The Lord Ruler, a tyrant and supposedly living god who ruled over the Final Empire for a thousand years, is dead, thanks to Kelsier, Vin and their crew. However, their victory came at a tremendous cost, as Kelsier sacrificed himself to ignite the common people into rebellion. But the Lord Ruler’s death has not brought peace to the land, with rival warlords jockeying for control, and Vin is still haunted by the Lord Ruler’s final words. Her fiancee, Elend, son of the most powerful noble family in the Final Empire, is now king of Luthadel and the Central Dominance, but feuds with the parliamentary council he helped create. Soon, three armies, one lead by Elend’s father, are bearing down on Luthadel and Vin, Elend and the remaining members of Kelsier’s crew must find a way to save the city before it is too late.
Things start slowly, as the crew endlessly discusses how to deal with the would-be invading armies. There are parliamentary squabbles, assassination attempts, debates on governmental philosophy, and existential crises. This bloats the narrative needlessly as the reader waits until the action shifts to the titular Well of Ascension in the last fourth of the book. Vin’s internal struggle to convince herself that she is worthy of Elend reads like a middle school romance and seems out of place after Vin seemingly overcame her demons in the first book.
There are a few saving graces to the book. Vin has inherited Kelsier’s kandra OreSeur, a shapeshifter and the two work through their prejudices and learn to trust one another, as they protect Elend from assassination and root out another kandra who may have taken the place of a member of the crew. Sazad, Vin’s former steward and a Terris Keeper responsible for collecting and passing on the knowledge lost during the reign of the Lord Ruler, is on a quest to uncover the truth behind the prophecy of the Hero of Ages. Through Sazad, the second magic system of the Mistborn world, Feruchemy, is expanded upon and his studies, coupled with the chapter-introducing epigraphs, greatly expand on the worldbuilding and mythology from the first book. These two storylines provide the hook to keep the reader moving forward to the climax.
In view of the events of the third book, much of the second book seemed completely unnecessary, and the series as a whole might have been better served to be written as two books. Although the climax finally delivers some much needed action, it is a little too late. However, much like the first book, the Well of Ascension provides just enough plot and worldbuilding to make it worth moving on to the third and final book.