Oathbringer

After the amazingness of books 1-2 it was going to be hard to match up. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and did gasp at many times at what was going on. At first I wanted more of certain characters, then I started to realize Sanderson was concentrating on the characters with the most areas of growth - which made for a more interesting story.

Rating BS books 5 stars has almost become a reflex action for me. That being said, I would have to say this book falls a bit short of my expectation and I would rate it more as 4.5 stars.
The last 2 books, were out of this world brilliant and honestly were the best reads of my life. This one thus, had to provide a patchwork of explanations for the last two books, in addition to taking the story forward.
The revelation about the Desolations and Recreance hit me hard in the face (could never have guessed it).

To avoid giving out to much too much information, the rest of the review is tagged as a potential spoiler.

Dalinar's backstory is almost prophetic. The ideals embodied in the whole narrative might as well take shape in a new religion some day :P. Shallan's story though makes her seem too skillful in too short a time. Also, I was shipping Shallan and Kaladin so hard, I stand disappointed. Kaladin being Kaladin, is just f**king awesome. Not to forget, Jasnah Kholin! I just love that woman, is there anything she can't do? The Fused(supposed Gods) should put up a better fight right? A few other question that remain unanswered.How the hell did Amaram get so powerful? Also, is it just me who finds Odium something like Voldemort? Unreasonably confident but easily dealt with. That's not to say he makes a bad villain but honestly, I expected better from him. All in all, the last 2 books just raised my expectations to unhealthy levels and this book, though brilliant, left me yearning for more.

...if a people are oppressed and they find themselves freed from that oppression, is it any surprise that they would want to strike back at their oppressors? That???s why colonial powers always feared native uprisings and rebellions: because they were afraid that the horrors they had perpetrated on the native populace would then be turned upon them.

But is it right? That is where it gets more complicated. The notion of retribution ??? an eye for an eye and so on ??? seems logical, if not outright justifiable, but again, is it right? Is it right to massacre one???s oppressors? Is it right to enslave them? It is justifiable, yes, but is it the right thing to do? There are no easy answers for that question, and the novel does not even attempt to offer such answers. What it does, however, is leave the question open for the reader, so that he or she may come to his or her own conclusions ??? if such is even possible.

Full review here: https://wp.me/p21txV-EW

Brilliant latest chapter in The Stormlight Archive. This series continues to be my favorite fantasy series.[b:Oathbringer 34002132 Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) Brandon Sanderson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507307833s/34002132.jpg 23840254] builds on this massive world to make it even bigger. These characters are so deep and alive on the page. Their struggles have great purpose and consequence that follows them throughout the series.I can't wait for [b:Stormlight Book 4 17250966 Untitled (The Stormlight Archive, #4) Brandon Sanderson https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 23840265].

For all the complaints I sometimes lob at Sanderson's work, that was a damn thrilling read

Executive Summary: This may be my least favorite book of the series so far, but it's still an easy 5 star rating for me, something I don't give out lightly.Full ReviewThis was easily my most anticipated book of the year, despite a few big series conclusion books being released as well. There was a time a few years ago when Brandon Sanderson could do no wrong. I read everything he put out and loved it all. Eventually that streak ended, but his cosmere books are still quite enjoyable. None more so than Stormlight Archive.I had a rough start to this one. I held off on reading the free chapters posted on tor.com because I didn't want to have to read it in short increments. This is a beefy book (longest yet) but I knew I'd want to tear right through. Unfortunately, the post office had other plans and I got a later start on this than I planned. I rationed the free chapters (thankfully there were a lot of those!) out for 4 long days waiting on a replacement copy to be delivered.Once I got my book, all other hobbies were set aside and I spent more time reading in the last week than I probably did in the last 4-5 months. I was averaging about 75 pages a day (a lot for me) while I had work, and closer to 200 pages on my days off. Add in a 4-day holiday weekend and I was in bliss! I had planned to finish the book by today, and I guess technically that is true as I ended up reading 300+ pages well into the night to finish this off.If you've read the first two books of the series, you'll know that Mr. Sanderson focuses on one character. That isn't to say the others don't play a role, but we get the most of this focus character, typically in the form of additional flashback chapters that offer us additional insight. In [b:The Way of Kings 7235533 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1) Brandon Sanderson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507307887s/7235533.jpg 8134945] it's Kaladin, in [b:Words of Radiance 17332218 Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2) Brandon Sanderson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507307927s/17332218.jpg 16482835] it was Shallan. This book belongs to Dalinar.We learn a lot important details, not only about Dalinar, but Roshar as well. Mr. Sanderson continues his excellent world building and further expands his magic system (albeit maybe not as much as in some of the previous entries).There is a still a lot of focus on Kaladin, Shallan and Andolin too, but we also get some really great insights into many of the secondary characters, in particular the Bridge 4 crew. Those chapters were probably some of my favorites. There are a few other parts/characters in this I really enjoyed as well, but I don't want to give anything away.This book is massive, and you get a lot of story for your money. I found some of the early going a bit slower than previous books, but the final section of book was so fast paced, I lost all track of time and happily stayed up well past the time I normally go to bed just so I could finish.Part of me wishes I had more self control to read this slower. It will now be a few more years until we get the next volume of this series and I'm back to waiting. The rest of me is ecstatic to once again have another book so good as to remind me why I love to read and why this continues to be my favorite series. So far Mr. Sanderson is 3/3 on perfect scores. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next.

I have so many feelings about this book it is hard to sort them all out in my head. It was an amazing read with so many layers and moving pieces to it. And I know I will definitely need to reread it because there are going to be things I missed in my first read through. I need to let everything settle first, though. And I am okay with that.

Despite its many flaws, Oathbringer reminds us of the sheer scale of Sanderson's work, with a bigger focus on worldbuilding and the cosmere in this book, as well as having multiple big-reveal moments while also setting up so much new stuff. It's the third book in a ten-book series, but it very much doesn't feel like it– It's just as exciting and expansive as the others.

If Sanderson manages to keep this up for the entire series, it might just be one of my favorite series of all time.

I was immensely disappointed.

I was an apologetic Sanderson superfan, to be blunt about it, until I picked up Oathbringer the day it came out and slogged through the entire thing that day, setting aside work and other, more important and more timeworthy things, to finish this paperweight that was about as profound as your average fanfic or, to be more generous, an average conversation on the street.

I wasn't surprised–ever since Shadows of Self, which I still think is Sanderson's best book to date, I'd gradually noticed a stylistic change in his writing, replacing unremarkable prose with cliches spilling off the page, and a general attitude, ever since he finished the Reckoners series, to write every character as if they were about to feature in the next MCU film. Which, I mean, isn't too far from the truth now. I clearly didn't like this shift–it took things that were neither good nor bad about Sanderson's writing, and just made them worse. His strength–worldbuilding and plot–couldn't shine through the way it had in his previous novels, when he'd managed to mitigate any negative effects of his prose and characterization.

Was it bad? Not entirely. I won't complain about specific details of the plot, because there's a good story here, and plenty of complex plot fodder for the Seventeenth Shard to debate about for years on end. But it seemed that every inspirational quote that Dalinar managed to produce ex nihilo was something paraphrased from Goethe or Nietzche, and the puzzles and ciphers, even the worldbuilding in general, will never stand up to someone like Umberto Eco. (However, I will admit that reading Eco's Name of the Rose will cause anyone to view Sanderson's fairly good worldbuilding as pedestrian).

I particularly liked the plot, actually, and Sanderson's willingness to drag characters into basic moral gray areas was refreshing given his relatively black-and-white stance in the past. But the other aspects of a good story just weren't there, and I didn't give this book particularly much thought after I finished it. I didn't have any complaints about the length, but for an author who wants to write fantasy works with the profundity of literary titans, it just wasn't there.