[finding his parents and the people of his town, who are in awe of what he has become— (hide spoiler)

[Who we already know—from the end of Words of Radiance—is Adolin. (hide spoiler)

[ The Unmade known as Re-Shephir, mimicking the action of humans. (hide spoiler)

[—who, sadly, feels like a villain the further the story progresses— (hide spoiler)

[He basically got the shits with a monarch—who he had previously not-killed—and burnt down his entire kingdom... while his wife was imprisoned by them. (hide spoiler)





After this chaos, they scare off the unmade that held the Kholinar Oathgate. Another unmade, Sja-anat, warned Shallan that the Oathgates were trapped. Untrusting of the unmade, she activated the Oathgate. [The Queen of Alethkar—under the influence of Ashertmarn—is beyond reasoning. Our heroic team retreat. On the way, they encounter a bunch of parshmen. The parshmen that Kaladin knew and helped in the first part of the book. He watched them and his friends kill each other while he yelled at them to stop. Just to twist the knife deeper, Moash—who had wanted to kill the king in Words of Radiance—brutally murders the King. Ouch. Elhokar was on the way to making an oath. Will we see him again?After this chaos, they scare off the unmade that held the Kholinar Oathgate. Another unmade, Sja-anat, warned Shallan that the Oathgates were trapped. Untrusting of the unmade, she activated the Oathgate. (hide spoiler)

[At the end of the book we do discover that Talenel'Elin—one of the Heralds—despises the fact that people create art and 'swear' on the Heralds. Talenel'Elin is disgusted by who she is. Could Pom be a Herald? Or just someone who hates the Heralds? (hide spoiler)

[—that the members of Bridge Four now share for training purposes. (hide spoiler)

[except that it's pretty evil and that Azure is hunting it down. (hide spoiler)

[Taravangian secretly disperses the fact two of Dalinar's visions had been visited by Odium, and that Elhokar had agreed to make Dalinar High King or Roshar. The unified council are far from amused. However, the hardest blow is from the translations of a very old text, the Dawnchant. It turns out that the parshmen were the original inhabitants of Roshar, and that the Surgebinders had destroyed their home, then moved to Roshar. Originally taking refuge, at shin where human produce and livestock could grow, but then wanting to conquer the rest of the planet. The original beings to be labelled 'voidbringers' were the surgebinders—the humans. This is what made the original heralds give up their oath. The fact humans are the villains, not the parshmen. It's now we wonder who was actually whispering for Dalinar/Gavilar to unite them? (hide spoiler)

[and spren bounty hunters who are after Syl. Eventually they make their way to the Thaylen Oathgate, however it is surrounded by voidspren. (hide spoiler)

[ of the surgebinders being the invaders, (hide spoiler)

[Back at the barracks they find Rock, Bisig, and Eth on the ground wounded—but fortunately not dead (Except Eth). Whoever committed the crime had Teft's old jacket. (hide spoiler)

[ and also that it was a 'pruning' by the god Cultivation. (hide spoiler)

[a blessing from Cultivation to help him defy the dark god. Instead, he inherits divine powers (Not sure if he absorbed Honour's shard, or if that exists) and for a brief moment the three realms are connected. All the spheres littering Thaylen fill with stormlight, and the heroes in Shadesmar—Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin—are transported to the battle. Odium taints Amaram and the Sedeas troops—which was good, we wanted to see our heroes fight them—and an epic battle ensues. (hide spoiler)

[Bridge Four return, and Teft becomes radiant and more heroic. Rock even engages in a single kill—Amaram—to save Kaladin. (hide spoiler)

[, as they pledge to the traditional inhabitants of Roshar. He is joined with Lift, and Szeth's blade begins stealing the girl's mannerisms. (hide spoiler)





After the battle we Shallan and Adolin get hitched. Taravangian has a meeting with Odium, and agrees to help the dark god in exchange for Kharbranth. The Lopen finally becomes radiant, in a not-so-epic way that fails to help him impress any ladies. Then end with Wit, behaving odd and saving a spren. [Together they need to reclaim the large gem that was stolen in the previous interludes, which Dalinar uses to capture the Unmade which is the source of the Thrill, releasing the Sedeas troops of their insane bloodlust.After the battle we Shallan and Adolin get hitched. Taravangian has a meeting with Odium, and agrees to help the dark god in exchange for Kharbranth. The Lopen finally becomes radiant, in a not-so-epic way that fails to help him impress any ladies. Then end with Wit, behaving odd and saving a spren. (hide spoiler)

“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before pancakes.”–The LopenLike many others, I had anticipationspren zipping by every time a parcel came in while waiting for this book. It wasn't until December that they faded away, replaced with gloryspren in the form of Reindeer, elves, and barbeques. I was ready to delve back into the world of Stormlight!This book is awesome. If you've completed at least one book in the Stormlight Archive, you are probably already hooked and will love this book regardless of any review! Before you read on, I've written this as a summary review. These books are massive, and now that we're three books in, I'd appreciate some of my own references before reading future books. I wish I did the same for my reviews for the previous two books! I've wrapped spoiler tags around anything that shouldn't be read until after you've read the book.Part 1I think it's pretty easy to say most people's favourite character is Kaladin. I'm no exception. The poor Radiant doesn't get too much attention in the first part of the book. He makes his way home to Hearthstone— (view spoiler) then ends up with a group of parshmen. Not sure if his chapters in the first part were short and sparse, or if I just gobbled them up too quick! We get just enough to keep us in the loop with the Kaladin's scheme in things.The men of Bridge Four felt like spear carriers in this part. Occasionally they'd get a bit of individual spot(storm?)light, but they felt more like a cameo than anything else. Fortunately, the unique characters of this group see more action as the story progresses. After all, The Lopen is just as cool as Kal, right Gancho?Shallan and Adolin (and the Kholin family) are the stars of the first part. Shallan's illusion skills are increasing, and she is coming to terms with who she is. All three of her. She assists Adolin in hunting down the killer of Sadeas. (view spoiler) More murders occur, and they uncover a secret and eventually confront this 'killer.' (view spoiler) We also experience a lot of Dalinar's past. The man known as Blackthorn. Before and after obtaining shard and plate. The bloke has transformed with age! In the present, his goal is to unite the world against the voidbringers. The leaders of Roshar are quite hesitant to do so, as they don't remember him as the noble or honourable man we've known through the rest of the Stormlight Archive!At the end of the first part we are thrown quite a curve ball: (view spoiler) For the first Interludes we get a quick perspective from three characters: Puuli, Ellista, and Venli. Puuli is a lighthouse keeper that gets quite excited about the new storm. Ellista is an ardent that enjoys reading stuff she probably shouldn't. Venli, the Parshendi's, story was the most interesting. It was about her chasing a spren to find her deceased sister—Eshonai (view spoiler) from previous interludes—and retrieve shardplate.Part 2I mentioned the fact Bridge Four felt like they were missing in Part 1. Well, they make a comeback in the second part. In fact, most the Kaladin centred stuff is from the perspective of various Bridge Four characters! I loved this approach! Bridge Four are now Radiant squires, and can use Kaladin's powers when he is close by. Moash (view spoiler) has some particularly interesting interactions with some parshmen. Even Rlain gets a chapter to himself.We see more of Dalinar's past and his failings at uniting the nations. Until, that is, he realises a form of communication— (view spoiler) —he can use to negotiate successfully with the other leaders.The relationship of Shallan and Adolin grows stronger as we see her try to uncover secrets, through her various guises.During the second set of interludes we have Kaza, Taravangian, and Venli. Kaza is a new character whom reveals that soulcasting has a painful cost. Taravangian has a good day, and we remember his intentions from the earlier books. (view spoiler) Venli's stories get more interesting as the book progresses. During the second interludes, we see her fail to become a voidbringer while her loved one succeeds. The whole form-changing theme takes a much darker turn, but she goes with the flow.Part 3This is when the intensity turns up a notch! Kaladin, with Shallan, Adolin, Elhokar, Skar, and Drehy head over to Kholinar to save the Queen and her son. When they arrive, everything is terrible. Voidbringers and parshmen are besieging the city, the city walls are run by deserters, the palace guard almost kill Shallan, and it is discovered that not one, but two unmade have inhabited the city. (view spoiler) I absolutely loved this part. These characters were all interacting together, allowing for brilliant flow. Kaladin joins the guard to investigate how they operate. And discovers a not-shardbearer-not-radiant character named Azure. She's bad arse and joins our heroes! Her weapon is not an honourblade, not a shardblade, and not a spren. It has similar ability, but not as much. Interesting!Shallan is Veil for most of this part. She basically plays Robin Hood to get the attention of a cult that run around looking like spren. The cult are under the influence of Ashertmarn. We also get some really interesting interactions between her and Wit linking up the greater Cosmere.Dalinar's back-story keeps playing, and we learn how his partner, Evi, died. (view spoiler) No wonder the poor bugger sought out the Nightwatcher and turned to the bottle!This part has an absolutely stellar ending. (view spoiler) Part 3 ends with our heroes in Shadesmar, the cognitive realm.The third set of interludes follow Venli, Mem, and Sheler.Venli struggles with her position as the last of her kind, and what she is in the voidbringer's world. A spren has bonded with her, and we aren't quite sure yet what kind of spren it is. What we do know, however, is that it is scared of the voidbringers!Mem is a wash-woman. So is Pom. At least, that is what we are meant to believe. They are working for Mraize—from the Ghostbloods—when suddenly Pom goes crazy and attacks a painting in his room. All we know is that the “Oilsworn masterpiece” is what set her off, and that Mraize refers to her as “Ancient One.” He also asks if the wash-woman had got the “aether” out of his clothes. Like the Ghostbloods, these are all mysteries we don't yet have any clue of! (view spoiler) Sheler's story gives us a glimpse into how the Herdazian military works. Sheler has been captured due to murder and thievery. They basically want to put him to death unless he fights the “hog.” All we learn about the “Hog” is that it has at least one enormous claw and lives in the ocean. We don't see Sheler again.Part 4This part sees Szeth scoring a bit more of a spot light. But he died at the end of Words of Radiance fighting Kaladin, right? He also appeared in Edgedancer. (Set between WoR and Oathbringer). Szeth's lost his powers, which he had obtained through his honourblade (view spoiler) He is with the Skybreakers at the Purelake training with a bunch of new recruits to become surgebinders. He also has an unusual sword that talks with him, whispering suggestions, craving to be used to defeat evil. When he unsheathes this weapon, it unleashes hell. The world transforms and it sucks in life. We don't really learn much more about this weapon, (view spoiler) Dalinar travels through Oathgates and has a rough time holding back the Thrill—a form of bloodlust—while trying to befriend everyone. He falls back to the drink, and Navani holds court for him, despite being worried about her son, the king, and everyone else who travelled to Kholinar. They haven't had contact since attempting to open the Oathgate.Once Dalinar final regains strength—this time in Thaylen City—things start to look good. Then in chapter 111, all shit hits the fan. (view spoiler) Dalinar's unified group drifts apart, unsure on all these revelations.Our partying heroes, Kaladin, Adolin, Shallan, and Azure, spend this part travelling through Shadesmar. Here, there spren seem much more mortal. Many have human-like—and size—form. Even Adolin is followed around by a “deadeye,” his dead-spren-shardblade. They must find a way out of the realm, while avoiding voidbringers, (view spoiler) The fourth interludes see us revisiting Venli, Rysn (who has been in Interludes through the earlier books), and Teft. Venli's chapter sees that Odium is preparing to set sail.Rysn's story is really fun, reintroducing us to her and her 'babsk' that she had travelled with in earlier books. She is now invalid—busted legs—and works at the Thaylen bank. She still has her grass, but also has a unique little critter she calls Chiri-Chiri living in it. Chiri-Chiri, loves eating Stormlight. Someone posing as a guard tries to rob the bank, stealing an uncut gem that hasn't lost its glow for 200 years. Chiri-Chiri eats the glow (good on him!), then sucks Stormlight from the thief, revealing that the guard appearance was an illusion on a Parshendi!Teft's chapter feels like a regular one that could have been slotted into Part 5. It's only brief, but sees him returning from Thaylen, with the others of Bridge Four. They aren't sure about this revelation (view spoiler) and want to wait for Kaladin to tell them what to do. He always knows what's best! (view spoiler) Teft is immediately filled with guilt—he sold that jacket in Part 2 so he could burn fire moss.Part 5Each part labels the PoVs held within. This part looks pretty full on with The Knights Radiant, Ash, Navani, Adolin, Taravangian, Yanagawn, Palona, Vyre, and Wit. Wow! This section of the book is an action-packed ending to this epic book, mostly focused on the battle for Thaylen.It starts with one final back-story for Dalinar: his visit to the Nightwatcher. This unveils his boon and his curse, (view spoiler) Everything we've learnt from Dalinar's past solidifies for his confrontation against Odium, and the reason he has remembered: (view spoiler) During the battle for Thaylen we see more types of Fused, thunderclasps—large rock monsters—and more Radiants unlocking their power. (view spoiler) The Assassin in White, Szeth, also joins the battle, pledging himself to Dalinar. This puts him at odds with the Nim, and most the other Skybreakers (view spoiler) Deevy! (view spoiler) I absolutely loved this book, and cannot wait for the next episode!