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Oathbringer - Stormlight Archive book 3


ExpandMyMind

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Anyone read Brandon Sanderson's latest book? I'm working my way through the audiobook and I'm curious to know what others think.

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Introduction

Dalinar Kholin’s Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar’s blood-soaked past and stand together―and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past―even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.

 

oathbringer_cover-final.jpg?fit=640,%2B9

 

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Looks like another  Michael Moorcock clone to me.  I was burned out on that 70s and 80s fantasy pulp in the 80s. Gimme something where I can think. 

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47 minutes ago, Piney said:

Looks like another  Michael Moorcock clone to me.  I was burned out on that 70s and 80s fantasy pulp in the 80s. Gimme something where I can think. 

How so? I've found nothing generic about Sanderson's writing and nothing at all that suggests he copies the ideas of other writers. His stories, apart from being "fantasy", are as unique as the magic systems he creates

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Sanderson’s First Law of Magics: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.

Sanderson’s Second Law: Limitations > Powers ('The limitations of a magic system are more interesting than its capabilities. What the magic can't do is more interesting than what it can.')

Sanderson's Third Law: Expand on what you have already, before you add something new. ("A brilliant magic system for a book is less often one with a thousand different powers and abilities -- and is more often a magic system with relatively few powers that the author has considered in depth.")

It's all really well thought out.

And sci fi and fantasy are in my opinion great for producing novels that make you think. For instance, the first book in this series was about class systems, war and slavery. I'd say that very few subjects explore the human soul more than those three. 

I'm slightly saddened that you can't enjoy fantasy anymore, but that's probably in large part down to the fact that you were reading it in the 70s and 80s, when all fantasy was generic Tolkien-copies. The two main, large series that I've read lately have been so incredible, with such interesting and complicated characters and character dynamics, that both of them at times had me bubbling like a little girl. (The Wheel of Time and the Farseer series are those two series. You should check them out. Or at least the threads on here I created about them to see if they interest you).

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4 minutes ago, ExpandMyMind said:

How so? I've found nothing generic about Sanderson's writing and nothing at all that suggests he copies the ideas of other writers. His stories, apart from being "fantasy", are as unique as the magic systems he creates

I'm slightly saddened that you can't enjoy fantasy anymore, but that's probably in large part down to the fact that you were reading it in the 70s and 80s, when all fantasy was generic Tolkien-copies. The two main, large series that I've read lately have been so incredible, with such interesting and complicated characters and character dynamics, that both of them at times had me bubbling like a little girl. (The Wheel of Time and the Farseer series are those two series. You should check them out. Or at least the threads on here I created about them to see if they interest you).

The Wheel of Time was awesome. I read that in prison. Along with all George R.R. Martins stuff. My favorite isn't the Game of Thrones series though. My favorite is his novelette called "The Skin Trade". I think he should of wrote more stories based on those characters. I'm just burned out on fantasy and don't want to look too hard at things. I read a description and think "Meh! same trash."

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24 minutes ago, Piney said:

The Wheel of Time was awesome. I read that in prison. Along with all George R.R. Martins stuff. My favorite isn't the Game of Thrones series though. My favorite is his novelette called "The Skin Trade". I think he should of wrote more stories based on those characters. I'm just burned out on fantasy and don't want to look too hard at things. I read a description and think "Meh! same trash."

You should at least check out Robin Hobb's Farseer. It only has two types of magic for the most part. One is like a telepathy, and the other is basically the same concept as Jon Snow's warging powers (and he even has a ****ing kick-ass wolf he bonds and communicated with. He's also a royal b******, like Jon).

"In today's crowded fantasy market Robin Hobb's books are like diamonds in a sea of zircons." - George RR Martin's blurb from the cover of her books. She's probably a better writer than him. Her series is better in my opinion.

And on a side note, I spent two months in a Norweigan prison and I happened to read books from both of the same series as you. Weird coincidence.

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2 minutes ago, ExpandMyMind said:

And on a side note, I spent a month in a Norweigan prison and I happened to read books from both of the same series as you. Weird coincidence.

:)

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On 11/22/2017 at 1:36 PM, ExpandMyMind said:

Anyone read Brandon Sanderson's latest book? I'm working my way through the audiobook and I'm curious to know what others think.

I just got done with it and loved it. I was a little surprised that some things (secrets) were outright said and given away so soon in the series.  

Have you read Brandon Sanderson's other books that take place in the Cosmere? If you haven't you need to, they are all connected to each other. A lot about Hoid/Wit only makes sense after reading the other books, since he is in every book and that takes place in the Cosmere.

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45 minutes ago, Odin11 said:

I just got done with it and loved it. I was a little surprised that some things (secrets) were outright said and given away so soon in the series.  

Have you read Brandon Sanderson's other books that take place in the Cosmere? If you haven't you need to, they are all connected to each other. A lot about Hoid/Wit only makes sense after reading the other books, since he is in every book and that takes place in the Cosmere.

I experienced Oathbringer through the audiobook version so I'm sure I missed half of the small details. My mind always drifts with audiobooks but it was the only way I could experience it at the time. I'll be reading the ebook over Xmas and New Year I think. What secrets were you referring to?

God, I had goosebumps when Elokar was about to say the words! Then again when Kaladin was about to say the 4th ideal! Damned if I didn't want him to get his shardplate! But the real pay-off was with Dalinar's arc. It was brilliant and felt so earned. And with Renarin when he realised he could run and fight and how he practically changed in an instant, What a book. I might actually start reading it sooner than I thought, now that I'm reminiscing.

I've read the first Mistborn but that's it so far. I have the others but my book backlog is huge right now. I'm half-way through The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. You read it? I have good vibes from it and think it could end up being another of my favourites. It's characters are so well written - just need to see how the plot develops.

 

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3 hours ago, ExpandMyMind said:

I experienced Oathbringer through the audiobook version so I'm sure I missed half of the small details. My mind always drifts with audiobooks but it was the only way I could experience it at the time. I'll be reading the ebook over Xmas and New Year I think. What secrets were you referring to?

They're not really secrets, more like things that were left unsaid until now. Things like Hoid / Wit being thousands of years old, he's actually the 2nd oldest being in the Cosmere, and him having powers, in the epilogue, he made the doll move by using a power that's in the book Warbreaker. That's why it says his vest turns gray, the power is based around color. Another not so secret, secret involves Azure she's a worldhopper, like Hoid, meaning they can use the Cognitive Realm to go to other worlds within the Cosmere. I was just surprised that Hoid's story is already coming out in the 3rd book, I thought it would still be a hidden background story until later on in the series. Maybe people were figuring it out to fast and Sanderson added it in early. Also I was surprised that Sanderson told us why the radiants gave up their oaths so early, there is supposed to be 10 or more books in this series.

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God, I had goosebumps when Elokar was about to say the words! Then again when Kaladin was about to say the 4th ideal! Damned if I didn't want him to get his shardplate! But the real pay-off was with Dalinar's arc. It was brilliant and felt so earned. And with Renarin when he realised he could run and fight and how he practically changed in an instant, What a book. I might actually start reading it sooner than I thought, now that I'm reminiscing.

Yeah, I had goosebumps at those moments too and when Kaladin split the storm for the slaves, that's when I knew that shardplate come from spren. But I felt a little let down that Kaladin didn't say the 4th ideal. I know Sanderson thinks limitations are better then powers and I tend to agree but it's still a let down. What do you think the 4th ideal is and why he couldn't say it? He says "can I say this and mean it", I think it has to do with accepting the death of those close to him as not his fault.

I just read the other day that Sanderson said that Renarin is on the autism spectrum, and I can see that a lot better in this book.

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I've read the first Mistborn but that's it so far. I have the others but my book backlog is huge right now. I'm half-way through The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. You read it? I have good vibes from it and think it could end up being another of my favourites. It's characters are so well written - just need to see how the plot develops.

You really need to read all of them they're great. You're really lucky, I wish I had a backlog of books to read. All of the authors that I like are either done with their series or take years between books, and Oathbringer was my last book by Sanderson I had left, I've read the rest.

I tired to read The Blade Itself, but something about it stopped me. I think it was the fact that I had just read all of A Song of Ice and Fire and I think my brain needed a break, I'll try it again.

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7 hours ago, Odin11 said:

They're not really secrets, more like things that were left unsaid until now. Things like Hoid / Wit being thousands of years old, he's actually the 2nd oldest being in the Cosmere, and him having powers, in the epilogue, he made the doll move by using a power that's in the book Warbreaker. That's why it says his vest turns gray, the power is based around color. Another not so secret, secret involves Azure she's a worldhopper, like Hoid, meaning they can use the Cognitive Realm to go to other worlds within the Cosmere. I was just surprised that Hoid's story is already coming out in the 3rd book, I thought it would still be a hidden background story until later on in the series. Maybe people were figuring it out to fast and Sanderson added it in early. Also I was surprised that Sanderson told us why the radiants gave up their oaths so early, there is supposed to be 10 or more books in this series.

Yeah, I had goosebumps at those moments too and when Kaladin split the storm for the slaves, that's when I knew that shardplate come from spren. But I felt a little let down that Kaladin didn't say the 4th ideal. I know Sanderson thinks limitations are better then powers and I tend to agree but it's still a let down. What do you think the 4th ideal is and why he couldn't say it? He says "can I say this and mean it", I think it has to do with accepting the death of those close to him as not his fault.

I just read the other day that Sanderson said that Renarin is on the autism spectrum, and I can see that a lot better in this book.

You really need to read all of them they're great. You're really lucky, I wish I had a backlog of books to read. All of the authors that I like are either done with their series or take years between books, and Oathbringer was my last book by Sanderson I had left, I've read the rest.

I tired to read The Blade Itself, but something about it stopped me. I think it was the fact that I had just read all of A Song of Ice and Fire and I think my brain needed a break, I'll try it again.

Well you need to remember, Odin, that this series of books isn't really 10 books long. It's two sets of 5 books. The second set will be about different character with a few from the first group of books showing up. So, with that in mind, this series is actually over half-way through.

I thought Hod's powers at the end meant he was the same as Shallon. Didn't he change the appearance of something or... no, it was a 'pattern' he found. I thought that meant he had Shallon's powers, but thinking about it I think he might just have been saving Elokar's spren? 

I figured out that Azure was from another book on my own and, after, I read up to see what. I still don't know exactly where she fits in. Wasn't she going looking for the weapon-master who taught the princes? Which confused me because she then ended up finding someone else - one of the Heralds, the one who had lost his mind, was it? I could be wrong here because as I mentioned before I miss quite a bit with the audiobooks. 

I think you might be correct about the ideal, but it might also be to do with sacrificing innocents - maybe even people he loves - for the greater good, not just accepting their deaths. Does the shardplate come from spren though? I'm not sure that had been made clear, but if it has then clear it up for me if you can. It's definitely to do with their powers but I'm not sure it's the spren themselves, since wouldn't they be connected to all the shardplate that was left over, like they are the blades? I'm not sure.

Yeah I think I'll get to the rest of the Mistborn soon. I really liked the first one - though wasn't too keen on the finale,  even though it was really well-thought-out. 

Also, I think the second 5 books will see his other worlds all come together in order to fight a threat to all of them. It'll be the conclusion of all the stories in this universe. I don't think there's been anything else, in any medium (even comics or Tolkien), that matches the sheers scale and ambition of The Cosmere. It's an incredible achievement and you have to credit the publishers for allowing him to realise his vision.

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8 hours ago, ExpandMyMind said:

Well you need to remember, Odin, that this series of books isn't really 10 books long. It's two sets of 5 books. The second set will be about different character with a few from the first group of books showing up. So, with that in mind, this series is actually over half-way through.

I thought Hod's powers at the end meant he was the same as Shallon. Didn't he change the appearance of something or... no, it was a 'pattern' he found. I thought that meant he had Shallon's powers, but thinking about it I think he might just have been saving Elokar's spren? 

I figured out that Azure was from another book on my own and, after, I read up to see what. I still don't know exactly where she fits in. Wasn't she going looking for the weapon-master who taught the princes? Which confused me because she then ended up finding someone else - one of the Heralds, the one who had lost his mind, was it? I could be wrong here because as I mentioned before I miss quite a bit with the audiobooks. 

I think you might be correct about the ideal, but it might also be to do with sacrificing innocents - maybe even people he loves - for the greater good, not just accepting their deaths. Does the shardplate come from spren though? I'm not sure that had been made clear, but if it has then clear it up for me if you can. It's definitely to do with their powers but I'm not sure it's the spren themselves, since wouldn't they be connected to all the shardplate that was left over, like they are the blades? I'm not sure.

Yeah I think I'll get to the rest of the Mistborn soon. I really liked the first one - though wasn't too keen on the finale,  even though it was really well-thought-out. 

Also, I think the second 5 books will see his other worlds all come together in order to fight a threat to all of them. It'll be the conclusion of all the stories in this universe. I don't think there's been anything else, in any medium (even comics or Tolkien), that matches the sheers scale and ambition of The Cosmere. It's an incredible achievement and you have to credit the publishers for allowing him to realise his vision.

Oh I didn't know that it is two sets of 5 books, that makes sense now.

Yeah, I think you're right about it being Elokar's spren, but remember he doesn't start to say the first Ideal until the very end of the book. He "Awakened" the doll before in found the Cryptic spren and said the first Ideal. Trust me he used BioChromatic Breath the power from the book Warbreaker. Which is why he had to whisper to the doll and why his vest turned gray.

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"The process of Awakening begins when an Awakener releases some of their stored Breath into an object through the use of a Command. While doing so, the Awakener must also be in physical contact with a source of color (e.g. a piece of dyed cloth). If the Command is valid and is correctly visualized in the Awakener's mind, then color is drained from the color source and the target object becomes Awakened. It then proceeds to carry out the Command."

Remember, Hoid has appeared in almost every cosmere novel, short story, and novella. His use of sand and smoke to tell stories might be form his home world which Sanderson has not wrote about yet.

I think you might be confusing Azure and Ash. Ash is the one at the end of the of the book that finds the Herald Talenel, her real name is Shalash and she is also a Herald. Azure is looking for the weapon-master, yes. Who we now know is a worldhopper.

The shardplate coming from spren is just a speculation on my part. Every time Kaladin was about to say the Ideal windspren started to flow around him even when there was no wind. The old Knights Radiants could summon and dismiss their shardplate at will, like their shardblades. And since we know how shardblades work it only makes sense that's how shardplate works as well. I was just thinking that since there are Highspren and lesserspren. Highspren are sentient and form the bond, and the lesserspren are not sentient and just follow along for the ride. So it would be Honorspren and windspren for Windrunners, Cryptics and Creationspren(maybe) for Lightweavers, Cultivationspren and maybe lifespren for Edgedancers, and the lesserspren for Bondsmiths might be gloryspren. Maybe the lesserspren of the shardplate have been pulled completely into the physical Realm as shardplate when the old Knights Radiants pulled them off during the Recreance, unlike the highspren of the blades which are stronger fragments of power, and that's why old shardplate isn't dismissed and summoned like shardblades.

 

Yeah The Stormlight Archive series is what pulls and ties the universal story together. And I agree 100% on the sheer scale and ambition of The Cosmere. I think all in all it will be 30+ books, novellas, and graphic novels. Speaking of graphic novels you should get White Sand it's a Cosmere story as well.

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I just wanted to add that I'm so happy to have someone to talk to about these books, no one around me has read them and it drives me crazy not being able to talk out ideas about them. So, thank you.

 

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2 hours ago, Odin11 said:

I just wanted to add that I'm so happy to have someone to talk to about these books, no one around me has read them and it drives me crazy not being able to talk out ideas about them. So, thank you.

 

Same! I'll be better for conversations once I've actually properly read it.

Thanks for clearing up some of that stuff - I knew the Ash/Azure thing didn't make sense!

What if shardplate isn't a highspren, but made from lots of lesser spren, which is why all the windspren were getting ready for Kaladin? I'll be back later but a bit too busy with other stuff right now.

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29 minutes ago, ExpandMyMind said:

Same! I'll be better for conversations once I've actually properly read it.

Thanks for clearing up some of that stuff - I knew the Ash/Azure thing didn't make sense!

What if shardplate isn't a highspren, but made from lots of lesser spren, which is why all the windspren were getting ready for Kaladin? I'll be back later but a bit too busy with other stuff right now.

That's what I'm saying, I think shardplate is made from lots of lesser spren.

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Oh, I'm dumb. When I was saying highspren, I meant greater spren not highspren. Highspren bond with skybreakers, greater spren are all the spren that are sentient.

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23 minutes ago, Odin11 said:

Oh, I'm dumb. When I was saying highspren, I meant greater spren not highspren. Highspren bond with skybreakers, greater spren are all the spren that are sentient.

Huh. I actually didn't know there was a difference between highspren and greater spren. I'm sure there must be loads I've missed.

Did you reread Oathbringer then? :D I've been trying to empty my hard drive of the backlog of shows I have so haven't managed to get to it yet. 

By the way, have you read The Kingkiller Chronicles? I'm absolutely dying for The Doors of Stone to be released. Man, that guy's worse than Martin!

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