Kirkus Style Review: Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Spoilers for the Stormlight Archives series)

In the third installment of The Stormlight Archives,  Dalinar Kholin, leader and new Knight Radiant is tasked with uniting all the peoples of Roshar against the Voidbringers which have come to destroy all of civilization. Meanwhile, the god-like being Odium is doing everything that he can to amass his forces of Voidbringers and bring Roshar under his control once and for all.

Oathbringer focuses on Dalinar and his past, starting with him being a warmonger that helps unite Alethkar through force. In the present, Dalinar is having to deal with having such a blood-soaked past as he tries to convince everyone that he is not merely trying to conquer them but rather unite everyone to stand against the threat of the Voidbringers. While this is going on Shallan, Adolin, and Kaladin are working to liberate the capital of Alethkar which is under siege from Voidbringers and their human slaves. Overall, the pacing on this book is well done and dramatic but it takes a while to build up momentum. This book deals with some difficult and complex topics such as slavery, oppression, and colonization. Being the third book in a ten book series might make some reader’s wary that this book would be only filler but Sanderson does an excellent job of setting up future plot threads while still giving this book its own narrative arc.

Oathbringer, though slow at the beginning, builds to be an intense story that deals with what it means to be a conqueror, while still allowing the reader to enjoy the trip and the characters. The finale of this book is one of the best epic fantasy books and series out there. This book not only has you interested in what happens next to the character that you have followed for the last three books but also for new characters that you have only just met. Each of the characters feel different and real, which is not something you often find when you have a cast of over ten people.