A review by spootilious
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 

Oathbringer, despite not quite being in the middle, suffers from middle book syndrome, in my opinion. That, of course, is not to say that it isn’t good. Quite the opposite. I have yet to read a Sanderson book that is bad. The world building continues to entrance, the characters continue to be lovable and tormented, the writing continues to be strong. 

 

I believe the issue I had with Oathbringer is that it dragged. The pacing seemed a bit slower than the previous two books. That paired with the slightly annoying love triangle and the ‘plot twist’ that I predicted in book one made it fall less than par for me. 

 

However, this book is still a solid three stars! I enjoyed it for the most part and the series makes it all worth it. There were smaller ‘plot twists’ that caught me by surprise and the pacing was necessary to add to the series as a whole. 

 

Quotes: 

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

 

“To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.” 

 

“The question... is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.” 

 

“A journey will have pain and failure. It is not only the steps forward that we must accept. It is the stumbles. The trials. The knowledge that we will fail. That we will hurt those around us. 

But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. To love the journey is to accept no such end. " 

 

“Life breaks us, ... Then we fill the cracks with something stronger.” 

 

“As long as you keep trying, there's a chance. When you give up? That's when the dream dies.” 

 

“Every moment in our lives seem trivial, ... Most are forgotten while some, equally humble, become the points upon which history pivots.” 

 

“Logically... the bright side is the only side you can look on because the other side is dark.” 

 

“Artists spend more of their lives making bad practice pieces than they do masterworks, particularly at the start. And even when an artist becomes a master, some pieces don't work out. Still others are somehow just wrong until the last stroke. You learn more from bad art than you do from good art, as your mistakes are more important than your successes. Plus, good art usually evokes the same emotions in people --- Most good art is the same kind of good. But bad pieces can each be bad in their own unique way.” 

 

“Morality and law are built upon the bodies of the slain.” 

 

“It is obscenely difficult-- if not impossible-- to make something that nobody hates, ... Conversely, it is incredibly easy-- if not expected-- to make something that nobody loves.”