Mistborn: The Well of Ascension by: Brandon Sanderson

One important aspect of Brandon Sanderson’s The Final Empire is that while it is the first installment of a trilogy it’s also telling a complete story from beginning to end, leaving the reader satisfied.  The Well of Ascension was published a year after The Final Empire’s publication which continues the trilogy and shifts the focus of the story from a heist, to a story that’s more political in nature.  While the first novel was defeating the big bad Lord Ruler and saving the day, The Well of Ascension is what happens next.  The climax of The Final Empire leaves a dictatorship with a power vacuum and Sanderson uses The Well of Ascension to focus on how the world can begin to rebuild, and the grimy aspects of that long process.  Vin has become the focus of a religion among the ska as responsible for freeing them from their chains, Elend has found himself the king, and the rest of the original crew have traded thieving for politics.  Elend has written a complicated constitution as the monarchal dictatorship becomes a representative democracy and several disgruntled nobles assault the city.  Luthadel under siege is the state in which most of the novel occurs, giving The Well of Ascension a more desolate and depressing atmosphere than the initial book.  Sanderson sets from the outset to give the reader a story that isn’t the happily ever after for the characters, but only the real beginning of their troubles.

Straff Venture, Elend’s father, serves as the primary antagonist of this novel, and like The Final Empire, he remains in the distance throughout the book, while his effects are felt.  Straff has the city under siege, with a true invasion only stopped by a political rival, Lord Cett,  This is a double-edged sword, however, as once Straff appears as a villain he is found to be more underwhelming, sending underlings to do his dirty work and not really being that impressive of a villain overall.  He has a Mistborn who gets a plot with Vin throughout the novel, bringing her story to the forefront.  Zane Venture is a character who has a voice in his said, the voice revealed not to be insanity, but a Mistborn who provides a foil and mirror for Vin.  Both come from an abusive father figure, but while Vin eventually made it out of her abusive upbringing, Zane didn’t.  Sanderson uses Zane as a character who thinks he’s able to get out, but is somehow more stubborn to the possibility of help, forcing himself into some sort of learned helplessness.  He’s also a character who the reader doesn’t really get to see the thought process of as he doesn’t get his own point of view chapter outside of smaller portions of other chapters.  This means that Zane is only perceived by the reader through the reactions of others, and that is primarily Vin.  Vin’s growth throughout The Well of Ascension is a continuation of working through her own self-doubt: she’s defeated the Lord Ruler and has found mutual love with Elend, but everything about the world is telling her that it is going to come crashing down.  She’s only really brought up because she has found a support structure to surround herself with throughout the book, but that doesn’t stop the doubt from greatly effecting her actions and sense of self-worth.

Meanwhile, Elend Venture has his own demons to fight as the studious man has been put into a position where he has to lead a group of people and avoid becoming a dictator.  Elend is a man with a naïve optimism that everyone is looking for the fairness, which is obviously not happening.  He begins the book as the king of the new empire, and Sazed, a Terrisman servant responsible for memorizing several faiths, sends him an advisor to actually make him a king.  Elend is someone who also suffers from similar self-doubt to Vin and throughout The Well of Ascension he builds himself up to be a good leader before being deposed for his previous inability to act as a king.  He’s a fascinating character because of this, as the election of a new king forms a large portion of the novel, giving Elend a status as a main character.  This overcoming of self-doubt becomes a major theme throughout the book, especially as it ends with a hook for the final installment taking up the last 200 pages of the book or so.  The climax of the novel is excellent and while Vin and Elend are the primary driving forces throughout The Well of Ascension, the rest of the crew and the new characters get their own chance to shine.

Lord Renoux in The Final Empire was already established to be an imposter, but it is revealed by the end of that book that he was a kandra, a shapeshifter which eats the bones of others to take their forms.  They have contracts with humans which they must be fiercely loyal and OreSeur, is the kandra’s true name, now under contract with Vin.  Sanderson has created a fascinating shapeshifting species here as while the kandra can impersonate humans to near perfection, that’s all it is, an impersonation.  There really is something alien about the character through dry wit as OreSeur impersonates a wolfhound throughout the novel, not a human.  He becomes Vin’s constant companion and bodyguard in essence, and adds an espionage flavor to the political machinations.  Sanderson also really introduces a second magic system to go side by side with Allomancy here.  Ferruchemistry is essentially a mirror to Allomancy and while mentioned in the first book, it is put into practice here.  While there are plenty of other characters in the over 700 page novel, it is this that really should be enough to sell the book if it hasn’t as The Well of Ascension is a continuation of the series by shifting the tone and forcing the characters through different situations and down a very different path.  9/10.