The Well of Ascension is the second book in the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. [Here’s my review of the first book.]

Plot [with spoilers for The Final Empire]:
In the first book, the plan succeeded and the Dark Lord was killed.
Now, Vin and Elend stand before an empire that’s slowly falling apart – and they have to safe it. But not only political instability threatens the lands – there’s still the mist and the ashfalls and something evil lurking in the shadows.

I wasn’t madly in love with the first book in this series, but I did like it. I especially liked Vin, and Elend completely stole my heart. Generally speaking, the characters were great. Unfortunately, Sanderson knows that characters should develop and he takes them into directions I really, really do not like. Especially Elend.

There was nothing overtly wrong with the book, I just really didn’t like it.

I hated the whole Zane thing. I mean, Zane, as a character, was great. [SPOILERS] And his death scene is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever, and I mean ever, read. [/SPOILERS] But I just didn’t like what he did to Vin and her relationship with Elend. I guess it’s a good sign that I was that invested in the characters, but still.

And the religious undertones bothered me a little bit. But that’s probably just me because I’m hyper-sensitive when it comes to this. But I didn’t understand why everybody, though not particularly religious, unquestioningly accepted that there needed to be a religion at all.

What I did love though was the OreSeur plot. Wonderfully executed. And I still loved Vin and Elend (and Sazed!) so much that I wanted to continue reading. But I could feel myself growing increasingly frustrated over the course of the book.

Still, I read the third part and I didn’t regret reading it, either. It was just a bit of a let-down – there seemed to be more promise in the first book.