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[OB] Best Stormlight Book (again)


ICanDream

Best Stormlight book  

65 members have voted

  1. 1. Best Stormlight book?

    • Way of Kings
      14
    • Words of Radiance
      29
    • Oathbringer
      22


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I know I’ve already made this exact topic but I thought I’d make it again now Oathbringer hype has died down (somewhat). 

So vote for your favourite, and I you can be bothered, explain why. Don’t start a flame war though.

Nah, what am I kidding? Start flame wars all you want!

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The Way of Kings was what convinced me that Brandon Sanderson was worth reading, so I'm going to vote for that.

It also has the best scene in any of his books yet (Are windspren attracted to the wind, or do they make it? I remember what spren I am.) The Tower will be my favorite scene for a long, long time. It was amazingly powerful and meaningful to me.

Plus, it's usually the first book that's the best of a series. After all, if the first one sucked they don't tend to write a second one. It's the one that's most fully formed and has the best idea of what happens, when, and why. As series continue these point tend to merge between books.

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5 minutes ago, Rainier said:

It also has the best scene in any of his books yet.  The Tower will be my favorite scene for a long, long time. It was amazingly powerful and meaningful to me.

I agree - the Tower was my favorite Sanderson scene ever.  That whole section is just so vivid and cinematic - it's was extremely well-written, and a perfect climax for the action in that story.  Whenever I think about how a cosmere book would look developed as a movie, I immediately think of that scene and how perfect it would be on a big screen.  

The Way of Kings is just great storytelling - the plot, the characters and the worldbuilding is all so believable and exciting.  I separate the Way of Kings in my mind from Words of Radiance and Oathbringer, because the last two seem to be more connected in plot and there's much less wonder and mystery in them, while the Way of Kings is more of an origin story.  Two perfect examples of this are Kaladin's slow realization that he's drawing Stormlight and Shallan's creepy experience with drawing Cryptics and then falling into the sea of glass beads - those are just compelling, mysterious, fascinating elements that couldn't be captured in future books because they depend on your unfamiliarity with the world and the magic system.  

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I chose OB, but I almost chose WoR. My reasoning behind this is that, while there were definitely some parts of the book I didn't like (e.g. Shallan's multiple personalities, not enough conflict with Sadeas's murder, felt rushed in some parts), I felt like there were definitely far more amazing parts of the book and there were definitely a lot more impactful moments (of course, the scene where Tien dies will still be the most impactful for me because that's the first time in a very long time I've ever cried while reading a book). Plus, this revealed so much about the world and it was just awesome to read, not to mention all of the Realmatic parts which I'm a huge fan of. Also, I loved the arcs with Adolin/Maya and Venli/Timbre. Both are absolutely beautiful (though I could've used more of both). 

Overall, there were definitely some things that needed to be fixed in my opinion, but overall it was much better than either WoK or WoR.

EDIT: @ICanDream Can you please add [OB] to the front of the topic? And this thread is not gonna have a flame war, that is not what this forum is about.

Edited by Ookla the StrooklaEZ
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10 minutes ago, Ookla the StrooklaEZ said:

 

EDIT: @ICanDream Can you please add [OB] to the front of the topic? And this thread is not gonna have a flame war, that is not what this forum is about.

I don’t think I need to add [OB] considering this is on the Oathbringer spoiler board. And about the flame wars - when I was lurking on the forums a while back, some things got pretty dirty ;)

I mean, one guy got called a chull... ouch

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11 minutes ago, ICanDream said:

I don’t think I need to add [OB] considering this is on the Oathbringer spoiler board. And about the flame wars - when I was lurking on the forums a while back, some things got pretty dirty ;)

I mean, one guy got called a chull... ouch

The Oathbringer spoiler policy at the stop of the screen, below the tabs for the news, forums, etc. specifies that [OB] needs to be on all of the topics in the Oathbringer spoiler board. 

Yes, that does happen occasionally, but there's a difference between that and encouraging it.

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I think OB suffers too much from "middle-book syndrome" to be the best.  Add to that general expectations for it to be better than WoR which was better than WoK, and it feels worse by comparison than it actually is, imo.  Also, while WoK and WoR have some truly wonderful scenes, in my mind OB only has some wonderful moments.  Those moments don't last as long as a scene, and so my feeling of wonder and awe don't last as long; when I go back for a re-read of them, the moment is quickly found and gone again. 

WoR has Shallan with Hoid when she's a child; Shallan and Adolin go to the Zoo with Kaladin, plus Hoid!; and of course the Chasm Scenes, which is one of my favorite scenes written in any book ever.  WoK has Shallan going mad from being stalked by spren, and the Battle at the Tower.  Both have their small wonderful moments, although nothing compared to Dalinar's "I am Unity" or Teft's "I will protect those that I hate, even if I am the one that I hate the most [paraphrased]".  

WoK is strong and great, and while I'm in general more upset at WoR than I am with WoK because of reasons I went into at great length after its release, I love it for far more reasons.  OB is a fine book, but imo a solid 7 standing next to a couple of 9s.

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Oathbringer was my favorite book, of all time. I love reading, and enjoy almost anybook, and to be honest most people would be surprised to hear I had ever picked a favorite. But Oathbringer was the first book that had me excited the entire time. There were zero scenes I didn't enjoy, including any cringey or scary ones, and I just loved it

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8 minutes ago, Ookla the Lightweaver said:

Oathbringer was my favorite book, of all time. I love reading, and enjoy almost anybook, and to be honest most people would be surprised to hear I had ever picked a favorite. But Oathbringer was the first book that had me excited the entire time. There were zero scenes I didn't enjoy, including any cringey or scary ones, and I just loved it

Holy crap, totally second your opinion here. In a world of dull moments punctuated by interesting singular events, it's incredible to read 122 chapters, 12 interludes and a prologue and epilogue and always be on the edge of my seat to see what was going to happen. AMAZING!

This was the best book I've ever read, and I've read a lot. After WoR the bar was set incredibly high, but Holy Crap Brandon doesn't understand anything about bars because this a magnitude of ten kind of jump over the bar from WoR. His writing has gotten so much better too, I really think that this series will pass out of the realm of "fantasy" literature, and when he and Peter sit down and write the authoritative volume of Realmatic theory it will be required reading in Philosophy 101.

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41 minutes ago, Ookla the maladroit said:

So much happened! Every chapter in OB was like an entire book!

Holy crap, no kidding! Combine that with the fact that the ending of every part would have been an AMAZING ending for any other book you have ever read, and you are left just with your own puddle of drool, collecting at your feet as you bask in the singular glory of Brandonalsium.

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To be honest Oathbringer just blew my mind. I mean, every time you think the story will go somewhere you can cmpletely understand Brandon's like "Confusion before clarity! Journey before Destination!" and we're back to square 1. Why else do you think he had Dalinar, I don't know, fuse freaknig REALM'S together???

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8 hours ago, kaellok said:

I think OB suffers too much from "middle-book syndrome" to be the best.  Add to that general expectations for it to be better than WoR which was better than WoK, and it feels worse by comparison than it actually is, imo.  Also, while WoK and WoR have some truly wonderful scenes, in my mind OB only has some wonderful moments.  Those moments don't last as long as a scene, and so my feeling of wonder and awe don't last as long; when I go back for a re-read of them, the moment is quickly found and gone again. 

Yes I agree with you completely. I enjoyed OB, but WoR is definitely my favourite so far. I'd go so far as to say tWoK has wonderful scenes, WoR has wonderful sequences (ie more than one scene tied together) and OB has wonderful moments as you said. Those moments might be better than other moments in tWoK or WoR (tho personally I am not so sure about this - eg, Kaladin's 3rd Oath is huge and links to previous scenes - eg Fleet kept running) but overall I was less immersed in the book than I had been for either tWoK or WoR because I didn't just get lost in the story for the same length of time. There are also some threads that are left hanging from WoR/tWoK essentially because it was "too early" to start tying them up yet. I expect SA4 to have more answers/resolutions than OB had as a result. On top of that WoR had a better sense of contrast imo - it went between light and dark much more fluidly. Most of OB felt "dark" in comparison - with good reason given the story, but that lack of "light" meant that the constant "darkness" became oppressive at times. It works as a theme for what is happening and I think it conveys both Dalinar as a person and also what Roshar is going through marvellously, but it also makes me like it less (despite the obvious skill with which it was written).

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I'm going Oathbringer. OB had so many scenes that I had to go back and instantly re-read because I was like "Wait. Did that just happen?". Not to mention I think there were some of the best scenes Brandon has ever written in this book. No book is without it's faults, but I think OB had fewer than WoK or WoR. 

This book by far had the most emotional scenes out of any cosmere book. The entire Moash salute to Kaladin scene will go down as my favorite emotional Sanderson scene for a very, very long time. The buildup, execution and climax of that scene was just excellent. It is wonderful when an author can make you feel an emotion so completely, and during this scene I just felt hopeless lol. Taln's conversation with Ash. That one felt like a punch right to the gut. Taln y u so nice. Elhokar. Nuff said. The Jasnah/Renarin confrontation at the end. Turns out Jasnah does have a little piece of a heart. Pretty much all of Szeth's scenes. He just needs a hug already.  

In my opinion this book had the best/emotional/informative flashback sequence of the three SA novels. Dalinar is by far the most changed character of the three in terms of what they used to be like. Not to mention the events and aftermath of The Rift. Ouch. I also totally teared up during the scene when Renarin hugged Dalinar. Right in the feels.

It had the most cosmere knowledge bombs, and those bombs were executed masterfully. Finally seeing Odium, and him being the villain we all hoped for. Seeing Cultivation and her plans outwitting Odium. An entire Part in Shadesmar. Worldhoppers galore. 

The best climax in any Sanderson book so far. I felt like I was running a marathon that was taking place on a roller coaster. 

This book was also one of the more darker of the books we've seen so far and it was done in a very good way. In WoR and WoK the story starts somewhat depressing, then has some ups and downs but for the most part maintains the "things are going to get better" feel. Not so much in this book. In OB you get the sense and feel that the characters are finally starting to realize the burdens that have been placed on their shoulders in their entirety as well as everything and everyone their responsible for. During the entire book, even after the climax, there was a vibe that even though some good things are happening there is still a huge shadow on the horizon and people are just starting to realize the scope of that shadow. 

Lastly, just so much good information.

  • More about the KR Orders
  • The Recreance 
  • Unmade
  • Voidbinding 
  • Diagram
  • Nightwatcher
  • Dalinar's boon and curse
  • Evi
  • The complexity of the Voidbringer situation
  • Honor
  • Epigraphs(my favorite thus far)

 

OB was a 9 out of 10 for me. The only thing stopping it from being a 10/10 are the interludes. Other than the Amia interlude, I felt the others weren't up to par with the other books. I also didn't like Venli's arc compared to Eshonai's and Szeth's.  

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WoR for me, Kaladin's 3rd Oath and Adolin's multi-duel are stand-out moments that highlight an overall amazing book. OB was a lot of buildup and an amazing payoff, but I feel like WoR paced its payoffs better than OB (two big moments instead of one) and tWoK was kind of similar to OB in that regard, except tWoK had the "the parshmen are the Voidbringers" reveal scene towards the end that personally blew my mind and immediately made me want to read the next book. 

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I have a lot of problems with OB. I have re-read it, some bits more than others, but while I've been able to feel better about some problems I keep noticing new problems. I'm actually so frustrated that I've decided that it's best that I ignore the book and these forums for a while. I need to move on.

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Although I would never argue with people who don't like Oathbringer I wonder if part of the problem is unrealistic expectations. I think when each book takes over three years of waiting, it is easy to hype the book up into something it will never be able to fulfill. I think this will continue to be a trend, for some, regarding this series and book six will have the most, of all ten books, people upset with it upon the first read. 

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7 hours ago, Ammanas said:

Although I would never argue with people who don't like Oathbringer I wonder if part of the problem is unrealistic expectations. I think when each book takes over three years of waiting, it is easy to hype the book up into something it will never be able to fulfill. I think this will continue to be a trend, for some, regarding this series and book six will have the most, of all ten books, people upset with it upon the first read. 

I don't know - I was just as hyped for WoR and it still exceeded my expectations. OB just has so many glaring structural mistakes and its heights don't quite reach the heights of TWoK and WoR - Shadesmar sequence can't compare to the chasm in WoR and the final battle (by the way this ending is maybe becoming a bit predictable) isn't as good as either of the previous ones. For me the prose got better but pretty much everything else felt worse.

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I rate OB similar with WoK, and I see them as similar books. The first two books - WoK and WoR - are what I like to think of as the Shattered Plains arc. WoK is spent establishing our characters and then getting them to the SP (for Shallan, that's the beginning of WoR of course.) Then we have a whole bunch of incredible climaxes and coalescing storylines at the end of the SP arc. In OB, our story completely shifts location to Urithiru and the book is, IMO, mostly about setting the stage there and getting our new main players (e.g. Jasnah, Szeth, Lift, Taln, Ash) situated in (or in proximity to) that location. As such, it's just not the same kind of book as WoR. After WoR, and how storming fabtabulous that book was, I think it's natural to feel a little let down with OB. But, I think OB is setting the stage for our next big arc (I don't know if this will take us through book 5, but am thinking it will), so there weren't as much awe-inspiring moments and more stagnated, but in my mind in-depth, character development. Plotlines don't necessarily move forward (Dalinar being the big exception), but our characters generally have depth added to them which is hard to do when the focus is on those amazing moments. I'm loving the book more and more in retrospect, but I think it is very hard to write "middle" books which leave readers that satisfied as by their very nature, there are many loose ends. We got one complete "story" (Dalinar) for our own reading satisfaction, but in my mind, the true focus of the book was to develop our characters and set the stage for what is to come. In that respect, I found it to be immensely satisfying. 

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