The second book of this series was even better than the first one. It deals with the ramifications of the fall of the Final Empire and what happens when you basically kill a God-Emperor. Sanderson introduces another wrinkle into the fold by bringing a second love interest for Vin. But Sanderson takes it in a different direction. I suppose there are spoilers involved.
Elend is the king of the Central Dominance, but he has created the perfect government. Sadly, it is almost too perfect. The assembly does not take him serious and they eventually vote him out as king. There are two armies about to attack his city, one of which is his father, with a third army of Koloss on their way.
Vin meets a Mistborn named Zane, who is Elend’s half-brother. He is quite powerful and at first it seems like there is a possible love connection between the two. Then you realize that Zane is crazy. The battle between Vin and Zane was absolutely fantastic. Her method of beating him made sense. It was also pretty sad when you realize that OreSeur is a bad guy and yet still redeems himself.
All of that stuff pales in comparison to how the book ends. Vin discovers that the Well of Ascension is inside the city. After she returns and defeats the koloss army and forces everyone to accept Elend as the emperor, she heads to the Well. She takes the power and then gives it up in order to save Elend. Sadly, this was the wrong move. She releases some ancient evil. It is then that we realize the writings that Sazed found said something different and when Sazed returns to the metal tablet, he learns of his mistake. The evil being can change things that are written on paper. He was changing the religions to create the perfect Hero of Ages to come release him.
The Lord Ruler was twisted and evil, but he did what he had to do in order to save the world from the evil trapped inside. I look forward to learning more about what was released. I also hope we learn more about why the Lord Ruler did what he did.
