The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

 

**This review will contain spoilers for the first book in this series, Mistborn, as well as some mild spoilers for this book. The spoilers for this book will be clearly marked.**

After reading Mistborn earlier in the month and liking it, I was intent on continuing on with the series. I went into reading The Well of Ascension excited to learn about the next step in Vin's adventure, but also with a few reservations. I was really hoping to see more female characters this time around, as the first book hardly had any. I was also hoping for an improvement in some of the characterization, especially regarding the relationship between Vin and Elend, which I found to be woefully underdeveloped. Interested to see if any of these issues would resolve, I got started. 

The plot of the novel picks up about a year after the events of Mistborn, with Elend ruling as king of Luthadel after defeating the god-like Lord Ruler. Vin is by his side as his lady, although they have not gone through with the formality of marriage yet. The pair of them are hoping to establish a new, more democratic government in the city and have already started that process by electing an assembly of representatives to rule alongside Elend and freeing the Skaa, the formerly enslaved lower class of people. All is not going smoothly, however. Sensing Elend's tenuous hold on Luthadel, three other armies have arrived outside his walls and are intent on seizing the city for themselves. There is Lord Straff Venture, a cruel and powerful nobleman that also happens to be Elend's father, Lord Cett, another nobleman with a large army and a knack for battle strategy, and perhaps more unnerving of all, a group of Koloss, a breed of blue-skinned monsters that are known for their rage and brutality on the battlefield.  

Aside from these concerns, other trouble is brewing as well. The innocuous mists that swirl around the lands at night have turned violent and are suddenly killing people, spreading terror across the populace. The ash that frequently falls from the sky is slowly but surely increasing in volume and intensity as well. As if that wasn't enough to grapple with, Vin can also sense a mysterious figure stalking her through the mist, and she has no idea what its intentions are. Frustrated with all these mystical and political dangers, Vin begins to wonder if they have done the right thing in killing the Lord Ruler after all. He may have been a tyrant, but he kept his kingdom stable and controlled. 

Their one hope is to find the Well of Ascension. This location, according to myth, holds a great source of power that could be used to set the world to rights. Vin thinks she can hear it calling to her, and is determined to step up and become the hero prophesized to unleash the power and save the world. Of course, the way there won't be easy. She still has to try and protect Elend as he struggles to become a strong king and assist in his political strategies to hold off the armies. She also has to deal with another Mistborn that appears named Zane, who has been contracted to kill her. Instead, they develop an uneasy relationship with each other as they bond over concerns that only other Mistborns would ever understand. Vin suddenly finds herself pulled in many different directions as she struggles to make difficult choices about what would be best for the Luthadel, Elend, and herself.

This novel had all of the same positive points as the first in the series. The world-building was excellent, the magic system continued to be intriguing and evolving, and the plot contained lots of action and interesting twists. In spite of all that, however, I enjoyed it significantly less than Mistborn. It wasn't to the point where I would say it was bad or that I didn't like it, I just definitely liked it less. Some of that was due to the pacing. This novel is 756 pages long, and there were times when it was very slow. There were lots of long political and philosophical discussions that felt like a slog to get through, so that wasn't fun. That wasn't my main issue though. My main problem was the same problem I had with book one - a lack of female characters and the awkward development of Vin's relationship with Elend.

We do get two new female characters in this book. The first is Tindwyl, a Terris Keeper that arrives to help Elend learn to be a king. She eventually becomes a love interest for Sazed. Her personality is extremely abrasive, but she is effective at what she is supposed to be doing. She does not become a major character, and her main function is mostly to further Sazed's development. Much like with Vin and Elend, I found her relationship with Sazed to be weakly developed. Although that's a little more excusable in this case-they have prior history that occurs before the events of the book that Sanderson leans on heavily to explain their feelings for each other. Still not very satisfying to read, but better than Vin and Elend.

The second woman is Allrianne, Lord Cett's daughter. She is characterized using all of the negative female stereotypes. She's vain, silly, obsessed with shopping, emotional, and flirtatious. Most other characters immediately roll their eyes when she comes onto the scene. She's also a powerful Soother though, so I guess that makes up for some of that. Sanderson definitely hints that there is more to her than meets the eye and she shows admirable determination at times, but her character doesn't really go anywhere. She's also not in the story very much and serves mainly as a love interest for Breeze, who is many, many years her senior. There's a pattern here that I didn't love. This novel does not pass the Bechdel test. Obviously, the representation of women in this universe still leaves a lot to be desired, at least for me.

Vin's relationship with Elend continued to disappoint me as well. At this point in their relationship, they are supposed to be madly in love, but they honestly have more of a brother and sister vibe. Even when their feelings are described, it's more like Sanderson is just telling you these things. You don't feel them through the writing at all. They kiss in this novel. They touch. They allude to having sex. Nothing is described with any sort of passion or detail. I don't understand why Sanderson can go on for pages about Vin disemboweling people and then barely spend half a sentence on love or romance. 

**Next paragraphs contains spoilers**

This became especially annoying when Zane starts making advances towards Vin. There's supposed to be a bit of a love triangle going on in this novel. Vin is briefly torn between Elend and Zane, and must decide whether to run off with Zane or not at the end of the book. Much like with Elend, her relationship with Zane was extremely underdeveloped and not believable at all. There was another issue here too though - the random introduction of sexual violence. 

When Vin ends up refusing Zane, he attacks her. He kisses her forcefully against her will and then stabs her in the breast. On purpose. We discover later that stabbing women in the breast is something he does all the time. It's his calling card. Even worse, we learn that it's his calling card when his father notices that his mistress also has an old stab wound in her breast - he recognized his son's handiwork and realized that his mistress has been sleeping with his son. These incidents were a small part of a very long novel, but it upset me. If we can't have loving, passionate descriptions of consensual sexual activity, then we don't need brutal depictions of sexual violence either. As I've mentioned before, these books are basically asexual. To have this pop up between Zane and Vin was jarring and felt out of place and unnecessarily gross. I didn't like it.

**End of spoilers**

I ended up feeling quite split about this novel. The construction of it was great and the world was rendered extraordinarily well. The action scenes were genuinely exciting. Despite some slow spots, I was always interested in finding out what would happen next. The ending was great. When it came to the characters though, it had a lot of issues. In addition to its lack of female characters and terrible romantic relationships, it also contained no diversity in regards to race or sexuality either. Now obviously, in a fantasy world, you aren't going to have the same cultural or sexual backgrounds that are present in the real world. However, it was weird to not see any variation among the characters. Something consistently felt like it was missing in this regard - at least for me. The people in this story just didn't feel real.

Clearly, I am in the minority on all this criticism though. Sanderson is an incredibly beloved author and everyone loves these books. I do like what I have read so far, but I'm not understanding the absolute reverence people have for the series. I still plan to read the last book though. At this point, I don't think what I mentioned will improve, but I still want to see how the story ends. I've read over 1,300 pages of this trilogy at this point - I'm not giving up now!

 

Challenge Tally

Finally in 2022 - Series Edition: 9/28

Total Books Read in 2022: 28