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Mike (the Paladin)'s Reviews > The Well of Ascension
The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2)
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I feel here as if I ought to apologize to my friends who love these books. The first was okay but I found the pacing a bit slow and had a "my interest comes and goes" experience. Sadly if I compare the pacing of the first volume of the series to the pacing in this one (the second volume) the story in volume 1 moved like the wind.
I know that some are very involved here and love these, and I can see why. The characters have depth and you get an "in depth" view of their lives. Not only their lives but their conversations, their internal struggles, their dietary preferences...the kind of clothes they like, on and on and on.
I found myself slowly getting involved in the story but then we'd hit a spot where we had to go through an internal dialogue concerning doubts, paranoia...or possibly psychosis ("no one will ever stay with you, everyone will leave you". This should have been followed by a "bwa-ha-ha" when it popped into Vin's mind).
When I was reading as I said I was mildly interested but when I'd laid the book aside I didn't think about it. I was hard pressed to get back to it there were just things I'd rather read. I finely got "re-interested" about the end of part three as the story of the throne moved on and plots started to come to light only to get thrown back into (view spoiler)
So in the end, two stars for my recognition of the writer's ability and the story telling I can see buried under what seems to me a lot of excess verbiage. If it's your cup of tea enjoy. I doubt I'll finish the trilogy. I mean how many 800+ page tomes do we need? Don't get me wrong, I love a good long epic fantasy, it's just that so often any more, people choose to tell a story in 1000 pages that could be told in 250.
My opinion throughout of course.
I know that some are very involved here and love these, and I can see why. The characters have depth and you get an "in depth" view of their lives. Not only their lives but their conversations, their internal struggles, their dietary preferences...the kind of clothes they like, on and on and on.
I found myself slowly getting involved in the story but then we'd hit a spot where we had to go through an internal dialogue concerning doubts, paranoia...or possibly psychosis ("no one will ever stay with you, everyone will leave you". This should have been followed by a "bwa-ha-ha" when it popped into Vin's mind).
When I was reading as I said I was mildly interested but when I'd laid the book aside I didn't think about it. I was hard pressed to get back to it there were just things I'd rather read. I finely got "re-interested" about the end of part three as the story of the throne moved on and plots started to come to light only to get thrown back into (view spoiler)
So in the end, two stars for my recognition of the writer's ability and the story telling I can see buried under what seems to me a lot of excess verbiage. If it's your cup of tea enjoy. I doubt I'll finish the trilogy. I mean how many 800+ page tomes do we need? Don't get me wrong, I love a good long epic fantasy, it's just that so often any more, people choose to tell a story in 1000 pages that could be told in 250.
My opinion throughout of course.
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Reading Progress
December 6, 2010
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March 11, 2011
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Stephanie
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 11, 2011 08:38PM
Hope you enjoy it! I did. Sanderson is an amazing author. One of my favorites. And I especially love Vin. Strong female characters aren't done very well too often but I think that the human flawed Vin is perfect. Enjoy.
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Well, you can see I ran hot and cold for a while on the first (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) but in the end I liked it. I wasn't dying to get on with the story necessarily, but this came in at the library...so it goes to the head of the "queue" as they say. :)
Totally understandable not to love it! I actually have multiple friends that were incredibly frustrated with Vin this time around, one who gave up on the series halfway through this and one who finished and enjoyed book 3. I can tell you, though, that book 3 does actually give some explanation on all the crazy internal monologue.It does get pretty bogged down in details like the first two, and the ending seems to be one that people either love or hate because it's so unconventional.
I like the plotting and the way the characters are built. The problem comes when it seems that he gets so involved in the details that the story spins away from what's actually part of it and on to trivia. For example Vin and her concern over wearing a gown. Part of that is the story, but then it moves on almost into the obsessive.Again I realize this may be just me and my own taste, and given time I may roll back and pick up the third volume. At this point I just don't have the interest in it.
By the way, I really like The Alloy of Law. It is a much lighter read but it's also more compact and tighter.
This is my second read of this series and I have to say I'm less than in love with it this time. I don't hate it. But Vin is really annoying the heck out of me. Will she ever get to wear a pretty dress again? Will she ever chose between Elend and his evil, and crazy, brother Zane? And what will she do if she just isn't the chosen one? Yeah. She's really not a favorite. But if you liked the other characters I will promise that the last book is worth continuing. And it does have a surprsing conclusion. I liked The Alloy of Law more too. But I like old fashioned sword and sorcery which it reminded me alot of.
Perhaps some people just need the movie version ;)
No offense intended here but....a smiley wink doesn't change a snide comment into something else...be nice. Tastes differ. I'm assuming you were attempting a joke just trying to cushion reaction.
I agree with Mr. Paladin's assessment of the book. But maybe we DO need the movie version, so we could cut out most of Vin's neverending scenes discussing abandonment issues and whether it's okay to love fancy dresses. I'm invested in these characters and enjoying reading about the relationships between them as well, but I'm quite annoyed by the immature internal monologues... and this is coming from someone who loves YA books.
It's a matter of taste. My tolerance level is just a bit lower. :)
Nodding to myself as I read your review. I 100% agree with the pacing issues and I'm struggling to finish it .. 2 years on. Plowing on because it's a Sanderson novel but I reckon the entire middle 80% is complete fluff and could be removed. The constant sitting around and thinking to themselves doing nothing made me want to rip my hair out, at least the first book had one interesting character before he was killed off leaving the book blander than uncooked cauliflower.
Try dipping the cauliflower in Ranch dressing/dip, it helps. Sadly dipping this book in Ranch dressing doesn't help. I will say that I like book 4 of Mistborn, The Alloy of Law. This one just seemed to be more for "hard core" fans who like all the tiny details.
Are there any big epics that you love? Wheel of Time?
I like the first six or so books of The Wheel of Time. Then it seemed to bog down into a lumbering soap opera. Still the last volume tied it up okay.I love the Lord of the Rings (of course). One of my all time favorite "books" (It's a trilogy) is The Deed of Paksenarrion. Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria books are good, I enjoyed all of them.
Lets see....Roger Zelazny's first Amber series is good, it's from a few years ago. Also some of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion books are excellent, Elric, Prince Corum and Dorian Hawkmoon are my favorite characters.
I'm sure there are others...the Green Rider series (Green Rider) also the Paladin's Legacy series by Elizabeth Moon (which follows the Deed of Paksenarrion I recommended above).
Feel free to browse my books on my profile page.
I'm frustrated with Book 2. I'm skipping pages and fast reading - it's just not enjoyable - it's not going anywhere. The first book was sensational but now that literary policeman has entered my mind: "Move along here...there's nothing to see....move along".
The "excess verbiage," for me, was something that I enjoyed. Most authors will glaze over the small things and side conversations, and that isn't something I like. I love it when an author is able to detail a story, and relate it all to the main story. Though it might seem like the book is trailing off, all of these small conversations matter in the story, or at least deal with it. And I like that.
If you read #3 everything will make sense. But I agree, this one goes in and out.
I'm glad you like it, but if an 800 page book doesn't hold my interest I don't really want to read another 800 page book to finish the story. Note I didn't say the story didn't make sense. I said it didn't hold my interest.I did like The Alloy of Law.
Thank you expressing my thoughts for me. Saved me so much time! :)
Super undestable, it was really slow with not much really going on until a little more then half way throught the book. The only thing that kept me going was his great writing, and the awesome charaters.
Great review. How can the Storm light archives be so good and the mistborn series be so awful?
I suppose it's simply that tastes differ, to each as it were.
I also struggled with this trilogy and in fact couldn't finish the third one. I suppose I might give Storm light archives a go...
Thank you! I know you wrote this 4 years ago but I just finished it. I have to say, you could probably rip out pages 100 to 600 and still get 99% of the storyline.
I've read a few books like that. the problem is going in for the first time you don't know which pages to skip.
I just sorta quit with the first one. Mistborn without kelsier would be awful.
I'm 250 pages in and I have to agree with Mike. Too much internal dialogue. Too many insecurities and Kelsier's death is mentioned about a dozen times in the first 100 pages. This is a real let down so far.
Totally mirrored my opinion. I think the book has around 300+ pages worth of repetitive, lame dialogue. I managed to finish by skipping useless paragraphs in the end. Ended up hating Elend and Vin so much I wished one of them ( if not both) died at the end. Only feel good character was Kelsier. It has left me too scarred to ever try the third part. It totally destroys the good work of the Final Empire. Someone plz tell me if Brandon did justice of some sort to the Wheel of time. I hope he didn't spoil them.
Oh my God, I took forever to finish the 1st book because it is slow, slow and you tell me the 2nd is even worse? Dear me! :o
I completely agree with your review here. Though, I tore through book one and loved just about every minute of it. I'm trying to decide whether to read book 3 and I'm not even finished with book 2 (I've got 35 minutes in audible). I think I'm going to read it. Funny you should mention WoT. I agree there too, got disinterested after book 6 and stopped reading during an aes sedai meeting in book 9 that felt like it would never end. Part of me regrets not finishing... I really do appreciate a book that reads as though it is edited.
If you got through book 9 (or almost through book 9) you could probably go right to the last book in the WoT series. He opens with a long rehash before he moves on.
I struggled with all the same things you mentioned in this review. It took me a few years to get back to this series and read book three, which I'm almost done with now. I don't know if you continued on, but if you didn't I would say it was probably a wise move. I have been so bored with this book and feel like I've had to make myself listen to it. At least I've had lots of other things to do while listening to it. I think Sanderson is a superb writer, but he does go on and on and on in his longer books. At least the ones I've read anyway. I've find that I'm not as patient as I used to be with long drawn out stories. The reason I've made myself come back to finish this first trilogy in the Mistborn series is that book 4 actually looks like it would be more my thing. It's shorter and from what I hear a fun read. Now that I'm near the end I almost wish I had just skipped this one because I am not liking the way it ends at all.
book 4 actually looks like it would be more my thing. It's shorter and from what I hear a fun readI can confirm here. The Wax and Wayne series is awesome.
Sergey wrote: "book 4 actually looks like it would be more my thing. It's shorter and from what I hear a fun readI can confirm here. The Wax and Wayne series is awesome."
Good to know!
I struggle with the same things with this book. I’ve started, then put it down on the bedside table and just “forget about it.” I really loved the first book, but this one is boring me to tears. Think I’ll just not read the rest and say I did. 😉
That's the way I went but the one they call #4 (The Alloy of Law ) Jumps forward a few hundred years and is good (my opinion of course). It's kind of a cross between Urban Fantasy and Steam Punk.
The whole trilogy was five stars for me and yet ... I agree with you! It's weird that way. Great review!
