Written by Brandon Sanderson, published 2017. Summary, review, and spoilers ahead.
Oathbringer is the third installment in the epic fantasy series, The Stormlight Archive, written by Brandon Sanderson. The book continues the complex (and in this book, highly complex) and sweeping story set in the world of Roshar following our robust set of characters.
In this review, I will not dive remotely as deep as my previous reviews… which were more summaries than reviews. Here I’ll try to keep things under control.
The story picks up after the events of the second book, Words of Radiance – which might be my favorite book in recent memory. I learned, finally, that each book focuses extra on backstory of one particular character. The Way of Kings dives into Kaladin, Words of Radiance dives into Shallan, and Oathbringer dives into Dalinar.
We learn a LOT more about Dalinar Kholin and find his importance in the grand scheme of things to be much more important that we are led to believe. Dalinar is still set on uniting the fractured kingdoms of Roshar against the imminent threat of the Voidbringers, ancient and powerful beings set on destruction. As he grapples with his past, which is filled with guilt, unanswered questions (and some very dark things), Dalinar embarks on a personal journey of self-discovery and redemption.
Dalinar, aka the Blackthorn, seems to have gotten his name and reputation through brutal war tactics and bad deeds. Driven by the “thrill”, a strong pull or force that creates a “need” to fight, kill, and win at any cost. The pull is so strong he kills innocents, children, and his forgotten wife. We also learn more about his Bondsmith abilities – heal/repair buildings – which is only the tip of the iceberg.
Shallan gets deeper and deeper into her 3 personalities, Shallan, Veil, and Radiant. It becomes bit confusing as she seems to flip between the 3 often, and even loses control of herself at times. That said, arguably the single best part of the book involves Shallan and her fight with the smoke/oil monster thing Re-Shephir – one of the “unmade”. They do talk some about the unmade, but it’s quite confusing.
Less fun, we have a little side story of a love triangle (with no actual love) between Shallan, Adolin and Kaladin. Adolin wins in the end as Shallan loves him (Veil isn’t quite as certain though).
Speaking of Kaladin. Our hero and star of the previous books starts taking a turn for the worse. I find him to be more of a brooding teenager in this book. He’s supposed to be the star of the show, and instead becomes less and less likeable. I suppose this shows depth of character, but it’s not what we (I) the reader wants to see. He’s battling with his own inner demons, haunted by past failures, depression and self-doubt. Cool right?
Szeth goes from the assassin and white and attempted killer of Dalinar to a pleab/trainee of Nim to pledging an oath TO Dalinar and sworn protector. Quite the turn of events. I’m excited for book 5 which supposedly focuses more on Szeth. He is quite the enigma. I do very much like this character and in particular, at the end, his budding friendship and partnership with Lift. Quite the odd couple. And I also want more details on his honor blade… which has a personality.
We spend a lot of this book in Shadesmar. Which is like the Upside Down world. Land is water, water is land. Unfortunately, as much as I am in love with this series, Oathbringer starts to add so much complexity it starts being harder to follow. At least for me. The stories are so deep and vast, infinite new characters pop up, and backstories go wildly deep. Highly impressive from a world building perspective and writing ability… but a little hard as the reader not deeply entrenched in the world of Roshar (though not for lack of trying).
We also learn of Odium, our new main evil bad guy leader. Much like Sauron or Ba’alzamon, he’s trapped and can’t flex his full power, but can lead and order folks around.
That all said, we do get some good action and shocking events. For the first 2.5 books or so, the Voidbringers are the bad guys – the Parshendi. And while they remain so in this story, we learn that the humans are the actual Voidbringers as the Parshendi inhabited the lands first and humans brought the Desolations. I guess America vs. the Native Americans. Though still very much at war… Bridge 4 is so altruistic that they start to question which side they should be fighting for. Who is right?
Prior to portaling to Shadesmar, we have a failed attempt to save the city of Kholinar, a “Battle of Helms Deep” type fight where our heroes fail and the Parshendi (now called the Fused) take control and King Elhokar gets murdered by Moash (now partnered with the Fused). Side note – I do hope we get a whole book on Moash… he keeps getting more intertwined in things.
At the end, we do get an epic battle with treacherous bad boy Amaram. He’s basically sold his soul to the devil, and kind of looks like it too. A General Grievous type at this point, he’s got an exposed purple gem heart and some alien carapace armor. Pretty wild, though nothing that Kaladin and Bridge 4 can’t take care of (one of Kal’s shining moments in this book – though full credit goes to Rock).
There is SO MUCH more that can be included in this review and/or summary as the story is nearly-infinitely deep. But will let you the reader pull the rest from your own reading experiences.
TLDR: Oathbringer vastly expands the world of Roshar, the events, backstories, and intertwining character arcs… so much so it’s almost to a fault. However, it’s still highly engaging, fun, and provides surprises often throughout the story. Would recommend. 4/5 Stars.
