Reviews

The Well of Ascension: A Mistborn Novel by Brandon Sanderson

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jessieteacups's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

erasmios's review against another edition

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3.0

In 2019 I wrote a mixed review of the first Mistborn novel The Final Empire. Overall, I liked the story and the characters but found the writing somewhat lacking, too YA for my taste. The Well of Ascension was more or less what I expected, although the setting is very different compared to the first book. The strongest element in the books is definitely the Allomantic magic system Sanderson has carefully created. There was enough tension and surprises that kept me invested in the story and left me eager to start the next novel. I found the romance between Vin and Elend was written rather weakly, really felt like the stuff of YA novels. So far I've enjoyed Mistborn. It's good, not great.

mattshad01's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

dermonik's review against another edition

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4.0

I finished the first book with the feeling that Sanderson gave most of his worldbuilding away. And for the first 100 pages or so, I still held that belief, and felt a bit disappointed. After all, the pacing was getting slower, and he even downplayed it in the preface. So I dropped it for a while.

What a fool I was! I forgot that this was the same issue I had with the The Final Empire. Sanderson likes to layer his conflicts, and tension builds over the middle. Then, each one resolves with a banger of a twist, page after page. Except, Empire felt like a standalone. Sure, the sky was still ashy and grey, but the main threat was eliminated and the people triumphed.

The Well of Ascension DOES NOT end happily. And all power to it! Each character ends off with new problems, along with the overarching mist-related issue, possibly apocalyptic. It's like a scale not playing the final note, or in other words, it's more of a part one to the final book in the trilogy. Still a fantastic plot full of intrigue and nuanced characters, but make sure you have The Hero of Ages on standby.

sydneyyylove's review against another edition

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5.0

The last chapter had me SOBBING I was so wrapped up in the emotions of it that I know I was speeding over details which probably foreshadow stuff in the next book.

Sanderson leaves so many tiny clues throughout his writing. I probably missed most of them, but the few I caught sent me spiraling and texting my friend who told me to read these books. At first I thought they were mistakes like, “why would he use this specific word here he must know it has connotations about other aspects of the text.” Well, HE KNEW what he was doing. I need to read the the third one!