Middle book syndrome is a thing that often happens
with trilogies. The middle book of a
trilogy has to continue the story and character but often authors struggle to
create a story that creates a climax. Oathbringer
is essentially the middle book of The Stormlight Archive’s first
sequence of five novels and often critics have found it to be the weakest
installment of The Stormlight Archive which is an assessment I
completely disagree with. It is not a
book that leaves the reader unsatisfied, just with more questions than answers
as the sequence shifts away from keeping the plot threads nearly as separate as
The Way of Kings or Words of Radiance had been. There is still the characteristic changing of
the points of view, expanding the points of view to an even longer list, with
Dalinar, Shallan, Kaladin, and Adolin being the four major recurring points of
view, but the plotlines are less distinct in terms of individual threads. Instead the individual character threads are
more of a subplot that is resolved before the end of the main plot and the true
climax of the story can actually begin.
Brandon Sanderson writes climaxes in sequences coined Sanderlanches by
fans due to the increase in pace and sheer events that happen and Oathbringer
is perhaps his longest Sanderlance, beginning nearly 400 pages before the end
of the novel with an event that changes the trajectory of The Stormlight
Archive forever.
This moment defines the trajectory of Kaladin’s arc
for the remainder of the series, as well as changes the political landscape of
Roshar forever. He fails to save
someone, really the first time this has happened since Tien, and as a character
he becomes incredibly conflicted. Much
of Oathbringer in Kaladin’s narration foreshadows the stating of the
Fourth Ideal and reading it back you can really feel that some readers
convinced themselves it had to happen during this novel, but it is incredibly
important that he doesn’t. Kaladin has
undergone much growth through these past three books yet still has more to
grow. As a character it is clear that if
he were on Earth he would be diagnosed with some sort of depression and it’s really
in Oathbringer that Sanderson begins to understand how to write a
character with that particular mental illness.
He has to deal with the fact that the world goes on with all the joy and
sorrow that comes with. When we meet him
in Oathbringer he goes back to his childhood home which has been ravaged
by the Everstorm, something that terrifies him as there is the fear his parents
will be dead, but instead they are alive, well, and Kaladin has a newborn brother. It is this little slice of pure joy in the middle
of a novel whose point is that while a battle is won the war may be lost with
Odium, the equal and opposite of Honor, being alive, well, and thriving while
chaos reigns. Kaladin also realizes what
it means to really be a leader, something he has exceled at in The Way of
Kings and Words of Radiance, but not to the point of really understanding
the injustices and systemic issues of lighteyes society. Now that he is a lighteyes, and there is a
sequence where he is part of a different lighteyes fighting force, he has to
really learn about society and the structures that should be dismantled. Sanderson sadly has moved slightly away from this
class consciousness in the face of a larger threat, however, with Moash really
being the only character to represent this and he’s an outright villain. While I am sympathetic to Moash and his
actions, this is a case of writing a villain whose motivations and goals are
genuinely good, though there may be a redemption arc in his future.
Oathbringer
also gives Adolin Kholin quite a bit of time to shine, his arc focusing on the
fallout from murdering Sadeas in cold blood at the end of Words of Radiance. It’s clear that this is the act that would be
keeping him from becoming a Knight Radiant, plus the use of a Shardblade which
as the world now knows is made of dead spren, killed when the previous order of
Knights Radiant betrayed their bonds.
Adolin, however, seems to be the only character wielding a dead Shardblade
that attempts to treat it with respect, especially after an encounter with its
corpse outside of the Cognitive Realm.
Yes, this is a book where the larger Cosmere mechanics begin to come
into play, a large part of the later book introducing the characters and reader
once again to Shadesmar (though Shallan briefly slipped through in The Way
of Kings) as well as eagle eyed readers recognizing characters from Warbreaker
to make an appearance. Adolin and
Renarin’s relationship is also fascinating here as Renarin attempts to live up
to the ideals of a Radiant despite something important being revealed by the
end of Oathbringer that may be keeping him from fully fulfilling those
duties. Oathbringer also brings
Jasnah Kholin back after the reports of her death had been greatly exaggerated
at the end of Words of Radiance.
Adolin’s plot goes hand in hand with Shallan’s: Shallan and Adolin are betrothed
and the climax of the plot is the eventual marriage, the final major event of
the novel which parallels its opening. Shallan
also feels as if she is losing her place, Veil becoming more prominent and
Radiant emerging from her past setting her character up as a system with
dissociative identity disorder, aided by Lightweaving meaning each alter looks
different. Now I am no expert on dissociative
identity disorder but Sanderson treats Veil and Radiant as their own people, Veil
being the one to really have attraction to Kaladin. Yes Sanderson does tackle some romantic
tension and that’s perhaps the weakest aspect of the book, mainly because it’s quite
sad. Heck Shallan excels when she’s
working once again with Jasnah Kholin.
Finally, we come to Dalinar who gets the bulk of the
point of view chapters for Oathbringer as well as the flashback chapters. Oathbringer’s flashback chapters are
perhaps the most devastating as the reader gets to see just how monstrous the
Blackthorn was in his younger days as well as the deal that he made. The Way of Kings and Words of
Radiance are written in such a way that the reader doesn’t quite realize
that Adolin and Renarin don’t actually make mention of their mother, and while
this may have been an oversight on the part of Sanderson, in Oatthbringer
that is rectified. The flashback devotes
so much time to establishing the relationship between Dalinar and Evie, with
Dalinar always being stoic and emotionally detached. Since Dalinar is much older in the main
sequence the flashbacks go through the course of thirty years or so and he has to
learn really how to be a father and emote as a human being. This is paralleled in the main sequence dealing
with ideas of the man who cannot let go, even as his memory of his wife is
ripped away from him in exchange for the pain taken away from the
Nightwatcher. The flashbacks leave him a
broken man and Oathbringer proper, both the book itself and the writing
of the in universe book that gives the novel its title, puts him back
together. His journey is one of accepting
his choices and pain on a path to personal redemption. Sanderson importantly doesn’t give Dalinar
the redemption in this book, explicitly making the acknowledgment of wrongs placed
squarely on himself and not the influence of Odium as the first steps to that
redemption. There’s also the parallelism
of personal healing coming from the wedding that opens the novel, with Dalinar
and Navani being married by the Stormfather.
Oathbringer
is a novel that is all about forming and breaking bonds, exploring what oaths
and bonds do to people and make them change.
While the climax is perhaps Sanderson’s longest, it isn’t the most
explosive one he has written, it is one of the most emotionally effective at
understanding what The Stormlight Archive is at the 25% mark of the
series overall and the 50% mark of the first sequence. The characters are amazing and while the
plots aren’t quite as distinct, instead bleeding things together and weaving in
and out of characters’ journeys, it continues the high quality the series is
known for. 9.5/10.
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