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Oathbringer... the abyssmal reading thread... Cosmere SPOILERS to wherever i'm at

#1 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 11 January 2018 - 06:42 PM

I'm about a third of the way through OATHBRINGER... time to share.

As usual, my thread, my read, my rules, spoilers are for the ENTIRE COSMERE THING... yes, everything to date, with OATHBRINGER spoilers only to wherever i'm at in the book.

I'll update when i'm done, if you want to discuss the whole book, go start your own damn thread....


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm at about a third of the way through the book, just past the end of Part 1... Yasnah's back, Kaladin too, Dalinar has been bringing people into his visions.... probably not shocking given that i don't tend to read through books i dislike, i'm enjoying this very much.

PROLOGUE: Oh holy fuck that was a revelation. The whole thing was Gavilar's fault!!!! No kidding the Parshendi sent is their (really really conveniently just purchased but won't overthink it) assassin, he flat out told the translator he was planning on bringing back their evil horrible enslaving murder gods.
Unless there was more at work there, but i'm sceptical, i think Gavilar fully expected the Parshendi to lose their shit, but didn't expect them to have a frikkin Surgebinder assassin handy.

DALINAR: I don't see why people dislike the Dalinar flashbacks. They're action intensive, bloody, and show just how much of a hardcase the Blackthorn was, as well as his shift away from that. His 'present day' efforts at being a politician are predictably failing. I enjoyed the moment when he stopped trying to be nice and started forcing people to experience the dead god visions.

SHALLAN: Other than that i seriously doubt any of this reflects how multiple personalities work, i'm enjoying her storyline. The flirtation with Adolin works, her experimentation with her powers, and being a badass, make sense, and the narrative is surprisingly engaging. I can even accept the fact she really should be telling Dalinar and co about the Ghostbloods but isn't because reasons. Mostly. With Jasnah back, not so sure that still flies. I enjoyed the confrontation with the evil shadow mommy spren. Also, Pattern is funny.

ADOLIN: Oh dear gods this is all going to implode horribly and i can't look away. I like the character but he's high on my 'most likely to fuck everything up and then die as a dramatic plot development' list.

KALADIN: While i enjoyed Kaladin's return home and his ongoing banter with Syl is enjoyable, he's pissing me off. Travel with the Parshendi, sure, empathize with them, ok... but training them? Seriously?
Also, his repeated and vacuous statements that teaching Bridge 4 surgebinding will protect them all pretty much guarantees the entire crew is due for a massive bloody ugly deathpocalypse by the end of the book. Kal's whining has always been a low point in this series for me and while he's not quite as consistently irritating this time, it's still there.
Better was Kal vs flying voidbringers who don't know how to fly. Yet. THAT will be an interesting development.


Other bits...

Queen Threnn in Dalinar's vision rallying the townpeople to drive back the shadow thingies... neat.

Nice guy Sadeas in the flashbacks is jarring.

Dalinar returning Oathbringer to Sadeas' widow made perfect sense but a little part of me was all 'NO GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE ANYONE ELSE NOT FUCKING AMERAN!'.

Shallan/Veil getting hammered and stabbing people is fun.

I like how Renarin is just barely getting by in all things, but refuses to give up.
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Posted 11 January 2018 - 07:11 PM

Glad you're enjoying it. I think it's a great book as long as you're patient with it. For example there was one thing about Part 2 that I loved, but if you're rushing you'll probably just be frustrated by the slowness.
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Posted 11 January 2018 - 08:24 PM

I loved the book! I bought it at 6 am at the airport, and by the time that I landed on the east coast I was already 300+ pages in. I never felt like it was slow personally.
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Posted 12 January 2018 - 01:45 AM

View PostAbyss, on 11 January 2018 - 06:42 PM, said:

I'm about a third of the way through OATHBRINGER... time to share.

As usual, my thread, my read, my rules, spoilers are for the ENTIRE COSMERE THING... yes, everything to date, with OATHBRINGER spoilers only to wherever i'm at in the book.

I'll update when i'm done, if you want to discuss the whole book, go start your own damn thread....


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm at about a third of the way through the book, just past the end of Part 1... Yasnah's back, Kaladin too, Dalinar has been bringing people into his visions.... probably not shocking given that i don't tend to read through books i dislike, i'm enjoying this very much.

PROLOGUE: Oh holy fuck that was a revelation. The whole thing was Gavilar's fault!!!! No kidding the Parshendi sent is their (really really conveniently just purchased but won't overthink it) assassin, he flat out told the translator he was planning on bringing back their evil horrible enslaving murder gods.
Unless there was more at work there, but i'm sceptical, i think Gavilar fully expected the Parshendi to lose their shit, but didn't expect them to have a frikkin Surgebinder assassin handy.

DALINAR: I don't see why people dislike the Dalinar flashbacks. They're action intensive, bloody, and show just how much of a hardcase the Blackthorn was, as well as his shift away from that. His 'present day' efforts at being a politician are predictably failing. I enjoyed the moment when he stopped trying to be nice and started forcing people to experience the dead god visions.

SHALLAN: Other than that i seriously doubt any of this reflects how multiple personalities work, i'm enjoying her storyline. The flirtation with Adolin works, her experimentation with her powers, and being a badass, make sense, and the narrative is surprisingly engaging. I can even accept the fact she really should be telling Dalinar and co about the Ghostbloods but isn't because reasons. Mostly. With Jasnah back, not so sure that still flies. I enjoyed the confrontation with the evil shadow mommy spren. Also, Pattern is funny.

ADOLIN: Oh dear gods this is all going to implode horribly and i can't look away. I like the character but he's high on my 'most likely to fuck everything up and then die as a dramatic plot development' list.

KALADIN: While i enjoyed Kaladin's return home and his ongoing banter with Syl is enjoyable, he's pissing me off. Travel with the Parshendi, sure, empathize with them, ok... but training them? Seriously?
Also, his repeated and vacuous statements that teaching Bridge 4 surgebinding will protect them all pretty much guarantees the entire crew is due for a massive bloody ugly deathpocalypse by the end of the book. Kal's whining has always been a low point in this series for me and while he's not quite as consistently irritating this time, it's still there.
Better was Kal vs flying voidbringers who don't know how to fly. Yet. THAT will be an interesting development.


Other bits...

Queen Threnn in Dalinar's vision rallying the townpeople to drive back the shadow thingies... neat.

Nice guy Sadeas in the flashbacks is jarring.

Dalinar returning Oathbringer to Sadeas' widow made perfect sense but a little part of me was all 'NO GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE ANYONE ELSE NOT FUCKING AMERAN!'.

Shallan/Veril getting hammered and stabbing people is fun.

I like how Renarin is just barely getting by in all things, but refuses to give up.





Agree with you totally regarding the Dalinar and Shallan sections.
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Posted 12 January 2018 - 03:11 PM

Ch 40something...

Rock's family showing up... entirely too cute for words. His wife took out a voidbringer with one arrow! His observation of the spren watching Bridge 4 train was interesting.

Yasnah and Shallan are really going to have to sort some shit out.

Ok... the Stormking's explanation for the Desolations was entirely too much info-dump, but did crystallize a lot of what we already figured out and lets us move things along.

Taft... this is going to end badly.

Kal, Adolin, Adalar mission to open oathgate in Alethkar... likely to end badly.

Shallan/Veil recruiting her own 'network'... may not end badly.

Shallan's bro was one of Nale's Skybreakers, likely recruited in error thinking he was bonding a spren while it was Shallan all along... hmm...

Oh hi Moash. You're still a dick.


...and we have Lift returning to the story. AND IT WAS AWESOME. Seriously, she's the only character who could say 'You're too old to have such a nice butt' to Dalinar and make it work. I was grinning ear to ear listening to that scene. So glad she's (maybe) starting to integrate with the rest of the cast.
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#6 User is offline   Chance 

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Posted 12 January 2018 - 03:33 PM

View PostBriar King, on 11 January 2018 - 09:39 PM, said:

I love Dalinar. He is still my favorite of the series and his early Blackthorn days were very cool.


I have such a difficult time with Dalinar. Those early days chapters of him are awesome in a terrifying way and sometimes that is present in the current day chapters while he mostly looks weak, whiny and stupid.

Mild spoiler possibly.
Spoiler


LATER BOOK SPOILERS DELETED - MY THREAD... MINE.

Sometimes I'm pretty sure he is just what his political enemies say he is with the added benefit of being choosen by GOD and therefore its all okey. Its a bit too old testament for me but a lot of Sandersons writing actually feel bible inspired so its not that much of a surprise.

This post has been edited by Abyss: 12 January 2018 - 04:14 PM

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Posted 12 January 2018 - 04:17 PM

View PostChance, on 12 January 2018 - 03:33 PM, said:

...Sometimes I'm pretty sure he is just what his political enemies say he is with the added benefit of being choosen by GOD and therefore its all okey. Its a bit too old testament for me but a lot of Sandersons writing actually feel bible inspired so its not that much of a surprise.


It's the combination of 'I'm on a mission from God' with '...who happens to be not God and also, dead' that i actually enjoy. It adds a fun theological element to all the opposition Dalinar is facing... at this stage, even his allies don't quite believe him.
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#8 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 12 January 2018 - 04:58 PM

View PostBriar King, on 12 January 2018 - 04:44 PM, said:

If your on 40 then this should be easy.

Do you agree or not that Slogbringer is BS's most sexual book?


Other than Shallan drooling over Adolin and Kaladin, and some minor groping between Dalinar and Navani, what's sexual?

I'm pretty sure MISTBORN got gropier by the end of the first trilo and possibly moreso in the WAX n WAYNE books.
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Posted 12 January 2018 - 05:45 PM

I also thought Oathbringer was more sexual than most of his books. Warbreaker too.

I can't remember if Oathbringer had a dick joke or not. I know one of the Wax & Wayne books did, so did Edgedancer.
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Posted 12 January 2018 - 05:46 PM

is this all about Lift admiring Dalinar's butt?
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Posted 12 January 2018 - 07:32 PM

Ah Moash.... just not cut out for the shardbearer thing, were you?

I enjoyed his fight w the fused tho'... the bit where he ditches the shardblade, grabs up a spear and uses techniques that worked against Kaladin was a nice touch.
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Posted 14 January 2018 - 04:25 AM

I don’t care what issues anyone had with the book, if you didn’t get the feels when Skar figured out how to huff Stormlight, you are cold and dead inside.
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Posted 14 January 2018 - 09:13 AM

They rescued the baby.
Apt is the only one who reads this. Apt is nice.
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Posted 14 January 2018 - 09:22 AM

View PostTattersail_, on 14 January 2018 - 09:13 AM, said:

They rescued the baby.


There was a baby?
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Posted 15 January 2018 - 01:37 PM

View PostAbyss, on 14 January 2018 - 04:25 AM, said:

I don’t care what issues anyone had with the book, if you didn’t get the feels when Skar figured out how to huff Stormlight, you are cold and dead inside.


This is what I hinted at about the thing I loved about part 2. The Bridge 4 POV chapters, especially Rock's. I loved these chapters even though they didn't do much to move the story forward. I imagine those who hated the pace of Oathbringer probably didn't enjoy these.
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Posted 15 January 2018 - 03:53 PM

Moash... back on a bridge crew. Sort of. A Parshendi bridge crew no less. Oh, that IS irony.

Yasnah putting down Amaran... 'yo momma spent her pregnancy banging soldiers in hopes something would stick to you'..... daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.
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Posted 15 January 2018 - 03:53 PM

View PostAndorion, on 14 January 2018 - 09:22 AM, said:

View PostTattersail_, on 14 January 2018 - 09:13 AM, said:

They rescued the baby.


There was a baby?


You mean the baby chasm fiend, right?
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Posted 15 January 2018 - 04:35 PM

Are you listening to the audiobook? They pronounce Jasnah with a Y?
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Posted 15 January 2018 - 06:48 PM

View PostBriar King, on 15 January 2018 - 05:02 PM, said:

View PostEnd of Disc One, on 15 January 2018 - 04:35 PM, said:

Are you listening to the audiobook? They pronounce Jasnah with a Y?


Some Dutch pronounce J as Y. I thought it nuts when I was 1st made aware of it many moons ago. I have really good international friend in NED from our Corvette club and her name is Joke which sounds like Yoka


The two (excellent) earbook readers have very slightly different pronunciations of the name, and I perpetually forget the proper spelling of most of the names in this series.
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Posted 16 January 2018 - 03:30 PM

Renarin finds goodies!




Moash really cannot catch a break. Now the head spren/fused/voidbringer likes him.




And then, Odium. Damn, dude is one mustache twirl short of being Unicron. The reveal about the Night Watcher and Dalinar.... that is VERY interesting.




Fun fact... Michael Kramer has narrated the male half of all of the Cosmere related earbooks to date. So the voice he uses for some of the chapter opener quotes is telling... even tho the actual quotes aren't attributed, it's the exact voice he used for Sazed... who happened to become god at the end of the first Mistborn trilo. The quotes themselves really hint at who the speaker is, but with the voice I'm pretty certain of it.




Said it before. will say it again... The Diagram is one of the most clever/original creations in fantasy lit in a long time. I loved the interlude with Taravangien having one of his genius days.
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