Just finished Oathbringer (my thoughts & what were yours?)

It’s really difficult to sum up my feelings for this book. I definitely enjoyed wok and wor immensely more (wor going above and beyond ), and I think a lot of it has to do with the way they were both structured compared to Oathbringer. For me Oathbringer spread itself too thin trying to focus on so many different characters and plot threads. Between the radiants, bridge four, the singers, Szeth, and everything in between, the characters and plot threads sometimes felt disjointed.

For the main 3, everything having to do with Dalinar and Shallan was very compelling, but ever since the end of Wor, Kaladins character has lost his intrigue. Both in his radiant abilities as well as his personal development. What I find so interesting about Shallan is that through her abilities you see her psyche manifest and vice versa. That makes it so that every time she showcases her power you’re seeing more into her psychological state, actively learning more about her character and also getting the thrill of watching her progress deeper into madness / potential villainy. Her abilities are also more restrictive and have to be used in very intricate ways that are naturally more compelling than flying around and overpowering people. Watching Kaladin develop in the beginning of SA was great because there was so much mystery still surrounding his powers and there was still so much more for him to learn. In this book he kind of just felt like a generic super powered, honorable, angsty, male protagonist. None of the nuance of his character or abilities were there. He became a cliche.

Also after so many miraculous survivals and moments of triumph within the first two books, I really expected to see more death and anguish on the hero’s side of things this time around. I mean shoot, they could’ve at least killed Drehy and Skar. The only significant loss we got was Elohkar, and while appreciated, he was still low hanging fruit. I would have loved an Adolin death. Didn’t feel right for the first two books, but here it would’ve been great for stakes and a solid end to his character arc. Another thing, I’m fearing the implications of his bonding with maya. Personally I’d rather him not become a knights radiant. I’m not the biggest fan of character’s who are useful / powerful in spite of not having super powers, suddenly gaining powers. It cheapens their character in almost every instance.

Which brings me to my last gripe. It seems that when faced with a challenge, many of our characters are overcoming them by pushing past an established limit, rather than working within the already established limits. Whether it be swearing a new ideal at the perfect time, or unlocking a new power that the audience didn’t even know existed, or overcoming through sheer willpower alone. I guess with this book I’m realizing Sanderson may be a bit more cliched in his storytelling than I initially thought.

I’m still loving the series though! Just wasn’t my favorite book out of the series thus far, and a markedly different level of plotting and character development.

The world building and lore continue to be spectacular. As well as characters like Dalinar, Shallan, Taravangian, Navani, and Jasnah. Looking forward to more.