Rhythm of War - A Review

Spoiler-free Introduction

Shallan Davar in Shadesmar

Stormlight Archive - Rhythm of War

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We’re four books down in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. When did that happen? Somehow it feels like I’ve both only just started the series, and also lived in Roshar my entire life. I suppose 1000+ pages per book will do that to you, especially if you reread them before sequels. It’s not a bad thing, being so engaged with one series, but the problem comes when you consider that there’s only one more book left in the arc. The end isn’t just near, the lives of your favourite characters now hang in the balance like never before.

Stressful, but that’s exactly what we masochistic readers want from second-last books. Sandy has done a great job setting that up in Rhythm of War. Therefore, this series remains highly recommended from me. Non-spoiler thoughts out of the way, let’s get into the thick of it.

Initial thoughts: Pros

1. The book kicks of with an poignant, character driven prologue from Navani. This got me invested in her story immediately, and was followed up brilliantly in subsequent chapters by adding the mystery about using spren in fabrials. These elements, plus the other pieces (Gavilar’s spheres with a strange light and Navani’s insecurities in regards to scholarship and leadership) promise us that Navani is going to have a large piece of this book. This is a pro for the most part, but for me, other threads of the story did suffer a bit for it. We’ll get to that.

2. Navani’s Stormlight science was really cool.

3. We got some great backstory through Shallan’s story, from the promise of info from Mraize, to Kelek explaining things.

4. Jasnah and wit are a thing

5. Navani is a Bondsmith (and she called Moash a bastard, lol. #$*% Moash)

6. Moash got a little of what was coming to him.

7. Dalinar made some interesting discoveries at the end. Those spren in the physical realm, killed by the herald… Creepy but intriguing, too.

Initial thoughts: Cons

1. The book was really slow around the 1st quarter mark, just like Oathbringer. I took a break from both books at that point. I don’t mind slower paced sections, but taking breaks from books isn’t something I ever do (except books that got DNF’ed, the indefinite breaks). But in Sandy we trust, and if you get past that quarter mark, you won’t regret it. Except…

2. Towards the end of the book, I realised that the ‘Tower’ plot—namely Navani and Kaladin trying to get the tower back—was basically all that was going to happen in the book. To me, that plot always felt like a stepping stone to something greater, something with bigger implications. Yet the climax was coming, and we were still at Urithiru, under occupation. Perhaps it was because Navani was the main character in that plot, hence the main character of the whole book, and the previously mentioned set up wasn’t enough to give her THAT big a piece of the pie. Flashback chapters from her would likely have bridged that gap, since in Stormlight books, the main-main characters gets those, but that would lead to other issues, like the fact that we don’t need more of her backstory to follow her story. Therefore, the only purpose flashbacks would serve is to fix the reader expectations issue. This unfortunately doesn’t justify the extra words Navani flashbacks would cost, and we’re back to square 1, being disappointed that the Tower plot was basically all of the book.

3. Shallan and Adolin go off for the entire book, which felt more like a side quest to me rather than a plot. This might be because I don’t see a dire need for a ton more Windrunners, and because it didn’t seem like the Honorspren were going to help in the main plot (Recover Urithiru) anyway, even if Adolin and Shallan managed to win them over. Lots tied together well in Rhythm of War, but this certainly didn’t.

4. Dalinar and Jasnah got side-lined hard.

5. Navani’s Stormlight science was a bit heavy. I did like it though.

6. Rayse died before he became a ‘character’. This too, we will get to. Let’s dig even deeper.

Navani and Kaladin

I loved this pairing. Who’d have thought that Kaladin would work so closely with Navani to save the day? It was fresh, and a great way to show Navani’s leadership abilities and aptitude to be a Bondsmith.

Kaladin persevered as Kaladin does. It’s interesting how I believe that he will come through, just like Bridge Four, Dalinar, and everyone else in the story believes he will. No matter what is thrown at Kal, everyone’s faith in him is unwavering—except at that one point at the end before he swore the Forth Ideal. I mean, he was falling from the top of Urithiru, and basically gave up on life. For a second, I thought he actually might die.

Raboniel is the most interesting villain in Stormlight thus far. Her humanity was the most surprising thing. Everything she did, even all the Stormlight science stuff, was simply to save her daughter. Of course, she did want to kill the Radients and maintain Singer rule, but she did so with peace and an end to the war in mind. 10 points to Raboniel for best villain this side of Roshar. We’ll get to our favourite old man Dr TV.G later, but for now, from a story perspective, everything in the Navani/Kaladin storyline tied together so nicely, I can forgive the above-mentioned expectation issues. The flying the fabrials Navani made/used/smuggled out to Kaladin, to the Stormlight science and the Sibling… Really cool stuff. You truly are a scholar, Navani. We salute you.

Shallan and Adolin

Shallan is a bit difficult to comment on. On one hand, she’s one of my favourite Stormlight characters, yet I feel like we’re almost spinning our wheels with her. Perhaps if Sandy spent more time building up and delivering her big emotional moment—during the Kelek assassination attempt—I’d not have felt this way. Though I can’t help think that we’ve had our emotional release on this split-personality topic back in Oathbringer with Wit in Kholinar. I know Shallan isn’t better yet, but this is a story, and readers tend to struggle to feel the same emotional beats twice, even if it’s mildly different. My speculation here is that this is why Sandy made that section in RoW so small.

The reveal in that section was good though. Shallan had a spren before Pattern, and that spren is now dead, screwing up Adolin’s trial. A great way to make Shallan’s backstory matter in the present day, but we have a problem here, too.

Adolin’s trial was a bit silly. I don’t know much about the law, and Honorspren are fictional beings who can make their own laws, but almost everything in the trial plotline felt like a bunch of puzzle pieces loosely fit together so the appropriate moral statements could be made. Honestly, I didn’t mind this too much. The fact that this didn’t really matter to the Tower plot was a bigger issue. But with a story this large, you can’t expect all the pieces to fit together perfectly in every book.

The highlight of Shallan and Adolin’s plotline was Maya. Not so much what she said (that she and the other spren chose to break their bonds), but that she said anything at all, and that her relationship with Adolin was what gave her the push to do so. A great payoff to the long-standing Adolin dueling/sword-loving thread.

Dalinar and Jasnah

How was Navani going to come into her own as a character with these two breathing down her neck? Impossible. Sandy’s solution: Yeet them off to war. Not much to say here, honestly. Two points worth mentioning: 1, Dalinar made great contributions towards to the Tower plot by helping Kaladin through the world wide web; and 2, Taravangian’s plots bit him in the ass because Szeth (rightfully) didn’t trust him—but wait Taravangian is a villain so things still work out for him. Suddenly, we have a new Odium.

I didn’t know how I felt about this at the time, since I was waiting for Rayse to actually become a character before his demise. But I suppose we’re already at the tail end of the story arc, so might as well just replace him with someone who actually is already a well rounded character: Dr TV.G. I’ll take it.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, Taravangian as the new Odium raises the stakes for book 5. He is arguably the most powerful character in the story right now, and has a greater saviour complex than Kaladin himself. I do love the foreboding this creates. After all, Taravangian is the last person I want saving me. Dalinar’s got some surprises coming, and I can’t wait to see how he and the rest of the cast react to this new threat. That said, I hope he, Jasnah, Shallan, and Adolin join Navani and Kaladin soon. I’m not feeling the book-long side quests here like I did in The Wheel of Time. Sandy is great at bringing things together, though, so in him we shall trust as if he were Kaladin himself.

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Cheers

Reece