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mads_reads_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Mental illness, War, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, and Drug abuse
Minor: Kidnapping, Mental illness, War, Addiction, Police brutality, Ableism, Physical abuse, Torture, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
rikuson1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
-โ โ โ โ โฎ- (4.50/5.00)
My Grading Letter Score = 90% (A)
When I finished The Well of Ascension, the first words that came out of my mouth were "simply incredible." But at first the pacing of this book at the start, I completely understand why some people would consider this weaker than The Final Empire if we are discussing overall pacing because The Well of Ascension was constantly going from slow to fast to slower to faster. For me, I'm not really someone who heavily focuses on pacing if what is being provided to me is engaging and if it's building up to something that is paid off when it's due, which this book mostly everyone agrees it does just that. So, regarding pacing consistency, sure, you can go ahead and give The Final Empire the upper hand when it comes to that. But honestly, outside of that, I most definitely feel like The Well of Ascension is tied with The Final Empire in almost every other criteria, and/or The Well of Ascension did it better.
The two categories I feel The Well of Ascension did better were characterization and character development. Every single character that was focused on in The Well of Ascension, for the most part, felt like they were given the time they needed to be fleshed out enough to be commended at least above what the characterization execution was provided to us in The Final Empire and goes for the development they went through in this book. World-building, Lore, Action, and Prose are all categories that can be debated which one did it better. I don't really care since I enjoyed all of these things in both of these books.
Verdict
At first, I was Team Final Empire, until around Chapter 47 when my favorite fight scene in the series so far occurred did I start to lean over to Team Well of Ascension, after that the pacing slowed back down and then I started to lean back over to The Final Empire and then the last fifty pages of this book leveled me out. It brought me to the conclusion of thinking that I like both of these books equally critically, to be honest. If I was held at gunpoint and forced to choose one over the other, I might say The Well of Ascension, since the hype of just finishing it is still on me and I love great characterization which this book gave me a whole lot of. But I love both of these books equally and I'm glad I did not come out of it thinking less of it in comparison to its predecessor, a successor should be as good or better than what came before it and I feel The Well of Ascension accomplished just that. So regardless of what the majority of people state or what the rating score in comparison says about this book.
I Really Liked It.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Xenophobia and War
Minor: Sexual assault, Classism, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Murder, Bullying, Confinement, Genocide, and Xenophobia
tilo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Not to mention, the amazing and captivating writing style!
Due to the ending, I am both extremely curious and mortified to find out what is waiting in Book Three.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Death, Stalking, Genocide, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, and Slavery
Moderate: Infertility, Rape, Infidelity, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexism, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, and Racism
Minor: Sexism and Ableism
jodean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
<Spoiler>I love Sazed so much and how dare you hurt him so.
I hated Zane, as a person and a character. His toll on Vin was difficult to read and went nowhere. The constant insistence on things he couldn't have known about was frustrating.
The ending left me slack jawed. I'm still in shock. It's the perfect antagonist to these characters.
Graphic: Death, Classism, Abandonment, War, Grief, Violence, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism
Minor: Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Pregnancy, Drug use, Religious bigotry, and Addiction
lakinglaze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Slavery, War, Death, Violence, Classism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship