Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Well of Ascension

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

8 reviews

jelkebooks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I literally just finished this book, so excuse me if this review is a bit rambly. However, I absolutely ADORED this book. It was just so incredibly well crafted. It didn't have a single dull moment, and I just had a blast reading it.
I really grew to love our cast of characters in the last book, and that love only grew as the book continued. The developement of our crew, and especially Vin, Sazed, and Elend, was incredibly well done as well. I just loved following them all. On top of that I also loved learning more about the world. We got to delve a bit more in its history, and making new discoveries consistantly. I already thought the world was insanely interesting in the last book, but learning so much more in this one made me love it even more. There was just so much to it.
The story of this book was also just incredible. It's very politics and war focussed, a lot strategies being put in place, and I thought that was just incredibly interesting. If that's not your thing this book might drag a little, but I absolutely adored it. There was also a bigger story in the background of it all, and I loved seeing that being put together throughout the book. There's also so many twists and turns, some I saw coming, and most absolutely broke my brain. Brandon Sanderson is just a master in crafting all these twists and reveals so you feel smart, but in reality you are the biggest dumbdumb there ever was. So yeah, in conclusion I fucking adored this book, and can't wait to continue on with the series.

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tilo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

I am unsure if I have ever experienced a book like this one, where with every new chapter a new information is dropped that almost always completely twists one of the many exciting narratives. From the first page on, I was surprised and as it kept going I could not fathom all the plottwists coming. And none of them seemed over the top nor misplaced, as the world, its history and its characters, whom I am attached to deeply now, are so well construed that it read so fluently.
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.

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kidprezident's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This review will contain spoilers! I got spoiled in a review for this book so please be careful!

I really loved this book! I really liked the way Brandon writes Vin and her insecurities - that they have nothing to do with how capable she is. I find that really relatable and honestly really commendable coming from a male author. He obviously did his research on how women think and tried to reflect that accurately (maybe even had a sensitivity reader? I think I remember him saying that in the intro). Overall, I really liked that Sanderson explored the characters outside of and in reaction to the problems around them.

I thought I wouldn’t like Sazed having a romance but whew his hand shaking when he tells Tindwyl to “stay. Please” rivals that of the Pride & Prejudice 2005 hand stretch thing that Mr. Darcy does. Even more in love with him but I’m not sure how I feel about Tindwyl. I think she was an interesting character but I don’t think she really made that much of a difference in the story. Even she says herself that Elend would have eventually found his way without her. The whole romance subplot with Sazed was cute but was not necessary to the plot. However, I could see Tindwyl’s death becoming part of Sazed’s character arc later on. I’m not fond of the “killing off the woman for man pain” trope but I think that’s where this is going.

Speaking of Sazed, I absolutely loved being able to see his perspective in this book. It made me love him even more as a character (although I do wish he would stop referring to himself as half a man or not a true man). He is definitely my favorite character in the series and I’m glad we’ve gotten to see him shine a little bit more in this one.

However, the plot moves extremely slowly in this book. I was nearly half way through before anything of any real significance happened. The first half of this book made me extremely tired of reading drawn out fight scenes. They seemed a little too drawn out and filler-ish. This was mostly Vin’s sparring with Zane that I think could have been handled better.

Brandon was getting very close to ableism with his characterization of Zane and Cett. Having a character who is unequivocally “insane” and hears voices might have needed a sensitivity reader (although there was some foreshadowing at the end of Zane’s life about him not actually having been insane). Cett is described as a “cripple” which could have just still been acceptable use at the time in 2007; I’m not too sure about when this word fell out of favor. Sanderson, as an able bodied person, may not have known not to use this word either.

By the middle of the book I was kind of getting annoyed with Vin and her questioning Elend when all he’s done is care about her. I understand her apprehension about being used as a tool but I dunno, she’s always viewed it as working for the betterment of the skaa rather than being used as a tool. Zane seemed to change that for her but I’m glad she made her way back by the end of the book.

At first, I didn’t like the idea of a “good king” that seemed to be floating around in the beginning of this book as Elend finds his footing. I assumed that the narrative was assuming that the reader was promonarchy like many other fantasies do but I appreciate that Sanderson, by the end of the book, emphasized that change, especially big political moves like the ones Elend was trying to make, can only be done slowly.

The end of the book was super cool and well written and it was the first time in this book that I actually found myself worried for the characters. The rest of the fighting in this book seemed to be, as I said before, just filler. There were no real stakes. However, during the last ⅓ the stakes are HIGH.

I really thought Sazed was going to die there for a while.

However, I found it kind of unbelievable that Vin and Elend would leave the city so easily. But we gotta move the plot on somehow and Brandon at least tried to give some explanation for it.

Overall, this book was entertaining and I loved getting to know the characters’ internal workings more. Breeze especially was fascinating. I think this book relied too much on people just sitting around and talking but when things happened, they were really intense. Second books are always difficult so I can appreciate what Sanderson did here. I’m looking forward to finishing out the original trilogy. :)

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a_libraryghost's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

I honestly enjoyed the story more without Kelsier. I found him frustrating in the first book and I much preferred getting to spend more time with Elend and Sazed in this book, as well as the rest of the crew. All of the crew members are given more characterisation as individual people rather than just parts of the group. I especially love how Spook has developed, and TenSoon is probably one of if not my favourite character.

I have mixed feelings about the pacing of the book. The siege definitely felt very slow paced and the book felt like it was taking a time to read which is something I usually don’t enjoy, but at the same time the tension was really good. I was always afraid for the characters and despite the slow pacing I never wanted to stop reading.

The one thing I absolutely did not like was Zane. I wanted someone to kill him every time he appeared he just annoyed me so much. I did like his and Straf’s storyline and the plot twist with the poison, but Zane as a character was unbearable.

The best thing though was the ending. I’d actually managed to be spoiled on a couple of things so I expected not to enjoy it as much but there were still surprises and even the things I knew were coming happened in a different way than I expected. It was exhilarating and anxiety inducing!

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jodean's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

Brandon Sanderson is excellent at writing about hope and good people. And also making those good people suffer.

<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.

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zeppelinnyx's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

3.93

This book is a really good example of how good reveals and plot twists hit when they’re delivered effectively. It doesn’t feel like anything comes out of nowhere, and the result leaves the reader feeling surprised but satisfied. Also, really fantastic characters. They all feel very deep and real. It’s a pretty gloomy book, though. Leaves off on hella sad vibes; I don’t expect that to change given the series track record. This makes me feel apprehensive about the final installment.

Quality of Writing: 9/10
Pacing: 7/10
Plot Development: 8/10
Characters: 10/10
Enjoyability: 7/10
Ease of Reading: 5/10
Ending: 9/10

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noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

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4.5

Content Warnings: Violence, blood/gore, murder, death, body horror, war themes, animal cruelty, loss of loved one, massacres, self-harm, suicidal ideations, hallucinations, abuse, slavery, rape, forced pregnancies, eugenics, ableism, and war.

I think if I would have had this book on hand, as soon as I finished Mistborn, I would have immediately dove in. When I was finally able to order, and receive, this book I think it took me a bit to pick it up because I was worried. If you’ve ever read fantasy series before…sometimes as the series continues the books continue to be brutal on your emotions. However I was determined to read this book this month, so I set out a goal and within roughly 12 days I completed it.

We pick up roughly a year after Kelsier and the Lord Ruler were murdered. The young nobleman Vin fell for, in Mistborn, is now the King of Luchador. Between King Elend, the crew, and Vin they’re desperately trying to ensure their kingdom’s future. As if running a [recently liberated] kingdom isn’t hard enough they’re also faced with multiple armies outside their gates. Armies that are eager to take them over and reinstate so many of the Lord Ruler’s laws just with a new figurehead in place.

This book was a lot of fun because I feel like, media-wise, we’re used to seeing things liberated or conquered but rarely see the after-effects or what it takes to move on. I mean think about how many things we watch and read that have a mission to overcome and then it’s over and…we’re left thinking everything continued on perfectly? Nah, the struggle is real.

We jump between roughly ten different POVs throughout the book, of course, Vin is the primary narrative we see. It’s interesting seeing how Sanderson will sometimes have a POV added that literally get’s part of a chapter and then we never see them again, or we don’t see them until the next book. Really kept me on my toes thinking…will this person be important?

The majority of this book felt slower-paced, although enemies are numerous and things are happening, it felt like we have a steady pace until about 2/3 of the way through, and then we hit warp speed. Roughly the last 200 pages had a chokehold on me and I couldn’t stop until I knew what was going to happen.

I now have so many more questions and look forward to starting the final book, in the trilogy, very soon!

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lazy_reader_nz's review

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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