Oathbringer is finally on the horizon, and as has been noted at the end of the Words of Radiance thread, Tor has started to release the book in chunks.

Here's a link to the index, and to the chapters that have been released so far:

Prologue
Chapters I, II, III
Chapters IV, V, VI
Chapters VII, VIII, IX

Tor is dropping three chapters every Tuesday evening for the time being.

Spoiler

So far, I'm really glad that Kaladin is branching out on his own. Until now, he's been surrounded by people, responsible for them, etc., and we haven't really seen him act when he's entirely by himself and on his own initiative.

Dalinar is conflicted, as always, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, but at least now he's married. The conflict brewing inside Urithiru after Sadeas's death and the mysterious second murder is going to bring Adolin to his proverbial knees, I think. Shallan is already figuring out that something is wrong, and she was only in the room with him once or twice.

Most importantly, now we know what Gavilar said to prompt the Parshendi to have him assassinated!

Spoiler

Now, let's talk about that cover art.



That's Jasnah Kholin, and it looks like she's finally coming into the true nature of her abilities. She's got her shardblade there, which up until now I don't remember her using, so her bond with Ivory must be complete. She's also soulcasting that wall by the look of it.

The most important thing, though, is in the background. That's a thunderclast, who we only ever heard about in the prologue of Way of Kings. If they're out in the world again, then the Desolation is truly upon us by the time this book concludes.

 

So are we thinking that's Jasnah on the cover? Or maybe Lift? I hope it's Lift. We need more Lift like Lift needs more dinner.

 

Tor and Sanderson have confirmed that it's Jasnah.

 

I hope that's not indicative of how large a part Jasnah will actually play in this book. I can only take so much of Sanderson's 'stuffy academic' caricatures that are woefully out of touch with what academics are actually like, and Jasnah is essentially his archetype. Shallan can fit this description at times as well, but at least she has some redeeming traits, like a mild sense of humor and wide-eyed wonder for the natural world.

Anyway... hope Lift gets some pov chapters this time around instead of interludes. She is the best.

 

So what is the appeal of Lift, exactly? I wasn't at all inclined to read her bookflow-breaking novella in WoR that was featured as an "interlude" and after I finished the book I never had any inclination to go back and read her novella. Forty fucking pages of that bs. Can someone spoil it for me? And Edgedancer, if anyone here has read it, which, as I understand, is about Lift.

Hoping for some good Kaladin action in Oathbringer. I can't stand Shallan. Dalinar is interesting as a concept, but Sanderson is strongly meh with depicting politically inclined characters, or at least Dalinar is meh in that regard. He killed his best politician character at the end of WoR.

 

I hope this book isn't full of Dalinar wank. TBH all the Kholin's are pretty shit, though I don't really mind Jasnah.

 

Essentially, she is a childish, floor-surfing, plant-growth-accelerating street rat / thief, obsessed with breaking into the homes of the wealthy for the sole purpose of eating vast amounts of all of their fanciest foods. She doesn't absorb Stormlight like other surgebinders; she generates her own via metabolism of said fancy foods (how she does this has yet to be explained).

She's just a fun, humorous character to be honest; think Disney Aladdin crossed with AoT's Sasha. And there's a lot of hints at an intriguing backstory and hidden char depth (which I assume will be explored at some point as she is intended to become one of the mains, if not in this 5 book arc, then in the next).

Her interludes are some of the only ones that actually have real impact beyond WoR, because it introduces us to Nale (Nalan/Darkness/Herald of Justice), the dude who brings Szeth back to life and gives him Nightblood from Warbreaker (or some other sword with identical characteristics).

 

One question I have is whether Kaladin will progress to having his shardplate. In Way of Kings, Dalinar's vision of the Windrunners implies that shardplate is actually stormlight made solid. It stands to reason that is true, then as Kaladin's powers progress, he might learn how to make shardplate.

 

This week's chapters are out: Chapters X, XI, XII

 

This week's chapters! Chapters XIII, XIV, XV

 

That Kaladin chapter was way too short. However, I'm very excited about the implications of the chapter. Parshmen regaining their self-awareness is an interesting concept. I really hope Sanderson doesn't fumble on this one.

Shallan and Adolin were quit. I'm not sure what I think about split personality Shallan though. Perhaps he's using some ideas from his legion(was it called legion? the one with the multiple personality protagonist) short story.

I'm beginning to dread Dalinars chapters. There just..bland. Yeah, we get important plot out of it, but..meh. He's your typical, I've got the weight of the world on my shoulders superman, whose incorruptible.

I hope he ends being Odium's champion. That'll be neat.

 

This week's chapters came out today: Chapters XVI, XVII, XVIII

 

Question...

How does Stormlight compare to Wheel of time?

Considering picking it up, but thoughts?

I felt like Sanderson really did a great job ending Wheel of Time (The books really were slow and bloated by book 7, but Sanderson gave it a solid ending)

 

In my opinion, they're much better. WoT had parts that were really great, but it turned into such a slog... If you liked Sanderson's wrapping up of that series, you will enjoy this one. I highly recommend the audiobook version of it, as well. Give Way of Kings a try, and keep through about half of the book before you decide one way or another. Like all books of this kind, it starts off a bit slow and kind of confusing, but it quickly makes sense.

 

The Wheel of Time at its best slaughters Stormlight at its best - just as it slaughters every other bit of fantasy fiction out there. The problem is that the crevices between the peaks get deeper and deeper as the story unfolds.

 

Been re-reading WoT and I have to say several of the books especially the mid ones like Lord of Chaos are superb. May be better than most of Stormlight but then again, we've only had 2 books of it out so far.

Malazan: Book of the Fallen is another great epic fantasy to read.

 

WoT is great and all but for me the biggest problems were pacing and the portrayal of women. Almost every single one of the female protagonists are very dislikeable. And while I agree there are superb books (like the already mentioned Lord of Chaos) in the series, it's also true that in some books pretty much nothing happens.
IMO, Sanderson did a fantastic job finishing it and I'm not sure Jordan could've done it better.

I disagree. Some scenes in WoK and WoR had me with dem chills, and we might not yet have seem Stormlight at it's best.

 

This week's chapters came out today: Chapters XIX, XX, XXI

 

The Kaladin chapters are so short...

 

holy fuck I hate the chapter quotes, they're the most inane edgiest shit I've read in a long time for a 40+ year old woman, and they go on for so fucking long. "you can't handle the truth", "you will hate me" "you will call me a heretic" "especially women will hate me" "you will not like what I have to say" " you will again not like what you're hearing"

Sanderson is a bland writer, but is it really meant to be this bad?