I’ve come to love reading the author’s pages in books. If ever a new writer felt that they were the only one struggling with their manuscript, all they have to do is read the author’s note of their current favorite book to find out everyone struggles from the same issues. Sanderson, for all his prolific publishing, is not immune from writing troubles, as he plainly says in his author’s note from The Well of Ascension. The Mistborn books were his first series, and the issues he faced taking characters from one book to another and figuring out how their stories would continue were a big stumbling block for him. However, Well of Ascension was actually the story he’d set out to write in the first place, but he ended up needing Mistborn in order to get to the point.
Knowing that information before embarking on The Well of Ascension changed the whole reading experience for me, since at it’s core, The Well of Ascension is the answer to the big post-modern question of what happens AFTER the story ends. We leave off Mistborn in victory, with our favorite cast of characters standing triumphantly upon the smoldering remains of their oppressors. But Sanderson really wanted to write about the reconstruction. About how messy and hard, and structurally unstable these situations are. And The Well of Ascenion delivers.
Elend tries so hard to give the skaa the freedom and democracy they deserve; our heroes from Mistborn work diligently to form a government that is equitable and fair, but literally no one, even the skaa themselves, are on board, and all of Elend’s political ideologies get vaporized when two armies show up on Luthadel’s doorstep. Vin struggles throughout the story with her own violence and whether or not its justified. Especially when a Mistborn from one of the armies confronts her about how heavily Elend (and the rest of the crew) rely on her violence to forward their agenda. The whole story balances on the edge of a knife as our heroes burn every metal trying to hold on to the city they love.
The whole book is really a study in how building a new government is actually much harder and messier than toppling the government in the first place. And Sanderson spared no expense in Mistborn in showing just how difficult toppling the Lord Ruler was. The Well of Ascension turns the heat to boiling and this book did an amazing job of streamlining the different facets of national reconstruction while also giving each character their own, unique storylines.
Whatever Sanderson may have dismayed about in his author’s note, he needn’t have worried.
5 stars.
