[OB] Full Book Reactions / Full Spoilers Thread

[Aminar]

13 minutes ago, SLNC said:

Funny, I thought I was reading a book and not a real-life simulation of perfection. Is it so wrong to want something a bit more interesting? At least some conflict? You know, something engaging to read?

In a relationship. Yes. Pop culture has next to no good relationships. We need to change that. People learn from fiction and if all they learn is drama all they do is drama. 

[Leyrann]

Totally unrelated, but YES IM A BABSK WHICH MEANS THAT I GOT A STORMLIGHT RELATED TITLE ON OATHBRINGER DAY! (even though it only happened halfway through the day)

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Aminar said:

Pop culture has next to no good relationships. We need to change that. People learn from fiction and if all they learn is drama all they do is drama. 

This is a pretty weak argument and I think you know it. Perfect relationships are not good, but unrealistic. Anyway, this is getting close to derailment of this thread, so let us just stop starting meta-arguments.

[lastofus]

I really need some therapy.. I cried a lot for Talenelat... The one who wasn't meant to have joined them in the first place, the one who was not a king, scholar, or general. 

I am speechless really.. started to read it again and need time to organize my thoughts.. IT WAS CHAOTIC...

[Leyrann]

It does make one wonder why he did join, then.

[Subvisual Haze]

29 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

It does make one wonder why he did join, then.

He and Ash may have been an item based on her familiarity with his hands.  That would make Taln even more amazing in hindsight if he just sort of followed Ash into godhood to not leave her side.  It would also give parallelism with Shallan+Adolin's current relationship.

[She Who Cannot Be Named]

Done and dusted. Back to the beginning ;-)

Some random thoughts in no real order:

• I absolutley loved the Shadesmar part. Now I really want to see the capital of the Honourspren sometime.
• Which Ideal will be next for Kaladin? It may have something to do with the people he couldn't save. Maybe it's accepting that he cannot save everybody? Or that prioritising the living comes first? As there are only two Ideals left for him, they should probably go into the direction of Leadership...
• "Which step is the most important to make? - The NEXT one." SA continues to help me get over more depressive days/phases. Who needs a therapist anyway^^
• I've seldomly cursed and laughed that much during a book as I did during part 5.
• Sadeas 2.0: wow, it could get worse. How is Ialai going to top that?
• RIP Elokhar. It almost seems like Hoid got a small, swirly keepsake from him?
• DESTROY EVIL!!!
• UNITY!
• Bridge Four!
• certain ex-member of B4: Nooooo Yeeaaah(?*small glimmer of hope*) NOOOOOO STORM YOU
• Oh look whose control is finally slipping. In combination with the name, speech patterns and the Kata training: when do we get Warbreaker 2?
• Not enough Dustbringer action
• Does Venli count as Traitor now? Timbre is so sweet.
• Huh. That's going to get really complicated now, with people switching sides all over on top of all the secret societies.
• "Give me tha capacity to save the world." For whom and to which end? It sort of looks better for the native population at the moment....
• Seems like not only the Heralds got out crazy after the gap between Desolations...
• Jasnah rocks. No, seriously. 
• We have a new King of the Peaks (if they're still standing). 
• Concerning kings: does anyone else think thaht Sebarial gets a new job and is going to hate it? (Waaaay too much work)

 

 

[Leyrann]

6 minutes ago, She Who Cannot Be Named said:

Concerning kings: does anyone else think thaht Sebarial gets a new job and is going to hate it? (Waaaay too much work)

No, Jasnah is the new monarch. I also got that wrong the first time I read it.

[She Who Cannot Be Named]

2 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

No, Jasnah is the new monarch. I also got that wrong the first time I read it.

Oh, thanks :-) It was reaaaaaaally late when I finished the book xD *gets the book out again* 

[Leyrann]

1 minute ago, She Who Cannot Be Named said:

*gets the book out again* 

Lucky you... I have to share the book with my mother and my brother (and eventually my father) and because I live 100 km away they didn't allow me to take it with me... Right now the only books I got close that are written by Brandon Sanderson are the last three Wheel of Time books...

I really should start buying Brandon's books for myself...

[Bridge Boy]

Let me start off by saying, I loved the book; however, I have to say I finished it a bit disappointed that there wasn't more. I just kept waiting for the (mistborn style) major, out of nowhere, mindblown plot twists that we've come to love from Sanderson, and it just never arrived. 

- The Dalinar plot line was very satisfying but quite predictable. I'm still hoping that there is more to learn from the "unite them" ripple effect. 

- The Shallan storyline felt so stagnant. I feel the following expresses where Shallan is regarding her personal issues in part one:

And then it's stays that way throughout the book. A character that I have loved is becoming so tedious to read about. 

- Similarly, not too much added to Kaladin's storyline. Yes, he is at odds about whether or not he should be fighting parshmen. But this is nothing new. I very much needed to know what his fourth ideal is to get progression from his character arc. I yelled at my book on 4 separate ocassions; "what are the words!?"

- So much build up for Szeth, all this emotional anguish from prior books, and there was zero payoff for it in this book, his character has just become so bland. Hoping for more in future books. 

- Adolin was the real star for much of this book in my opinion. Very much enjoyed his progression and I might tear up thinking about his shard blade. 

- Moash was a wonderful surprise. He brings a new element to the plot, and I can't wait to better understand his motivations.

- Elhokar's story arc was my favorite. It's just so tragic and beautiful. 

But Finally, Do we really believe that Humans being the invaders to Roshar is what caused the recreance? There must be more to this right? That alone cannot be the reason, it's not nearly big enough, and more importantly it's been obvious since book one. I don't accept it. This is misdirection/slight of hand by Brandon. There will most certainly be more to this. 

There are many other things that I am irtitated about but I will not get into them now as I have already been much too negative about a book I enjoyed. I genuinely love Sanderson's world and characters, and still think the book is exceptional just not nearly as good as his first two in SA. 

Perhaps my expectations are skewed based off some of the reviews prereleased prior to the book, or sanderson's past works. Or maybe I'm just accustomed to his trilogies and my expectations need to be adjusted as he writes this grand epic. 

Overall, thank you Brandon and all of you involved for all of your hard work in releasing this book. I can't wait for the next one. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Bridge Boy
Picture didnt post

[Leyrann]

3 minutes ago, Bridge Boy said:

- Similarly, not too much added to Kaladin's storyline. Yes, he is at odds about whether or not he should be fighting parshmen. But this is nothing new. I very much needed to know what his fourth ideal is to get progression from his character arc. I yelled at my book on 4 separate ocassions; "what are the words!?"

I'd argue that not being able to say the words is actually very important in his character arc right now. Also, we know from the Szeth scenes that, for some people, it will take many years to progress through the Ideals all the way, if they even do so.

[Bridge Boy]

2 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

I'd argue that not being able to say the words is actually very important in his character arc right now. Also, we know from the Szeth scenes that, for some people, it will take many years to progress through the Ideals all the way, if they even do so.

Hmmm. Should I be able to infer what the words are from context clues? Perhaps, I already need a reread. Because until I know what they are it will be very hard for me to determine how influential not saying them are to his character arc. 

[lastofus]

7 minutes ago, Bridge Boy said:

Hmmm. Should I be able to infer what the words are from context clues? Perhaps, I already need a reread. Because until I know what they are it will be very hard for me to determine how influential not saying them are to his character arc. 

It's about the one he couldn't save, maybe something like don't let the ones that I couldn't save bother me (or impede my duty).

 

I have to say, I really didn't like losing the theory of who authored oathbringer, but I am happy about the deal Taravangian made. He should not be a Radiant. 

 

BTW, did I understand correctly? Parshmen were there before (that's a fact). How about Honor? We know that Odium and humans came together... So their worshipers swapped places or something? Odium enticed Parshmen to accept him and Humans thought Honor was better?

Edited November 14, 2017 by lastofus

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, lastofus said:

did I understand correctly? Parshmen were there before (that's a fact). How about Honor? We know that Odium and humans came together... So their worshipers swapped places or something? Odium enticed Parshmen to accept him and Humans thought Honor was better?

That is how I understood it. The spren (being of Honor and Cultivation) chose to bond with the humans, and the listeners then turned to Odium. It is also said that Honor apparently loved humankind... So there probably was some kind of worship going on.

[Kk-]

Finished about an hour ago, loved the book overall. I had intended to start at the beginning but found myself downloading the ebook and jumping into the interludes at midnight last night .

First time posting on the forums, but I need to get some thoughts/theories out of my head from my probably much too fast read-through:

• I'm kind of glad we didn't see Kaladin swear his fourth oath in OB, it gave the others some much needed time in the spot light, and it feels he would be running out of steam approaching books 4 and 5 having gone Surgebinding>Blade>Plate in the first three.
• Teft's oath really choked me up.
• The missing unmade is possibly the third bondsmith spren, perhaps providing precedence for Sja-anat's (assuming I am not mixing names) apparent defection.
• While Adolin's perspective as a non-radiant fighter can be refreshing, I think that it's pretty likely that he will awaken his blade at some point, even if he doesn't become a surgebinder as a result.The events of the book, along with the fact that of all the orders, the Edgedancer oaths seem extremely appropriate to the revival of a dead blade, as well as their surge being regrowth, lead me to expect it in the coming books.
• I wonder if humans are an intrinsic part of Rayse's method of shattering other shards, or if his arrival with them in this case was a one-off thing.
• I was really hoping to see Elhokar given the opportunity to become the man he wanted to be, so his death was dissapointing to me. I like the idea that the spren Wit found in the epilogue was perhaps the one he was beginning to bond.

Some more Cosmere spoilery stuff:

Spoiler

• Speaking of, the Heralds, or at least Ash, knew Hoid's original name (assuming it isn't just an alias now, as I believe this is its' only use in official works?) Perhaps they, and even the humans on Roshar, came from Yolen? or else he revealed himself to them at a later date by that name, even though several of the Shards seem to know him as Cephandrius.
• I assume that Uli Da was the shard Rayse had killed who we didn't know.
• Similarly, I would guess that the three letters are from Endowment/Edgli, an unknown, possibly hive mind shard holder, and Sazed, in reverse order of confidence.
• Has Fortune been mentioned before? I vaguely remember it as something I wondered about after reading a previous book, but cannot place which.

[flying_shadow]

That was possibly the most intense thing I've ever read. I bought this book at 10am, and now it's 5:30 pm and I'm done. 

Adolin and Shallan are perfect together, and none will ever convince me otherwise.

[Mondaysjelly]

I must admit that I was unsatisfied after completing the book.

Not disappointed mind you. As a book, it is a literary work of art and IMHO, unequivocally Brandon's best work to date. Having followed his career since the Elantris days, it is both a joy and privilege to experience his craft grow with each passing piece of work, from writing style, story lay out, characterisations through to pacing. It's a triumphant culmination of all the learnings he's amassed through the years.

As a fan however, I didn't feel as fulfilled as I did when I finished either TWoK or WoR. The reason I suspect is because of how scattered the PoVs were in the final chapters. With the action coming thick and fast, it was understandable that you'd want to flash cut to events that were occurring simultaneously, but the unfortunate consequence of this was that I felt being forced to let go of the character emotions just after having been engrossed in the moment. It was as if I was Eddie Murphy in Coming to America being asked to play all the different characters in sequence on screen without the time necessary to get in character. In contrast to TWoK and WoR where the focus was on a subset of the main cast, the more extensive PoVs allowed me to immerse myself in the given situation and appreciate what was happening to that specific character, which resonated better with how the story unfolded. While the pacing of how the events were laid out was fantastic, I felt the balance just wasn't there to absorb the full spectrum of emotions from all the different characters.

On a more personal level, I had hoped that the Kaladin Shallan romantic tension didn't fizzle out as quickly as it did after all the extensive seeding that happened in WoR and the early parts of OB. Although it might still change until she confesses her dark past to Adolin. I suppose I'm not fussed who she ends up with, but had hoped the seed would mature to more of a story between the cast.

Ultimately it was a dream ride and represented a book that delivered on not only all my expectations but exceeded them easily. Can't wait for the next one!

[flying_shadow]

I just love that we find out who wrote the storming epigraphs from part 1...at the very end.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Kalinovsky

[Will O Wisp]

Elhokar was my favourite character...he tried so hard in the end

[Bridge Boy]

1 hour ago, Kk- said:

Finished about an hour ago, loved the book overall. I had intended to start at the beginning but found myself downloading the ebook and jumping into the interludes at midnight last night .

First time posting on the forums, but I need to get some thoughts/theories out of my head from my probably much too fast read-through:

• I'm kind of glad we didn't see Kaladin swear his fourth oath in OB, it gave the others some much needed time in the spot light, and it feels he would be running out of steam approaching books 4 and 5 having gone Surgebinding>Blade>Plate in the first three.
• Teft's oath really choked me up.
• The missing unmade is possibly the third bondsmith spren, perhaps providing precedence for Sja-anat's (assuming I am not mixing names) apparent defection.
• While Adolin's perspective as a non-radiant fighter can be refreshing, I think that it's pretty likely that he will awaken his blade at some point, even if he doesn't become a surgebinder as a result.The events of the book, along with the fact that of all the orders, the Edgedancer oaths seem extremely appropriate to the revival of a dead blade, as well as their surge being regrowth, lead me to expect it in the coming books.
• I wonder if humans are an intrinsic part of Rayse's method of shattering other shards, or if his arrival with them in this case was a one-off thing.
• I was really hoping to see Elhokar given the opportunity to become the man he wanted to be, so his death was dissapointing to me. I like the idea that the spren Wit found in the epilogue was perhaps the one he was beginning to bond.

Some more Cosmere spoilery stuff:

  Reveal hidden contents

• Speaking of, the Heralds, or at least Ash, knew Hoid's original name (assuming it isn't just an alias now, as I believe this is its' only use in official works?) Perhaps they, and even the humans on Roshar, came from Yolen? or else he revealed himself to them at a later date by that name, even though several of the Shards seem to know him as Cephandrius.
• I assume that Uli Da was the shard Rayse had killed who we didn't know.
• Similarly, I would guess that the three letters are from Endowment/Edgli, an unknown, possibly hive mind shard holder, and Sazed, in reverse order of confidence.
• Has Fortune been mentioned before? I vaguely remember it as something I wondered about after reading a previous book, but cannot place which.

I had nearly forgotten about Teft. That was quite the powerful oath, and I also got a bit choked up while reading it.

I am very interested in the thought that humans are essential to Rayse's methods. Kind of paints a bleak picture though and not only for Roshar.

[flying_shadow]

I want to reread the book and I just finished it two hours ago.

[dionysus]

1. Aimian sighting of that cremling Kaladin flicks with his finger in Kholinar. They were just having important discussions too.

2. I also concur with others that there is no way that is the sole reason for the Recreance. We have been told on several occasions, by heralds even, that without Honor to regulate the surges they are extremely dangerous. I think this is world ending levels of danger and we don't know the full story on that. Our main characters basically shrug off the revelation of the long-ago guilt of humanity, and I think that is a normal reaction. So my theory is that you had a combination of 1) revelation humanity is not historically the good guys, 2) revelation that your existence does in fact endanger Existence, and 3) Honor, according to the Stormfather, was in the process of being splintered and was raving and adding to the Radiants confusion.

3. The name of Odium definitely does not encompass all he is. He seems to be all emotion but with a particular focus on hatred. Also the feeding or absorbing of emotion, is that just how he entices people are is that inherent to his shard?

4. Love the spren in Shadesmar. So bizarre. Can you imagine a movie made of this book?

 

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by dionysus

[Steeldancer]

DIE SHALLADIN DIE 

Thank goodness. 

That was... 

Amazing

Wit you bastard. Attracting a cryptic...

Dalinar... Sort of ascended? 

Amaram totally did the double weilding thing. 

2 new Windrunners. Storms I loved Lopens oath. Loved it. So much. That was HILARIOUS. 

And dalinars struggles... Holy cow. I nearly cried.

renarin and a corrupted yet good Spren?

jez was who we thought he was, and FREAKING MOASH KILLED HIM? I AM GOING TO STRANGLE UOU MOASH

Taln. Let it be known. Taln is my man. Insult him at your own risk. 

Szeth. Was awesome.

as was lift. 

Storms this was stuff I didn't expect until book 5! 

Im glad Kaladin failed to find his fourth oath. Would have felt repetitive. I would like to see some more growth there. 

Also, HA to the Shalladin shippers. 

Also, Adolins sword? If he's not going to heal it then I don't know what will. He's awesome with that sword. 

This book was amazing. I need to reread that letter.

im almost underwhelmed by the secret of the Recreance. But at the same time...

also, Taran is going full evil. Fantastic. 

Siblings of the Stormfather? Flying ships? I AM SO EXCITEEEEEEEE I WANT FLYING SHIPS TO BOMBARD ODIUM. 

So many awesome things in this book. 

What broke Jasnah?

shadesmar was awesome. 

Renarin. 

Things. 

Epicness. 

Can I even describe the experience of reading this book? It was so DAMNATION good. 

[kari-no-sugata]

Well, read Parts 2-5 in 25 hours straight. Kinda tired

I'll write more after some sleep but my feeling right now is that some plot lines didn't quite have the payoff I was hoping for. There were plenty of scenes that were great to read and the plot certainly went in some interesting directions. Dalinar's plot worked well I thought except it felt a bit repetitive (emotionally) at times. The other characters felt a bit crowded out at times. I'm glad we got plenty of reveals and a number of plot threads were closed off.

When I finished reading WoR I thought that the next book would be rather dark due to the effects of the Everstorm but that didn't really happen until we got to Part 3 and it was quite a change.