The Well of Ascension

Frankly I felt that much of the book dragged, and I kept reading because I was already invested in the characters after the first book. Things did pick up in the last fourth or so of the book, there was an excitement and urgency that had been missing until then. Even so, it wasn't as exciting as The Final Empire. Part of it may be that The Final Empire was ultimate a heist story, and that shifting gears to long, drawn out politics in this one was perhaps too abrupt a change (not that I have a problem with with books about political machinations, I just think in this particular book this dragged down the narrative).

I also felt that the loss of Kelsier, who was an extremely engaging character, left a voice that The Well of Ascension never quite managed to fill with any of the other characters.