Yey! We did it! We finished Warbreaker and it was awesome! This is the final read along post hosted by Once Upon A Time. As a reminder, this post will contain spoilers for the end of the book!

1. There were a whole bunch of character revelations in this last
section of the book. We now know who Warbreaker is, and what
Blushweaver’s motivations are, and who was behind the war, and the
intentions of several characters we suspected. How do you feel, now
that everything’s out in the open?

The Pahn Kal plot makes a lot of sense, and I really love that kind of twist where the character you think you can trust (Bluefingers) ends up having masterminded the whole charade. I loved the revelation that Kalad’s army were the stone statues, it makes so much sense :D.

2. At the beginning of our group read, I asked if you thought the
Returned actually were divine. We saw Lightsong change his mind on his
own divinity, and learned a bit more about the Returned. Has your
answer about divinity changed, then, since the beginning of the book?

I think that it’s less that the Returned themselves are divine and more that they are tools of some higher power. Evidently something chose Lightsong to send back to fix the future, so it seems that the Returned are closer to angels that actual gods.

3. Now that we’ve seen Nightblood in action, firsthand, and know more
about its history, what do you think about it as an object? What are
your thoughts about Vasher’s relationship with the sword?

I guess I’m still a little confused about how something with the order to destroy evil got all black and, well, evil looking. I like the concept of type 4 objects, but I feel like Nightblood’s story was left a little unfinished. Vasher said at one point that he doesn’t know why Nightblood is actually conscious, and it’s not sticking in my head if we ever really get an explanation for why Vasher still carries Nightblood around instead of trying to destroy it. Did I just forget that part? (I read this section on a plane, you’ll have to forgive me :( )

4. Lastly, what are your final thoughts on Warbreaker? How did it
compare to other books you’ve read, and to other Sanderson, if you’ve
read more by him?

I loved Warbreaker! As a standalone it didn’t have quite the lore building that Mistborn did (the only other Sanderson that I’ve read) but I still really loved the plot developments and character building. It’s always important to me to have a few characters that I really like in a book, and Warbreaker definitely pulled that off well. I really wish that there was another book. I feel like there is more that Sanderson could build on and explain, especially with Vivenna going off on a grand adventure with Vasher, so why isn’t there more to read???

What did everyone think? Are you going to be writing a review in addition to the final read a long post?

Remember to subscribe for weekly reviews of awesome books!

-A

 It’s week 4 of the Warbreaker Read Along hosted by Naithin at Once Upon a Time. This week is chapters 35-49, and this will contain spoilers if you haven’t read those chapters!

1) So, pretty much everything has been flipped up on its head in this section. Which particular revelation was the greatest shock to you and how has it impacted your view of the book as a whole?

OMG the mercenaries :(. I was completely fooled. Even though Vivenna makes good points, since they really did warn her not to trust them, it’s just such a typical fantasy trope to have “untrustworthy” heroes. Trust Sanderson to turn a trope on it’s head an actually make them villains in the end!

2) Vasher is perhaps one of those things who we’ve had flipped over on us. Turns out he may have once been a scholar, even! Vasher and Viveena have quite the conversation about Awakening and Returned and skate across the topic of ‘Type 4’ Awakened Objects, which the story implies to be objects like Nightblood. Vasher is completely unwilling to discuss it any further – any guesses as to why?

I’m betting that at some point Vasher was in some secret group trying to discover more about Awakening, and through their experiments Nightblood was created. And I bet when Nightblood first woke up, he did a lot lot lot of damage. I bet Vasher doesn’t trust anyone else finding out that Type 4′s exist, since he doesn’t want more death released on the world, especially since it’s been alluded to that Nightblood was supposed to be ‘good’ because he command was to protect or something, ie he only brutally murders bad people…

3) Siri’s conversation with Treledees perhaps indicated that for all the disregard he shows for Siri, that he may in fact still care for the God King. If true, does this clash with their idea of simply holding onto the Divine Breath until the return of another, or how could you see it being reconciled?

I can definitely see Treledees being a little bit off his rocker and thinking that his love of the God King somehow translates into doing what is best for him and the future God King, etc. Fanatics are generally able to twist logic to their side no matter what they claim to love or stand for :(.

4) We’re so far through the book now, and the War has yet to come. Do you (still?) see it as inevitable, or do you think that it may yet be headed off?

I’m definitely thinking it’s going to be headed off, by Warbreaker :D who ever that is ;-). With all this scheming and people saying it’s inevitable, it usually turns out that, haha, it’s not inevitable :D.

Woot, time for the dazzling finale! :D What did you think of this section?

-A

 I’m so excited about Week 3 because it means I can start reading week 4′s section :D

1. Lightsong is beginning to remember his past, or at least, what he thinks is his past. Why do you think this knowledge is coming to him now, after five years as a Returned?

It sounds like the memories coming back to him are mostly implicit memories (juggling, investigating, loving a woman who looks like Siri) and only his explicit memories were forgotten. I think he didn’t remember them sooner because he simply didn’t do anything related to them before, and it was only when he started getting out and trying things and meeting new people that old impulses were able to resurface.

2. In this section, Vivenna has learned a lot about herself, and not necessarily to her liking. How do you think the new knowledge will change her going forward?

Vivenna is honestly not my favorite character. She rather annoys me with the way she obsesses about what is moral even while doing the complete opposite of what she claims she believes. Her actions throughout the book so far just don’t really seem to fit with her history to me. That being said, I really hope that she’ll accept that her concept of morality might not be exactly what she deep down believes and will start owning her life more confidently.

3. From the beginning of the book, both the Idrians and Lightsong have been telling us that the Returned aren’t Gods, and that the Hallendren religion is untrue. Now, though, we’ve had a few other different perspectives: Jewels’ vehement faith in the God King, the God King’s own belief in his divinity, and finally, Hoid’s collection of historical stories. Given the new information, have your ideas about religion in this book changed? How do you view it now?

I still think that whether the Returned are Gods depends completely on what your definition of a god is and that everyone’s differing opinions are more based on their own definitions than anything else. Everyone has pretty much the same information: the Returned aren’t really immortal, the God King isn’t even immortal, they came back from the dead, but they don’t have any real documented powers. The only real disagreement is whether they can see the future, but I don’t think that that would change whether they are gods. It’s all just a matter of what the character’s want to believe or, in Jewels’ case, need to believe I think.

4. Denth says, “Every man is a hero in his own story.” What do you make of this, especially given Denth and Vasher’s apparent rivalry, and Vivenna and Siri’s different perspectives of life in Hallendren and the Gods’ court?

For Denth and Vasher I have no doubt that the event that made them enemies has two very different tellings simply because of some context one understood but the other didn’t or different preconceptions. I very much agree with what Denth said, and look forward to hearing the different stories with their heroes.

As for Vivenna and Siri, their different perspectives very much seem to come from their personalities. Siri was always one to rebel and appreciate color when she found it, so of course she would be more able to adapt to the situation and more likely to be optimistic than her more rigid sister.

How’s everyone else liking the book? I gotta go read the next section, I’m pumped!

-A