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)

It keeps getting even better

I am writing this after having finished the entire trilogy. While this was an incredible book and stands alone just fine on its own, I wanted to reserve judgement on each book till I finished the trilogy in order to put each one into perspective. This was my first Bandon Sanderson book and I loved it. At first, it was challenging to get into the whole concept of Allomancy but I eventually did and appreciated every aspect of this masterpiece. The books moved quickly, the story is rich in its treatments of many aspects personal character, politics, government, philosophy and religion. And each character is fully developed to the point where we probably care about all of them including some of the bad ones. The world created by Brandon Sanderson and stunningly narrated by Michael Kramer is not like any one I or probably any of us could have possibly imagined. As long as this trilogy was, I am so sorry to have it finally end.

Love, courage and righteousness

I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the first book in the trilogy. this story felt as though it was Meandering far more. it was as if Brandon Sanderson was in search of a story. now, I love these books. I love the excitement I love the world, I love the magic, I love the characters. I feel forever connected to the characters in the story. the fight scenes feel as though they could have been better described.

in the end, mistborn is a wonderful Trilogy filled with A Beautiful World characters magic and love story. a small dip in the level of the writing is not enough to deter me from continuing my interest in this amazing trilogy.

OMG Save me from teenage romantic melodrama

Any additional comments?

You know, pointing out that the main character is an emotionally unstable teenage girl, and thus prone to making really stupid decisions, doesn't prevent it from being really damn annoying when she does make them. Seriously, did we have to go with the cliche love triangle here? And did we have to use the cliche trope of having each person having one particular bit of information that would solve their relationship issue, but by CRAZY COINCIDENCE, neither of them ever has the moment to tell the other about it? So they both come away feeling rejected by the other, all over a bit of miscommunication and incredibly forced circumstances by the writer? I really enjoy Brandon's work, and I've really enjoyed the series as a whole, but my god he hammers home this annoying, tired, played to death story device of pushing the characters into the 3rd act turmoil through relationship crap. It's really annoying, and has directly caused me to give this story a rating of 3.

And Vinn's suffocating self-loathing is beyond tolerable, especially since it ends up driving the plot down some very stupid routes. Seriously girl, go buy a Stabbing Westward cd and get over yourself.

The audio work by Michael Kramer is excellent as always, 5 stars there, but man, the crap with Vinn and Ellend is so....soap opera that I keep predicting where it's going next, because it's so transparent. Ugh.

Slower but worthwhile

I just finished the third book. The second is the slowest and least rewarding of the three, but the plot it provides makes the third book pretty incredible. I would suggest that before purchasing this book that you commit to also listening to the third book. If you liked the first book as much as I did, this would be a no-brainer. If you didn't like the first book, I would certainly not recommend the Well of Ascension.

Great sequel! Great reader!

Michael Kramer does excellent voices for each character, instantly telling you who is speaking and uses the text to inform his acting (but also doesnt cut out the text itself, which is appreciated)

Amazing

One of, if not, the best book I've ever read! I have read a lot of Sanderson, this series is amazing!

Love

these books are amazing and I have been relistening for weeks, this one is so well written and read I can see and feel myself actually in the place of the characters!!

Truly disappointing

Weak plot, boring combats and an uninspiring love story to supposedly bind it all. A shadow of book one, where main character(s) development headed into the wrong direction.. side characters and their stories were much more interesting!

Misleading title...

Loved the fantasy and action! Hated nearly everything else. Was expecting a book about adventure, fantasy, and heroics - like in the first book. Unfortunately got a book about politics, hapless romantics, and people who can't make up their minds. The story was also mostly predictable and hardly about the Well of Ascension... For the great narration and the bits of fantasy/action, I give this book three stars.

Too long - bogs down

Not exactly sure why this book was titled Well of Ascension as only the last hour or so really pushes that plot point. Most (98%) of the plot deals with somewhat repetitive politics and activities in Luthadell. Most of the minimal lightness/funny moments from the first book are gone as the plot trudges through the normal middle book main character mental tortures so many trilogies follow these days. Could have cut at least 8 hours in the plot and you'd never have noticed.