Luffy Sempai's Reviews > Oathbringer

I read most of this book over a period of a month or more time. It left me exhausted, partly because this book would exhaust anyone sane. Also I did not temper the reading experience with the enjoyment of a second (and much less voluminous) book. I must belabour the point that I fell at the last hurdles. I could not bear to persevere with this book to what would be a bitter end. Thus the removal of one star from my rating.

What is utterly bizarre is that this reading acted like a quantum phenomenon. First, I was enjoying it. Secondly, I had given the initial reading of Oathbringer 5 stars. But since that time I had been reviewing the book in my head and decided that the book merited 1 star. The fun does not end here. I also was shocked to discover that this so-called 1 star material had lots of moments that I had forgotten, most of them moments of gem-like brilliance.

Even after these volte-faces, I felt my brain being lobotomised to a slush while reading this book which to my senses, was an excellent read. I do not know why I was enjoying it and hating it at the same time. Maybe my quantum comparison was inaccurate. After all, Feynman himself claimed that if you think you understand quantum theory, then you don't understand it at all.

But though I digress, this is no joking matter. I got severe reading block when reading Oathbringer. I had to take a break from reading, a 4 day hiatus. When I went back to the book, I used my last strength to read up to the last quarter. After that I said 'no more'. This book broke me. And here I thought we were going to get along.

The magical stuff in the book is not magic. It narrates the reintroduction of 'magic' in the book, but there is a fuel of sorts in this book which powers most awe-inspiring acts. That fuel is Stormlight, which occurs whenever a 'highstorm' falls on a settlement or city. We get the same characters who we had cared for in book 2. They are all struggling with their troubles. Shallan, she of unspeakable sense of humour was different here.

Did I say this book was rocambolesque? It was indeed. Before picking book 3 up again, my preferred characters were 1) Kaladin 2) Adolin 3) Dalinar 4) Shallan. Now, this order is upside down and reversed completely. Shallan as Veil was my favourite because of her adventures. They were the best. I always feel good when a male author writes about a female character with care, and skill.

The world building was, as to be expected, elaborate in the merest details. Sanderson turns into a world beater when writing this series. I was particularly avid for any info about the unmade. And I was glad to hear one of them (nine Unmade in total here) talk, and have an individuality and a sense of right and wrong. This is one correct way to render supernatural beings. The Unmade are powerful and mysterious beings. They feel so much more unbeatable than good old dragons (which are not in this universe).

By reading patiently and turning back pages, I managed to piece together a lot of details that had been missed by me all these years ago. Oathbringer was my Moby Dick. I'm glad not to have gone to the bitter end with it, though, and to have cut it loose. The structure of this book was intelligent. There was no big reveal at the end (I checked coppermind, a wiki of the Stormlight Archives), but each adventure in the book brought new knowledge to the fore. Though I almost became an Unmade with the perusal of this book, I gleaned a sense of appeasement reading it. Now I can resume my activities as a reader with my regular earthly, and 'Newtonian' (read Unquantum) small tasks.