Reviews with content warning for Schizophrenia/Psychosis - The Well of Ascension

Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

24 reviews

peasandpancakes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Loved this book. Perfect amount of slower and faster chapters. I cannot wait to start the last book in this trilogy to find out what happens next.

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naomi_k's review

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

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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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blythemind's review

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adventurous slow-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

4.5

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tgaddie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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clursternhop's review

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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? No

4.25

For the second book in a series, I'm impressed with how much I liked this one after finishing them all. There were moments in this book where I was so worried they wouldn't figure something out fast enough that I would read so much faster and have to slow myself down to absorb what was happening. Sazed's development was great, I love him.

fuck me the ending had me screaming. I finished the book at like 1am and had to stay up for another 2 hours just to calm myself down. Absolutely insane I didn't see the twist of the well coming AT ALL. And the best part was that it was all there! I hate books that pull shit out of nowhere but there were breadcrumbs everywhere I just didn't see them. Hot damn.

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cupofnova's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was screaming at every twist, turn, screw up, and achievement.

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slow_sloth's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

3.5

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thogek's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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insomniacsun's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Devo ammettere che ho fatto fatica a iniziare questo secondo volume dopo la drammatica conclusione del precedente

che direbbi la morte di Kelsier mi ha sviscerato mi ci è voluto il dovuto tempo per processare il lutto

Mi è piaciuta l'incorporazione della tensione dell'aspetto politico della storia, conciliata all'adrenalina del campo di battaglia: chapeau di nuovo Sanderson, non ci si annoia mai con te.
La relazione fra Vin ed Elend ci ha messo un po' a farsi spazio nel mio cuore, ma più tardi mi sono resa conto che avevo a che fare con un rapporto di codipendenza intensa: che dire, all'immagine di questi poveri ragazzi aggrappati disperatamente l'uno all'altro come unica ancora di salvezza in un mondo che sta letteralmente crollando intorno a loro mi ha decisamente conquistato di più. Detto questo, non so perchè mi aspettassi qualcosa di sano da loro due: sono personaggi di natura opposta costretti a crescere in direzione opposta. Che bel melange.
Parlando di cose malsane: Zane

Venture

. Che personaggio.

Perso per sempre ma mai dimenticato.

La sua imprevedibilità sia al lettore che ai personaggi lo ha reso un antagonista intrigante e coinvolgente.

Spero disperatamente nel suo ritorno, basandomi su delusioni personali quali la comunicazione diretta che aveva con The Ruin... signor The Ruin lo resusciti e gli faccia scatenare più caos por favor...solo per me....

KANDRA LORE KANDRA LORE KANDRA LORE e confido nel prossimo volume per saziare questa crescente fame di sapere, ma soprattutto mi aspetto più informazioni sugli inquisitori, SPECIALMENTE dopo l'ultimo capitolo con Marsh. Pover uomo.

Perde il fratello per una causa originariamente sua e ora perde la testa per la stessa causa.

Ho adorato i capitoli dal punto di vista di Breeze, ma devo dire che la carenza di Dockson si è sentita.

La sua morte ha avuto il suo dovuto impatto, ma sarebbe stata più struggente se la sua presenza nei fatti precedenti non fosse stata così effimera.

Alla fine era facilmente incorporabile qualche input in più da responsabile amministrativo di una città allo sbaraglio, o semplicemente dal più stretto amico di Kelsier

specialmente sulla nascita della Church of the Survivor

. Peccato, sarebbe stato molto interessante, soprattutto per l'importanza delle sua conversazione con Vin sulla sua permanente ostilità verso la nobiltà di Luthadel.
Sazed, Sazed, Sazed... glorioso personaggio fin dal primo libro. Dopo le tragedie degli ultimi capitoli in questo volume, voglio proprio vedere come andrà avanti dopo l'impatto delle conseguenze delle sue azioni, oltre a quelle immediate visibili già in questo volume.
Come sempre, una nota positiva sulle frasi di inizio capitolo che rendono l'esperienza di lettura molto più immersiva e coinvolgente: chiamatemi detective per le indagini fatte su quelle parole mistiche, signori.

Posso solo aggiungere che il terzo e ultimo volume è già sul comodino. Spero solo che la conclusione della trilogia sia all'altezza della storia costruita finora. Continua a deliziarmi, Sanderson. Conto su di te.

-------------------
Edit 22/05: Dopo aver riletto il primo volume mi sono sentita in dovere di abbassare il voto, particolarmente per come si sono perse le relazioni di Vin con gli altri membri del gruppo. Comprendo che la sua relazione con Elend e la definizione di principi suoi sia il fulcro di questo volume, ma non è detto che debbano essere esclusivi. Che il lutto per Kelsier abbia avuto il suo peso sulle relazioni varie, capisco, ma ridurre significativamente il rapporto di Vin con Dox, Ham e Breeze mi ha lasciato un po' perplessa, soprattutto quando i primi capitoli sono partiti così bene nel mantenere il legame fra loro.

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