Oathbringer
Brandon Sanderson, 2017
A reluctant warlord tries to unite old enemies as the world ends, while a scholar, a soldier, and a liar each ask what an oath is worth. War weighs on every page, but the voice stays plain and aphoristic, with moments of awe and hope.
Feels like awe and hope. About war.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy large-scale fantasy about leadership, broken vows and old enemies forced to negotiate. Be ready for a very long book with many interlocking threads, and some middle stretches where the pace slows.
Why read it
It asks what promises are worth when war makes every choice costly, and gives you a plain-spoken, hopeful way to sit with that question.
A page from the book
What if the step you keep postponing is the only one that counts?
The most important step a man can take. It’s not the first one, is it?It’s the next one. Brandon Sanderson.Oathbringer debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list; Sanderson had previously completed Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.
Books that feel like this
More by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn
Brandon Sanderson, 2006
A street thief who burns metals for luck is pulled into a heist against a god-emperor—and a world buried in ash.
The Well of Ascension
Brandon Sanderson, 2007
A young Mistborn and a scholar-king try to hold a freed city together while an army gathers outside and old prophecy starts to look like a trap.
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson, 2015
When a young scholar challenges ancient religious doctrine, they force a confrontation between faith, logic, and the true nature of divinity. A sweeping epic of idealism and intellectual defiance.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Oathbringer for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy large-scale fantasy about leadership, broken vows and old enemies forced to negotiate. Be ready for a very long book with many interlocking threads, and some middle stretches where the pace slows.
- What is Oathbringer like?
- War weighs on every page, but the voice stays plain and aphoristic, with moments of awe and hope. Feels like awe and hope. About war.
- What should I read after Oathbringer?
- If you liked Oathbringer, try The Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien), Tower of Dawn (Sarah J. Maas) and The Alice Network (Kate Quinn).
A taste of the feed
What a single star can do to someone at the end of their strength.
There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
The Return of the King · J.R.R. Tolkien
Kindness that expects nothing back is the rarest kind.
A gift. A gift from a queen who had seen another woman in hell and thought to reach back a hand. With no thought of it ever being returned. A moment of kindness, a tug on a thread.
Tower of Dawn · Sarah J. Maas
The argument you have with yourself before doing the frightening thing.
The idea made her sick and scared, but so what? Why did it matter if something scared you, when it simply had to be done anyway?
The Alice Network · Kate Quinn
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