Oathbringer

After pondering this for a while, I think I'm going to land on a soft 4 stars. I have had a complicated relationship so far with The Stormlight Archive, not because I dislike it at all (I really like it a lot!) but I feel there are so many technical components of Sanderson's writing that really hold this series back from its full potential. But I think a lot of my criticisms of the first two books were, in some part, addressed and changed for the better in the third book.

Firstly, the story moves as a much more consistently, engaging pace in this book. Action is dispersed throughout the story rather than being offloaded to the final 50 pages. There's a LOT of overarching story development taking place, making the reader feel a little less lost in where this big story is leading. The character development is really on point for our main cast. We see strong development for characters who have "resolved" arcs and some strong and interesting development for characters who were previously much less important to the story. Sanderson's character writing has always been fantastic (dialogue could use some work), and this book really showed it off.

However, with some of these improvements came some new challenges. The sheer amount of lore in this book had me confused a lot of the time. Despite its length, I had to constantly re-read chapters to get a handle on what exactly was happening and what the implications were. And while better paced, the various action scenes in this book did make it feel like it had a few climaxes which wouldn't give my emotions a break. Also, and I have said this every time, the book is too long. I appreciate the interesting POVs, but there were several chapters that seemingly had no impact to the story from either a side side side character, or a chapter from our main cast where.. not a lot happened.. This is a persistent problem with many of Sanderson's works, but it's particularly apparent in Stormlight. More isn't always better, and I think the quality of these books could really improve with some strategic editing down.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It revitalized my interest in the series after taking a year break between book two and book three, and I am planning on catching up before the year is out. The story has me intrigued and its leading to a highly anticipated year of Sanderson in 2023!

October 2020 Reread:
But sometimes a hypocrite is nothing more than a person who is in the process of changing.

Oathbringer remains five stars on the re-read and may be my favorite of the Stormlight series, but yet I know so little about the larger world and universe. I was prepared for the scope of the story to expand drastically with this book but I was still overwhelmed. 1200 pages is a tome but it doesn't drag. Each chapter, story and character moves the tale forward.

But merely being tradition does not make something worthy...we can't just assume that because something is old it is right.

Unfortunately I still find Shadesmar to drag. Everything is so new, different and you learn as the characters do so it's a challenging place to understand. I expect the Cognitive Realm will continue to be a setting going forward and Sanderson intentionally told us what was necessary for the moment.

On my first read I felt that every other character was becoming Radiant or a part of a Squire, but now I'm good with it. Understanding the order of Heralds, Radiants and Squires helps and realizing how one influences the other makes it feel less like a power free for all and a natural awakening and return of power.

Together they carried the bridge on one final run - reverently, as if it were the brier of a king, being taken to his tomb for his eternal rest.

I remembered a few scenes very vividly from 2017 but for the most part I forgot everything about Oathbringer. Once the 60%/Dalinar/Evi/Rift chapters happened it felt like I was reading the chapters for the first time. I somehow blocked the last 40% of the book and had no memory of what was going to happen next...and a lot happens! I could probably re-read the last half of the book again and still feel like it's new and fresh.

Those most important step a man can take. It's not the first one, is it? It's the next one. Always the next step, Dalinar.

After I binged on the Cosmere books in 2017 I thought I had all of the pieces and players in line. That only lasts as long as it takes to read theories and explanations on a fan site like 17th Shard or Coppermind. I know who Odium is, and after a few minutes of research I wonder if I've read the same book as everyone else. This is frustrating but also what makes this series so amazing. There are numerous levels a reader can enjoy the book and Sanderson has built a universe that is accessible for casual to hard core readers alike.

Some days I feel like Taravangian and not fit to read or understand the Cosmere, and other days I feel like I can tackle it all.

Rhythm of War doesn't come out for a few weeks so now I will bide my time waiting for Dawnshard to be released, and after that I will start on the tor.com early release chapters in advance of November 17, 2020. What a great few months this re-read has been!

Original 2017 review
You mostly failed. That is life. The longer you live, the more you fail. Failure is the mark of a life well lived. In turn, the only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone.

Oathbringer is huge, both in page count and story. There are multiple story lines weaved in to this book that characters and events from Book One or Book Two of Oathbringer feel like they are from a different book entirely.

Oathbringer doesn’t focus on one location and each location comes with new characters, scribes, attendants and names that it can be a challenge to keep everyone in order. As I reached the end of the book I would come across a name and not remember if they were from earlier in Oathbringer or from an Interlude chapter in Way of Kings or Words of Radiance.

I am no god, Dalinar Kholin. No more than your shadow on the wall is you.

I had a similar problem with Way of Kings on my first read but the re-read kept everything in order, and I’m sure that will be the case this time on re-reading Oathbringer…but it may not matter because a lot happens in this story. The story explodes in all directions and as you work through Dalinar’s flashbacks you are accelerating the story in present time and the world opened up. I feel like Way of Kings and Words of Radiance are novella’s in comparison to the scope and scale that comes with Oathbringer.

Find the balance. Accept the pain, but don’t accept that you deserved it.

Because of the scale in the book it was a little difficult to keep everything in line. The book consumed my life for two weeks but I found that I wasn’t sure if I was missing a plot detail because Sanderson withheld it intentionally, a character was unfamiliar to me, or I was not absorbing the story correctly, or it was a combination of all three.

The next part of my review will contain spoilers...

He was not a man. He was judgement.

The biggest moment in the book for me can be summed up in three words: Daliner, Rift and Evi.

Those two back to back flashback chapters (around the 60% mark) were incredibly well done. I felt the Thrill with Daliner as he laid waste to the Rift and exacted his revenge. I cheered alongside him as the Blackthorn was an unstoppable force. Then, in a matter of pages, the story flipped over and I grieved alongside Daliner too. I had to stop my reading for the day after these chapters because of the emotional rollercoaster I was put through.

The pace at which Squires or Radiants were identified was a challenge to keep together. The scope moved beyond Bridge Four and covered all of Roshar, and this was demanding for me. You attracted a spren, you said your Words and you get to be a Surgebinder. Every few chapters it was like “oh, another one”.

“Welcome to war, Evi” Dalinar said, heading toward the door. “There are no unequivocal wins. Just victories that leave fewer of your friends dead than others.”

The story had great revelations and what I thought would happen in later books (ie: battling with Odium) happened now. I have no idea how the story can continue for seven more books, but if they keep expanding scope like it did in Oathbringer it will be a lot to stay on top of.

I liked how the Thrill has been a background topic for the previous books and then became more discussed in Oathbringer only to realize that it was controlled by Odium. The reveal of the humans being the Voidbringers was an exceptionally nice twist too and brings up a lot of questions about conquering or being conquered.


If stone met a man, stone might win – but if stone met humanity, then no force could preserve it.

Rating this book is a challenge because I felt that I was lost in the plot and I don’t know if that was my fault or intentionally done. The story is an excellent addition to the Stormlight series and is evidence that this is Sanderson's opus.

Yet, struggling to keep the story straight was a challenge. Making the story less complex would not benefit the series but it is frustrating not knowing if a missed details is my fault or intentional, and with years to wait for the next instalment I may not know that answer for a book or more.

The pacing was excellent and with multiple POV there was always a surprise or excitement around the corner. With respect to Cosmere you realize how complex the universe is and how much Sanderson has yet to reveal.

I will re-read this book multiple times and that's a sign of a good book so even with what gaps I have in understanding everything this deserves five stars because of what Sanderson is crafting and building towards.

An amazing book, and unquestionably epic. OB had everything: character growth, worldbuilding, heartbreak, spectacle. Once the plot geared itself into motion it hurdled towards the end. There's something special about the way Sanderson writes that the end product is so spectacularly satisfying. Everything just clicks together so well as if the story could only have concluded the way that it did. Despite that, it's not overly predictable.

I feel that, despite his huge success, Sanderson doesn't really get the credit due to him in some circles of fantasy readers compared to more "adult" writers with a grittier style. However, I think this is a disservice to the work he's done both to develop his characters and to evaluate and work with stereotypes of the genre. Despite building towards a war of mythic proportions, he's really undermined what I think of as the Dark Lord or Orc problem. There are no fundamentally evil people, bar perhaps Odium or Amaram, but varying perspectives and narratives that we receive through the characters. Moreover, this variety of experience and emotional development has been translated into the developing stories of our main cast in SA (imo): Shallan, Kaladin, and Dalinar. I've found Shallan to be one of the more annoying characters, and did not look forward to reading another of her chapters in WoR (or a Veil chapter), but she really came into her own in OB. The long arc of her character has bent towards progress in a satisfying way, and it felt good for her to make the personal breakthroughs she needed. Similarly, as much as I wanted Kaladin to make breakthroughs of his own, it made sense that he was not emotionally ready to take the next step.

It was a little too long though (heresy, I know). It could have been shortened a little I think in the first half, around Urithiru, and the journey through Shadesmar. I still blitzed through the book over my Thanksgiving break, and it really did start to pick up and soar after the first half, but it could have been tighter. The dialogue scenes are still the weakest: characters with affected language (Rock, Lopen) are manageable, but it's the Shallan scenes that are more difficult. The jokes don't land - they're a little too wink wink nod nod, which is a shame because I think Sanderson could write more naturalistic dialogue (though he should probably stay away from the flirty). There were also some places were I felt that the dialogue was a little too loose or slangy and it drew me out a bit. Lift is one of the big culprits here.

So at last, here's my review. It took me a while to get to writing this and I am still not sure that this can express what I think about this book. Because it's just 1200 pages of epic.



I've rarely, if ever anticipated a book with such high hopes and such dread of being disappointed. So it could either end up being "Fellowship of the Ring"-awesome or "Phantom Menace"-WTF...

Then came the day or rather midnight and I clicked refresh on my reading device until the book started downloading. The next day, I realized how lucky I was when I heard that the book was coming out on different dates all over the world and that people were having trouble downloading--especially the audio version while others had to wait two days or more until the book was even out.

Reportedly, a big audiobook seller was brought down that day in the US (not here) (also that is a little strange considering they are part of one of the companies that invented cloud computing). But then Oathbringer was the most ever pre-ordered audiobook of all time. And it also hit #1 on the NYT best seller list immediately. Someone sure has a lot of fans. (We're totally not cultists)

So what about the book? All that anticipation and then...

This book made me laugh ("No mating!"), cry ("Awwww!") and scream ("Nonono!" in my head at least) like no other book I read in the past few years. And while reading this, I realized that I want all this to be in a book. I want drama, tears and light-hearted moments in balance. And Oathbringer delivers. It took me more than a week to finish and the whole time I felt like I was right there on Roshar. And then I had a week-long book hangover.

I loved it and I plan on re-reading it soon. This 3rd book in the series was truly holds its own, in some aspects better than the first two, in some maybe a little weaker (which is however what Germans call "Jammern auf hohem Niveau") and absolutely unique. Where Way of Kings gave me a feeling of mostly exposition, and Words of Radiance upped the stakes and the drama opening up into the truly epic nature of this, Oathbringer has a more even pacing. Here the drama begins unfolding and this book answers so many questions about the world, the history and even the Cosmere and yet it opens up just as many new questions... if the series continues like this... it'll be the most epic of all times.

Eshonai had always told her sister that she was certain something wonderful lay over the next hill. Then one day, she’d crested a hill and found humans.

So the rest is spoilers and comments on the details that I liked... go read the book first 😃


That first line somehow foreshadows that we find out, what some surely suspected, that the true Voidbringers are the humans and not the Parshendi. Looking back, it was all there.

The Meh

- Adolin's killing of Sadeas at the end of Words of Radiance was an incredibly tense moment and I looked forward to seeing consequences for this action. But I waited and waited and nothing really happened and then Adolin simply tells first Shallan then Dalinar? Not even someone undermining Dalinar with the facts? Not impressed.

- Adolin telling Shallan how Kaladin killed her brother. That was supposed to be a difficult moment between them...

- Jasnah's return was somehow underwhelming. Also the way she treats Shallan was a little overdone IMO. It makes her look bad or maybe it makes Shallan look bad because if there ever was an unreliable POV in these books it is Shallan.

- My favorite characters get to spend time together but somehow they end up in Shadesmar, largely unable to affect the plot in the physical realm in any way for about half the book.


The anxiety inducing "Oh noes"

Glowing gloryspren orbs burst around Elhokar . He grinned at them . “ I only seem to see those when I’m around you , Uncle . Funny . For all that I should resent you , I don’t . It’s hard to resent a man who is doing his best . I’ll do it . I’ll save Alethkar . I need one of your Radiants . The hero , preferably . ” “ The hero ? ” “ The bridgeman , ” Elhokar said . “ The soldier . He needs to go with me , so if I screw up and fail , someone will be there to save the city anyway . ”

- Elhokar slowly growing and his move of making Dalinar high-king--which back-fired badly--and then fucking Moash just comes a long and Elhokar says the words, nearly, nearly and I was finally--for the first time ever--rooting for him and suddenly he's dead!

- “ Your ego doesn’t count as a separate individual , Shallan .” Shallan, Veil and Radiant and the other personalities she very nearly splits into. I think by the end of the book she has confined herself to those three but that sure made for a few tense moments. Disturbing how Veil keeps drooling after Kaladin... that's like reserved for fan-fic please. I don't really want to read the two of them together in canon.

- We knew Dalinar had been the Blackthorn. We just didn't know what that meant. Now we know and this makes his journey all the more impressive culminating in this book. Some of those flashbacks were chilling.
“ Blackthorn ! ” Bah ! Dalinar spun toward the sound . A man stood nearby , wearing Kholin blue . Dalinar raised his Shard - blade . The man backed away , raising hands with no weapon , still shouting Dalinar’s name . I know him . He’s . . . Kadash ? One of the captains among his elites . Dalinar lowered his sword and shook his head , trying to get the buzzing sound out of his ears . Only then did he see — really see — what surrounded him .

- Taravangian. All of him. He should just go away. Bad diagram. "Ability to save humanity" - yeah right... but at what cost? I am not quite sure at the moment. Did Dalinar & Co figure out that King T was not quite what he seemed?

- The mysteries around Renarin's spren drove me crazy throughout the book.

- My early realization that Odium wanted Dalinar to be his champion and while reading his Blackthorn years I was fully convinced he would be unable to resist Odium that he would be overwhelmed by the Unmade and switch sides to become Dalinarth Vader...

The Funny

- The Spren trying to understand humans particularly their love life. “ Very well , you two , ” Pattern said . “ No mating . NO MATING . ” He hummed to himself , as if pleased , then sank down onto a plate . (and this really needs the audiobook, because the way Kate Reading reads Pattern's voice is just amazing)

- Pattern really came into his own in this book “ He came at me , ” Adolin said , “ in the training rooms , screaming that you’d found the killer . Said that if I didn’t come , you’d probably — and I quote — ‘ go do something stupid without letting me watch . ’ ” Pattern hummed . “ Stupidity . Very interesting . ” “ You should visit the Alethi court sometime , ” Adolin said.

- Shallan's wit was still there if a little less often “ We’re speaking of your mind ! Your wonderful , brilliant mind , so keen that it’s never been sharpened ! So quick , it’s still running when everyone else is done ! So dazzling , it’s never failed to leave everyone in awe at the things you say. ”

- Anything involving Nightblood but only because so far the blade seems like a good fit with Szeth and I loved how in the end he swore himself to Dalinar rather than any abstract interpretation of Justice. The sword replied. You? Szeth, I think you’re super trustworthy. And I’m a good judge of people. “I was not speaking to you, sword-nimi.” I know. But you were wrong, and so I had to tell you. Hey, the voices seem quiet today. That’s nice, isn’t it?

The Smiles and Tears

- Even though many complained there wasn't enough of Kaladin in this book, I really loved what we got to see. His meeting with his family was just the first of many beautiful moments he got. It feels like he has left behind the dark place he was in before and is growing into the hero others see in him. His struggle to find the fourth ideal is already making me look forward to the next book. Yes there could have been more of him and Bridge Four but they are mostly in a good place right now and that's a good thing, too.

- Shallan and Adolin: always. I was really happy that by the end she got her act together. Adolin offering to break of the engagement so she could be with Kaladin had me in tears though. “ I’m not good with relationships , Shallan . ” “ Is there anyone who actually is ? I mean , is there really someone out there who looks at relationships and thinks , ‘ You know what , I’ve got this ’ ? Personally , I rather think we’re all collectively idiots about it . ”

- Maya. When Adolin first says "She's my friend" in Shadesmar I was like "Yeah you would say that." and then slowly there are signs that he was onto something. And when he summons her and she appears at the 7th heartbeat. I am so looking forward to seeing further development on this.

- Pattern offering this: “ About dying ? ” Pattern asked . “ It may be the only way , Shallan . Mmm . . . You must speak truths to progress , but you will hate me for making it happen . So I can die , and once done you can — ” “ No . No , please don’t leave me . ” “ But you hate me . ” “ I hate myself too , ” she whispered . “ Just . . . please . Don’t go . Don’t die . ”

These are just a few glimpses into my thoughts on the book. It really is too large for me to write an encompassing review at this point. I think this book needs more than one read to be fully appreciated.

Goodgooglymoogly.. We've been waiting and what was delivered was a banquet. I ate and I ate and I ate and I'M STILL HUNGRY FOR MORE.

In a nutshell, we knew nothing, now we know a lot of things, now we're ready for a (re)building, to get us to... I have no idea. With Sanderson we have a cosmere to deal with and while I don't see the strings drawing it together quite yet. I feel on the spiders web that it's there in the future.

What a book what a book. Alright let me get my gripes out of my head. These characters all are working through their flaws in this book. Which I guess is right since Oaths make you have to look at who you are and accept that kind of stuff so you can move forward but it seemed no one but Navani had their sh*t together. As a person who hates character weakness this drove me crazy when they continued to dig into the recessess of their mental holes to an end I was hoping would end in the next paragraph.. which they didn't.

It's ok though, it's alright. These things have to happen, I know I know, let it lie.

The good side of things is all over the place, we have exploration, uncovering of truths, deepening of lies, betrayl, coverups, OH MY OH MY OH MY. This book could have been split but it wasn't, thankyouverymuch! The problem with knowledge is you want to know more. Drink in some stormlight and you want to fill to bursting. Flying with Kaladin is a feat, the feel of the rumbling Stormfather in my bones, the ink madness of the Unseen and so many more moments..

Great book. I simply cannot wait for more.

Oh, and if I might add, if it pleases the court please add a review chapter to the beginning or at the very least a character list. The plot, characters and their stories when put down are really hard to conjure early on.