Oathbringer by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
This Stormlight book took me longer to get through than the others. The writing was still top tier, and the story was interesting, but something about the pacing was just off for me in the first half of the book. I found myself setting it down more and/or not being eager to pick it up after a break. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what threw me off about this one, but I'm glad I kept going. The last third of the book was great! I sped through it and am now eager to pick up book 4, which is the goal of any good series book.
Let's talk a little about the characters. Now, I'm going to assume that you've read the first two Stormlight books if you're looking at Oathbringer, because these are NOT standalone stories.
Kaladin is probably my favorite of the narrative characters, and the fact that he didn't have many chapters in the first half of the book may have contributed to my lack of enthusiasm. He spends a little time interacting with the Parshmen as setup for a later encounter, and otherwise just sort of fades into the background. When he does take center stage later, it's mostly just to have a mental breakdown. I'm guessing that this was a big "dark moment" for Kaladin in the series to set him up for a growth spurt down the road, but we'll see.
Shallan basically has a complete mental collapse in this book. I won't go into details because I don't want to spoil the effect, but suffice it to say that she is very very broken. I get what Sanderson was doing with this character, and I think he did it well, but I had trouble caring about Shallan at several places in the story because what she was doing just didn't make sense to me personally. Luckily, she makes progress throughout the book, and I liked her a little better at the end.
Just like we received Kaladin's backstory in book one and Shallan's backstory in book two, Sanderson interweaves Dalinar's backstory in Oathbringer. For me, Dalinar's past was both the most and least interesting. Most because we get to meet a side of Dalinar that hasn't existed in the books up to this point, least because those chapters became a bit redundant to hammer home the idea of the person he used to be, and the big reveal wasn't as much of a payoff as I think it was supposed to be. It was interesting, but it was also frustrating. I really didn't like the character of Dalinar's wife as she was portrayed through those flashbacks, and that made me care less about her fate. But, I can see how Dalinar would have cared, and how it ultimately ended up affecting him. I very much enjoyed the way Dalinar grew at the end of his story, and how Sanderson built on the early foundations he laid to make Dalinar's final test really hit home.
Being the middle book of the series, there was a midpoint reversal in this book that changed how the characters (and reader) understand the world and what is happening in it. Sanderson did a masterful job with that reveal, and I can't wait to see how that information filters through the remaining books. I don't want to give anything away, so that's all I'll say about that here. ;)
There was a satisfying amount of mid-series wrap up at the end of this book. Obviously there are still a lot of loose threads since the series isn't done yet. I think that I will take a small break to read something a little lighter before diving back into this world, as I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of drama and suffering to come, but I am definitely going to continue.
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