Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive (The Stormlight Archive, 3)

While I didn't enjoy Oathbringer quite as much as the first two books in the series, I still feel it's worthy of a 5-star rating. Each of these books has specific characters at the forefront, and in this novel they are Shallan Davar and Dalinar Kholin.

There are some aspects of Shallan's character that are fascinating, such as her multiple "personalities" or illusions that she adopts to explore and find out who she really is. However, her romance with Adolin felt very awkward, and Shallan spent so much time fretting over her different personalities that it became tedious to me. Dalinar's flashback sequences were jarring to me as well, and although they did provide some insight to his past, I felt they could have been fewer in number. I did enjoy the focus on Dalinar more than I thought I would, however.

Where The Stormlight Archive really shines as a series for me, is in two areas, and that's why I'm firm on my 5-star rating here. First is the world-building and magic system. In its cohesiveness and expansiveness, the Cosmere feels almost like Tokien-esque. There seems to be an ever-expanding mythos that is both wondrous and fascinating. Many questions are answered in Oathbringer, but as Sanderson pulls back from his focus on the nation of Alethkar to look at the world in full in this new novel, numerous new possibilities unfold. It is indeed an amazing world to explore.

Second, I find the character development really interesting and satisfying, and the moral dilemmas faced by the characters really serve to propel the story forward, with glorious and sometimes tragic consequences.The Dalinar flashback sequences paint the Alethi people as bloodthirsty, immoral savages, a "Ghengis Khan" like marauding horde that kills for sport, without mercy or conscience. This presents quite a problem as Dalinar finds himself faced with the return of the Voidbringers. Dalinar needs to use diplomacy to form an alliance to defend their world, but who would believe him? Every nation-state in the world of Roshar seems suspicious, distrusting its neighbors. Some wonder if the Alethi people are worse than the Voidbringers who have come to conquer the world. In a "Game of Thrones" way, the Alethi resemble the rulers of Westeros, who all appear corrupt, conniving and treacherous.

Dalinar has bonded himself to Honor in the previous book, which requires him to keep his Oaths and integrity. Watching him change as he struggles mightily with this, makes his arc worthwhile. Other characters' moral choices shape them as well. As the parshmen are released by the tens of thousands from their lives of slavery by all the nation-states of Roshar, how will they treat those of Roshar who have enslaved them for thousands of years? Are the parshmen the rightful rulers of Roshar? Many of the main characters in the Stormlight Archive seem have little to no moral center at the beginning. What is interesting is seeing how catastrophic and extreme events are shaping them, and some make sacrificial choices of great integrity, such as the men of Bridge Four who seek to become Knights Radiant, while others sink low and take a path that dooms themselves and others (avoiding spoilers here. .).

Some characters who have some transformative moments:

-Kaladin as he spends time observing the newly freed parshmen -Venli the Parshendi who paved the way for the Voidbringers' return -Taravangian who is alternately a fool or a genius, an empath or a sociopath, deciding what path to take. -Odium, the enemy, who comes portraying himself as an "angel of light" with a golden tongue but a heart filled with ruin and death. -Jasnah Kholin, the great historian and thinker of the Alethi, racing against time to crack the technology of the past to save their future. -Renarin, who has bonded with a void-spren, the forgotten member of Alethi royalty who may be the wild card that can tip the balance. -Lift, with the exuberance of a child, but with powers that rival any of the other Radiants. -Szeth, the Assassin in White, who is no longer forced to kill, but can now make his own choice about the direction of his life. -the men of Bridge Four, who have a new lease on life and who share a bond that has enabled them to achieve great things.

All of these characters have time in Oathbringer, some a lot more than others, but watching their choices shape them has been delightful and satisfying. Some of the characters in Oathbringer don't end well- they are not cookie cutter stories. Some crash and burn, some betray their friends and the ones they love. Others reconsider their hate, and choose love instead. While I would have wished for more time for some of my favorite characters like Kaladin, and even Lift, who had the main role in the Edgedancer book that I looked forward to seeing her story continue in Oathbringer (which it didn't), I relished every bit of Oathbringer. This is what sets it apart from most other novels of this and other genres, and I can't give it less than 5 stars with a clear conscience.

If humans still exist when Sol finally burns out and the last few stragglers leave this system for a new home among the stars, clutching a few treasured possessions to begin a new life with, this book would be one of them.

Ever wonder what it would have been like to attend the opening night of a Verdi opera? Or walk into a small Italian village and see some lucky violinist buy a brand new Stradivarius? I think we yearn to witness some true high art, to experience firsthand a masterpiece that will set a new bar for excellence in its field. Now is your chance. A hundred years from now, people will still be reading Tolkien and Lewis… and Sanderson. Some fresh young kid will finish the Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia for the first time and ask their parent or teacher… “What should I read next.” Then with an appraising look, they reach up to the top shelf, grab a huge volume with flowing storm clouds, and say “I think you might be ready for this…”

Think I’m overselling it? I’m willing to plant my flag and wait for time to prove the point. Oathbringer was the #1 pre-order of all time on Audible. That means that more people across the world have been paying good money to (digitally anyway) wait in line to listen to this book than any other in history! I personally love the gorgeous cover and end materials, but that’s just me. Regardless, if you don’t want to take my word for it, listen to the thousands of (possible more) that voted with their feet… umm dollars?... and paid for this book up front, sight unseen.

What is it about this book, and the Stormlight Archive (the series that Oathbringer is a part of) that has so many fans craving more? I thought you’d never ask… The art of our era is full of moral relativism. Our pop music, films, and books rarely, if ever, take the time to dive into the deep and meaningful questions of life. To ask the hard questions about faith, character, life, and death. Brandon’s books do just that. His characters don’t just walk through highstorms, they walk through hearts. Their journeys are epic, and mythical. There is more than a dash of magic and monsters, but the primary journey is a moral one. The narrative is fascinating because the characters are grappling with demons within and without, with huge world-crushing forces and the great moral questions that philosophers and priests have been asking since the beginning of time. “Is there a God, or anything truly Divine? What is a truly moral life? How should I treat others? Is it right for the oppressed to hate the oppressor? Is vengeance justified? Why do we fear and hate those who are different? How do we find hope and strength when the world is falling apart around us?”

I really enjoy Brandon’s worldbuilding, and am highly intrigued by his innovative magic systems. But I love his characters for how they grapple with real moral dilemmas and find the strength to overcome them and carry on. This is no cookie cutter quest or easy jaunt into fairyland. Roshar is a land where Gods die, men’s hearts fail them, and civilizations reel about searching for some hope to cling to. And where heroes are born. I was there at Brandon’s first book signing, back when Elantris was an undiscovered rookie, and will be here for the duration of the journey. Thanks Brandon for an amazing story! I can’t wait to see where you take us next!

No, I’m not going to give you major plot lines, spoilers, or hints. I love these books too much to ruin it for you. Go read The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and Oathbringer. Then comment below on whether you think I was over-selling this. You won’t be disappointed!

I continue to love this series and have consumed roughly 4000 pages of it in about a month. It’s well-written, full of action, laden with character development, and overflowing with interesting ideas about magic and mythology. For any sheltered fans of the fantasy genre who have not heard of this series or this author, I give it the hugest possible recommendation. I’m just sorry that I finished book #3 in the series a few months before book #4 is set to be released.

The third book in the Stormlight Archive series finds the main characters all facing crises: of conscience, of memory, of their personal relationships, and, most importantly, of what they want their lives to become. Kaladin, increasing in his power as a Windrunner (one of the orders of Knights Radiant, reborn after thousands of years), faces one of his periodic bouts of self-doubt, the darkness nearly consuming him into giving up. Dalinar, King of Urithiru (the rediscovered City of Knights Radiant) and uncle to the King of Alethkar, tries to understand his role in the Radiants as a Bondsmith, facing the fracturing of the alliance of nations he formed in the last book. Shallan, betrothed to Dalinar’s son, Adolin, and a Lightweaver Radiant in her own right with the abilities to project illusions and become other people, faces difficulties in deciding which of her alter egos is really her. The supporting cast (Kaladin’s Bridge Four teammates, now Windrunners themselves; Dalinar’s former sister-in-law (and now wife), Navani; Navani’s daughter, Jasnah, seemingly returned from the dead; the Assassin in White, Szeth, somehow still alive and serving as a Skybreaker Radiant trainee; and a host of others from previous books) all face similar crises of faith. Meanwhile, the army of once-Parshendi (many of whom have been transformed into Fused, a sort of counterpart on their side to the Radiants) marches towards a confrontation with the allied forces of man, just when that alliance is crumbling and many of the alliance’s strongest supporters have disappeared into a parallel plane of existence. And along the way, the world discovers a shocking secret about the nature of the conflict that shakes the very foundations of everyone’s beliefs.

The plot is incredibly intricate, with dozens of interweaving storylines that all support each other in a grand whole. With so many pages in each novel (each one ranges just above or below 1300 pages), there’s ample space to have complex arcs for every character, even the minor ones, while making sure there’s plenty of plot movement and action. There’s political intrigue, soul-searching inner conflict, pledges to higher ideals, conversations with deities, loads of fighting, and a good bit of humor (thanks to Rock, Lopen, Shallan, and Lift in particular). Even the undercurrent of racism I noted in previous reviews in this series seems to be addressed as one of the main plot points (as I thought it might), and the solution to that problem will likely be central to the later books in this series. It really is one of those books that has so much going on that it’s hard to put down.

As for the mechanics, it’s incredibly tight in its editing, a few split infinitives or pronoun errors aside. Page-for-page, it’s one of the cleanest series of books I’ve read in a long time, so kudos to Sanderson and his editorial team for presenting a well-written final product.

I can’t say enough good things about this series. Go read it.

Oathbringer is the third installment of The Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson’s highly-acclaimed series set in the Cosmere. The story has major middle-book vibes, which makes sense considering this is a 5-book series. While it may not have the panache of the first two books in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed Oathbringer. READER BE WARNED, SPOILERS FOR THE WAY OF KINGS AND WORDS OF RADIANCE ARE BELOW. If you have not read my reviews for the first two books, I recommend doing that first as there are continuing themes.

When I say “panache” I mean that books 1 and 2 of the series came through like a highstorm, with so much power as to be destructive and restorative at the same time. They were wall-to-wall action, almost never allowing the reader to come up for air, finishing in fabulous style with the way everything culminated at the end of Words of Radiance. And to that I say: take my breath away. I do not need it, for the stormlight will sustain me. Oathbringer, by contrast, is a very typical middle book (if anything Sanderson writes can be called “typical”), more gambit than check chase.

With the coming of the Everstorm and many secrets unlocked, Dalinar, Kaladin, et al are resetting and learning a new way of life. The main protagonists have all evolved and are occupying the ancient city of Urithiru, and the Parshmen have been freed. All of the players are moving pieces around the board, searching for an opportunity to put their opponent into zugzswang. This is a long series, and as a reader I enjoyed the break from the constant war, death, and destruction of the first two installments. The way Oathbringer is written, it gives the reader many opportunities to survey the scene, learn more about Roshar, its people and history. One way Sanderson accomplishes this is with flashback narratives, which is an underrated aspect of this series.

I do not believe I mentioned this in my previous reviews, so this is a great time to do so. From a writing perspective, flashbacks are hard. If they are going to take my interest away from the main storyline, they should not overwhelm, but at the same time need to be relevant and interesting. This type of narrative can be a detriment to a book if not done well, but when an author finds a balance it can be a boon. That is exactly what Sanderson has accomplished with this seres, as the flashbacks were phenomenal in providing supplementary information, focusing on first on Kaladin and Shallan in the first two books and now Dalinar and the Parshmen in Oathbringer. To me, this provides even more depth to a series that is already overflowing with it. I think that is a good thing, as a story can never be too deep (watch Sanderson take that comment and run with it – not that the encouragement is all that necessary).

Another great aspect of Oathbringer is that it really ups the ante for the rest of the series. In the first two books there is a lot of standard warfare, introducing the reader to many of the players and how their powers work. It was a really exciting start, but Oathbringer has a different feeling. The Big Bang at the end of Words of Radiance put the pieces in place to rebuild sections of the story. It is much slower than the first two books, working to a longer crescendo. At the same time, the world is entirely different now. Because the it has changed so much, and because everything is going through a bit of reset, the reader is able to learn so much about this new-age right along with the characters. And that really is the brilliance of Sanderson’s writing overall (as I have come to find), which is that is feels so interactive as the reader is able to experience every event right along with the characters. That feeling of immersion has often been what has made this series so unputdownable, and Oathbringer taking a different narrative path than the first two books in the series is helped by this immersive atmosphere.

Here is the thing about the ending: I cannot talk about it. In typical Sanderson style that crescendo that has been building culminates in an unbelievable way. It is easily the best ending of the first three books, and that saying something because I felt that way about each subsequent book in the series. The fact that Sanderson continues to up the ante is impressive, and I left this book with my jaw dropped.

While Oathbringer is incredibly well-done, there was one detraction I want to mention. Certain events (small[ish] ones, none of the big reveals) felt rushed to me. There is a scene at the beginning of the book that felt that way to me (if you read it you will know what I am talking about), and a few others like it along the way. I know it is hard to say in a 1,000+-page book, but I would have preferred to ruminate on certain events for a bit. It is a bit of a weird thought because Sanderson at times can be the King of Rumination, so take those words with a grain of salt.

This Stormlight Archive continues to be absolutely fabulous. Oathbringer is another phenomenal entry into the series, and yet again gets my highest recommendation. It has set things up for what I expect to be an amazing second half to the series, and I am very much looking forward to Rhythm of War.

Oathbringer is another spectacular installment in one of my all time favorite epic fantasy series. The Stormlight Archive starts with The Way of Kings, which you need to have read (along with the second book, Words of Radiance) before you pick up Oathbringer.

I love this series. It’s got excellent ideas, world building, characters, and it’s all exciting enough to keep my flipping the pages in this gigantic book. A lot of times, I’ve found the third volume in an epic fantasy series is where I tend to quit. I start realizing that the plot’s moving super slow, the characters are basically treading water, and then I start asking myself why I’m reading. I was a bit nervous the same would happen with Oathbringer, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, Oathbringer left me even more invested in this series and willing to follow it to the end, however many decades that’ll take.

At the end of Words of Radiance, the Parshendi summoned the Everstorm and became possessed, losing the independence they’d so craved. Dalinar and the Alethi armies have retreated to the city of Urithiru, an ancient stronghold above the force of the storm. Dalinar still has to fulfill his god’s last command: “Unite them.” But the nations of Roshar don’t trust him, seeing all his diplomatic outreaches as pretenses that will lead to an Alethi army on their doorsteps. Meanwhile, the Everstorm has awakened the parshmen, a species the humans have kept enslaved for millennia. The parshmen are angry, and their anger is not unreserved. What looks to have been a simple battle between good and evil grows a lot more complicated. Are the humans of Roshar really in the right?

Where The Way of Kings focused on Kaladin and Words of Radiance on Shallen, Oathbringer focuses in on Dalinar. I’ll be honest, when I first started reading, I thought Dalinar was kind of annoying, and I started questioning how I’d liked him in previous books. He felt like such a stereotypical character, you know, the super honorable older warrior. It was boring. But then Sanderson completely flips that on its head. Dalinar has gaps in his memory, something we’ve known about since book one. In Oathbringer, those gaps start to disappear, and Dalinar remembers just what sort of man he used to be and what he’s done.

<blockquote>“Sometimes a hypocrite is nothing more than a man in the process of changing.”</blockquote>

Of course, other characters have their own arcs. Shallen’s admitted to herself what she’s done, and it’s growing increasingly hard for her to hide from that knowledge. She’s started constructing alternate personas and losing herself in them. She hates herself and would rather be someone else. Obviously, this isn’t exactly a healthy cooping mechanism.

Kaladin’s in a much better place than he was in The Way of Kings, but his mental health issues (which I read as being depression) don’t just magically go away. I think this is something he’ll be dealing with for the rest of the series. I hope he finds a way to manage it. I’m really happy Sanderson’s addressing mental health issues, as it’s something that really interests me, especially in a fantasy or historic setting. When the modern combination of drugs and therapy isn’t available, how do you learn to live with your mental health issues and still function?

I’m noticing that the Stormlight Archives contains more disabled characters than I normally see in fantasy. Depression, healing from trauma, addiction and other mental health issues are all notable, but there’s characters with physical abilities as well, such as Renarian and Rysn, an apprentice merchant who appears in some of the interludes. She actually has an incredibly badass scene in Oathbringer that’s one of my favorite parts of the whole book.

I’ve decided to stop quibbling over the size of these books. Yeah, you could probably find stuff to cut here or there (some of the bridgemen chapters for instance), but this story is suited for a large size. I got an ebook copy so I didn’t have to haul a honking 1200+ page monstrosity around with me, but I do sort of want a hardback copy. The book design looks so gorgeous.

Back to the topic of characters, I wish there was more explanation for why Szeth made the major decision he did. That’s probably my main complaint about Oathbringer. Oh, and Eshoni continues to give me so many feels! I mean, they all do, but Eshoni especially.

Oathbringer is another installment in a truly great epic fantasy series that’s becoming surprisingly subversive. If you at all like fantasy, please do yourself a favor and read The Stormlight Archives. I love this world and love these characters. My only problem is now I’ve got to wait years for another book, blast it. Still, I’m sure whatever Sanderson writes next will be worth the wait.

"Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."

This is the First Ideal of the Knights Radiant, and if broken into three parts, each phrase encapsulates a book thus far in the series. Book 1, The Way of Kings (5/5 stars), is all about finding the strength to live, even in the face of increasingly difficult odds. No matter how difficult it is to live, at least by living, we can still do something. In death, we are unable to make a difference. It focused on the burdens our heroes faced, and them rising to the challenge and choosing to live and walk the difficult path. Book 2, Words of Radiance, tested our heroes, revealing their mountains in TWOK were only pebbles in their path. It threatened to break them, expose their weaknesses and lay them vulnerable. However TRUE strength can only be forged by facing our darkest secrets, by admitting our weaknesses, we can face them, learn and grow. Words of Radiance was this step in our heroes journeys. Finally, in Book 3, Oathbringer, we find our heroes are all focused on reaching the end, their destination, but this book reminds us that the journey is equally important. We have to look at where we began, reflect on how far we have traveled, and though we may be focused on the destination, what matters most is having the strength and courage to take the next step.

Oathbringer is the 3rd of 5 books in the first arc of The Stormlight Archive. As a continuation, it is a masterful, meticulous continuation into our exploration of the mysterious world of Roshar, and our main characters. World building is excellent, with lots of various locales being described and visited, allowing us to learn lots about the people and culture. Some answers to threads left dangling from earlier books are provided, but even more plot points are set up for fans to speculate and theorize about. The book itself is excellent in it's development of characters and the situations they are made to face. Brandon Sanderson does very well in driving us deeper into the growing intrigue of Roshar, and for those who are paying attention, the greater story of the Cosmere. Oathbringer is over 1200+ pages long and though the initial start is slow to build, the story that unfolds feels very natural and organic. The pacing works, as it increases anticipation, allowing moments that surprise or shocks us to connect deeply with the reader. Several major developments occur during the course of the book, of natures both triumphant and soul-crushing. The last fifth, when all the character come together, is an emotional roller coaster, framed by an exhilarating, climactic battle. When this book ends, the payoff is very real, and I cannot stress how amazed I am that Brandon makes this look easy!

Oathbringer is another stunning addition to the already impressive Stormlight Archive. My love of this series continuously deepens with each new addition and re-read. This journey impacts on me deeply. Events are starting to come together, but the journey has only begun. A solid 5 stars! A worthy read!

I had complained (mostly to myself) that ‘The Way of Kings’ and ‘Words of Radiance’ almost felt like the same book and I wondered if somehow they could have been crammed into one volume by cutting some of the fat. I enjoy both of those books and Sanderson’s world-building is incredible in the Stormlight series, but I did get just a tad bored with the sheer amount of plateau runs Kaladin and his team ran, as well as the general setting of the Shattered Plains. Well it’s almost like Sanderson heard me loud and clear when he made Oathbringer, which in itself feels like it has two books worth of content into one volume rather than the other way around. In fact, the first two books almost felt like an insanely long prologue for this one.

I’m almost not even sure where to begin actually reviewing this book. The Stormlight series by no means conforms to standard story structures or plot development and it definitely does not borrow from atypical fantasy tropes.The world here is strange and unique and made even more so now that we’re seeing more of it. The action is just as evenly spaced as in the first two books (little snippets of action scattered throughout the tome, punctuated by a giant action sequence at the end) with a lot of that action actually taking place in Dalinar’s past segments. There is actually more political maneuvering and scheming in Oathbringer than there is actual fighting. This part may be boring to some, but I enjoyed it. As readers, we finally get to see past the Plains and the Alethi and get an idea of how some of the other nations work. One thing this book does a lot of, and I mean a lot, is answer questions. The first two books introduce a lot of ideas and give us plenty of hints, but not a lot of concrete answers as to why all of the magic works the way it does and why the Parshendi conflict started the way it did and... you get the idea. I never thought I’d say this, but there may be a point where a story can actually answer TOO many questions. By the end of Oathbringer, I almost felt overloaded with information. It wasn’t that I couldn’t keep track of it all, it was more that I got to thinking, “after all of this, where in the hell is the next book even going to go?”

I don’t have a lot to say that hasn’t already been covered in countless reviews of this massive book, so perhaps I’ll break the rest up by the main characters with a few thoughts on their progress through this story.

Kaladin: Kaladin remains my least favorite of the primary characters of the Stormlight series. My reasons for this are almost too vague to me to even understand, but I suppose in simple terms, it can boil down to one thing: he’s kind of boring. If this were an RPG, he’s the character I wouldn’t pick because I’d be bored playing him. He doesn’t have character faults, so the only negative things about him are what other people have done to him, not really what he’s done to himself. He’s mopey, sarcastic and distrustful because of his past plights, yet a natural leader and able to motivate anyone. He’s the warrior, the healer and now he’s a super powerful radiant with mastery of his wind powers powers. Kaladin reminds me more of an anime character than someone I could actually meet in real life. I enjoy his chapters, as fun things tend to happen in them, but as a character, I care about him the least.

Dalinar: Dalinar has a lot of the same traits as Kaladin but he’s a much more interesting character. His faults are his own. Many of his problems were brought about by his own decisions, some of which he made decades ago, and he’s still working to overcome those faults. He’s noble, but he only got there by learning many harsh lessons along the way. He may also become ultra powerful like Kaladin, but he gets there by a more reluctant path and to me, this makes him more grounded. I had a lot of fun reading about his backstory as well.

Shallan: Shallan has previously been my favorite character and she MIGHT still retain that mantle, I haven’t quite decided yet. Her character arch takes a rather strange turn in Oathbringer. It’s not that this turn is completely unexpected, as hints of it are given to us toward the end of book 2, but it puts her in a rather strange place. Or rather... multiple strange places... If you’ve read the book, you might understand that joke. I still think that she has more depth than Kaladin or Dalinar and I always look forward to her chapters more than any others.

Those are the primary protagonists, the ones with the most page time. There are several minor characters with POV chapters as well, the most prominent of them being Szeth. I enjoyed Szeth’s parts in this book, though he’s completely changed as a character since the last books. We get to read more about who he actually is now that he isn’t being driven by a destructive force that he felt obligated to oblige. He deals with inner torments based on the things that he’s done while also learning more about his abilities now that he has a proper teacher. And then there’s Lift. Lift was only in book 2 in one of the short stories but now she’s upgraded to secondary character. She also had her own spinoff book that took place before Oathbringer that everyone told me I “had” to read before Oathbringer. I didn’t though and I just read the wiki synopsis. I seem to be in the minority here, but... I don’t really like Lift. I know she’s supposed to be the “fun” character and her carefree attitude is supposed to be endearing but she’s just goofy and out of place to me. Her referring to her abilities as “the awesomeness” and her teenager blase attitude toward everything just sucks any tension out of the scenes she’s in. It’s hard to feel dramatic tension during a major battle sequence when Lift is busy talking about food.

That complaint about Lift actually is a sort of undertone for one of my major problems with Oathbringer: there’s too much silly. Most of the silliness is prevalent in with Kaladin’s Bridge Crew, which isn’t entirely new as there’s always silly banter going on between the Bridge Crew. There’s just more of it in this book. I don’t necessarily need all of my fantasy fiction to be bleak, but the level of goofiness sometimes detracts from otherwise serious moments. This is a complaint I haven’t had with Sanderson’s other books I’ve read. The humor in Mistborn, for example, seems more in check. Granted, the tone and setting of Mistborn are more bleak than Stormlight, so perhaps the author feels he can have more fun with the tone. It’s not horrible, just occasionally obnoxious.

My other major complaint about this book: it seems to be a vehicle for revelations as much as it is a vehicle for story-telling. There’s surprise and twist after surprise and twist and by the end I felt like I had just read an entire series worth of plot reveals. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly bugs me about this, as it’s not necessarily a BAD thing, I just felt like perhaps too much mystery was stripped away by the end of the massive tome.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable book, despite my complaints. I couldn’t stop reading it, so I definitely enjoyed it. If the 4th book was available at this very moment, I probably wouldn’t read it right away, as I didn’t finish this book thinking “I must read more right now!”, but it was still an epic fantasy in Sanderson’s usual tradition and I am genuinely curious to see where this series is going next.

In short, this is a great third installment to the Stormlight Archives, and readers will not be disappointed. The core characters are there, doing their stuff, there are plenty of mysteries, revelations, character progression, and it ends up with some incredible moments that are exactly what readers wish for in a fantasy book conclusion. Events are big, bold and exciting. The stakes are high, and the powers and magic are bigger and better than before. If it were a movie, the effects would be better than ever, the running time longer than ever, and the big name actors would all be together in scenes, making all their best quips and speaking character-defining lines.

Readers of the first two books are going to enjoy this, and be well satisfied. Anyone who hasn't read the other two books should definitely not start here. That would be crazy. Stormlight Archives is a series that will no more forgive you skipping the first two books than Lord of the Rings would.

Oathbringer is not perfect though. It's a long good, and not many authors could write a book this long and be consitent throughout. It's good. Maybe even great, but there are also flaws, mis-steps, and frustrations.

The biggest complaint I have, is that Oathbringer is a slow starter. A really slow starter. At first, it meanders, it heads down dead-end paths, it wastes time on characters or events we don't care about much, and attempts to tie up plot-threads left over from previous books that didn't need it, often in unsatisfactory ways.

However, once the first third of the book is over, the plot gets moving and the story begins in earnest. From thereon, things are tight and tense, heading for a climax that arrives at the right place in the book and delivers more excitement that anticipated. There's just the right amount of "tie up" afterwards. It's a satisfying ending, even if it does end "Marvel Style", creating a lot of hooks for the next book in the series.

If the first third of the book were ... another book entirely ... Oathbringer would be a good length, tight and well paced from start to finish, delivering satisfactory adventures and revelations for all the characters we've grown to love from the first two books... And those first two books are Sanderson at his best. For me, Stormlight is his most original series, his most interesting setting, and his best characters. The first book of Mistborn was awesome, but alas that series started to flounder in the second book. In contrast, Stormlight is three books, all very as good, and showing no signs of falling into premature resolution just yet.

If there's a problem, it's clearly that it's not two books, it's one. It's overlong, and the start is slow, boring and frustrating at once. Every one of those early chapters I felt that I'd been robbed of plot events that could have been great and given a substitute that was merely acceptable in its place. Once the preparation is over, things start to improve, and it keeps on getting better from there.

There were events I wanted to see, and threads I wanted resolved, and they weren't covered, and instead we got ... Kaladin doing almost nothing for chapter after chapter... Shallan suffering from unconvincingly articifial personality problems for chapter after chapter ... and a lot of time spend on the fabrial researchers failing to understand that Urithiru is missing its "zero-point modules" or something (Stargate Atlantis fans will feel my pain regarding Urithiru - it's a little bit too similar to the city from that show).

Stormlight Archives in general, and Oathbringer individually, have - like most Sanderson books - a debt to Wheel of Time, but despite the planned length of the cycle, it doesn't feel like Wheel of Time, which frustrated readers by presenting heroes then whisked them away, repeatedly, denying them a chance to be what they were supposed to be, only to end it all up in a giant fight scene that could never pay back what was stolen. Let us hope that Stormlight doesn't do this... There are some worrying signs in Oathbringer that Sanderson might be considering doing this.

Oathbringer does have a giant fight scene, and that it shows up this early in the series is a good indicator that the heroes will be allowed to be the characters we were promised. Nevertheless, there are also signs to the contrary.

The ending of Oathbringer is better than the ending of Words of Radiance, and that was a hard act to follow.

Unfortunately, it feels like Sanderson has been reacting to criticism of Mistborn having an obvious, dull ending ever since. The problem is that his reaction is misplaced. He tries to keep the reader guessing by undermining expectations. This can end up leaving a feeling of being cheated - as in the Reckoners - by resort to a Deux Ex Machina ending to try and create surprise, depriving us of the obvious good ending we were expecting. Game of Thrones has shown us that bait and switch tactics annoy the majority fantasy audience. If we wanted that sort of thing we could read literary fiction, where there is zero narrative economy and no promise of adherence to genre norms.

Sanderson's fear of predictability leads to the worst parts of the Oathbringer, where old threads are tied up in weak "unexpected" ways, or character progression is transparently retarded so that other characters can be given more space to shine. I can't say too much about who wins and who loses in this lottery without creating spoilers, though I say that some characters get better personal arcs than others - see below. Yes, problems are solved, weak characters are improved, but its at the expense of previously strong ones, and maybe that didn't have to be the case?

In particular, while Shallan isn't diminished in terms of achievements and relevance, her character arc seems to have faltered. With no new revelations to fall back on, we're given some contrived developments to her personality. She is written in a heavy-handed, forced/awkward way that only gets clumsier as the story progresses. Over and over again, Sanderson tells rather than shows. The events themselves are solid, but the writing doesn't support them well. Her inner narrative is particularly trite. Comparison to Julian May, who did an incredible job of nuanced character development in the Many Coloured Land series, is not favourable. May developed characters without frequent resort to lazy "telling". In this book, Shallan's inner voice seems more like like it belongs to a YA-fiction or X-Men comic character than one of the lead protagonists of an adult fantasy series. Sure, it's not awful, and the pace of action means you don't notice it so much as you might, but it's not as good as Words of Radiance, and definitely not the best that Sanderson can deliver.

There are strong signs that Brandon Sanderson hasn't been getting the editorial assistance he needs to do his best work. The later books of the Reckoners series, with its awkward, mis-timed character-arcs, mid-book climaxes that left you exhausted for the latter half of the book, and other problems show this clearly. A good editor would have spotted those problems and convinced him to fix them... A good editor would have fixed the characterisation of Shallan and Kaladin so their arcs felt natural rather than forced. A good editor would have pointed out the inappopriate use of tell over show when developing those characters. Most importantly, a good editor would have made sure they were listened to and acted on. I can't guess to what extend Sanderson got advice on Oathbringer, or how good the actual comments were, but if it was good advice, he clearly didn't act on some of it.

Stormlight Archives has generally fared better than Reckoners or Mistborn. The first two books were not blighted by many dull spots or wasted narrative. Sanderson seems extremely averse to narrative economy of late, frequently attempting to subvert reader expectations. This doesn't always work. It can be frustrating, disappointing, or simply annoying, when a whole books is spent telegraphing an event that never comes, or arrives in the wrong way at the wrong time, leaving an empty, hollow feeling of disappointment - a sensation of being cheated by the author - again Reckoners showed the worst of this, but...

There are still points where you will end up thinking, "this never got resolved, or that was made into a big deal, then turned out to be nothing, or that other thing was made out to be important and then ended up being a dead end." Ryse is a good example. She needed more time, more chapters, more development. Instead, we get a huge dump of her unconvincingly info-dumping on us in her inner narrative. This is pure "telling", zero show. What a waste of a character. And after the Lift novella, there wasn't enough Lift in Oathbringer. We could have had these things if the first third of the book had been trimmed appropriately, or pushed out into its own "Dune Messiah" sized Novella.

I believe that if the first third of Oathbringer had been split off into one of those novellas that Sanderson loves, and paired with the Lift novella, it would have improved the pacing of Oathbringer measurably. Despite the time allocated, Kaladin's plot threads weren't tied up well, and that undercut his development in the rest of the book. Shallan's situation wasn't well established either. Instead of evolving from the end of book two, it was just presented to us, with no real justification, entirely as "telling" and narrative info dumps.

Sadly, after finishing Oathbringer, I can't see how Kaladin or Shallan are supposed to be developing, what they need to overcome, or how they might overcome it, and this means their character arcs have become arbitrary. While we are told very clearly what they cannot do, it feels too often that their character arcs serve the plot, and so their development stalls or advances in directions that lack a proper internal consistence of character. Too often, inner narrative becomes inner excuses for the latest plot shift.

If Kaladin had revisted, and build on his earlier concerns about integrating the role of healer and warrior (and their resolutions) as shown in the previous two books - in a way that the reader could see that progression - it would have been better. Instead we're just told things happen - until the big "reveal" moment. In the big reveal we have him failing in ways that were already resolved. Moash was the plot point of book two. It was done. How can it be stronger by being repeated? It isn't, it's weaker. It feels like a cheat. The internal monologue that tries to explain this is weakened because it ignores previous events to such a great extent. Kaladin is just a puppet of the plot. We lose faith in the honesty of his character arc, and are frustrated when his actions come out of nowhere, explained only by inner narrative. The clumsy linking between the parshmen slaves and the human slaves in Kaladin's memory is so forced, it doesn't work. We never learned to like the parshmen in the early sections. They were just a nuisance stopping Kaladin doing cool stuff and holding up the plot. Their later return just makes us like them less. At least, that's how I felt about it. I did not feel that Sanderson made those characters compelling or built any genuine empathy with them.

If Shallan's fragmentation were more properly established from the start, and there was a proper inciting event, and real reasons for why she doesn't integrate her selves, we would feel that a resolution of the problem or a worsening was meanginful. Instead it just proceeds to suit the plot, and the internal monologue that tries to justify it falls flat.

Fortunately, as the supposed main hero of this book, Dalinar's arc works better than that of the other main heroes. His developments and early history are awesome. The only problem is it makes it hard to believe Sadeas would ever have dared go up against him.

The character were Sanderson does best is Adolin. He doesn't overshadow the main heroes, but his developments are organic, well founded, and believable. They don't feel arbitrary or forced. They aren't presented entirely in his inner voice. We're shown how Adolin acts, not told. His character doesn't have to bear too much weight in the plot, and so he's allowed to develop in his own way without having to have his powers vary just make the plot work, and yet the things he does have huge plot implications and great emotional resonance.

Speaking of historical revelations that don't quite gel with events we've been shown directly, re-reading the first two books after reading this made it obvious that Sanderson's ideas about how certain powers work, about the cognitive realm, about how spren work, how spren live and function, have all changed significantly since the earlier books. No matter how he tried to keep it vague, or try and paint over the changes, there are clear differences and disconnects that are hard to explain. The idea of how spren interface with the physical realm remains a bit of a shaky convenience, and there isn't the feeling that it's entirely well thought out. Oathbringer could have fixed a lot of that, but has really only muddled it further. I suspect some of these ideas were formed part way through Words of Radiance, and it was partially fixed to accomodate them, but the job wasn't completely finished.

One major "clunk" is that Pattern treats the Recreance as an event in book 2. Where did he get this point of view? It turns out to be largely wrong, as were his explanations of spren origin, which seem at odds with the description of spren parentage. While Sanderson can probably wallpaper over this in later books, it does make it frustrating that we're told crucial things that are wrong (or lies) by characters who act as if they have first-hand knowledge, and are generally truthful on other similar topics.

While the new developments work well, there are problems with them too. A bit like the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey grade nonsense of the multiple dimensions in Reckoners, the cognitive realm remains a problem. Sanderson is trying to keep it mysterious, while also trying to make it work consistently. These two things can't easily be reconciled. He's going to have to come down on one side or the other soon, or the following books will feel like the cognitive realm maguffin is being used to justify too much that should have been explained by proper character development instead.

But in conclusion. If you read the first two, read this. If you haven't read the first two but like Sanderson, or Wheel of Time, or fantasy epics like Game of Thrones, then you should read the Stormlight Archives books, but don't start with the third one!

First let me say that I have a GREAT deal of respect for Brandon and his work. I go WAY out of my way to recommend his stuff to people, and have recently even purchased a few copies of The Way of Kings for friends of mine who I knew would like it but I couldn't get them to get up and get the book. (and they loved it) I also listened to every single season of Writing Excuses at least 4-5x and consider it a significant part of what as made me into whatever "level" of writer I am currently, which I'll say I would classify as "I don't totally suck". I also actively encourage other writers to do this and, yes, have gone as far as handing them a DVD with 10 seasons of writing excuses to listen to. (free to download, FYI)

So, it's fair to say I am a Brandon Booster.

But this book is disappointing on many levels. In the interest of just trying to provide some information that I hope will be valuable to any who might read it. I’m going to approach this essentially unemotionally, and address each issue briefly.

In summary, though, this book honestly feels like an early draft that they pushed through without much external editing. Every writer, no matter how good, starts with manuscript that needs tons of love to bring it to the final product. This one reads very much like that. Why they let this book get published this way is beyond me. Perhaps it’s just because it’s been so long and the fans were screaming. Perhaps Brandon has become so big that the editors have been told to go easy. Whatever the case, this book was not finished and not to the level of quality I expect from an author who I believe to care very deeply about a quality product.

Here are my issues in no particular order… (and note that many points bleed into other points because the issues I find in this book permeate the entire text)

First, this book is full of unnecessary material. There is much in here that contributes only to pacing problems. You can literally skip whole chapters and it will have no substantial impact on your understanding of the story, the characters, etc. One could argue that maybe there are things I’m skipping that will matter in future books, but with these books being so long, and so far apart in release, there is likely no way I’m going to remember it all by the time I get there anyway. I’ve also gone back to a number of sections I skipped and double-checked… and nope… nothing lost.

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… cutting the book down nearly always makes it stronger.

Second, this book has a great many of what my friends and I are laughingly calling “meetings and conference calls”. There are endless chapters where there are people sitting around debating something or talking about something. Rarely can I tell you what the debate was about, because the debates themselves are not even interesting. Even the characters are, in some cases, complaining about sitting around in meetings. This is such a running theme in the book that I’ve started to call it “Brandon’s Book of Meetings” and part of me has to wonder if he’s starting to spend more of his personal life in conference rooms and it’s just leaking into his prose.

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… characters not actually “doing” anything tends to be dull and uninteresting.

Third, this book focuses on viewpoints that we mostly don’t care about. Kaladin takes a back seat and we’re spending time with secondary characters that mostly are window dressing in previous books. It’s possible that some of these characters are more interesting than we think, and in at least one case that turns out to be true. But for most of them, it is not. The “interlude” characters are particularly painful for the most part because they are often about people we’ll never see again, and on the rare occasion that we wind up interested in them, poof… we’re back to Dalinar in a conference call. Granted, this is more of a personal opinion than some of the other points.

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… too many characters can cause issues in a book. Switching characters can force the reader to deal with a character they’re not interested in, and the ramp up time can literally lose your reader.

Fourth, our main characters have faltered significantly. Shallan becomes ridiculously whiny and tries to hide from herself. Kaladin falls so victim to his own nonsense that he fails to uphold the one tenet of his character that constantly makes us love him anyway. Dalinar turns into some failed attempt at a diplomat. And Adolin… poor Adolin… becomes nothing more than a back-seat love interest who mostly just occasionally grunts remarks at Kaladin when Kaladin is telling him to do things.

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… hesitant characters are hard to pull off. The characters must be active. Flawed, certainly, but striving towards some ideal. Rarely can you get away with whiny or inactive characters.

Fifth, the voidbringers largely turn out to be postal workers and cooks. The bulk of the looming horrifying bad thing turns out to be mostly just people, just like everyone else. Just as tired and confused as any other people suddenly pressed into war. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the looming evil of the book sort of fizzles out and becomes “mostly people” who are led by some big baddies that only occasionally show up and in small numbers, and are hardly bringing anything close to “the desolations”. Heck, they just kind of move in, kick out the occupants of the city, and treat their captives extremely well. It’s like a benevolent army of postal workers. It’s really weird. There could be some big surprise coming, but we’ve not maintained the urgency here.

From the writer’s perspective… you have to keep the threat levels up or the reader isn’t worried about the characters anymore. This is compounded by the next point.

Sixth, we have leveled up certain characters to a point where they are essentially gods, and even gone as far as bringing some previously killed characters back from what we thought was their death. This means that pretty much all sense of concern over these characters possibly dying flies out the window… hell, they can’t even lose limbs at this point. So, every scuffle they get into, I just yawn.

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… if you have super powerful characters, you must ensure that they are dealing with even more powerful enemies, or some sort of conflict that is well outside of their zone of power. And no, struggling to keep awake during meetings is not an interesting conflict.

Seventh… Spock’s second set of eyelids. Yes, I know we have characters that are learning new powers pretty much on the fly, but no, you cannot just insert a sentence like “Oh, and it turns out that you don’t need to breathe when you have stormlight so Shallan was totally fine” and expect to get away with it. And there is a fair bit of this going on in the book, so… again… I’m just assuming that our characters will pull out some new trick they didn’t know about previously to solve whatever issue they’re now facing, further reinforcing the god character problem. Unless, of course, they suddenly and pointlessly die. (next point)

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this one particularly from Brandon as he is famous for making this point… magic systems must have rules, and you must foreshadow enough so that the changes are surprising but inevitable. (two things laced into one here, but they are two different things)

Eighth, many deaths are abrupt meaningless. This happened in a prior book and was later kind of explained by the fact that the person was not actually dead at all, which has its own issues, but we can accept that I suppose. But multiple times in this series, someone is building up to a major conflict with another character, and then that character just dies in a back-alley stabbing (categorical, not literal). Sure, we have that looming thing of “oh wait, they’ll come back from the dead later maybe?” but you’re left feeling cheated or just played with, and neither is good.

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… you have to make your character’s deaths mean something.

Ninth, there are crazy pacing issues. This does relate a lot to just the overall unnecessary content in the book, but not entirely. We spend endless time on meetings where nothing of import happens, and then we take a growing character from nothing, to suddenly becoming a radiant- which was never foreshadowed- to dead. All in about a paragraph or two. It’s literally like “oh… he’s a radiant. I guess? That seems… unexpected and almost deus ex machina… oh wait. Never mind. He’s dead. Oh and Brandon made a point to make sure we understand he’s really dead, probably because we don’t believe him anymore because he brought people back to life.”

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… pacing is extremely important. You have to match the speed of the prose with the mood of the scene in question.

Tenth: Lift. Seriously. She is, hands-down, the most amazing, fascinating and humorous character in the book. The entire book should be about her, from her perspective, and everyone else should be a secondary character. She is quite literally breathtaking to read, and has been since the first time we met her. And we, at best, get a paragraph or two of her now and again, with our main… and far less interesting characters… doing little more than scratching their heads and saying “wow, she was odd”, then shrugging their shoulders and going back to their meetings. We either need all of Brandon’s characters to be as interesting as Lift, be given far more of her POV, or have her removed from the book entirely. By the way, Taravangian flirts with this issue as well. Also a fascinating character that we barely get to see, though not nearly so impactful as Lift.

From the writer’s perspective… and I learned this from Brandon, himself… you cannot have one character so outshine your other characters that they become the focus of the book and pull the attention away from the main characters. Brandon famously talks about some villain that he injected late into one of his other books. The character was amazing, and his editor agreed that the character was amazing, but his editor made him pull him out anyway because it was too much of a distraction. This is that same scenario over again, only Lift is not a “bad guy”.

Eleventh: The LGBTQ+ thing. My original review harped on this issue in particular because for a portion of the book it really stood out. It pales over time by comparison and doesn’t come up much beyond that section, but it still needs a mention. The whole LGBTQ+ “issue” in our society is an important one, and yes, it’s good to bring it up and discuss it. However, I still believe that the tenet of “you must have what’s IN the book be important TO the book”. Yes, any common society is going to have LGBTQ+ elements to it, and Brandon’s book has society. But any common society will also have issues with a variety of other things that are not addressed in this book… likely because they are not important to it. Frankly, the entire thing feels forced.

From the writer’s perspective… write what’s important to the story. Cut the rest.

And yes, I learned all of this from Brandon. Which begs the question of why Brandon, or at least his editors, did not listen to his own advice. There may be more, but I’m tired of writing this and my kids want donuts, so I’ll wrap this up.

The tragedy of all this is I think I may be done with Brandon. This was such an utter disappointment. I have no heroes in life. I’ve just never been that kind of person. But Brandon has been someone who I have held in extreme high regard for his craftsmanship and contribution to an art form I hold dear. He’s been the model of who I want to become, even knowing full well the odds are ridiculously not in my favor of attaining it. And suddenly, my model has fallen apart right in front of me.

I’m very disappointed. Very. Dissapointed.