Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Oathbringer

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Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

43 reviews

merrow's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This series continues to feel more epic with every instalment. I really enjoy the descriptions of the various surges, particularly the flying battles with

Kaladin/Szeth

. The characters are some of my favourites I’ve read, including their well developed flaws.

While I had started to suspect, the reveal that the humans are the Voidbringers was very impactful, as was Odium’s growing role as a looming figure of destruction.

While the start of the book is a bit slow to reach the parts that feel important to the story, the later parts drive forwards in a way that’s hard to put down.

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kendoll_renea's review against another edition

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

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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beautiful_articulate's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

While I still did really enjoy it, I think this was my least favorite book of Stormlight Archive so far. I think that Words of Radiance absolutely knocked it out of the park for me and set the bar really high.

My main issues with Oathbringer, especially coming after Words of Radiance, is that it suffers from the same issues that the later seasons of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. suffered from. Now wait, hear me out. I'm going somewhere with this. What I really enjoyed most from Words of Radiance was seeing the main cast of characters all being together in one place, able to interact and bounce off of each other. I maintain that Sanderson really shines when writing interactions between unlikely allies. I liked seeing how Shallan, Kaladin, and Adolin would all interact, how Navani and Shallan might get along, what Dalinar thinks of Kaladin, etc, etc. In Oathbringer, the characters are separated and run their own, very separate plot lines (just like F.R.I.E.N.D.S. when everyone was getting married off. See? I told you I was going somewhere with that simile.).

At the start of Oathbringer, Kaladin is immediately separated from the cast of main characters to return to see his parents after an Everstorm has hit his hometown. Adolin isn't present for a whole section of the book (which is never explained beyond 'he's away on a diplomatic mission', that annoyed me to no end), during which Dalinar mainly only ever interacts with Navani and maybe a few monarchs here and there. With everyone separated, it didn't feel as satisfying to read about. It went from feeling like a Stormlight book to a section of A Song of Ice and Fire; multiple POVs that are connected but ultimately are about characters that are far apart.

What doesn't help is that the first few parts of Oathbringer are unbelievably long. I'm a pretty patient reader and I didn't mind it too much, but towards the halfway mark I told myself that if I had to read another chapter in which Dalinar tries (and fails) to convince another leader about the end of the world, I was going to run into a Highstorm myself. Like all Sanderson books however, the pace does pick up towards the end. The last two parts were definitely the most interesting and the strongest parts of the novels, but you do have to trudge through 75% of the book being pretty slow.

I liked Dalinar's flashback POVs, even though, holy fuck Brandon. They were really tough to get through due to the nature of what's being discussed, but it was honestly such a great way to expand upon Dalinar's character. I found myself hating him more and loving him more at the same time.

The last part of Oathbringer was great, and I can't deny that. Once we got Kaladin, Adolin, and Shallan all back together, I was really enjoying myself.

Having them be all together in Shadesmar was really fun, and I liked that this was how Sanderson decided to expand upon the sprens' lore. Also, if anything happen to Maya, I will kill everyone and then myself.

. The big epic fight scene at the end was great, as always, if a little bit disjointed at times.

I'm intrigued to find out what Renarin's up to, appearing in the Diagram but also apparently being bonded to a corrupted spren.

Still forever mad that we only got a few lines about

Shallan and Adolin's wedding, rather than being given descriptions of how it unfolded, but I still have hope for their wedding to appear in Rhythm of War. C'mon, they deserve it.

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Another excellent story, I do wish it was a tad shorter, like maybe 200 pages less, otherwise, very keen to see how the rest of this story unfolds.

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chels_ro's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

coming off the back of words of radiance this book definitely falls into a mid series lull. Dalinar’s backstory does not disappoint but his main plot in the book becomes slightly repetitive. while Sanderson is usually very good at balancing character perspectives i found at some points the amount of perspective changes becomes overwhelming and makes other characters,

particularly Kaladin and Adolin,

have less to do this time around. however there are some major highs to level out the story and Sanderson’s mid series lull is still much better than what most people are writing.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

I swear to follow the will of Dalinar Kholin. This is my oath.

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bearystarry's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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timtalkinbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Feels like the one Sanderson wanted to write when he started Stormlight. (At least the one he wanted to write for the first arc. I can't imagine what that man has cooking up for the next five books.)

Immediately feels more confident and mature, more intense emotionally and physically and just like he had every word of it planned out when he sat down to write it.

Of course, the Dalinar flashbacks are incredible and tragic. They build to an incredible payoff as yet another Stormlight character learns that they can be more than their past and scars.
I'd still give the edge to Kaladin finally realizing he has to protect everyone at the end of Words of Radiance, but I'm also freshly out of the book so that might change as I have some time to let it breathe.
Heck, I probably shouldn't be writing this until I let it all sink in, but here we are.

Again, I think my main criticism of Sando as a whole is those lore dumps.
For the most part I think he writes them well and staggers them enough to where it's not overwhelming. Other times it's pages and pages of characters talking about ancient Roshar history and it can be a real snooze.
They are necessary, and I can think of a better way to get it all in there. It gotten to a point where I will most likely have to find some comprehensive recap on this series before I read Wind and Truth this winter.
I've latched on to the BIG bits but I'm sure there's stuff I've already forgotten.

I'm so glad I decided to read Mistborn back in 2023, Sanderson has really ignited my love for reading and fantasy again. So any gripe I have with this book I won't count against it. It's incredible, thrilling and genuinely emotional.

I was thinking about taking a break when I finished but now I'm probably gonna jump right into Dawnshard here soon. Don't want to leave Roshar just yet.

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errie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark

Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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katrinarose's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I think this is my favorite so far in the series. The character development, plot twists, and grand finale were so well done. I didn’t know how I’d like the focus on Dalinar since I enjoyed Kaladin and Shallan’s perspectives more in previous books but his backstory ended up being very compelling. This didn’t make a 5 star rating for me just because the pacing didn’t feel very consistent, there were some exciting parts throughout but a lot that dragged for me, and it took me almost 5 weeks to finish. I wish the drama of the last part was extended a bit into the other parts more. There’s a lot I could say about the individual plots and characters (just a few notes: Lift’s appearance/knowledge was strange and kind of unfounded despite her having a whole novella; Shadesmar was a huge drag) but I’ll leave it at that. Very interested to see where book four goes after that ending!

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