Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

52 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Slavery, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

beautiful_articulate's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

thesuperawesomesarah's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Classism

takarakei's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Genocide, Mental illness, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Medical content

bearystarry's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Fatphobia, Genocide, and Homophobia

errie's review against another edition

adventurous dark

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

microbemasher's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

This was easily my favorite book in the series so far. I hadn't expected the character revelations we saw in it, and I love how even "simple" characters in this series have the capacity to surprise me.

The Sanderstorm at the end was a doozy. This book left me chomping at the bit for books 4 and 5, but also terrified of what else I might learn in those books! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

katrinarose's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

kassidyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War

alliekc1010's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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

a cautionary tale about the dangers of committing war crimes. 

the quality of this series is so consistent. i love learning more about the characters and watching them grow. i’m excited to read rhythm of war!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Genocide, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail