I finally finished Oathbringer! And I wanna talk about it now!

I talk about it in this here YouTube video but I figured for my first Bindery post, I could use this space to get into a little more detail about my thoughts.

BE WARNED! SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!

Anyway, now that it's just us Sanderson nerds, here are some thoughts.

• As much as I enjoyed the first two Stormlight books, this one felt like a step above the first two. I know that isn't the consensus opinion but damnit if I wasn't sick of the Shattered Plains. I'm glad our crew actually got out into the big wild world in this book.

• Bringing Taravangian into the fold in a much more pronounced way was a lot of fun. He is my wife's favorite character and he is up near the top for me too. Guy who is mostly an idiot but is sometimes a raging sociopathic genius? Sign me up. I'm hoping that he continues to be a strong presence in these books.

• Shallan and her many identities remains very interesting to me, and I can't help but think that at least part of the audience's disdain for her boils down to sexism. I still maintain that bridgeboy Kaladin is the least interesting character out of the main three, but I know I am on an island with that take. I just don't find his constant brooding that compelling. Give me the woman with multiple personalities!

• Dalinar may be a monster, but damn if he isn't incredibly compelling. The scene where he lays waste to that one city and kills his wife on accident is probably the most well-written passage that I've read in any of these books so far. Now that he has any least partially exorcised his demons, I am looking forward to whatever lies ahead for him.

• What is going on with Renarin? Hoping that gets explored more in book 4.

• The Parshendi chapters are simultaneously fascinating but still sort of feel like a detour from the main story most of the time. however, now that we know that the Alethi and the rest of the ostensibly "white" people are actually the invaders, I imagine the Parshendi chapters might become more pronounced in the story. Is our boy Brandon about to have some seething commentary about colonialism?? Only time will tell.

Anyway, great book. Looking forward to getting to to the next one, although I have to make my way through this mountain of ARCs that I signed up for first. just about done with Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler and will be talking about that very soon.

Cheers, and give me a follow if you like!

Shawn