Oathbringer

The first thing that you will notice about any of the Stormlight books is that these things are huge. This one is no exception - a great weighty tome of a book. Interestingly, they seem to have gone to a thinner paper between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer hardcovers, because although Oathbringer has more pages it has a slimmer spine. The net effect is that this book is denser, which makes it a heavy weight to have in you hand.

This is all of course secondary to the contents of these pages. You would have to have been living under a rock for the last decade or so if you are a fantasy fan and have not heard of the Stormlight Archives. These are books that are whispered of in hallowed tones as one of the best if not the best current epic fantasy series. Sanderson has a wonderful breezy writing style that is just so easy to read. Beyond this is his fantastic imagination, which builds amazing worlds with unique and interesting rules. Roshar, the world of Stormlight is at the pinnacle of these.

Oathbringer picks up pretty much where Words of Radiance left off. The Radiants are back and Dalinar is doing his best to unite the nations of Roshar against the coming Desolation. This is book 3 out of a planned series of 5 and it definitely feels like a middle book. There is a lot of set up towards the finales and moving the various characters around to where they need to be. The plot does not progress a huge amount, but it does have an ‘Empire Strikes Back' type moment that really gives a nice twist to the story.

The world, the characters and the story are all fantastic to return to, and whilst this doesn't quite strike the highs of the first two books in the series this is still epic fantasy at its best. I cannot wait for Rhythms of War to see where the story takes us next!