Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) in THE SWORD AND TOME

Feb 01, 2017 Tara rated it liked it

I love this series.

I love this world.

I love the characters inside, the struggles they endure and the interactions they have with one another and those in between.

What I don't particularly care for is the pacing.

The focus. The things Sanderson chooses to zone in on while ignoring aspects of something else.

I understand this series is going to be expansive. And it will eventually encompass the vast majority of my adult life. But I feel that because of its immensity, some of the more intimate moment ...more

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Nov 27, 2017 ~Dani~ rated it it was amazing

Read more reviews or listen to the podcast discussion at Book Geeks Uncompromised!

4.5 stars

The Stormlight Archive is an ambitious project that Brandon Sanderson has undertaken. With seven more books to go, Sanderson again delivers in a major way with Oathbringer.

While still upholding to the same style and formula of the first two books in this series, Oathbringer brings in its own flavor as well. The plot expands from focusing on the war against the Parshendi to a fight against ancient forces fo Read more reviews or listen to the podcast discussion at Book Geeks Uncompromised!

4.5 stars

The Stormlight Archive is an ambitious project that Brandon Sanderson has undertaken. With seven more books to go, Sanderson again delivers in a major way with Oathbringer.

While still upholding to the same style and formula of the first two books in this series, Oathbringer brings in its own flavor as well. The plot expands from focusing on the war against the Parshendi to a fight against ancient forces for all of Roshar. Getting to see how the other countries' cultures mixed with the Alethi, made for interesting plot points. Everyone is hesitant to trust Dalinar and the other Alethi highprinces due to the fact that the Alethi are known for being aggressive and taking over other countries. This ties in great with the plot line for our leader as well, Dalinar Kholin.

Dalinar is trying to move on from his past of being a bloodthirsty brute known as the Blackthorn. Seeing his struggle with trying to be diplomatic, while he also begins to get memories back of his warmongering past and what happened to his wife, was both exactly what was expected and an absolute joy to read (even tear jerking at times).

The focus put on the characters this time took a slower approach. We got more points of view from different characters and we got to see more in depth on some of the issues these characters are having. Kaladin has had trouble with depression in this series. Shallan doesn't like who she is so combine this with her ability to become other people via Lightweaving, she starts to develop split personalities. As Dalinar recovers more of his past he falls into alcoholism. We get to see a deeper side to these characters and it is done very well.

That said, there were a ton more POVs in this book as compared to the first two. WoK and WoR mostly kept to Kaladin, Shallan, Adolin, and Dalinar as the main POV characters with other characters highlighted in the Interlude chapters. In Oathbringer, several characters from Bridge Four were also given POV chapters. Jasnah and Navani got a few, as well as King Taravangian and Szeth.

With all of these many POVs that we get, this book did feel significantly slower than the first two at times. The audio book was fifty-five hours long. For those that may not listen to audiobooks, that is a lot! By the end of the book, it did seem like there was a reason for all these characters getting POVs. The plot got a lot bigger and so the number of characters that were needed to show all the movements and changes made sense. There is still a sense that a few of them could have been kept to the Interludes or perhaps removed.

I think this is my least favorite in the series so far but it was still a great read. I do hope that the trend of each book in this series being a little bit bigger than the last does not continue because while the first two felt like they deserved their size, this one felt just a tad inflated.

Nonetheless, it was by no stretch a disappointment and I look forward to rereading it to see what I did not pick up on the first time around. ...more

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Apr 06, 2019 Jonathan Terrington rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

An excellent continuation

Another wonderful addition to the Stormlight Archive full of twists, turns and complicated revelations. I fully endorse anything Sanderson has written in this series.

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Mar 02, 2018 Jamie Rowe rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 24, 2017 Adam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

With thousands of reviews already circling online, I'll make this quick and easy, and just share some bullet points of themes that stood out.

- While this is Dalinar's story, I was impressed at how much development time was given to Shallan. Dalinar's origins were tragic and compelling, but I found Shallan's PTSD symptoms and reactions even more interesting.

- World-building: I was legitimately shocked at how much we learned about Roshar, the Radiants, Odium, pretty much everything that's affectin ...more

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Sep 24, 2023 Roman Kurys rated it it was amazing

The series gets better with each book.
I absolutely loved the Oathbringer. It has everything.

The world is so fully developed, especially at this point that I felt like I lived there for a time, and every time I picked up the book I melted away to Roshar.

Characters, and there are many, are very real to me at this point. Well fleshed out, real, with their own moods and preferences. Some are infuriating, some are likable, some never surprised me and some made me out the book down with a large que ...more

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Jun 09, 2025 Jessica Mae rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Another amazing saga in this gigantic series...finishing each one feels like such a triumph! I probably enjoyed Book 2 slightly more, but Oathbringer is still a very strong one. Among MANY other things, this book focuses on Dalinar's blood-soaked backstory. I love that Sanderson isn't afraid to make his characters flawed, and allow them to change and improve. Dalinar's story is the perfect example of that. ...more

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Aug 04, 2018 Fernando rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was quite the undertaking! It does not feel like a third book, instead it flows more like a first book. The story’s complexity is expanded and the world fleshed out again.

Character development is great! The plot goes slow but accelerates per part. I was expecting the flow of this book to be different but I still enjoyed the journey.

Sanderson has written another work of art! It’s a bit hard to grasp but a feast nonetheless.

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