We’re excited to share an excerpt from Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer audiobook, read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
The third volume in Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive epic, Oathbringer is available November 14th from Tor Books and Macmillan Audio—and you can get a jump start with chapters 1-32 here on Tor.com! Listen to Interlude 3: The Rhythm of the Lost below, and find our other excerpts collected here in the Oathbringer index.
Spoiler warning: Comments may contain spoilers for previous Stormlight books, other works that take place in Sanderson’s cosmere (Elantris, Mistborn, Warbreaker, etc.), and the available chapters of Oathbringer, along with speculation regarding the rest of the novel.
Audiobook available at:
Well, I guess we know where the “dead in a ditch” reaction comes from. The little Spren is clearly significant, so there is more here. But I am not sure this series could handle another fake death.
YAyy!
Eshonai! NO!!!!!
“Dead in a ditch” indeed. *heartbreak*
Hmmm. Nice reveal on Venli’s development of forms during the war. And maybe there’s a flicker of hope for Venli to not be purely antagonistic as the Stormlight Archive progresses?
Interesting stuff. Hmmm… So the parchendi ancestors are the ones “calling the shots” and the spren that leaves the corpse is obviously significant. I wonder how it will play out.
I didn’t expect Eshonai’s death at this point in the series. However I agree with @1 Walker please no fake death again. Robert Jordan did it so much it ruined the WOT series for me. I really hope BS doesn’t follow suit. I’m already at my max.
@@.-@ &5
Yes, overall exciting possibilities with hints at Venli’s plotting and future involvement. Also interesting that dead listeners may be involved.
Also, yes, as much as I loved Eshonai, I hope that she stays dead. I’m fine if the spren makes an appearance elsewhere and bonds someone and gives us new insights to her, but that’s as far as I hope it goes. One possibility would be with Brandon saying that future focus characters could be done even if they are dead and perhaps Eshonai will play a role from the place the other dead listeners are apparently at work.
I can’t say I’m on board with the charge of ‘fake deaths’ in this series. The only one that really applies to was Szeth – Jasnah was clearly not dead from the moment Shallan conveniently discovered Jasnah’s trunk. The coincidence that Shallan would find the one and only thing that would be vital for her trip to Urithiru and yet find no other sign of the ship whatsoever… It was hardly a stretch to think Jasnah faked her own death given her character and powers. I may be wrong, but I can’t think of any other fake deaths.
And even with Szeth, that was brought up almost immediately. It’s not like we had books worth of pages between believing Szeth to be dead, and finding him to be brought back.
If Eshonai does make a reappearance, it’s already strongly been suggested in WoR that all or part of Eshonai’s soul is in that comet spren. The groundwork has been put in place so that if she does reappear in some form it can be said to have been predictable from the moment Venli saw her dead body. That’s the important thing for me.
That wasn’t the case with Szeth, which is why his rebirth grated a little for me. But Jasnah and (potentially) Eshonai? I’m fine with that.
Interesting bit about surprise that a spren sent from Odium would appear as a man. That makes my mind wander through possibilities about the origins of Humans on Roshar, and the relationship between the Listeners and Odium. Also, could it choose a different appearance, or is it locked into certain forms based on how it is perceived?
Tomorrow will be a good day!
Well, to be fair, the series never really had a “fake death”. Stormlight healing had been well established by that point. And when there’s no body, more often than not that means the character is alive. I think it was strongly hinted the previous death did not occur.
@9 Mostly agree… I don’t think anyone who was paying attention should have through Jasnah was dead, and I agree that Stormlight healing had been established, even to the point of healing a blade-dead arm. However, it was also very well established that a shard through the spine is pretty much it for that person, so Szeth seemed dead. But, again, anyone who was paying attention should have know that Brandon was not done with him.
@7 & 9
To the in-book characters, there have been 2 “fake” deaths between Jasnah and Szeth. I agree that only Szeth really bothered me – but at least it happened immediately. My biggest beef with it is it falls into the “we beat the bad guy, but wait, he’s back” trope. However, at least it seems he is now on a redemption arc, so it isn’t a repeat of the villain comes back bigger and badder. Also, I was so excited to see Nightblood, that overshadowed it for me at the moment.
As a question to anyone, I actually am still confused as to how Szeth did come back. I know Nale did something, but he doesn’t have the power of regrowth. So what exactly did he do?
@8
I also noticed that and thought it interesting. I imagine it is because Odium is a human and so his spren would be human. But, apparently Venli and the other contemporary Listeners don’t know of his true background/nature.
Great interlude, but I personally didn’t believe one second Eshonai was really dead. We have seen the comet-like spren before and all signs were Eshonai was on her path towards becoming a Radiant. I thus do not believe she is dead, either she is playing possum or she is about to be revived, probably the later.
I however fear the readership’s reaction to this… Another dead-not-dead character really wasn’t something I felt Brandon could afford in Oathbringer. I can see why he chose to play it this way, but if she truly isn’t dead, this will come up within some readers negative critics.
This being said, I also fear for Venli, looks like we may have gotten a new villain.
@7 afterthought
We know that bonding with a spren influences the Parshendi’s thought patterns and looks. Maybe a Parshendi can have similar influence over a spren? Especially one that was mostly thoughtless before? I really hope she can come back in some way.
Originally I thought I agreed with the ‘no more fake deaths’ that a lot of other people had been saying, but after this interlude.. maybe one more won’t hurt? Please?
–
I also thought that the fact that Ulim is a ‘redemption spren’ was very interesting, and it reminded me of Gavilar’s discussion with Eshonai in this book’s prologue, since at first glance it looks like he’s a complete idiot. Someone tells you ‘no, don’t do this, we don’t want it’, and he keeps going, and is surprised they assassinated him?
Eshonai and the listeners keep saying that they are traitors who abandoned their gods, and she says this to Gavilar as well. He could’ve read this as ‘we betrayed our gods and now we are no longer worthy of worshipping them’.
In that case, he could’ve very easily seen this as doing the Parshendi a favour, especially if he knew something about what Venli & co were doing. This could be why he chided Eshonai about being ungrateful after she told him he shouldn’t do this.
Likewise, Ulim sees Venli’s involvement as a chance for this group of traitors to redeem themselves, and become worthy of.. whatever it is that Venli wants. Which is why he calls himself a spren of redemption. I wonder if that’s also the official spren name for that particular type of voidspren (he’s different from the yellow voidspren, Yixli), or just Ulim being dramatic.
@11 Probably used a fabrial. That would likely qualify as “manipulating” the surge of Regrowth, which is something very close to what Nale claimed he had done… can’t remember the exact text.
Ah Eshonai, very disappointed in her death. I would call this one a Sanderson “fake life” as I think everyone expected her to live.
My opinion on the fake deaths is that Szeth’s was particularly incredulous and unsatisfying because there was absolutely no hint or foreshadowing. This could have been addressed by having Kaladin see a figure watching from a distance while he battled Szeth and maybe seeing a figure flying after Szeth as Kaladin flew after the honorblade.
On the fake deaths. With regards to Szeth I was never surprised as there was an emphasis at the end of the fight that Kaladin did not actually strike Szeth with his shardblade because Syl had said that he was nothing without his honorblade. From that point as he fell away I knew he was going to live as Kaladin had not expressly struck him down. With regard to Jasnah, I was supprised when she turned up alive, however I saw it more as an extension of a reveal of her KR powers that had been at least somewhat set up in the previous two books. That being said I do prefer to avoid surprise not dead situations however I think an Eshoni return could be alright as her death was not, until this point, part of a major plot point. That is her death did not accomplish anything for the overall story arc yet so her return would not through everything into chaos.
Okay, so we FINALLY have a bit of how Shardplate works. It looks like it existed/maybe still does exist a bit in the Cognative realm as Ulim talks about “summoning” it. Makes sense now about the KR in Dalinar’s vision having the helm disappear and reappear on her head without him seeing her taking it off.
@16 Kal definitely struck Szeth. “…drove his blade into the assassin’s chest right below the neck, severing the spine. Smoke burned out from beneath his eyelids, and his blade slipped from his fingers.”
16. axehoundlover – Ah, you read the second ending where Syl commands Kaladin to abandon Szeth to his death to save a sword. Sort of the opposite of Dalinar giving up his sword to save Kaladin. I really despise that ending and pretend it is not real.
@19 a SECOND ENDING? what is this?
i always listen on audible and the ending where Kal definitely severs his spine is what I heard. Was it in a reprint or something?
@@@@@ 20 Jorelle gates
Yeah, Brandon Sanderson wasn’t sure about that particular bit of text when he finished the book, and in the end he decided to change it in following reprints, as he felt it reinforced Kaladin’s and Szeth’s storylines. You can find the explanation on his website pretty easily. It doesn’t change the results in any major way though.
@19, @20 I’m with you… I was like, “Whaaaaaat??”
Evidently, BS changed this when the paperback version was released. It’s a pretty big change, and I’m not sure I like it much, either.
Ugh- second ending!! I’ve only read that second. Glad I didn’t get the first, brutal ending!
Guys, less than 12 hours until release. I’ll go home and sleep, then set my alarm for 12:05. Kindle should come through by then!!!
Below is the explanation of changes and the changes itself.
https://brandonsanderson.com/three-stories-in-new-formats/
Current:
Szeth did not parry. He just closed his eyes.
Kaladin drove his Blade into the assassin’s chest right below the neck, severing the spine. Smoke burned out from beneath his eyelids, and his Blade slipped from his fingers. It did not vanish.
Get that! Syl sent him, a mental shout. Grab it, Kaladin. Don’t lose it!
Kaladin dove after the Blade, dropping Szeth’s corpse, letting it fall backward into the stormwall. It vanished among the wind, the rain, and the lightning, trailing faint wisps of Stormlight.
Kaladin grabbed the Blade just before the storm consumed it. Then he Lashed himself back upward, passing along the stormwall, the windspren he’d attracted spiraling about him and laughing with pure joy. As he crested the top of the storm, they burst around him and zipped away, moving off to dance in front of the still-advancing storm.
Replacement:
Szeth did not parry. He just closed his eyes to accept the attack.
In that instant, for reasons he could not have articulated—pity, perhaps?— Kaladin diverted his blow, driving the Blade through Szeth’s wrist. The skin greyed. Flashing with reflected lightning, the sword tumbled from the assassin’s fingers, then dulled as it plummeted.
The glow fled the assassin’s form. All his Stormlight vanished in a puff, all Lashings banished.
Szeth started to fall.
Get that sword! Syl sent to Kaladin, a mental shout. Grab it.
“The assassin!”
He has released the bond. He’s nothing without that sword! It must not be lost! Kaladin dove after the Blade, passing Szeth, who tumbled through the air like a rag doll, buffeted by winds toward the stormwall.
Kaladin furiously Lashed himself downward, snatching the Blade just before the storm consumed it. Nearby, the assassin dropped past him into the storm and was swallowed up, leaving Kaladin with the haunting image of Szeth’s limp silhouette being driven into a plateau below with all the tempest’s force.
Raising the assassin’s Blade, Kaladin Lashed himself back upward, passing along the stormwall, the windspren he’d attracted spiraling about him and laughing with pure joy. As he crested the top of the storm, they burst around him and zipped away, moving off to dance in front of the still advancing storm.
I also will not give up on Eshonai yet. When has a fall into a chasm ever killed someone in SA? Kaladin survived, Shallan survived, Szeth survived (kind of), so I’m hopeful for Eshonai.
@25 Looks like the fall didn’t kill her either, drowning in the storm floods did.
@24 adjbaker
Thanks for posting that! I had no idea! I had only read the 1st ending. Crazy change. I guess that leaves much more room for Nalan to have saved him by just catching him or something.
@27
There was no change made to the Nalan scene. Szeth was dead when Nalan found him and revived him with a fabrial.
Will it be released at midnight EST or at that icky 9am like the free chapters?
27. Whitespine – Your welcome.
I still haven’t forgiven Sanderson for making the change and muddying the story. But perhaps if Oathbringer is really great …
Can’t wait …only 10 hours and 5 minutes to go … Yes it is a midnight release!
Midnight At which time Zone for the release, please?
31. sheiglagh – supposedly all Time Zones. I supposed the e-version becomes available for download on your device at midnight your time zone. This will be new for me as I have never tried to download at midnight before … hopefully it works.
Audiobooks have never appealed to me because I can read far faster than I can listen, and I also like to go back and re-read stuff. But, since it’s Sanderson, I figured I’d give it a try.
This has absolutely convinced me I will never listen to another audiobook again. My teeth were literally on edge every time she tried to do a ‘voice’ or an ’emotion’. It was like an over the top dramatic reading. I found it really distracting and it really hampered my enjoyment of the text. I’m just hoping I can forget the voice by the time I get the book in print because I really don’t want to have the associations with it.
I couldn’t pay too much attention (even with playing a few things over and over again until I couldn’t bear to hear that voice anymore) but even though I love Eshonai I kinda hope she just stays dead because I’m over the ‘fakeouts (even though I actually had no problem with Jasnah at all)’. I think it’s definitely interesting the dynamic between the voidspren and Parshendi since he views Eshonai’s plot as traitorous and now I wonder more about Gavilar’s plan and where it came from.
Who did it say Venli was mating with in secret?
@32
I am in Utah and I am getting my signed book 10:00 pm Utah time or 12:00 East coast time. I am not sure about the electronic versions.
Lisa,
I agree in that I struggle to understand more when its Audio vs. paper or e-book. I don’t know if it said that Venli was mating with someone in secret, but that she had a bond from when she used to mate with Denid (spell check?). Also, that Ulim spren is sure interesting. How he travels and moves reminded me of Windle or Pattern at first, but I know its different. I had a few questions though regarding that comet spren. Was it an original willshaper spren that followed Eshonai? Is that why it hid from Ulim, who is a spren of Odium? Did Ulim recognize that there was an honor spren nearby (these chasms stink of Honor) but didnt think that there could one with Eshonai? Will that same Comet spren now look for someone else to bond? Seems to me that if Eshonai was still alive/could be alive, that spren would have stayed like Syl did for Kaladin.
Ah, Venli, you reap what you sow. I usually think of “redemption” as a good thing that would be of Honor not Odium. I guess this is another of those perception things, no one thinks they are the villain.
I suspect the escaping spren has the “soul” of Eshoni and she will perhaps return as someone’s bonded spren or fighting on the dead ancestor’s side.
It’s also apparent to me that Odium has the Parshendi hoodwinked. Ulim takes a human form and NOT a Parshendi form as he is not what they thought they were returning. Venli seems to believe the Parshendi gods will ascend and instead she gets another human(ish) master in Odium. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Whitespine @27, Exile @28:
Of course, there is also the issue of Nalan somehow knowing where exactly the running aerial battle would come to an end and the precise spot where Szeth would fall in all the massive chaos. Not to mention both of them not being turned into mincemeat by the storm. I mean, if it had been Hoid, I could see it, but as far as we know Nale’s powers don’t lend themselves to something like that. And per WoB the Heralds can’t leave Rosharan system, so they wouldn’t have had opportunities to acquire investiture from other planets/gods.
From what I understand, Sanderson initially intended to kill Szeth and reworking of the sequence towards his survival still feels rather awkward and contrived, IMHO.
I really loved Eshonai’s character – she was so likeable and tragic. That prologue really made me impatient for more of her character and made me hope that she’d become the first listener Radiant and an eventual bridge between them and humans. Sigh.
@33 – My problem with the audiobooks (also true for Wheel of Time, which has the same readers) is that I really like the male reader, Michael Kramer, but Kate Reading’s voice just sets my teeth on edge. In the Wheel of Time it wasn’t so bad because I preferred all the male plotlines to all the female ones and so just saved playlists of male-PoV sections, but that just doesn’t work with Sanderson. I grit my teeth and bear it because I can do other things while listening to an audiobook but not while reading.
One of the few benefits of the general lack of female characters in Mistborn is that Michael Kramer reads the whole thing himself.
@33: Audio vs Reading
There are 3 main reasons I prefer reading. The first is that with audio books, I tend to get lost/miss elements because I was distracted by something going on around me (more passive way to consume the material leads to easier distraction); I find the names / places stated in a way I had not read them in my own mind, and hence, sometimes get lost trying to figure out what those words relate to; and finally, I find that the readers sometime ruin characters for me by reading them in a voice / tone I had not done in my head, making it an unpleasant experience.
It can also be a pain int he butt to go back a little to re-read (or in this case) re-listen to something you might not quite have understood.
For those who can audio book – kudos to you!~ I wish I could enjoy it that way, too.
(But hey, I finally swapped to an e-reader, after carrying massive books – usually more than 1 – with me on the subway for 20+ years, so maybe there is hope for me yet!)
As for Eshonai
I think she is really dead.
However, I think the spen we saw was associated to her in some way will either eventually bond (and save) Venli or find (and bond) Rlain (who I believe was Eshoina’s mate).
Too busy weeping for Eshonai to speculate. That line of Venli’s, about how she was now free to do what she wanted without Eshonai standing in her way, and how it terrified her, oh gods that hurts my heart. I thought Tien’s death was bad, but this strikes even closer to home because my sisters and I had always had a somewhat adversarial relationship–standard dysfunctional family–and loosing them felt almost exactly like this. Only it was me saying “I told you not to do this, I told you not to stay with him, and look what happened! Why didn’t you listen?” And I could easily picture my remaining sister thinking something like this if I died, since I’ve always been the one trying to get her to live life sensibly.
I’m sorry, it just hurts. Kaladin is my favorite character, but Eshonai was / is the one I empathized with most. I don’t even care if this death was real or not, it was a damned effective scene.
Didn’t Arcanum Unbounded’s introduction to the Roshar system contain speculation, by Khriss, that one of the other planets/moons was inhabited by self-aware spren that she suspected might actually be Cognitive Shadows?
The ancient Parshendi, continuing their war beyond death and using their species’ unique relationship with spren to manipulate things from the Cognitive realm, would explain quite a bit about this Interlude and others from WoR.
Just picked up my hard copy from the book store.
Am now settling into the couch and will not emerge until I decide work will fire me if I continue not to answer my phone!!
How exciting all!!!
I really enjoy the audiobooks just because I can listen to it while at work or while on the road… I do agree that Michael Kramer is by FAR the better reader… I absolutely love his performance of Lopen
I think there’s pretty heavy foreshadowing here that Eshonai is not dead. Most obviously, her spren stuck around- if she were dead it would have gone stupid and left. They also mention that all of her plate’s gems have been used up- like she used the Stormlight to save herself. Finally, the “she always resisted, if she lived she would have fought us” thing seems a lot like foreshadowing. The point of this chapter is that Venli believes Eshonai is dead and she had taken her shards. The spren at the end is there to clue the reader that Eshonai is probably a KR and so it’s very possible she is catatonic but will live.
Ok its 6:38 here in South africa AND I STILL DONT HAVE MAH BOOK!!!! Grrr this waiting is killing me
Hey… its past midnight, where is mah book!
They told me midnight! It’s 20 past! I even sent an email to double check!
*fumes silently*
heuuuuu,
I’m still waiting, does anyone have it yet?
(stupid question, as if they would be here…)
Still no book here in SA. Lemme Know when you all get it!
Got it!!
Still no audible audiobook at 12:10am :-(
Where do I get the eBook from?
Couldn’t find it on Amazon
This snippet furthers my belief that Roshar is a violent place of Odium, and that us the natural way. Humans and Honor are the intruders.
@39 and others – I think I’ve realized the thing that bugs me about the ebook is that – and this could be a matter of personal preference – I just want the text. I don’t want somebody else’s interpretation, embellishment, emotional perspective, etc. Everything else to me is distracting and almost interferes with my own reading process. And it kind of reminds me of the exaggerated way I read to my six year old. But at least I’m not the only one who found her style grating (I googled it too and apparently she’s kind of a ‘you love her or hate her’ type of voice artist).
Just a heads up children! I am online with Audible because I am unable to download the audiobook to my computer or my new android cell phone. Not a happy camper right now after having waited so long for this day to arrive!
Telling myself it might be a traffic issue with the site, I don’t know, but it is a real BUMMER!
Grrrr!
On the subject of audio vs real:
I prefer real, but I have found audio to be very effective for road trips. But, I do agree that the readers can ‘ruin’ characters with the voices sometimes. But by and large, I have found them enjoyable. And, they make road trips go by faster.
But… I got to start reading last night! I was first in line at the library on the wait list and they had it ready yesterday! Funny story… there is a typo right on the table of contents. Oops… they list Book Two: Oathbringer instead of book three… oh well.
@57 hahahaha! I’m like number 40 on my library’s wait list. The annoying thing is, is that it did occur to me several months ago that I should look to see if I could put a hold on it, and then I forgot…I got my hold in about a month ago, maybe.
However, at least for Memory of Light, it did go a little faster than I anticipated. They have multiple copies and I think a lot of people just end up relinquishing their spot or read the book elsewhere. I’ll have to check tonight to see I’ve moved up the queue at all :) Otherwise, I’m going to email the Sanderson group at work to see if any of them would be willing to lend me their book when they are done.
For road trips, I’m a much bigger fan of music (either soundtracks or otherwise). Actual stories involve a little too much active concentration and I tend to zone out (I don’t drive, I’m always a passenger, lol) in the car – or I’m navigating – so I’d probably keep missing things. I can only imagine how hard it would be if I was concentrating on driving too! Plus, I really like to linger over a well turned phrase/word choice, or draw out a suspenseful passage, go back and re-read things to make sure I really absorbed it, etc. Even ebooks make that difficult sometimes (especially for books that I have a lot of maps/artwork or references).
I think Eshonai is still alive, too. If the cometspren is Eshonai’s, and therefore a living shardblade, wouldn’t that be enough to revive her? Since living shardblades can heal a person’s soul? I don’t mind the “fake deaths”, and would love to have more Eshonai.
@11
I think Nale somehow teleported Szeth before he hit the ground. I think Kaladin beat him by making Szeth disbond his blade.