Review : The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

Posted by Kay on September 25, 2012 8:04 am in 5 stars reads | 3 comments

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Pages : 796
Genre : Fantasy
Series : Mistborn, book 2
My Rating : 5/5

My thoughts :

Reading the second book in the Mistborn series was long overdue; I had read the first one over two years ago, and even though I absolutely loved it, I kept pushing the moment I would read The Well of Ascension. I finally did, and oh my, it was purely AWESOME!

I used to read a lot of fantasy as a teenager/young adult, but I honestly can’t recall a series that succeeded on so many different aspects. The action scenes are right out of a movie. The characters, though numerous, are complex. And the story, oh, the story! A gripping, intricate plot that surprised me from one chapter to the next! You would think that a 796 pages long novel would feel at least a little long, but no : it went way too fast and as soon as I finished it, I wanted to read the next one. (I managed to wait a little, surprisingly enough!)

The worldbuilding is incredibly original and the magic system so well thought-out that it makes it difficult to guess what is coming next. But one thing Sanderson also excels at, in my opinion, is character development. That’s something I’ll probably mention again on my review of the final novel since it is even more obvious then, but I have to give him credit for building characters that are multidimensional, filled with strengths and flaws, and change as the story goes without acting out of character.

The following part of the review might be slightly spoilerish; you’ve been warned!

While Vin certainly has changed since the first book, her development wasn’t as obvious, for me, as Elend’s. Vin is still struggling with who she is and fighting old demons here, and while Elend is also having a hard time becoming the king he wants to be, I felt he was closer to knowing how to get there (well, he also had a little help!)

I loved OreSeur – or at least I loved him by the end of the book. His relationship with Vin certainly is a complicated one. It evolves in unexpected ways through the story and offers some of the best dialogues in the book, with nice touches of humor, too!

Zane was such an interesting character. He was just so messed up. I didn’t know what to expect from him; he was a “villain”, but at the same time he was a victim of circumstances. I don’t think he had a chance of coming back from his crazyness, and I both pitied him for how he had been treated by his father, and hated him for trying to bring Vin down with him.

There are more than a few twists in this novel. Some are completely unpredictable, being tied with elements of the worldbuilding we aren’t aware of. Others are more predictable, but still surprised me. Sadly though, I did had a very bad feeling of who the traitor would be, and it absolutely broke my heart.

End of the spoilery bits; read safely from now on!

In the end, I think it is quite obvious that I absolutely LOVED this book. Yes, LOVED in all-caps! It is not only one of the best books I have read this year, but one of the best books I have ever read, period. Good thing we already have all of the Sanderson books on our shelves!

Series reading order :

1. Mistborn : The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. The Hero of Ages
4. The Alloy of Law (set in the same world, but not part of the trilogy)