"Oathbringer" reactions

What a ride! I knew to expect intense, and Oathbringer completely lived up to expectations! I don’t have many non-spoilery things to say, but I laughed and I cried, and I reread some parts to laugh again two or three times as I was reading them, and oh man the ending was intense.

Spoiler review

I continue to love Shallan and Pattern’s humor. My favorite moment was near the beginning:

“What,” Pattern said with a hum, “is a chaperone?” “That is someone who watches two young people when they are together, to make certain they don’t do anything inappropriate.” “Inappropriate?” Pattern said. “Such as … dividing by zero?”

Not that this is the greatest of all math jokes, but it was just SO UNEXPECTED in a high fantasy novel that I just started laughing so hard. No mating. NO MATING.

I cried later on when Renarin buys a bottle of alcohol for his Dalinar:

Renarin stepped in and hugged him. Dalinar flinched, bracing as if for a punch. The boy clung to him, not letting go. “They talk about you,” Renarin said, “but they’re wrong. You just need to rest, after all the fighting you did. I know. And I miss her too.”

I didn’t cry when Dalinar beats Odium at the end, but I cried for Renarin and Dalinar’s moment there, that was the most powerful moment of the entire novel to me.

Kaladin and Shallan’s struggles with their past (and current) traumas is handled so well. Their very different reactions and their sprens' concerns. Neither of them has really confronted it yet, even if Shallan’s Ideals have kind of forced her to start, and I wonder what that will look like in later books.

Definitely a fan of the humans being the original Voidbringers, and I’m a bit mad at myself for not having predicted it! I’m sure there were TONS of hints that I missed, but a few I noticed immediately:

• It’s the DawnCHANT, I mean this was pretty screamingly obvious in our face the entire time. (This really should have been sufficient)
• The conversation between Nin and Szeth about whose fault it is, the invaders or the people living there previously. “Yes,” Nin said softly. “This is the fault of invaders. That is true.”
• The fact that Shin is the only place that seems “normal.”
• The story of the Girl Who Looked Up is likely a story about the humans leaving Shin?
• And of course we know that inter-world travel is possible and that humans live on other planets, and we’ve seen Vivenna (presumably) at least as far as “normal humans” (not gonna go so far as to call Hoid a “normal human”) actually travel between worlds.

So…pretty easy to arrive at this conclusion, but I missed it.

After I finish Rhythm of War I’m gonna start reading the subreddit and the wiki and see what else I missed!

Other things I enjoyed:

• Seeing Shadesmar was awesome
• Nightblood!!! Even though I didn’t like Warbreaker that much, I’m enjoying the references to Vasher and the other characters from him - it was mostly the plot that I didn’t like about that book, the characters, magic system, and world were all super awesome.
• Lopen’s swearing of the 2nd Ideal was the best, and I love his spren
• I’m glad to see Rysn again, and I’m looking forward to her novella
• FINALLY Dalinar is learning to read and write
• And FINALLY we get Renarin POV, also I love the direction he’s going! Be wary of ANYONE who claims to be able to see the future. But of course, if seeing the future is of the Voidbringers, well, that’s the humans. But I wonder which “Voidbringers” that refers to.

Things I didn’t like:

• Kholinar dragged just a bit
• Not a fan of the Kaladin love triangle, although Shallan’s speech to Adolin at the end sort of made it worth it. But mostly, not a fan of this.

  “Oh? And is that what women are supposed to seek in a mate? Is it in the Polite Lady’s Handbook to Courtship and Family? The Bekenah edition, maybe? ‘Ladies, you can’t possibly marry a man if he can’t fly.’ Never mind if the other option is as handsome as sin, kind to everyone he meets regardless of their station, passionate about his art, and genuinely humble in the weirdest, most confident way. Never mind if he actually seems to get you, and remarkably listens to your problems, encouraging you to be you—not to hide yourself away. Never mind if being near him makes you want to rip his shirt off and push him into the nearest alleyway, then kiss him until he can’t breathe anymore. If he can’t fly, then well, you just have to call it off!”

• Taravangian’s opposition of Dalinar currently feels pretty plot-device-y, I guess I trust the author that he has a reason to believe Odium is legitimately unbeatable but I wish we were actually shown this? Because all signs currently point to “literally the only reason Dalinar doesn’t have a very good chance at pulling this off is his human adversaries” and the Diagram has already been wrong about so many things that the rational thing to do currently seems to be to distrust it…so idk. I’m not buying into his opposition being rational at this point in time.