The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

A year after the events in Mistborn: The Final Empire, what remains of the Lord Ruler's empire is disintegrating. The people have not known any other ruler for centuries. It seems like the freedom from a tyrant is not something everyone wanted after all. Even after Elend Venture ascended to the throne, the Central Dominance is still in chaos. After hearing rumors about the Lord Ruler's stash of atium, two armies lay siege to the capital Luthadel.  One is led by Elend's father, Straff Venture, while the other is led by one of the many kings who declared themselves sovereign in the Western Dominance after the Lord Ruler's death. As if the situation isn't bad already, the Mistborn Vin and her friends are not yet aware that a third army is on its way.

What's more, there are rumors that the mist has been attacking people. Vin has grown suspicious of the mists that she considered her ally. Even among her allies, Vin has to be observant too. It seems that a kandra has taken the identity of one of the members of Kelsier's crew.

Meanwhile, the crew is struggling about what to do with the problems Kelsier had left them. Managing the empire seems a more daunting task than killing the Lord Ruler. Elend's idealism in forming an equal society isn' so easy when he can't even gain the respect of the members of the Assembly.

The Terrisman Sazed's mission to educate the people of their lost knowledge is hampered by strange events as well. During his travels he met the elusive Steel Inquisitor Marsh who led him to The Conventical of Seran. Here he found inscriptions of the previous Hero of Ages. Sazed is convinced that he has to go back to his friends and help them. The legend of the Well of Ascension might just be the answer they needed. Problem is, no now knows where to start looking for it.

This second installment of the Mistborn series is difficult to put down once you start reading it. It has great fight scenes, intrigues in the Assembly, great magic system, and a legend that tickles the reader's curiosity. It isn't simply about armies fighting for a throne or lovers that are about to be torn apart by their separate duties and responsibilities. Mistborn has an intricate and rich history that becomes even more fascinating more mysteries are discovered by the characters.

At one point however you begin to wonder, why include all these details about a legend no one really knows about when there's a more urgent problem of a siege of two armies? Sanderson's ability to pile more and more problems for the lead characters then leave hints of something grander at work in the background left me wanting to read more and more. It's one of those books that you can read nonstop because it gets better. I devoured every little detail. I wanted to find out more until it became difficult even just to rest for a while.

Mistborn: The Final Empire was a good book and I thought it would be difficult to make a follow up with such an ending. I was wrong however. There were already hints in the first book that there are more unsolved mysteries and that the Lord Ruler's death was just the start. The series had more to tell after all.

I also complained in my review of the first book about the setting. The Well of Ascension doesn't offer much explanation but I understood it much better (the part about the vegetation made much more sense when I found out how it works).

If you enjoyed the first book, The Well of Ascension is much better.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10