Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Well of Ascension

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

9 reviews

tilo's review against another edition

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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rhogosch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring mysterious medium-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

5.0

Ich glaub was mich an Sanderson noch mehr fasziniert als die Tatsache das jedes Buch das er schreibt so gut wird das der Begriff Meisterwerk abgedroschen klingt, ist die Kreativität und Unberechenbarkeit die er dabei an den Tag legt. Sanderson verändert nichts in diesem Buch, die Figuren bleiben sich treu, die Geschichte wird konsequent weiter geführt und auch das Magiesystem wird an keiner Sekunde absurd. Und doch schafft er es die Tonalität komplett zu wechseln und eine völlig neue Geschichte zu erzählen die sich genau so natürlich anfühlt wie im ersten Buch. Es wurde nie wirklich langweilig weil nicht ein einziger Teilkonflikt erwartbar aufgelöst wurde. An dieser Stelle bitte einfach meine Bewertung von Kinder des Nebels einfügen. Und gerade als ich dachte die Geschichte beginnt vorhersehbar zu werden beendet Sanderson das Buch mit einem Plottwist der sich gewaschen hat.
Um es zusammen zu fassen. Die Geschichte bleibt sich treu und jeder Fan des ersten Teils kommt auf seine Kosten und doch erleben wir hier eine völlig andere Fortführung der Geschichte als gedacht, die nicht einmal generisch wird, oder von Wiederholung geprägt ist.

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saemiligr's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

<spoiler >I am going to finish this entire series but I am SO FRUSTRATED by these characters and their actions. This whole book felt USELESS. Nobody in the kingdom was saved, people were still slaughtered, and the "hero" was just a murderer at the end. The themes of racisms are infuriating, and the poor in the moment decisions had me taking my hair out. Not to mention Vin, for all her paranoia, fell for every single fucking trick that was thrown at her. What was the point there, showing that trust was useless? She didn't trust a single person that had been there for her, and chose the weird stranger that looked like her boyfriend. Tindwyl was done absolutely dirty in the book, along with some of the other major players from book one. It wasn't that they died, it was that they had a POINTLESS death. Again, I am so frustrated. Because I love the world, the characters, and the lore., and I WILL finish this series. But I don't like Vin and I don't like the decisions.

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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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ailsaod's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Well I finally got round to reading this chonker! I was a little worried that this book was going to be a bit flat without Kelsier but while it has a very different vibe I would say this is also pretty great.

Sanderson has a halfway comedic air at times in this book which had me giggling (anyone fancy an actual among us side plot? What about ANOTHER army laying siege to the city to add to your collection? How about watching a character fall victim to their own competence? No??). Despite everything going wrong Sanderson somehow made somewhat funny and I am definitely on board for that. I think the build up was better than in 'The final empire' as the exciting parts of the book were a bit more spread out which improved the overall reading experience but made the climax a little less dramatic. That being said, the resolution of the 'among us' subplot I mentioned earlier was like a punch to the face. Like I knew from the beginning that the reveal was going to sting but not quite like that??

The reason this book isn't five stars are primarily related to Vin and Elend's relationship. It was great seeing Elend really become his own character in this book but him and Vin having breakdowns in communication or being all sappy round each other was very meh. This book features a brief love triangle (Aah!) which I won't go into any further but was very frustrating. Vin just wafts around like 'but maybe Elend is too good for me and I should be with this actual rat instead' and I was just grinding my teeth and wishing I could reach into the book and shake her. Rat man has got to be one of the least likable love interests I have ever seen - he is very 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss' in a most unsexy way and every time I thought he was done being the worst he would have a new, even less appealing surprise for me (admitedly the resolution of the love triangle was one of the standout scenes of the book so there is that at least!). Also this book has an ending that despite not being a landslide disaster tricked my brain into feeling mildly crushed in a way I can only liken to a lighter version of finishing the Farseer Trilogy. Not a feeling I wanted thanks but this may have just been me.

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fanboyriot's review

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I can't get over the details in these books. The characters are all well written, the character development is so good to read as well. While this book was a lot slower-paced I still found it interesting, learning about the world building and how the magic system works made up for it. Having said that I didn't like it as much as the first book, though like the first book, nearing the end it got really intense; so much happened at the end I don't really know how to process it. Overall I really like this series far.

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