Book notes: Oathbringer

Oct 19, 2024

Book cover

By Brandon Sanderson.

Book 3 in The Stormlight Archives. On Amazon it has 5 stars on >64k reviews

My notes on first 2 books:

Scoring:

  • Axe for the frozen sea: 9/10.
  • Page count: 1300. With small print, it felt like 1300.

Book 3 and I’m still surging with stormlight! These books are a fun way to “pass the time” because they do take a long time for me to read. Usually I want to be done with a book quickly so I can cross it off the list but it was fun to savor this one.

After the first 2 books I was wondering if this series would challange Lord of the Rings for greatest fantasy series of all time. Nope! This series wanders a bit like a soap opera. It’s really good though.

All 3 books follow the same pacing for me… halfway through it’s a little sluggish and I’m tempted to stop (in fact, I did take a 5 month break in the middle of this book), but the second half builds nicely to a mighty battle.

Random thoughts: (has spoilers!)

  • The mystery of Dalinar’s memory is explained, uncovering how Eli died.
  • I think it’s Jasnah on the front cover? (I feel a bit dumb for not being totally sure.)
  • Szeth jumping over to the side of the good guys was fun but a bit jarring. He’s too good of a character to be done with. Hopefully there is a future highly-entertaining group conversation with him, Shallan, Kaladin, Adolin, and Wit, similar to the coversation in the horse-drawn wagon in book 2.
  • Speaking of which…. how did Dalinar not flinch when Szeth showed up?
  • Kaladin has troubles “speaking the words” in his final fight to distract the Fused, but I thought he already spoke them in book 2? Did he regress? Does he have to follow the same 5 step plan the Szeth has to follow? He’s already bonded a highspren, so he should be on step 4: completing a quest to his spren’s satisfaction (which likely has to do with accepting help from others). (And you know Szeth is going to be the one to complete step 5 for a total redemption of truthless.)
  • The latest big hurricanes we’ve had (Helene & Milton) make me think of the new everstorms in this book.
  • Why do the Fused retreat in the end? They seem strong enough to win battles on their own, and if they die they can simply rebond with another Parshendi a short while later. Poor strategy.
  • Oathbringer is a cool name for a book, but the namesake sword didn’t really have a main part? Amaram wielded it in the fight against Kaladin, and it ends up in Dalinar’s possession at the end.
  • Jasnah and Adolin are both good choices for King.

Unresolved questions:

  • Does Vinli totally jump ship and become a Radiant herself?
  • Will Dalinar find out the truth about Taravangian?
  • Will Shallan really marry Adolin? Come on Veil! I expect more tension with Kalandin. Though the real power couple would be Kalandin and Jasnah. (Jasnah, whose jedi-like power growth through this book was exceptional.) Unlikely though. They would win the most votes for “least likely to be in a relationship”.
  • What’s the deal with Wit? (Ultimately the reason I will keep reading these books. Don’t dissapoint on this Brandon!)