Review: Oathbringer

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am so, so disappointed. I was looking forward to this book more than I've looked forward to any book since the latest Megan Whalen Turner. I reread the first two books in anticipation, talked about it to anyone who would listen, and when there was a mishap with picking up my library copy I paid a fortune to own it and be able to read it a few days earlier.
But it just honestly wasn't very good. The characters have become caricatures of themselves, and each seems to have been assigned to be the token gay, alcoholic, depressed, drug-addicted, etc. character. The plot was for the most part dull, and it's difficult for me to see where the rest of the series could possibly go from here. The villains were always this series' weakest point, but in this book they became almost unreadable. Shallan and Szeth in particular disappointed me of the main characters, but I can't really say that any of them made it through this book with my opinion of them intact. Even Hoid's wisdom seemed far lessened in quality. The writing in general has become... not terrible, for the most part, but it didn't feel to me that Sanderson was trying, particularly. For the most part the phrasing and word choice felt lazy. The hallmark of Sanderson books is the magic systems, which are elaborate and beautifully consistent. In this book I didn't get the same sense that I could understand the workings of the universe as I did in Sanderson's previous works. It felt more like reading Dianna Wynne Jones, and while I for the most part like her, the way her magic just sort of happens has always been very frustrating to me.
To be fair, it wasn't all bad. And it certainly kept me busy for a while, not to mention looked most impressive to be carrying around. Had Sanderson been a mediocre author from the beginning, I probably wouldn't be surprised or especially disappointed- but I've come to expect better than mediocre from him.
I find it very difficult to imagine that a recovery is possible for the series at this point (or even for there to be another book- I find it hard to come up with a potential worthwhile further plot point). To be honest, I rather hope Sanderson will do what he did with the second on a grander scale, and declare this entire book never to have happened.
As a side note, the endpage illustrations are honestly horrifying. The sexualized depictions of the female Heralds bear little resemblance to their descriptions in the book, and quite upset me.
At this point I'm not sure whether I recommend this series. The first two books were amazing, so if you don't particularly care about wrapping up every single plot point I still recommend reading those. If it's all or nothing, wait until the next book comes out and see if the series can be brought back. Use the interim time to reread Wheel of Time or something; Oathbringer is basically the same but with disappointed expectations.

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