4 1/2 Stars 
 (1/2 star down from book #1 in the series, but still worth rounding up.) 
 A year after the Lord Ruler's defeat, the Final Empire is a splintered mess of battling factions--its former capitol under the tenuous control of now-King Elend and the remnants of Kelsier's crew. They all wanted to overthrow a tyrannical god, but now in the aftermath, they are woefully ill-equipped to rebuild both a government and an economy while defending the city they sacrificed so much for. This becomes abundantly clear when three armies converge on Luthadel. And in the middle of it all, the Mists are turning deadly. 
 This epic continuation once again centers on Vin, the young street urchin turned warrior, and her scholarly would-be-reformist counterpart, Elend. All of the old crew are still in the thick of things, despite their initial goals having been accomplished. The character growth is ever-present, and the interactions between those we came to know in the first book continue to be a satisfying source of insight, humor, and depth. The intricacies of Allomancy are expanded from the foundation readers were given in the first book, and the fight-scene choreography is again one of the more masterful highlights. 
 Another enduring highlight is our heroine, Vin. She's still the Vin we knew from book #1, she's just in the midst of deciding how to become MORE herself. 
 "I'm not a good person or a bad person. I'm just here to kill things." -Vin 
 I <3 Vin. ^_^ 
 Compared to the first book, the pacing sometimes seems to falter. The politicking becomes heavy toward the middle, which may cause a bit of a bogging effect for some readers--particularly those eager to discover what exactly is going on with this Well-of-Ascension business. While that mystery is eventually uncovered, the author makes you wait for it. (Up until then, this reader was growing impatient with all of the pre-chapter reiterations of the thousand-year-old writings from the first book. They DID have a purpose, it was just difficult to see until the very end.) 
 Both Elend and Vin's internal conflicts hold a tightly-woven parallel to the more obvious external conflict of their besieged city. The relationship is complex and refreshing, while also stunted in ways that the characters are gradually forced to address. Both go through a tremendous amount of personal growth--which begs the question of if they are growing together or apart. Sanderson handles this romantic element with a skill and subtlety I've rarely seen in fantasy, while not letting it take over the drive of the plot itself. 
 I won't lie... this was just as dark as the last one, and the body count was sometimes dismal. (i.e. Try not to get too attached! Not that I need to tell you that if you've made it to book #2...) But Sanderson continues to strike an impressive balance--conveying overwhelming horrors without slathering in the kinds of graphic details that would keep this reader from recommending the series to a teen audience. In fact, it's the kind of deep-thinking, stereotype-challenging, fleshed-out piece of fiction I'm convinced would enrich the thought life of many a fantasy-loving teen bent on escapism. (Mindless/gratuitous entertainment, it is not.) 
 To whom it may concern... there IS a bit of a cliffhanger to the ending. But while it doesn't stand alone quite as well as the first book, it's no less well envisioned. 
 I don't know where you're going with this, Mr. Sanderson... but I think I trust you. 
 Favorite Quotes: 
 * "No teenage girl is stable. Some are just better at hiding it than others." 
 * "At first glance, the key and the lock it fits may seem very different," Sazed said. "Different in shape, different in function, different in design. The man who looks at them without knowledge of their true nature might think them opposites, for one is meant to open while the other is meant to keep closed. Yet, upon closer examination, he might see that without one, the other becomes useless. The wise man then sees that both lock and key were created for the same purpose."