REVIEW + DISCUSSION: the well of ascension; brandon sanderson

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Series: Mistborn #2
Published by Macmillan, Tor Books on April 1st 2010
Genres: Epic, Fantasy, Fantasy & Magic, Fiction, High fantasy
Pages: 592
Format: Paperback
Source: Gifted
Amazon||The Book Depository
Goodreads

The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler - the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years - has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves. As Kelsier's protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.Stopping assassins may keep Vin's Mistborn skills sharp, but it's the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn't run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier's crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won't get easier with three armies - one of them composed of ferocious giants - now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler's hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal. As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

i had fairly high expectations of this book, considering the mistborn was so good. so it means a lot when i say, it surpassed my expectations. i don’t even know where to begin.

brandon sanderson has a remarkable way of structuring the storyline. there are so many layers to the story. the plot continuously surprised me; the twists and turns left me gawking, but thinking back, there were many clues and hints that i never caught on. just when things start getting calm, he slaps you across the face with another twist; just when you start suspecting someone, he proves everything wrong and your mind explodes. reading his writing is truly an adventure.

the only so-called problem i found was that it was still long – even longer than mistborn. i said this in the other review, but don’t let the size scare you. if you were able to finish the first book, you’ll be able to finish this one. it took me over two weeks to finish mistborn, but nearly half that time to complete the well of ascension (and twoa is a hundred pages longer!). i was really really really engaged; after about 10% in, i was hooked. it’s just picking it up that’s the hardest part.

“ash fell from the sky.”

this book was much more engaging and emotional than the first. i connected with the characters more, and the world was more familiar. you’ll see things from different pov’s, instead of mainly vin. there will also be a few new characters! a new problem arises and you begin to question everything. overall, this was super action packed and i was captured by everything – the plot, the relationships, the characters, feelingsssss.

“a man was not defined by his flaws, but by how he overcame them.”

– zane, pg. 212

in a nutshell:

[rating-report]

---

if you haven’t read mistborn or the well of ascension, PLEASE LEAVE. i will be discussing the details and it will contain many SPOILERS. i really don’t want to spoil you because i believe this book is really worth reading!

---

first chapter of the book, we’re introduced to the character of zane. at the time, he was anonymous but we later learn his true origins.. and the shock settles. he is elend’s brother?! after seeing from his pov, he kinnndaaaa became my new favorite character – next to vin and sazed, of course. zane was a complex character and reminded me a bit like the darkling (from the grisha trilogy); you know how much i like antagonists.. zane was no different. i had hoped he would team with vin and destroy straff; he would get better and the insanity would go away; zane would come to learn about trust and friendship, much like vin throughout the first book. buuuuttt i’m never good at theorizing, and things didn’t end well for him. when vin decided not to go with him, he became a raging lunatic and tried killing her. but, she’s vin! do not mess with vin. that entire fight scene was crazy. i was a blubbering mess and everything was just going out of control. i’m quite sad he died because i wanted to learn more about his character. he was very interesting and different from everyone else. his perspective was extremely distinct and i was hoping we could go more into that. i may have disagreed with his morals, but he was still one of my favorites in this book nonetheless. i’ll miss his spars with vin because it helped her grow as a mistborn. he did teach her a few good tricks.

i was still in denial about kelsier’s death. it didn’t happen; i refused to believe it. it wasn’t until i finished twoa that i faced the facts (but i still have hope that he’s going to come back) (okay, i haven’t recovered and i’m still in denial). all the death’s in this book left me emotionally drained. i hadn’t recovered from kelsier, and i don’t think i ever will. i’m glad breeze, sazed, elend (but apparently he’s a mistborn now??? more on that later), spook, and the others lived; clubs, dox, and tindwyl’s deaths were upsetting, but kind of expected. i mean, there was war and everyone was expected to die. it wouldn’t seem reasonable if no one in the crew perished. it wouldn’t make sense otherwise, but i’m still incredibly sad.

oreseur/tensoon’s betrayal was the most painful thing that occurred. i’d never suspected the kandra. and to think that he was playing vin the entire time? she trusted him, and treated him as an equal; this was how he repays her? i know it’s not his fault at all; and that’s what he’s been trying to say: the kandra are treated with hatred and they’re only following the contract. but still. i was really really hurt and surprised. scenes of their bonding were some of my favorite and i grew really attached to the dog. i just.. *sobs*

oh, vin, where do i begin? (that rhymed! heheh) she has transformed and evolved so much. the amount of power and goodness she contains continues to blow my mind. my two favorite fight sense from her are 1) when she invades cett’s keep with zane (even though she kind of goes crazy, she’s insane. 300 people??) and 2) when she comes to save luthandel, controls the koloss, literally slays straff, and makes elend king again. i really liked those two specifically because in the first scene you learn what she’s capable of, and in the second scene she learns to use it to help others as opposed to hurt others. i also like that she’s still a human being. she’s insecure (don’t know what for.. turning heads when you walk through the doooorr), doubtful, and afraid. i love her so so so much. she is, by far, my favorite character in this series.

elend was.. questionable in this book. i really liked his character in mistborn, but there were times i felt the change was a bit too drastic. i’ll always imagine him as a curious and immature child with good virtues; he would flirt and be mischievous. when we started off the well of ascension and elend was king, i could already sense a strong difference between the boy and the new king. i’m aware a year has past and we didn’t get to see that transition, but i found it hard to connect the two characters and often found him annoying. i could see him struggling as a new king; it was like he was drowning and trying to regain control. his evolution throughout the book, however, was very distinct and sensible. you see him going from, “um, now see, i think..” to, “no, you must..” his training with tindwyl really changed him. (she’s quite spectacular.)

my favorite scene was when vin goes to sazed for relationship advice, then elend comes right after. the parallels make me squeal! i thought it was the cutest thing and the two of them were meant to be~ it was so ironic because they were basically asking the same questions and under the impression that they: 1) didn’t deserve each other and 2) the other person was mad at them and 3) were meant to be someone else.

this book had too many plot twists to count. starting from the beginning, there would be moments of complete and utter shock. but, there was nothing like that ending. let’s just take a deep breath and OHMYGOD. the mist-ghost was actually trying to help vin? (some people think it might be kelsier. highly unlikely, but i’d like to agree just so kelsier comes back) but apparently, vin just released a power that was meant to contained and their information was a flop. everything we’re lead to believe is a lie. how are we supposed to comprehend and deal with that?! in other news, elend is a mistborn! i hope vin trains him and they can be the super badass mistborn couple that saves the world!! (um.. right?)

there is so much more i’d like to talk about: breeze and allrianne, marsh, sazed and tindwyl, the feurchemist religion, the deepness, duralumin, theories… the list goes on. but i think i’ll stop here; if i kept going, i this post would surly be over 20,000 words. the book was an emotional roller coaster. it had left me feeling completely drained and empty; i mean, i had to physically rest for half and hour after finishing it. (yes, the plot and everything was that good.) despite the crazy feelings (or because of it), i’m super excited to begin the hero of ages!

what did you think of this book? please let me know your thoughts!

xoxo,

alexandra

buy books here♥ // instagram // goodreads // bloglovin // twitter // facebook