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A review by cpcabaniss
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
Reread September 6th-30th 2020
This was my third reading of this novel and I must say it was by and far my favorite of the three readings. Shallan annoyed me greatly on the first two readings, though she was better on the second, but this time around I understood a lot better where she was coming from and her character arc.
Kaladin didn't have enough page time and although I liked getting to see from the perspective of some of the Bridge Four crew, it was kind of distracting.
Dalinar's character arc is brilliant. I love how Sanderson built him in the first two books, making us fall in love with him, and then goes back and delves into who he was. It works so, so well. Some of Sanderson's best storytelling.
A great book, but still the weakest of the three for me. I think most of that comes from there being too many perspectives that don't get enough page time.
Reread June-August 2018
I was worried about rereading this book. I was a little disappointed when I first read it the first time and didn't want it to fall even shorter of my expectations than it had that time. Luckily, I liked it better the second time around.
The Kaladin/Adolin bromance is my favorite part of this novel. I have loved the slow development of their friendship and hope that we get more of this in the future installments. Individually these are two of my favorite characters. Kaladin is easy for me to relate to because of his struggles with depression and Adolin has a personality that I aspire to.
Shallan was a major issue for me the first time I read this. While I still have a lot of issues with her, she didn't bother me as much this time around. A lot of what Sanderson is trying to do with her is really interesting, I just felt it was rather clunky at times. I also hate that she is outright rude and hateful and passes it off for cleverness. This type of character is kind of a thing with Sanderson, but some of them really work. With Shallan this seems to outweigh all of her good points.
Dalinar is one of Sanderson's most well crafted characters. Here we get to see more of the progression of his story and while it was really sad, it was also wonderful. We see him at his lowest, but we also see him at his highest.
The expanded perspectives through Bridge Four were excellent. I only wish we had a little more time with these guys.
The fourth book needs to come out so that I can, hopefully, find some answers for some of the little questions that continue to pop up. It's a lot of fun finding all of the connections from the two previous installments.
This is still my least favorite of the series thus far, but it is a great book and I look forward to reading it again in the future.
Original Review
Oathbringer was my most anticipated book of 2017 and for the most part it lived up to my expectations. I was not quite as invested in this third installment in the Stormlight Archive as its predecessors, but not every book in a series can ever be on par with the all the others, so it was bound to happen.
Let's talk about my likes before we move onto my disappointments.
The Kaladin and Adolin friendship. I have made it very clear in reading both The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance that these two becoming best friends is one of the main things I want to happen in this series. And in this installment I really felt like we got some great bromance moments with these two.
Individually they are probably my favorite characters in the series, so their friendship makes it that much better. It's nice to see them notice their differences and appreciate them. Adolin likes Kaladin's skill and his ability to survive, and Kaladin likes Adolin's skill with people. They are different, but very much the same and it's wonderful. I really don't do this friendship justice, so just read the book.
The Spren are another great piece of this book, though, oddly, I don't feel that we really got enough of any of them. They were there without ever actually being there. If that makes sense. Syl is still my favorite and there were some great things involving her, but I did enjoy the others as well. The Stormfather got a lot more time in this one, which was interesting. We also get to see more of Shadesmar, the land of the spren, which was very fascinating.
Bridge Four's perspective portions were also a highlight. All of the expanded portions of the narrative, with new point of view characters, were really great additions. I honestly would have liked a few more portions with our bridgemen. The little bit that we got was wonderful, but then it just ended and I wanted more.
The ending of this was fantastic. Those last about two hundred pages were action packed and intense and I loved them. Well, almost all of them at least. There were some great character moments and revelations and new questions raised. And Dalinar's flashbacks led to some pretty intense moments.
Alright, let's talk about the things that made this my least favorite of the series to this point.
It almost all boils down to Shallan. That might be a bit harsh, but she was honestly the main drawback to the novel for me. I understand suppressing memories to keep yourself from hurting too much, I've done that plenty of times. So I won't say that this aspect of her character doesn't make sense, because it definitely does. But there was so much done with her here that didn't fit from the previous novels. It almost felt like Sanderson had one plan for her during the first two novels, changed his mind along the way, and had to do some crazy things to shove her in another direction.
And I don't like that direction.
I'm not going into great detail with the Shallan stuff because I don't want to spoil things, but she received way too much page time for my liking. She had a few moments of likability for me, but not many. And I wasn't satisfied with where she was at the end of the novel either.
My other main issue with the novel was the lack of explanation in certain aspects. This became particularly apparent near the end, when things started wrapping up a little too neatly at times without any real explanation. There seemed to be quite a bit happening off the page. In some cases this was ok and worked, but in others it really wasn't.
Overall this was a pretty great read with some exciting moments mixed with the heartbreaking. It is the weakest of the series thus far, in my opinion, but still great reading and sets up nicely to continue into bigger and better things later on. I plan to reread this at some point and hope that it improves on a second reading.
Update 9/27/17
I've finished my reread of the first two books and they were just as amazing as ever! Now I just need to get Edgedancer read and I will be ready. So excited for this.
Update 3/16/17
The cover is amazing! Can't wait for this. It's about time I get started on those rereads.
2016 Update
My goal before Oathbringer releases in November 2017: Reread The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. I've read them both twice already and can't wait to read them again.
"One can believe in a story without believing it happened."
This was my third reading of this novel and I must say it was by and far my favorite of the three readings. Shallan annoyed me greatly on the first two readings, though she was better on the second, but this time around I understood a lot better where she was coming from and her character arc.
Kaladin didn't have enough page time and although I liked getting to see from the perspective of some of the Bridge Four crew, it was kind of distracting.
Dalinar's character arc is brilliant. I love how Sanderson built him in the first two books, making us fall in love with him, and then goes back and delves into who he was. It works so, so well. Some of Sanderson's best storytelling.
A great book, but still the weakest of the three for me. I think most of that comes from there being too many perspectives that don't get enough page time.
Reread June-August 2018
"He couldn't banish the seed of darkness inside him, but Stormfather, he didn't need to let it rule him either."
I was worried about rereading this book. I was a little disappointed when I first read it the first time and didn't want it to fall even shorter of my expectations than it had that time. Luckily, I liked it better the second time around.
The Kaladin/Adolin bromance is my favorite part of this novel. I have loved the slow development of their friendship and hope that we get more of this in the future installments. Individually these are two of my favorite characters. Kaladin is easy for me to relate to because of his struggles with depression and Adolin has a personality that I aspire to.
Shallan was a major issue for me the first time I read this. While I still have a lot of issues with her, she didn't bother me as much this time around. A lot of what Sanderson is trying to do with her is really interesting, I just felt it was rather clunky at times. I also hate that she is outright rude and hateful and passes it off for cleverness. This type of character is kind of a thing with Sanderson, but some of them really work. With Shallan this seems to outweigh all of her good points.
Dalinar is one of Sanderson's most well crafted characters. Here we get to see more of the progression of his story and while it was really sad, it was also wonderful. We see him at his lowest, but we also see him at his highest.
The expanded perspectives through Bridge Four were excellent. I only wish we had a little more time with these guys.
The fourth book needs to come out so that I can, hopefully, find some answers for some of the little questions that continue to pop up. It's a lot of fun finding all of the connections from the two previous installments.
This is still my least favorite of the series thus far, but it is a great book and I look forward to reading it again in the future.
Original Review
Oathbringer was my most anticipated book of 2017 and for the most part it lived up to my expectations. I was not quite as invested in this third installment in the Stormlight Archive as its predecessors, but not every book in a series can ever be on par with the all the others, so it was bound to happen.
Let's talk about my likes before we move onto my disappointments.
The Kaladin and Adolin friendship. I have made it very clear in reading both The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance that these two becoming best friends is one of the main things I want to happen in this series. And in this installment I really felt like we got some great bromance moments with these two.
Individually they are probably my favorite characters in the series, so their friendship makes it that much better. It's nice to see them notice their differences and appreciate them. Adolin likes Kaladin's skill and his ability to survive, and Kaladin likes Adolin's skill with people. They are different, but very much the same and it's wonderful. I really don't do this friendship justice, so just read the book.
The Spren are another great piece of this book, though, oddly, I don't feel that we really got enough of any of them. They were there without ever actually being there. If that makes sense. Syl is still my favorite and there were some great things involving her, but I did enjoy the others as well. The Stormfather got a lot more time in this one, which was interesting. We also get to see more of Shadesmar, the land of the spren, which was very fascinating.
Bridge Four's perspective portions were also a highlight. All of the expanded portions of the narrative, with new point of view characters, were really great additions. I honestly would have liked a few more portions with our bridgemen. The little bit that we got was wonderful, but then it just ended and I wanted more.
The ending of this was fantastic. Those last about two hundred pages were action packed and intense and I loved them. Well, almost all of them at least. There were some great character moments and revelations and new questions raised. And Dalinar's flashbacks led to some pretty intense moments.
Alright, let's talk about the things that made this my least favorite of the series to this point.
It almost all boils down to Shallan. That might be a bit harsh, but she was honestly the main drawback to the novel for me. I understand suppressing memories to keep yourself from hurting too much, I've done that plenty of times. So I won't say that this aspect of her character doesn't make sense, because it definitely does. But there was so much done with her here that didn't fit from the previous novels. It almost felt like Sanderson had one plan for her during the first two novels, changed his mind along the way, and had to do some crazy things to shove her in another direction.
And I don't like that direction.
I'm not going into great detail with the Shallan stuff because I don't want to spoil things, but she received way too much page time for my liking. She had a few moments of likability for me, but not many. And I wasn't satisfied with where she was at the end of the novel either.
My other main issue with the novel was the lack of explanation in certain aspects. This became particularly apparent near the end, when things started wrapping up a little too neatly at times without any real explanation. There seemed to be quite a bit happening off the page. In some cases this was ok and worked, but in others it really wasn't.
Overall this was a pretty great read with some exciting moments mixed with the heartbreaking. It is the weakest of the series thus far, in my opinion, but still great reading and sets up nicely to continue into bigger and better things later on. I plan to reread this at some point and hope that it improves on a second reading.
Update 9/27/17
I've finished my reread of the first two books and they were just as amazing as ever! Now I just need to get Edgedancer read and I will be ready. So excited for this.
Update 3/16/17
The cover is amazing! Can't wait for this. It's about time I get started on those rereads.
2016 Update
My goal before Oathbringer releases in November 2017: Reread The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. I've read them both twice already and can't wait to read them again.