Oathbringer

4.00/5.00

“I am Unity”

Oathbringer is a beautiful rendition of Dalinar Kholin's character development. The book packs an explosive plot with with some big reveals. The exploration of severe mental health issues is done masterfully. As promised, the book delivers on the famous Sanderlanche of a conclusion. The worldbuilding takes a big step in this book, bringing the Stromlight Archive to the grand scale epic that it is. However, Oathbringer suffers from a lack of a solid structure. The book tried to do too many things, develop too many characters, opened too many unexplored boxes, making it seem like a half a story that is way too long. Pacing also takes a major in the middle of the book, but I enjoyed slower pacing as much as the rest of the book.

SPOILERS!!

“The most important step a man can take, is the next one”, “The most important words a man can say is “I will do better””.

Plot-> Dalinar's history is my favorite part of the book. It had some jaw dropping moments ending with the great conclusion of Dalinar meeting Cultivation. Taravangian-Dalinar-Fen plot was also very interesting. I thought Shallan plotline was very good, but seemed boring at times. Kaladin seemed to take a back seat in this book, with really no significant plot line around him, which is fine, but dissapointing. I don't know what was going on with Odium.. his plot line is interesting. The ending was good but the shifting PoVs irritated me.

Worldbuilding -> Very impressive here, with the exploration of the Cognitive Realm and the history of the recreance. Lightweaving develops in the book, Dalinar's powers are developed and we an explosive ending, but it seems poorly executed compared to Windrunning. I am giving the worldbuilding a perfect score, even if I didn't enjoy the book as much as WoR. The history of Roshar, the political intricacy of the Diagram, the Cognitive relam and the perpendicularity! The cosmere easter eggs sprout more in this book more than other books... lots of connections to Warbreaker...

Character Development -> Dalinar's character development is done with perfection. The man faces so many challenges! Very satisfying. Kaladin takes a back seat, and Shallan's character turns into a stunning representation of multiple-personality disorder... just wow.

Prose -> Nothing new to say here, good as usual, not great. I though the stromfather's voice was done really well. The last three chapters were jumping from POV to POV so much! why! why! it was so irritating.

Emotional Impact -> I loved Dalinar's character development. I really liked the overall plot. I LOVED the beginning with Kaladin's homecoming and his friendship with the singers. I think the pacing and the book trying to do too many things spoiled Dalinar's glory moment at the end. The worldbuilding takes a better role in the book, but the book is too long! Several characters and plot lines could have been cut to make the book more enjoyable.. seriously! Still a really good book. I never thought I would tire of a long book, but I was tired here! There was just too many POV shifting.. which is the problem.