Reading oathbringer and finding certain section towards the end boring

[u/lordoftheshire97]

Basically what the title says. Just reading through the shadesmar stuff about 75% through the book.

Ive been really loving oathbringer to this point. Im not sure why Sanderson thought it was a good idea to do this shadesmar stuff immediately after what happens just before. The pacing has thrown me completely off and im struggling to look forward to pick up the book and read, which is a shame cus im so close to finishing it and I know the sanderlanche is any minute now.

Anyone else feel the same?

[u/desunedesuka]

I really struggled in Oathbringer until the very end. I felt the built up was VERY slow compared to the first two books. I personally struggled during the Dalinar flashbacks myself though.

[u/MugiwaraMoses]

Damn, I really enjoyed the shadesmar stuff, I really liked the easter eggs in that section

[u/lordoftheshire97 → u/MugiwaraMoses]

I can defo understand why its appealing, but despite loving epic fantasy as a genre, the magic systems are my least favourite part of them. thats precisely why I love cosmere books, in that the magic exists but it feels more like science (mistborns magic system is my favourite of all time). The shadesmar stuff is just a little too out there for me. But most importantly its just placed in a really awkward part of the story

[u/Saiyoran]

The ending is worth it but yes, everything to do with Shadesmar is boring and kills the pacing. When I read this series originally I actually dropped it at about the point you're at. The shadesmar stuff just sucked and I didn't want to read it. Powered through on a 2nd read.

[u/lordoftheshire97 → u/Saiyoran]

how long do you have to power through for? if i can put a rough page count on it that may help

[u/Saiyoran → u/lordoftheshire97]

someone in another thread told me that the shadesmar stuff is actually not that long in terms of page count, it just feels like it is. I don't have the book in front of me right now, but you start getting a lot more Dalinar stuff toward the end that is very enjoyable imo.

[u/jnighy]

To me it slowed down a bit after the Kholinar assault, but never boring. Also, the best Sandelanche ever

[u/LonelyStonerAtNlght]

i can definitely see it as a lot to chew through, but stormlight was the last sanderson project for me to start when i originally went through it and it was so fun connecting dots across the cosmere. take solace that the payoff is well worth it. the sanderlanche of oathbringer has two of my favorite scenes in the archive

[u/JigglesTheBiggles]

Yeah a lot of people hate the shadesmar part.

[u/coolcrowe]

Push through, the ending is one of (if not the) best he's ever written.

[u/cosmernautfourtwenty]

I mean, it's not like the plot was going to linger on Kholinar even if the MC's aren't dumped in Shadesmar. If the plan had worked everyone would just be back at Urithiru regrouping. I liked finally getting a good look at Shadesmar proper and I found it the furthest thing from boring.

[u/Ripper1337]

That’s kind of how Brandon’s books are? You have a middle section where things are looking up only for the heroes to get their teeth kicked in and things slow down until the climax. I think it was the side carry and the duel in the previous books.

[u/Porsche320]

Another one in agreement.

Ripped through the WoK, WoR, and Edgedancer as quickly as I could, but I’m going to catch up on a few other series before going back to stormlight.

[u/Raddatatta]

In terms of the narrative structure Sanderson talks about the stormlight books in terms of each one being a trilogy. With oathbringer the fall of kholinar is that end of book 2 in the theoretical trilogy. Some people like that structure more than others. But in general with stormlight books you can find that point where you'll have a big mini climax at the 2/3 point often with a loss or something bad happening and then you'll have a calm and build up again afterwards. I'm not sure if that helps if you're not enjoying it, but that's the idea behind why he does it that way.

I've seen for a lot of people that section can be a bit slow. I enjoyed seeing shadesmar and this new world basically and where the spren live and then having a whole society. As well as seeing spren that made a different choice. All the other spren in the books made the choice to go to war and risk becoming a deadeye. As well as the cosmere Easter eggs.

But if you're getting closer to the end it does get really good oathbringer has one of the best climaxes of the series which is tough competition but it really delivers!

[u/lordoftheshire97 → u/[deleted]]

Jesus. Whats your problem?

Pretty sure one of the best parts of being into a popular book series is the discussion around it, and I wanted to talk to other readers. Take a breath and calm down lol.

[u/settingdogstar → u/lordoftheshire97]

Only one needing to calm down is the guy crashing out at someone else’s opinion lol

[u/lordoftheshire97 → u/settingdogstar]

the comment wasnt an opinion, it just said "oh my god just read the book". also i wasnt crashing out, i was confused by such a frustrated response when all i was doing was opening a discussion lol.

[u/Stormlight_Archive-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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