The Well of Ascension
2007
- courts and courtiers
- sieges
- fiction
- fiction, fantasy, general
- fiction, fantasy, epic
- magic
- imaginary places
- fantasy fiction
- courts and courtiers -- fiction
- sieges -- fiction
The story
The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler -- the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years -- has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves. As Kelsier's protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her. Stopping assassins may keep Vin's Mistborn skills sharp, but it's the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn't run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier's crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won't get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler's hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal. As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.
What it’s like
Dusty ash-grey skies, mist that curls through the streets of a half-ruined city, and a palette of smoke, lamplight and bruised purple dusk give this book a bleak, atmospheric heaviness, while its prose is brisk and workmanlike, built on clear action beats and long stretches of political bargaining in cramped council rooms. The world is tactile in its details: metal-working, the sour taste of the mist, the weight of a cloak over a cold stone courtyard. The mood is brooding and tense, a slow-burning unease tipped toward dread by a siege that tightens chapter by chapter, with rare flashes of warmth in the banter between friends. Pacing is deliberate and plotty, with frequent interludes that shift viewpoint. Violence is present and occasionally sharp: battles, assassinations and combat with magic-enhanced fighters, rendered with real impact but not gore-focused. Romance is a quiet undercurrent, not a centrepiece. This suits a long, absorbed evening or a stretch of commuting when you want to be pulled into a grim, scheming capital, for readers who enjoy epic fantasy with a strong systems logic, a grieving heroine learning to lead, and a city under pressure.
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