Oathbringer is the third book in The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Coming off of the wildly successful first two books, the story grows more compelling and exciting. Sanderson finally weaves Danilar’s, Shallan’s, and Kaladin’s storylines together. Now that many characters have met and much of the book takes place in the newly discovered Urithuru, the true meat of the series is finally revealed. The ongoing war between the humans and Parshendi that commanded the majority of the first two novels now seems tame compared to the new enemy Dalinar and his allies must face. The vicious Voidbringers are dedicated to wiping out humanity. Danilar must assemble an alliance of kings and queens, while finally confronting his past. Shallan and Kaladin are now fully recognized Knights Radiants, and their new roles require their powers to grow quickly.
Sanderson’s character work increased immensely with this novel. In particular, we take a deeper dive into the inner workings of Shallan and Dalinar’s minds. While I enjoyed this aspect of the storytelling, some of these descriptions were very extended far too long. Kaladin takes a bit of a backseat in this novel, and while his character surely deserves a break, it does make the storyline a tad more dull. While The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance were very quick, easy reads for me, Oathbringer took me over a month to finish. I still enjoyed it, and would definitely give it a 5/5, but it didn’t quite live up to the stellarness of the first two installments. However, the ending was exciting, and without spoilers, I will say this novel definitely had more romance, with a satisfying inclusion. Sanderson has done it again!