The Well of Ascension

Mistborn, Book 2

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 28 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

From number one New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn series is a heist story of political intrigue and magical martial-arts action.

The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler - the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years - has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.

As Kelsier's protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.

Stopping assassins may keep Vin's Mistborn skills sharp, but it's the least of her problems.

Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn't run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier's crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won't get easier with three armies - one of them composed of ferocious giants - now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler's hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.

As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson:

• The Cosmere
• The Stormlight Archive
• The Way of Kings
• Words of Radiance
• Edgedancer (Novella)
• Oathbringer

The Mistborn trilogy

• Mistborn: The Final Empire
• The Well of Ascension
• The Hero of Ages

Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series:

• Alloy of Law
• Shadows of Self
• Bands of Mourning
• Collection
• Arcanum Unbounded

Other Cosmere novels:

• Elantris
• Warbreaker

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series:

• Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
• The Scrivener's Bones
• The Knights of Crystallia
• The Shattered Lens
• The Dark Talent

The Rithmatist series:

• The Rithmatist

Other books by Brandon Sanderson:

• The Reckoners
• Steelheart
• Firefight
• Calamity

©2007 Brandon Sanderson (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"All the explosive action any adventure fan could want." ( Locus)
"A great epic fantasy.... Fans of Terry Goodkind and Terry Brooks will find The Well of Ascension fulfilling, satisfying, and incredibly exciting." ( SFRevu.com)
"Vin's struggles with love and power inject the human element into Sanderson's engaging epic." ( Booklist)

Great Story Excellent Narrative

I enjoyed the first book in the series and was annoyed that I had to wait several months for the second one. Well the wait was worth it!

The story begins with a year having passed since end of the last book. Sanderson deftly picks up where he left off, tying up loose ends and creating new twists.

Michael Kramer does an excellent job of giving voice to the characters and creating a tapestry of the final empire from the books pages in the listener's mind. Switching between voices and emotions while keeping a netural narrative tone where appropriate makes the second book as much a pleasure as the first to listen to.

Excellent book

This is an excellent book. I did not become aware of Brandon Sanderson until I read the Wheel of Time (WoT) series. After reading the last book in that series, I found out Robert Jordan passed away just when I finished reading the second to the last book (There was one more that was to be written - A memory of light). I researched and found that Brandon Sanderson was due to write the last book in the series. I wanted to find out what kind of a writer Sanderson was. The first book of his I read, Elantris, was excellent. I decided to try this series and found them just wonderful. The line I love from this series ( It sometimes repeats itself automatically in my mind, is "ash fell from the sky." If you have read this book, you understand what I mean. If you haven't, then hurry up and read it - you'll understand what I mean then.

Mainly filler and set-up for book 3, significantly slower.

As stated in the title, this book was mainly filler like, unfortunately, many ‘second-in-the-trilogy’ books are. The politics were generic, the side characters were prone to apathy, the romance ‘drama’ between Vin and Elend was poorly done as I never thought they’d break up, the third character for the love triangle served no real purpose other than to create weak drama, and the title doesn’t actually come into play until very late into the book. If it wasn’t for the last chapters, which were great, I’d say skip it.

I did like the new characters in this book (except Zane) and I appreciated the extra depth added to the crew members, a main complaint I had with the first book. There was also the ‘spy in the city’ plot line that I also really enjoyed, and I wish the book had more sub plots like it instead of drawn out, generic fantasy politicking and strategizing. The writing itself is good, though I’ve had enough of hearing ‘Lord Ruler!’ over and over. The book mainly suffers from plot problems. The narration is just as good as the last.

I just realized...

I just realized that I've listened to MOST of Sanderson's Books, and have NEVER given one of his books LESS than 5 stars across the board! This, from someone who is INCREDIBLY Stingy with "5's", and INSISTS he "Doesn't like Fantasy Novels"!!!

Unprecedented!!

Fun story, good narrator

This is the second book of I think 3, and so far 1 and 2 have been very good. Captivating and imaginative. can't wait to start listening to the 3rd.

Improved

I read Mistborn and really enjoyed the style. Brandon has become a very interesting writer. I only started reading his works because of the Wheel of Time series and Robert Jordan's passing. His own books are very well written. The characters in this series are amazing. He has a great plot and theme and keeps his ideas and story lines flowing without distractions. He follows through all the way with the Mistborn series. The final chapters were unpredictable yet still a tiny disappointing but thoroughly enjoyable to the last words. Much greater entertainment than Elantris that i believe should have ben at least 2 books to give it justice.

You'll feel the pewter drag, but it's worth it.

It's a pretty good read. Some parts seem predictable, but there are some good twists and an interesting story eotrh interesting character development.

Top notch

Excellent follow-up to book one. Well developed internal and external conflicts. Not a surprising twist but not unexpected since there is a book three, which I am buying now.

Better than the 1st book

I actually think this book was better than the 1st one. You really get to see a lot of the characters grow even more in this one. It's full of surprising plot twists and unexpected turn of events that I didn't see coming. Kramer's performance was even better in the second book. There were fewer mistakes/changed words in this version for one, but there was a lot more emotion in the performances. There is quite a bit that happens in this book that touch at the reader's emotions and Kramer stepped up and delivered the parts with that same emotion. I also noticed more acutely this time around that Kramer handles sections in different speeds as well. More deliberate sections get handled slowly, but when combat breaks out tense situations start occurring, his narration picks up speed and it helps bring you to the edge of your seat as the scenes play out. Without a doubt this is a 5/5 book and really helps drive home why everyone talks so highly of Sanderson. This isn't your run of the mill fantasy series.

Just Awesome

What a story! What... a... story! This book kept me attentive, left me wanting to hear the next tid bit of development. I loved it!