Ranking the interludes in Oathbringer

I will come out and say it now, there are going to be some controversial opinions in this one. In Oathbringer, we see a major change of the role of interludes in a way that makes reviewing them under the light of their original purpose incredibly challenging. 

I will rank Oathbringer’s interludes under the same conditions I’ve been ranking the other books in this series:

1. Did we explore a new part of Roshar?
2. Did we learn more about something we already knew?
3. Was it good?

Exploration and discovery through novel perspectives was the original intent behind interludes, and watching their purpose evolve with Sanderson’s writing is a journey onto itself. 

Let’s have that journey continue with ranking the interludes of Oathbringer!

I-1: Puuli

This is a classic interlude: we get to meet Puuli who is a lighthouse keeper learning to live with the Everstorm, and musing on how it might relate to stories his grandfather told. We get to experience some world building in a bit of a cryptic way, tying back to a story we heard in Way of Kings about the Wandersail and a journey to the Origin. 

This small look into the Natan people adds richness to the world in a way that is textbook interlude. The only marks I can put against it is that it’s not terribly exciting. I’m sure we’ll look back at this once Wind and Truth comes out and wonder why we didn’t acknowledge the foreshadowing about whatever is going to come from the origin, but hindsight is 20/20.

Still, I-1: Puuli is a strong A-tier interlude.

I-2: Ellista

Another solid interlude. This time we meet Ellista and Urv, two ardents in a remote monastery working on translating the Dawnchant. Ellista is trying to find seclusion to read some trashy romance novels, but is caught by Urv. The two bond over reading the same books after Urv offers her the sequel. 

This interlude is a cozy slice of life that is a window into ardentia that we don’t get to see play out in the course of the main story line; exactly what interludes are supposed to be. What endears me most to this particular interlude is that, at least for now, the impacts of this interlude aren't really that… impactful. We know that Urv is working on a translation for a mystery patron, which might set up something later on, but for now it's just a little cozy interlude chapter.

I am going to push the boat out on this one and give it an S-tier. Puuli will probably have more of an “impact” in hindsight, but I enjoyed reading this interlude more.

I-3: The Rhythm of the Lost

-Takes a breath- Ok. Why couldn’t this be a chapter? Venli is going to start taking the main stage in Oathbringer and become a significant part of the workings of the story. This interlude does a lot to start her off: you get to see the resentment she has towards Ulim, the regret she has for her actions, and even some more heavy-handed foreshadowing of what’s to come for her development. But you could put it all in a chapter and make it feel more at home.

I write these reviews in the order they are presented. I know we have more Venli interludes to come, and I know I will have this same comment repeated: Good chapter, bad interlude. 

I-3: The Rhythm of the Lost is a good chapter, but a D-tier interlude. 

I-4: Kaza

Now we’re cooking. In I-4 Kaza we get our first perspective from a genuine Soulcaster. Up on to this point, we’ve only seen glimpses or heard arcane references to the people who use the devices so essential to the warfare on Roshar. 

This interlude has so much going for it. Through the perspective of Kaza, we get to see first hand the mindset of a Soulcaster, and the effects that the art has on the body. The interlude is essentially a lead up to Dawnshard, but it doesn’t throw that down your throat. Dawnshard was published three years (technically 2 years, 11 months, and 22 days, but who's counting. Me! I am) after Oathbringer, which means that the pay off for this interlude was long in coming for Stormlight fans.

It’s all worth it though: this interlude checks every box we could want from an interlude. I-4: Kaza is a S-tier interlude.

I-5: Taravangian

This interlude suffers from the same flaw that the Szeth interludes did in Way of Kings: we are getting a furthering of offscreen plot, but not exploring in the process. We get to catch up with Taravangian and hear how he is reacting to the changing political landscape now that Urithiru has been discovered. We also get to meet some new members of the Diagram, and see in-depth how Taravangian manages his curse. Despite the color being painted here, we’re not moving off the canvas, just retreading ground we’ve covered before, adding depth.

That doesn’t make it a bad chapter, just not a good interlude. As a chapter, I do love the detail we get to see. Taravangian is one of my favorite characters in the Stormlight Archive, so he regains some lost ground on that end alone.

I will put I-5: Taravangian as a C-tier interlude, the most I’ll allow for one that doesn’t meet the brief, but excels elsewhere.

I-6: This One Is Mine

A challenging interlude to rank. On one hand, we’re not going anywhere we haven’t before: Venli, Ulim, taking on forms of power… This is all ground we’ve tread before, and save Timbre’s role, and Venli’s ability to refuse Odium, we aren’t gaining a lot of new ground. 

We do however, get our first exposure to fused and get to experience the cost of that Odium will exact for the powers promised to the Listeners. Once again, we are up against a bad interlude / good chapter situation. 

Perhaps it’s because I-6: This One Is Mine comes on the heels of the depth offered in I-5, but I find myself putting it up against a C-tier ranking. These are really good chapters that provide meaningful context for what’s happening just offscreen, but that’s not what we’re measuring these interludes against. It might be interesting to consider the lists of interludes under that different context, but I’ve started down this path and I intend to see it to the bitter end. 

To that end, 1-6: This One is Mine is a C-tier interlude.

I-7: Envoy

Now this is how to position a Venli interlude. We learn quite a bit through this interlude: we get to see what Odium is doing with the Singers, we see reinforcements of what we’ve learned through Kaladin about the Singers taking on the personalities of the humans who enslaved them, and we get novel interactions with Fused. 

Sure, we’re not meeting that many new characters or experiencing the world from a new perspective, but we are seeing parts of Roshar we simply couldn’t through the main point of view characters we’ve seen up to this point. 

This interlude does a solid job at helping us explore post-war Singers, and for that I will give it a solid B-tier ranking. 

I-8: Mem

I-8 and I-7 have many similarities in the way they approach giving us new information: it’s an offscreen cut of a part of Roshar that we’re not likely to see in the context of a main point of view character. Exploring what Mraize has been up to through, let’s say Shallan’s POV, would be a completely different experience when compared to what we get through Mem. Compare this to I-7 and how we get to see the Singers behave around Venli vs. what we saw earlier in the book with Kaladin. Perspective matters. 

It’s for this reason that I rank Mem higher than I do Envoy. We’re not quite at S-tier level here: we don’t do much in the way of exploring new lands or lore. We are getting a fresh perspective on a character steeped in mystery, and get a broader perspective on the scope of the Ghostbloods. 

I-8: Mem is an A-tier interlude. 

I-9: True Labor Begins

Yawn. We don’t get much in the way of exploration here, it’s just a quick look at what Venli is up to that moves them from point A to B.

D-tier.

I-10: Sheler

This is a good one. In I-10: Sheler, we get a glimpse at what’s going on with the humans still attempting to survive in Alethkar, though it's through the perspective of a less than admirable example. We also get to meet the Mink, a character who will become relevant later on in the series. It’s a quick interlude that gives us a passing glance at what’s happening in another part of the world, classic interlude.

The only trouble is that it’s a bit light on detail. If we got more info on what the Herdazian forces are up to I might have placed this one closer to the S-tier. As is, it's massively entertaining. 

This is an interlude by pure definition, despite the sparse detail. I’ll push the boat out a bit and give it an A-tier.

I-11: Her Reward

Yawwwwwwwn. I am all for the Venli’s journey towards being a main point of view character, but the build up takes up a bit too much space in these interludes. I do find it interesting that the pacing of interludes at this point in Oathbringer is quite staccato: we have a five quick cut interludes that offer a quick peek into what’s going on around Roshar, then back into the action. 

That doesn’t help the interlude value of I-11: Her Reward, which is a D-tier interlude.

I-12: Rhythm of Withdrawal, I-13: Rysn, I-14: Teft

Unfortunately, I have to group this set of interludes together. Each does an admirable job of setting up the set piece battle of Oathbringer: The Battle of Thaylen Field. They do a fantastic job of raising the action and building up suspense for what is one of the most epic parts of the Stormlight Archive to date, but that doesn’t bring value as interludes.

At this point, it is clear to me that the purpose of Interludes as explorations of Roshar is becoming secondary. When used as major plot fodder, they become required reading instead of the brief detours they were originally intended for. Imagine that you’re someone who has never read the interludes before, and all of a sudden Dalinar shows up at the Gemstone reserve and starts talking to some random Thalyens about an attack. It can work, but you’re missing the depth that is Sanderson’s hallmark. 

I don’t want to come off as too negative here - I like the use of interludes in this way. It helps build momentum in a way that doesn’t interrupt the pacing of the book. Were you to see any of these chapters dropped in to the main story line, you might find yourself having to reorient yourself to unfamiliar characters and locations, disrupting the flow of the stories. That being said, I lament the loss of exploring new parts of Roshar. 

All that being said, I-12 - 14 are great set pieces, but D-tier interludes.

Rankings update and predictions for Rhythm of War

We are starting to see some interesting trends appear:

• We are starting to see more and more low ranked interludes as Sanderson starts using them more to drive the main plot.
• I-7 is always B-tier. I didn't notice that until I made this all combined chart.
• Each book as an S-tier interlude fairly early on. We still have room to explore before there is offscreen plot to catch up on.

I expect Rhythm of War will have the most low ranked interludes to date. Funny enough, as I'm writing this article, I can't specifically recall any of the interludes in particular. This is especially noteworthy since RoW was the last Cosmere book I completed in preparation for Wind and Truth.

Journey before destination

Next up is Rhythm of War! At the time this was published, Wind and Truth was not published yet, so it may be a bit before I can call this series officially wrapped.

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