, even though writing a novel was something he was already practiced at.

As far the finished novel is concerned. It does have some problems. Sanderson does do a very good job of finding new character arcs lying underneath the big lessons learned in the first book. But, it suffers from being slow moving (not necessarily a problem), and having a clunky relationship between two main-plot worthy elements that get very unequal treatment.

Our main plot, for almost the entire book, is a political crisis. It's been a year since the Lord Ruler was killed, and the Final Empire has broken up into feuding warlords from the nobility. Our heroes have instituted a representative government in Luthadel, the former capitol, that could turn into a stable government... if not for the hostile army that has just arrived.

The city's defenses aren't that good, the available army is barely trained, there's little in the way of food stores for a siege.... And the noble part of the assembly is largely willing to bow to the current warlord on the spot, and hand over the city. They'll be relatively safe. The skaa (serf/slaves) that are just getting some taste of freedom on the other hand....

So, internal political maneuvers are a large part of the book, complicated by two other armies that show up shortly after the opening of the book. Add in the high-power magic of the mistborn and assassinations, doppelgangers, and more, and you have a good action/political thriller, and most of the book works well with this.

The end of The Final Empire promised that more would need to be said about just what happened a thousand years ago, and just what the Deepness was/is. And this forms the second main plot in this book, which lends itself to a more investigative style plot, perhaps lending itself to more Indiana Jones-style action. But it remains a vestigial side note for most of the novel.

This is a problem I've seen elsewhere, and I'm am surprised that I can't think of a book trading off between two different main plots smoothly. In all cases (most definitely including this one), the trade off is abrupt and ill-timed. (Maybe the successful books just do it smoothly enough to not notice to the change of destination.) No matter how much I was enjoying the main plot of the book, I always had this thought in the back of my mind of, "What about the other major plot? What's going on there?", and waiting impatiently for it to get its fair turn in the sun.

Of course, the switchover does happen. And there are some interesting bridges going on between both tracks towards the end. But, they come up so late that there's no chance for it to really affect the plot structure. Vin figures out important things to implode the first main plot, but no one else gets a chance to learn of this, to work out implications; so far Vin and the reader are left alone with esoteric knowledge.

On the action side, the book is largely satisfying, with appropriate action bits scattered throughout, and the early ones appropriately introducing new readers in what is going on. The end has two big action sequences, and we have a promise things that need doing for the next book. I hope they're allowed to support it more fully there. ...more

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Jan 06, 2009 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 19, 2010 Andrea rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

The crew that overthrew the final empire try desperately to save the egalitarian government set up and run by Elend Venture while three armies approach to take the city. Meanwhile, the deepness is returning and Vin feels that she is the chosen one to save the world.

This book was slow going for me, but part of that probably had to do with the fact that I was moving the whole time. I've had very little time for reading in the last month. Also, I have a hard time connecting with Vin, the main femal ...more

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Sep 29, 2008 J.M. Brister rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2008

Here are some mumblings about the book:

Great book, but my only complaint would be that Sanderson keeps killing off his best characters in book one and two of Mistborn. I stayed up late a couple of nights ago reading the book because I couldn't put it down and then he killed off my favorite character and I stopped reading until the next day. :-P

Kind of like an Empire Strikes Back ending...It's too bad that I'll have to wait for my husband to finish the third one before I can start on it. He's ha ...more

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Nov 15, 2016 JM rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Better than the first.

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Apr 07, 2008 Margot rated it really liked it

Shelves: yafantasy

Another fun installment in the Mistborn series. Why do I keep doing this to myself? "This" being: reading series that aren't completed by the author so I have to go nuts waiting for the conclusion...

I enjoyed listening to the author's podcast "Writing Excuses" in which he discussed different types of magic systems in fantasy writing. Mistborn has one of the most unique magic systems of any fantasy I've read, so it was fun to hear his take on it. ...more

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Jan 01, 2020 Jac rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Loved Elan's character growth in this one, and OreSeur and Tindwyl were great side characters. The traitor arc really kept me guessing, which was refreshing after a rather slow first half of the book, and honestly it would have still been interesting without the mystery allomancer plot. ...more

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