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A review by kthedestroyer
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This review will just be me rambling about feelings towards this book which means that there is some MAJOR SPOILERS ahead (I warned you).
It’s usually easier to write a review for a book you hate than for the books that you like but somehow I feel like I have so much to say about The Well of Ascension. It was a great journey from start to finish and so many things happened that I almost can’t believe that all the stuff with Elend trying to be a king, TenSoon’s reveal and the battle for Luthadel happened in the span of one book.
I was terrified of reading this book – afraid I wasn’t going to like it now that Kell, noble balls and the heist are gone – but boy was I wrong. Even though the story was focused more on politics, I was never bored with it. I loved exploring the abilities of kandra and all the new characters were interesting. Seeing the core crew still together was amazing and Sanderson did a great job with struggles in Vin and Elend’s relationship.
It was a great idea that the whole story mostly centers around a woman since she is surrounded by men.
Now the real reasons why I loved this book so much:
(the real SPOILERS begin now… go away if you haven’t read the book)
1. It makes you miss the first book but makes up for it
Kelsier’s death hit harder for me now than when it actually happened. Constant references to him just make his loss more heart breaking. The crew misses him a lot (especially Vin) and it just warms my heart (and makes me feeeel…).
I figured that a big part of me liked The Final Empire, because it had all the scenes with Vin learning to be noble and going to balls. That’s obviously gone, but now we have Elend learning how to be a king which is just as good.
2. OreSeur (TenSoon) and Vin
Seeing Vin warming up to a kandra was absolutely amazing. Their conversations were just so wholesome and that made the revelation that it was TenSoon all along all the more heartbreaking (it also made me realize that I love the betrayal trope in fiction) and him helping her to defeat Zane was unexpected but it just made me feel like a proud mother.
3. Zane
I don’t think that comments are necessary to explain that but I’ll do it anyway.
No, Zane is not a good person, but he is a great character and the book needed him very much. I’m not sure if Sanderson could give us a better person than him to mix some shit up. I was genuinely shocked to figure out that he was Elend’s brother and I loved to hate him throughout the book.
And his name suits him very much… why?
Because the name Zane is like German. If you say it normally it sounds fine, but change the tone just a little bit and it becomes extremely annoying or it just sounds angry.
4. Stakes
The fact that they were constantly losing and their situation was getting more and more desperate just made this book better. I usually don’t like stories too dark and this aspect of the book is just that but Sanderson makes sure that we get enough of our favorite characters to never feel too anxious or depressed. The stakes are high all the time but sometimes the casual conversations of the characters make you forget that for a chapter or two.
5. The final battle
It was great. Why? Because people died. And it hurt.
I wanted to know Dox a bit better, I felt like so much more could be done with Clubs but no. Sanderson throws that away and kills them off. I feel like their death will hit harder in the next book (as it happened with Kell) but it still hurts.
Yet, there is one of the characters whose death actually brought me to tears… Tindwyl. She was amazing for the whole book and her relationship with Sazed was just starting to get interesting. But she is gone. And seeing Sazed so broken… it broke me too. We didn’t need to see her death. Sazed finding her body and losing his faith was too much already.
And we also have Breeze. I wasn’t a fond of him in the first book, but that guy just somehow made his way into my heart. I didn’t see him as a coward when he hid… I only felt pity and I really hope that he gets himself back together.
I’s also like to say that I missed Marsh for the majority of the book. Then he came and… well, let’s just forget what I said. We’re okay without Marsh.
One of very few things that bothered me was the “miscommunication” with Vin and Elend. If they had one conversation it would be fine but nope… they had to doubt each other.
Another was that ending. On one hand, it felt a bit cheap that Elend just became Mistborn, but on the other, I’d kill Sanderson if he left him to die there (I know the 3rd book will break me but I need him to live a bit longer).
Also… What happened to Allrianne? We never got to see that.
Though I can overlook these flaws because I very much enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to reading the next one.
Graphic: Death and Gore