A review by noellelovesbooks
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

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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