The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
After really enjoying The Final Empire, the first instalment in the Mistborn Trilogy, I was excited to get to The Well of Ascension to continue Vin’s story. Although The Final Empire had felt like a complete narrative, there were still many questions I had surrounding the ending and what would happen next for the characters that I had come to be invested in across the previous novel. I generally enjoyed The Well of Ascension, and I am particularly intrigued by what it sets up for The Hero of Ages, but I did feel that it was treading water in some aspects. However, I enjoyed being back with the characters and seeing how Sanderson explored the nuances of what happens in a city after the evil power ruling it has been defeated.
The Well of Ascension continues to follow Vin, a Mistborn who is able to use metal to fuel her magic, as she helps the man she loves, Elend, to rule the city of Luthadel. With multiple armies waiting outside the city, poised to take control, Elend and his advisors are trying to build a new government and way of ruling after a thousand years of dictatorship. Meanwhile, Sazed, the Terrisman who helped Vin in The Final Empire, is studying writing and prophecies from a thousand years ago, trying to figure out what the Lord Ruler was trying to stop when he took control. As tensions rise across the nation, the mists that come every night are starting to deepen, creeping into the daytime and causing panic and death wherever they fall.
I am really intrigued by the choices Sanderson is making in The Well of Ascension and continuing into The Hero of Ages as he explores the consequences and reality of defeating an evil power that has been ruling for a thousand years. The political tensions and opposition that Elend was facing as he tried to create a new system for ruling were interesting and made for a more nuanced setting for the wider mysteries that are raised by the prophecies and changing mists. However, after reading two solid second instalments in series in The Kingdom of Copper and Flamefall, it did feel as though The Well of Ascension was less of a narrative on its own and more heavily simply setting up the narrative for The Hero of Ages. While the political tensions Elend is facing are interesting, the narrative surrounding them is ultimately fairly circular and it felt rendered of less importance by the climactic ending of The Well of Ascension. Nevertheless, the ending has made me excited to continue on in The Hero of Ages, since so much has now changed.
As with The Final Empire, Vin continues to be an engaging protagonist with her conflicts as she tries to figure out what her place in the new world is. The doubts creeping into her perspective are understandable when the reader considers where she started in The Final Empire, and there was a moment where I really thought she might step into a much darker narrative than I had expected coming into this novel. I enjoyed being back with the other characters from The Final Empire too, and it was interesting to see how they themselves had changed now that they are no longer living in fear and poverty. Their changing relationships formed the real grounding core of The Well of Ascension and were the foundation for some of the emotional moments as the narrative reached its conclusion.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read, although it possibly suffered from having been read in the same period as The Kingdom of Copper and Flamefall. I still enjoyed being back with the characters and seeing how they are adjusting to their new world, and I am really looking forward to seeing how their stories continue in The Hero of Ages. I have been enjoying reading the Mistborn Trilogy so far and would definitely recommend it to those who enjoy fantasy with a balance of interesting magic and political intrigue. I hope to read The Hero of Ages before too long to complete the trilogy.
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