When I read the first Mistborn novel I assumed Sanderson would have a tough time topping it. I was wrong. The second book of the Mistborn series is as good as the first(if not better...) and leaves you starved for more. It eliminates a lot of the shortcomings of the previous books while strengthening the story-line and the motivations of the characters and changing the direction of the plot to a large extent. Where the first book was a fantasy heist story, this book is a seige novel about a city battling desperately against its enemies.
The Lord Ruler has been defeated and there is hope of peace for the enslaved skaa race. The new Emperor Elend Venture attempts to raise their lifestyle and ensure they gain equal rights with the noblilty. All these plans are quashed in the light of an extended seige with three armies threatening the peace of the land and a bigger threat looming in the horizon. The rest of the book deals with the political maneuvering that Elend attempts to delay attack, the conflicts Vin deals with and a mysterious new Mistborn known as Zane. The plots and sub plots are all riveting and we also have more of the well detailed action that we have come to love from Brandon Sanderson.
There are some areas where this novel is certainly superior to its predecessor. The first would be the characterisation. Sanderson has upped his writing and character development by several notches, enough to ensure that you are actually drawn into the novel and begin to care about the people involved in the story. My favourite character, by far, was Elend Venture - he comes across as noble without seeming too self righteous, and his dilemmas are very well portrayed. Sanderson is unable to achieve the same depth for Vin, however, and her struggles seem extremely shallow. Zane is a creepy and well realised character and a good foil for Vin, Elend and the noble characters in the series.
The action sequences are as brilliant as ever and the story moves forward at a steady pace, careening towards its conclusion. Sanderson also has a good understanding of the fragile political posturing that a siege would involve and evokes the image of a city in chaos effectively. He also describes the ruthlessness of the political assembly with ease while providing you with a dose of the unexpected.
The twists in this action political fantasy thriller are more unpredictable than most and Sanderson finds a good and decent explanation for everything without resorting to deus ex machinas. The hero and the heroine move convincingly through the novel, making choices that any normal person would make and this is what enables this novel to resonate with everyone on some level.
The novel still lacks sufficient depth to be dubbed a work of great literature but I doubt that matters much when you are having so much fun reading about Vin and Zane sparring in the mists, or about the political threats and espionage that the siege involves. Sanderson is long winded at times and while this can get pretty frustrating towards the end, he ties up all the threads successfully and moves on to raise a lot more questions that a re answered in detail in the next book. (I hope)
So read Well of Ascension after you are done with the first book in the Mistborn trilogy and you will not regret it...its an amazing follow up to a great work of fantasy fiction.