Oathbringer Book Review
““I see only one woman here. The one who is standing up.”
”
If you’re like me, I hate spoilers and while I’m going to do my very best to make this book review spoiler free, if you haven’t read Oathbringer, book three of the Stormlight Archive, you might want to skip over this review and come back to it once you’ve read it. I’d hate to say a little too much about the book and then you want to chop my head off with a Shardblade.
With that being said, let’s jump right in.
I’m going to be very honest, right from the start. This was the most challenging book in the series so far. The majority of the book felt like a long, long walk through the woods up a steep mountain where I felt like I was about to make it to the precipice only to find that there were still miles and miles to go.
““What was the point of a little voice? Weren’t voices for being heard?”
”
We continue to follow our main characters from book two, Words of Radiance, but this time we’re introduced to many new characters, many of which I had a hard time remembering. Not that these new characters weren’t memorable, but when you’re introduced to so many, it’s difficult to keep track of them all. On top of that, the setting in the first two books was pretty similar and in this book, we’re given more than one new setting. I found that this book felt like a second book one. There was a lot of world building and an introduction to lots of new creatures of Roshar. If you’ve read my other two reviews (The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance), you’ll know that one of my favorite parts of this series is the world itself. I have a hard time understanding how Brandon Sanderson’s human brain can fathom such a fleshed out world so unlike our own filled with creatures so interesting and unlike humans. That being said, this book had a lot of that, more than either of the other two books combined, in my opinion.
At first, I didn’t love the character flashbacks featured in this book. There were so many battles scenes at the beginning and they aren’t my favorite, but once we got into what made this character they way they are, it felt right and I was happy to read a flashback chapter. Sanderson does an incredible job writing complex human emotion. His ability to write characters grappling with loss, depression, humiliation, disappointment, self-loathing, addiction, regret, imposter syndrome, grief and more is astounding. No matter who you are, I think it’s easy to see yourself in the pages of this series. In addition to coming around to the flashbacks, I really enjoyed reading the chapters from Bridge Four’s perspective. Getting to know these characters that I grew to love in book one was such a treat. Seeing the world through the side characters’ eyes added a layer of depth to this story.
““Oh, child. The world is monstrous at times, and there are those who would have you believe that you are terrible by association.” “I am.” “No. For you see, it flows the other direction. You are not worse for your association with the world, but it is better for its association with you.””
My favorite part of the entire series to date happens in this book. If you’ve read this book/the series, you’ll understand when I say that the entire story of the Girl Who Looked Up, both Shallan telling Pattern and Shallan’s later conversation with another character in the story had a profound impact on me. The entirety of this moment brought me to tears and I re-read it twice. I read a lot and I can’t think of much else that has made such an impact like this moment.
I do feel like I have more questions coming out on the other side of this book than I did when I went into it. I think book three didn’t answer as many questions as the other two books. To me, the world building and storyline from this book almost feels like a bridge to what is to come in book four and beyond.
“He smiled. “There are certain things I know, Shallan. This is one of them. You can. Find the balance. Accept the pain, but don’t accept that you deserved it.”
”
Oathbringer made me weep, literally weep. It made me giggle, and it made me throw my fist in the air in solidatary to the characters I’ve come to love and admire. This series is long. It’s hard to read at times. It feels like I’m running a marathon. But when it comes together, when Sanderson lets me peek behind the curtain into the lives of these characters and this world, it reminds me why I love to read. And while this book felt tough at times, you better believe I’ve already picked up book four, Rhythm of War.
““I’m broken.” “Who isn’t? Life breaks us, Teft. Then we fill the cracks with something stronger.”
”
Another five star read!
