Oathbringer

Picking up only a few days after the climactic end of Words of Radiance the third book in the Stormlight Archive explores a world where a new cataclysm has come! The Everstorm comes, and the Voidbringers threaten to return! Can the Knights Radiant turn the world towards facing the threat, or will they all be swept away by a new storm about to break upon Roshar? Find out in Oathbringer!

SPOILERS for Way of Kings and Words of Radiance to follow. Read on at your own risk!

A paperback which owes me nothing

The ancient city of Urithiru has been rediscovered. Ancient citadel of the Knights Radiant, it has been occupied by the Alethi highprinces, and Dalinar Kholin's small group of Knights. But, the ancient enemy, Odium, and his Voidbringers come, the Desolation is upon Roshar!

Oathbringer is one of the strongest openings in Sanderson's works outside of The Hero of Ages. It also, nicely, and subtly, twists the expectations of the apocalypse you have, and grinds them against one another. Everything I expected in this book was actually turned on its head, and the one true constant of the cosmere kept coming back to me; there's always another secret.

In this third installment, we explore more of the Knights Radiant, their founding and disbandment at Aharietiam, and the conflict between gods which has been brewing in the background on Roshar for millennia. Major questions brought up in the first two volumes are answered, but even further questions are raised. The issues of old legends being true, and others being false, are brought to the fore again, and we even have to wonder whether we can trust the sanity and perceptions of some of our main characters! 

Similar to how the previous two books explored the issues facing Kaladin and Shallan, this book is Dalinar's. We see the history of Dalinar, the Blackthorn, feared but respected general of Alethkar, the blade in the hand of the unifying king Gavilar Kholin, and the power behind the throne of the kingdom. His youth spent drenched in blood to win a kingdom, his attempts at being a father, and his systematic deconstruction of himself to try and become a better man after his brother's death, are all explored in depth. His story is very well handled, and leads to important revelations in the present which threaten to derail the struggle of the good guys completely!

Meanwhile, Kaladin and Shallan continue to battle their own inner demons. Kaladin, who fights to protect the world, makes some disturbing revelations about his simple look at war, while Shallan grapples with her own identity and fragmenting it into many different shapes in order to be the woman she needs to be. This will affect them in different ways, whether they can advance on their path to being Radiants, and refound their orders to, hopefully, save the world.

We also go a bit deeper into the other characters from the Kholin family. Adolin, Navani, and Jasnah Kholin are all explored more in depth, given much to do, and given more depth and character exploration. Adolin may even be on his way to becoming a Radiant! Jasnah however, is my current favorite side character, one who I hope is given much, much more exploration in the series as a view point character.

Two new characters, Szeth, the Assassin in White, and Venli, one of the Parshendi who fought to survive, are also brought more into the forefront. These characters aren't new, since we've seen them in each previous installment, but it will be very interesting to see where we go with them. 

As mentioned above, the story itself does what Sanderson does extremely well, and he twists your expectations almost completely. What I personally expected after the end of Words of Radiance fell short as things never did quite go the way I predicted. This was, occasionally, extremely frustrating, for reasons I can't quite outline for spoiler specific purposes, but also in many ways satisfying. The work Sanderson put into expounding on the characters rising to new heights and overcoming both the fantastic, and the mundane obstacles in their paths were extremely well executed. It's a story where characters battle their own selves just as much as external obstacles, and it is so empowering for that.

In a non-spoiler ending to this review, I do want to highlight that if you're expecting the End Times of the Apocalypse as normal, you'll be delightfully disappointed! TEOTWAKI might be upon us, but it is spectacularly so! On my first reading of this story, I was actually severely disappointed with it. I found it dragged in places, and I wasn't quite satisfied with the conclusion. On second reading though, there;s hidden depths, other stories I love, and even things I feel speak to my own inner demons. The story is fraught with twists and turns, lots of highs and spectacular lows for our characters, and some really phenomenal action scenes and sequences involving the gods themselves! 

Below the cut here are some spoilers I want to include in my review, as I want to talk about them, but don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't caught up yet. Journey before destination.

By Isaac Stewart

Words of Radiance

The second book in the Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance, was released in 2014 and I eagerly got my hands on a copy. Now for the 2020 re-read, I've eagerly jumped back in! Re-reading the book for the second time I discovered many things I had forgotten, and got some of the most intense action sequences Brandon Sanderson has ever put to paper!

Mild spoilers for Way of Kings follow.

My original copy which owes me nothing!

Words of Radiance picks up just a few weeks after the conclusion of Way of Kings with all the strides made by our characters from that book. The Alethi warcamps on the Shattered Plains continue to struggle against the Parshendi, but meanwhile Shallan, ward of Jasnah Kholin, is travelling to meet with the Alethi royalty to reveal potentially dangerous secrets about the ancient Voidbringers which could turn the whole world on its head.

In the warcamps, Kaladin Stormblessed struggles to protect Highprince Dalinar Kholin and his nephew, King Elhokar from the infamous Assassin in White and schemes from within their own armies as betrayal and intrigue stalk the supposedly allied highprinces. In the rest of Roshar, chaos rocks the world as kings die, spren begin acting strangley, and people fear that the Knights Radiant have returned. For if the Radiants have returned, so too must the ancient and cataclysmic Desolations.

This story is, while just as much of a door stopper as Way of Kings a bit tighter in its focus. The vast majority of the story takes place on the Shattered Plains so it is all very geographically centered on this spot. The main characters are all interacting in various ways, and numerous new plots and counter plots are unfolding. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this story is that we get a good look at the other side of the war on the Plains. Throughout Way of Kings the Parshendi were enigmas, we only saw them as enemies being confronted by the Alethi, and they were directly responsible for not a few deaths of those that Kaladin and Dalinar were trying to save. It made them foes only to be confronted. Now we have a character, Eshonai, who shows the war from their perspective. Tantalizingly though, we still get some mystery as to how the war started and why Eshonai has made some of the choices she has. In her chapters though, we do see how her people are becoming desperate and being driven to the edge. Hard, perhaps unthinkable, choices must be made.

Meanwhile, Dalinar Kholin is still trying to mold the fractious Alethi highprinces into something resembling a coherent whole. They still balk at his authority, scheme against him, and after the great betrayal by his old friend and ally Sadeas, he doesn't know who he can trust. His guard is now led by Kaladin Stormblessed who must struggle with the burdens of command and the need to try and master his new and mysterious powers. 

Shallan Davar meanwhile, must make her own way to the warcamps, and uncover the mysteries of the Voidbringers and the lost city of Urithiru. In doing so she finds that one constant of the cosmere remains true, there's always another secret.

This book is really Shallan's book. Like the first book, which had Kaladin's backstory play out, this one shows us flashbacks from Shallan's childhood and her early life. We learn of her struggles growing up, the mystery of her mother's death, and why she and her brothers have always lived in fear of her father. The way this illuminates much of her character, and character growth, in this story is very well done. Shallan grows in leaps and bounds over the course of the story, and I think this further makes her one of my favorite characters in the whole series!

Of course, that's not to say our other leads, Dalinar and Kaladin, don't grow more too. Dalinar has to learn many hard lessons about principles and politics, while trying to match wits against those who don't share his politics or his scruples. Kaladin meanwhile, after so much abuse from men who are supposedly good men and his superiors, must learn to trust. While he respects Dalinar, he feuds with Dalinar's son Adolin, and mistrusts every lighteyes he meets. This leads to an interesting dynamic with Shallan early on.

With all the main characters concentrated in one location, this story lets Sanderson shine in his writing. Most of his tales have always had the action happening at one place, and I think that the plot he writes here is very much better for it. Most importantly, he allows the characters to all interact and grow in natural ways which will be very important for their relationships in Oathbringer.

It also delves deeper into the lore of the magics (investiture for those cosmere aware) on Roshar. It's what makes the world tick, how all the spren relate to one another and how those blessed with the powers granted by the gods can shape and use their powers. With the characters in one spot, and for the moment, pursuing broadly similar goals, it allows everyone to put their thoughts to figuring all this out in order to both win the war and to prevent the Desolations. That in particular, is one of the greatest strenghts on display here, as Sanderson is able to really bring our attention to the lore and magic in a narratively necessary way while also highlighting how wonderfully alien the world of Roshar is.

It is also a fantasy world that doesn't rely on those traditional fantasy races we all know. There's no dwarves, no elves, and no orcs. The Parshendi can't be counted as orcs as they're very, very different, and almost like aliens. The Iriali are vaguely human, then there's creatures much, much stranger. You really do have to read it to see it!

Of course, this all comes together in a very satisfying climax as the war, the political scheming, and all the study we've seen in both this book and the previous installment. It showcases a lot of Sanderson's strengths, with his avalanche of intrigue and storytelling among the humans and the Parshendi paying off at the end. It's both epic, and really suitably tragic. Kaladin's story arc here is perhaps one of the most important as, while this is Shallan's book, Kaladin has done some of the most growing as a person.

Words of Radiance is an excellent sequel and, so far, definitely the second best work in the Stormlight Archive overall. Its' got all of Sanderson's strengths and really lets him run wild with the world he has created. It sets us up for the next installment quite nicely, and really gives us a lot to appreciate, and ask ourselves, for what comes next on Roshar.

What If the Central Powers Won WWI 2

Last time, I discussed the Schlieffen Plan enacted by Germany in 1914. Though that plan was very flawed from the get go, it working as a 'stop gap' to make a short victorious war for the Central Powers is a prerequisite for the the whole premise of that piece. The changes would follow logically, and the Germans would of course have a reason to seek peace. That is a scenario where the Central Powers can absolutely be seen as the unambiguous winners of the war. This scenario though, well it's one that certainly doesn't have an unambiguous win, but one which can still see a Central Powers victory.

The Kaiser in a communications trench, April 1918

Option 2) Peace of Exhaustion

I have talked about this before, discussing the 'victory' from the German Spring Offensive in another article. However, even that was technically a German defeat as the Entente still had the upper hand at the negotiating table. For this article, I'll be looking at the Entente not having the upper hand, and instead examining a peace of exhaustion. I would highly recommend reading my previous article about the Spring Offensive and victory, as I'll be using a few of the same ideas here, but with a different outcome and series of events.

However, for this all you really need to know is that there are two important differences from our timeline. The first is that in this TL the United States, for whatever reason, chooses not to intervene in the First World War. Without intervention, the Germans are not facing the serious manpower crunch they were facing in 1918 with the Entente now experiencing a windfall of millions of fresh troops coming from North America and their financial system being propped up by American loans. Without American loans, it is questionable that the Entente could have 'borrowed' its way further into 1919 and both sides would have found themselves deeply in the economic red as the year wore on. 

That though, is an extremely convoluted and hypothetical economic speculation. I'm not really an expert on it and there's so many competing narratives, whether the US could afford to let the Entente nations, who had borrowed heavily from them, default, whether the Central Powers treasuries could have foot the bill for another year of fighting economically, if the Germans could get supplies from their conquered territories or riches to sustain the war effort, ect; it's a lot of economic speculation, so let's stick with what we know.

Without the imminent threat of American intervention, one can ask whether the Germans would be as compelled to launch their OTL planned "Spring Offensive" to deliver a decisive knock out blow. My own speculation is that, yes, they would want to try and launch one vicious offensive in the spring and summer of 1918 to try and force the remaining Entente powers to the negotiating table. This, potentially, avoids another year of war and another grueling winter. The Entente too, will have no enormous pool of fresh American manpower waiting to replenish their ranks.

For the purposes of this scenario we can speculate that the Germans, in this scenario, manage to take Amiens. This would have been, something of a catastrophe for the British and French. Amiens was the major rail line connecting the two Entente armies, and even though some French forces had been dispatched to the north to support the British, it is debatable they could have managed to keep well supplied had Amiens fallen. 

This loss was the nightmare scenario for the men fighting the Germans at this point. Amiens was probably the only true strategic target (besides Hazebrouk) the Germans might have captured in their offensive in 1918. Doing so would have given them an actual strategic advantage that the original attack very significantly failed to produce.

However, like OTL, these German forces would still be exhausted, and to take Amiens they would have, undoubtedly, have had to take more casualties than they did historically. For the purposes of argument let's say that as compared to OTL the Germans lose 180,000 of their best, irreplaceable, troops. That's 20,000 more than OTL, but probably reasonable based on how well Amiens was historically defended. That means that, for follow up operations that are supposed to drive the British back to the Channel ports, they have even fewer troops to attempt it with.

I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that this version of Operation Georgette would be a disaster as well. With fewer men, a desperate British defense, and most likely having to hold off an Entente counter offensive towards Amiens, the Germans simply flail uselessly against the British defences, while by the skin of their teeth holding Amiens.

This will mean that, by May, it has become clear to the Germans that they cannot win a decisive military victory in the West. The Germans would have no chance of taking the vital rail center at Hazebrouk, which supplied the British armies in Flanders, and be facing a possible Entente counterattack over the summer. 

Here, much of this scenario does run similar to my piece from back in 2018 which speculates about a naval battle of Terschelling and German attempts at negotiation, but I will add one more speculation. The Entente will, naturally, try one do or die offensive of their own. This waits until the high summer, June and July, to get rolling, giving the Germans time to dig in. Even with their desperate straights, the Germans in their new positions manage to roughly hold their gains, and importantly, still cling to Amiens.

The failure of the Entente counterfactual "Summer Offensive" will signal to both sides that the European War has reached a stalemate. On the global front, the British most likely are stalemated in Mesopotamia and Palestine, having withdrawn troops to the more important fronts in Europe, and otherwise are engaged in chasing Paul von Letto-Vorbeck around German East Africa. Though the Entente is dominant at sea, holding on in France, and still, technically, more economically sound than their Central Powers opponents, both sides will have to face the facts that they can't win a decisive victory.

Enter America, as a peace broker.

Without the Entente driving the Germans to the table, or vice versa, the Germans will have just as many cards to play. Potentially approaching the Americans themselves, the new Austrian Kaiser and the German Kaiser, could play up their desire for peace and ask the United States to act as mediator. This would effectively be a diplomatic coup, which would probably earn German and Austria-Hungary sympathy with Americans and the still powerful German and Central European populations and voting blocs in America. Woodrow Wilson would probably insert himself, somehow, into the peace deal, but at this point the Central Powers can semi-dictate terms.

This then, is what I would imagine:

The German gains in the East, already established by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, are ratified, since there is fundamentally nothing the Entente can do to change that and Russia is embroiled in civil war and not an effective member of the Entente anymore. This means that the Germans split off client states in Poland, the Baltics, and Ukraine to act as satellites in Eastern Europe.

From wikimediacommons

Meanwhile, the Ottomans have been promised all the land they lost in the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, and without the British to detain them, they have a chance to reclaim some of it. The historic Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic would probably form, then break apart, for similar reasons. The Ottomans may end up seizing much of what becomes Armenia and some of Georgia, and the total outcome depends quite a bit on the outcome of the Russian Civil War.

In the West, the Entente is forced to accept that the Germans now have a say in the government of Belgium. The United States will insist on Belgian territorial integrity, but I have no doubt the Germans will manage to keep Belgium under their thumb diplomatically in exchange for a status quo antebellum on the borders. After four years of bloodshed, not much will have changed on the European frontier.

The Germans though, will lose the totality of their colonial empire in exchange. Despite Lettow-Vorbeck's heroic actions in Africa, this is not enough to prevent the British and French from navally dominating them. Japan controls their Pacific and Asian colonies, and the British take what is left.

The biggest problem though, will be Russia. They are a boil that needs to be lanced. In a scenario with a reasonably intact Germany, the British and Germans will probably manage to get over their anger at one another and support the White Russians in the war, but, the Germans might also get caught up in being bankrupt, and the British too. With the need to keep a lid on their own new Eastern European empire and money and economic problems at home, it's not a stretch to think both Britain and Germany will be too busy gobbling up their own gains, and cash strapped to boot, to support the White Russian forces. 

Shorn of Western support, the Whites are crushed like they were in our own history, and the Bolsheviks come to power creating a bit of a truncated USSR.

Technically, the Germans have won World War I. They have lost no territory in the West, gained territory in the East, and are triumphant against Russia, who was considered one of their most dire enemies. They have however, lost their global colonial empire, severely damaged their economy, and now must keep a lid on unrest in the East. Their enemies are not any better off though. The French have buried an entire generation for little gain, the British have enlarged their empire, but are broke and in hoc to the United States, and the Russian Empire is no more. Germanies allies though, are basket cases. The Ottomans have lost their religious ruling mandate to an Arab revolt, the Austro-Hungarians are broke and facing unrest at home, and arguably only Bulgaria has made any gains.

Everyone is broke though, so technically everyone is a loser. The notable exceptions are the United States and Japan.

The 1920s and 1930s will be interesting. An economic downturn is very likely, and unrest across the East most likely unfolds throughout 1919 and well into the 1920s. The Austrian Empire may manage to survive by federating, but it might also go down in flames.

In the East, the Germans will probably face pressure from the new USSR which will try to ignite communistic/nationalistic uprisings against the German puppet governments, and any forces sympathetic to them in the decaying Ottoman Empire. This may, in time, lead to a second war, one maybe supported by vengeful Western powers. Or, maybe, broke and gorging themselves on German colonies the former Entente will let Germany and Russia squabble over central and eastern Europe, only looking to increase their hold and stabilize their own empires. Meanwhile, Japan and the United States will becoming rising powers in the Pacific. 

While only technically a German victory, it is still a victory. One of mutual exhaustion to be sure, but one where the Central Powers have, arguably, gained more than they lost.

Ghost Run

In this fourth installment in the Day by Day Armageddon series, we once again join Kil as he is taking a lonely tour through the zombie haunted wasteland that is the continental Americas.. I purchased this book earlier this year with the explicit goal of reading it, along with all the others in the series, for Halloween. Last night I wrapped up my reading and got some closure to the world of Day by Day Armageddon which I had been needing for a few years.

Does this struggle across the dead land once known as the United States amount to much, or is it the last hurrah of a survivor who was unable to control his urge to explore? Find out, in Ghost Run!

From goodreads.com

To begin with, this story does get back to the strength of the original novel. Its' a fixed first person narrative, told in the journal style. Less concentrated, but told in a very similar manner. It does tell a more personal story, one which covers a range of issues from addiction, the devolving of society, and seeing echoes of a formerly strong world now covered in decay, both natural and unnatural. It does have a wonderful series of action sequences with spectacular zombie kills. From knives to wrecking balls, we do see some good work taking out the undead.

However, it does manage to only harken back slightly to what made the original novels so good. Without a real overarching mission, the humanity and the community which was built across the first two installments, it felt lacking in terms of the hope and drama which propelled me through the first books. Then it's much shorter, with precious little preamble to the meat of the main story. Shorn of the tighter narrative, broader supporting cast, and overarching sunny, but gray, tone, it made for a less compelling read than the previous three volumes.

Our ending here too, felt rushed. It didn't have the same oomph which added power to the story of Shattered Hourglass, or Origin to Exile which, while each had their dark moments, the sense of hope and humanity established in them allowed me to hold hope for something more than mere survival. Instead, in this story, we almost get a sense of the lights going out one by one, the field of view narrowing, and no hope anywhere else in the world. It was, to be frank, a tad disappointing.

If you've read the rest of the series and would like resolution, I definitely recommend checking it out. However, you may feel better just reading the end of Shattered Hourglass. It's an ending, and it comes from two strong initial installments which created one of the best zombie stories I've ever read. So ends my saga with this terrifying series!