Mistborn 2: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

While this book is in most respects a worthy successor to Mistborn: The Final Empire, I found it much harder to get started reading it. To start with, with the defeat of the Lord Ruler, the enemies and challenges facing Elend and Vin at the beginning of the book are much more nebulous. I did like some of the new (or newly introduced) characters, such as OreSeur and Tindwyl, and I really liked seeing Elend's development. By the end, I figured out some of the secrets about the titular Well of Ascension before they were explicitly spelled out in the book. This book definitely sets up what promises to be a smashing conclusion that I'm looking forward to finishing soon.