The Well of Ascension

 The Well of Ascension had a tough job following up the first book in the series, but it did the trick. It was a slow starter but ended up being a strong follow-up to the series starter. It wears a lot of hats as it tries to tie up some storylines while moving us towards the end of the series. I'm not sure where things are going at the end of the trilogy, but I can say that The Well of Ascension had me reaching for the next book immediately.