3.5/5 - Full review at emileereads: http://emileereads.com/blog/2017/6/9/... 
 The Well of Ascension was not quite as perfect as its predecessor, but it was a great sequel that left me excited to finish the series. It went much deeper into Sanderson's fantasy world and I was happy with all the new developments. Vin became even more of a badass with her Allomantic skills, the crew learned about more the threats facing them, and the physical world around them became darker and harder to survive as ash fell more and more. 
 In The Final Empire, there was a brief period of time where I wondered if Sazed was a spy because he was always so pleasant and helpful. Obviously that wasn't the case at all, and I ended up liking him a lot more in this book, to the point where he was pretty much my favorite by the end. The best relationship in this novel, though, was that of Vin and Ore Seur. 
 A few things made this book my least favorite in the trilogy, though. (As I write this, I've already read the third one.) First, I initially loved Zane's character. His dynamic with Vin at the beginning was really intriguing, but he became the predictable bad guy toward the end of the novel and then was suddenly gone. I wanted more and didn't get it. 
 Secondly, I loved Elend and Vin as a team but they had much less chemistry here. The puppy love in The Final Empire was believable, but in The Well of Ascension I sometimes forgot they were supposed to be an item - even as Vin worried about her love life constantly, I kept forgetting! 
 And thirdly, the middle section of the book was a bit slow with all the political discussions, and the events at the end left me dangling with questions. Elend's sudden "gift" especially blindsided me. So, overall, the pacing in this one could've been improved, but I will say that wasn't a problem with the first and third books.