Sanderson is always amazing, and the entire Stormlight Archive is incredible. Rhythm of War was good, but not the best in the saga. I think the way that Sanderson writes plot got lost in an attempt to develop the unique characters in this one, and at some points the plot felt unnecessarily twisted. I wish (and this that realistically) this could have been a shorter book, but if you're invested in the Stormlight Archives, it's an absolute must read. The ending totally blew my mind -- and I am so curious to see where Wit goes next.

If you’re a fan of The Stormlight Archive series you will positively love Rhythm of War (RoW). In many ways this fourth installment has the feel of pawns being maneuvered, with significant emphasis being placed on character development and worldbuilding. Usually when I make the aforementioned statement in a review regarding a book feeling like a placeholder it is typically with a negative connotation. In this case, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Even though RoW is a weighty twelve hundred pages or so, I didn’t want this adventure to end. Sanderson continues to grow this series, that ranks as one of my favorites, both in depth and scope. And upon further reflection, describing this book as moving pawns is perhaps less than fair considering the many, many twists and turns that Sanderson plotted throughout RoW. So much happens! We spend significant time exploring Shadesmar, where we learn about the various spren in their home environments, not to mention the vast differences in their phenotypic properties to their complicated political leanings. Other than the spren, we gain significant understanding regarding the mysteries of Urithiru, the inner hierarchy of the Fused, the status of the Heralds, and the nature of Stormlight, Voidlight, among much more. Seriously, just when I think the cosmere can’t get more detailed, Sanderson manages to add so many new revelations into RoW that my head is still spinning.

Events surrounding Urithiru take center stage in RoW, with much of the previously mentioned revelations taking place within the ancient tower. Familiar characters struggle with old vices and insecurities throughout, with Sanderson eloquently detailing mental health issues in particular. Other than the established characters, we are given a deeper look at individuals such as Rlain and Dabbid who have previously been relegated to relatively minor roles.

I thoroughly enjoyed Navani’s research that consumed a major page allotment in RoW. Sanderson weaved real scientific concepts into his cosmere universe, especially with Navani’s focus of study. Sure it made the solutions she was searching for fairly predictable, however it was still fun to see her come to the realizations all on her own.

The majority of RoW had a very dark and generally helpless feel. The ending definitely had a healthy dose of hope, however this ray of happiness was tinged with dread at the obstacles still in the paths of our favorite characters. Stirring a wide range of emotions, Sanderson made me cry (happy and sad), laugh, and fret as he dealt heavily both in death and suspenseful scenarios. Overall, RoW was a positively delightful continuation of The Stormlight Archive, leaving me now wishing I would have savored this read a bit more instead of binging it. Now I’ll have to wait years to find out what Sanderson has in store for our friends in Roshar.

I absolutely loved this one Brandon Sanderson hit it out of the park once again. He’s definitely my favorite author for a reason and this book was just amazing. I’m also going to say that I very much appreciated how much emphasis he took for mental health awareness in this book

It just might be impossible for me to give any Stormlight book less than five stars. While I'll admit that the first is still my favorites in the series, the level of storytelling in every book is absolutely masterful. If I were to compare the Stormlight books against one another, I could certainly rank them, but when considered against all the other books out there in the world... they all deserve the full five.

Rhythm of War was the hardest Stormlight book for me to get into, some of which is relevant to the book itself, some of which isn't. My two-year-old does not let me read without distraction for more than two minutes at a time, and Stormlight books are so complex -- they tend to require quite intense concentration. Oathbringer is also the only Stormlight book I haven't reread, so my memory of the events leading directly to RoW were a bit patchy. (And RoW is set a year after Oathbringer ends, so there is also catch-up the reader must do to understand all that's happened in the interim.) Additionally, there are tons of characters doing many different things at the start of Row. Each chapter is just a few pages long, but the POV jumps between almost every chapter in Part I, requiring far more focus than I had available. It was all helpful for setup and reminding the reader of past events, but it did feel slow at times.

However, once I got past Part I, the POVs began to consolidate more, the story direction grew clearer, and there were longer chunks that stuck with one character / plotline. I also finally gave up on trying to read with my daughter around and instead, stayed up for an entire night after she went to bed, which helped immensely. Once I truly got into the story, I could not set it down.

And as with every Stormlight book, I found myself in awe once again! More reveals, including yet another fundamental shift in our understanding of Roshar. Lots of fun plot twists and humor to lighten the darker tone of the story overall. JASNAH scenes (my favorite fictional character ever) that left me craving more from her POV. Another new perspective on the events of Gavilar's fateful feast. More character development (I'm pleased to say I'm FINALLY fully on board with Adolin, and beginning to like Shallan). More of Wit's wit. A lot more of Navani. And lots of KALADIN!

I will add that I was a bit apprehensive about reading the book featuring Eshonai's backstory (as I believe this one was intended to be), given that the Singers / Parshendi / Listeners are the toughest POVs for me to get into. However, I think this was done fairly well. Instead of it focusing solely on Eshonai, both she and Venli were given turns at building their backstory in RoW, and Venli (as a POV in RoW) has been developing into much deeper of a character than we're given to understand in previous books. I appreciated Venli's differing perspective on the events we first saw through Eshonai's eyes in previous books. And Sanderson didn't spend overmuch time in these past chapters either; most of the focus remains on the present.

I would be remiss in failing to mention THAT ENDING. I definitely gasped aloud!

Overall, this was another wonderful installment in one of my absolute favorite series! As always, I look forward to more. Thank you to Tor Books for sending a free finished copy of Rhythm of War! All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars. I feel a bit dazed as I finally emerge from a truly epic STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE marathon that lasted almost exactly two months, since that fateful September day when I decided I couldn’t turn down the offer of an advance copy of Rhythm of War, despite not having yet read any of the prior three books in this series (good intentions and all, but yes, the sheer page count was truly daunting). I’ve generally been of the opinion that epic fantasy is really not quite my thing, but Brandon Sanderson has been gradually bringing me around. If you are already a fan of epic fantasy, this series gets an extremely high recommendation from me … which you probably don’t need if you’re an epic fantasy reader, since you’re likely way ahead of me in getting into this series.

Rhythm of War is a giant of a book and, like the previous installments in the series, juggles a large cast of characters, most of whom are familiar from prior books in the series, and multiple plotlines — again, most of which were introduced earlier in the series, but take some large leaps forward in this volume, with a few twists and backflips along the way. Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar are still the most prominent main characters, but they’re joined by Adolin and Navani, who are both given some much-needed character development and more substantial roles in the overall plot.

Kaladin has been a favorite character since The Way of Kings, when I found myself skipping ahead just so I could read his chapters. Early on here, it becomes painfully clear just how much he’s struggling with the aftereffects of his many battles and his failures to protect those around him. Those scenes dragged on somewhat too long for my taste, but Rhythm of War has some powerful and even profound moments describing depression and PTSD.

Navani’s chapters were more uplifting and refreshing, despite the dangers of her situation. She finds herself a unique position where she can begin to exercise and develop her scientific talents more than ever before, but there’s a fascinating conundrum: will her scholarly efforts help her people or lead to their downfall? Navani’s perspective is distinct from others in this novel, exploring the advancing science of Roshar’s magical system. Her battles with the opposing forces are more intellectual and mental than physical.

Venli, a “listener” and one of the alien race of singers that’s native to the planet Roshar (and which has a fraught history with the human settlers who arrived several thousand years ago), also becomes a main viewpoint character. Through Venli’s and her sister’s eyes, and in a series of flashbacks, Sanderson explores more of the culture and society of singers and the effect of Odium’s power and schemes on them. And, of course, King Taravangian is still scheming as well, at least on his more intelligent days. Taravangian is an entirely unique character, one of my favorites, with an unusual blessing/curse and an unexpected set of skills and methods for dealing with it.

As the plot advances, Sanderson puts the reader through a roller coaster of emotions, including some exhilarating highs and terrifying drops. Sanderson is able to craft a war that feels real, showing the motivations of people (human or other) on both sides of the conflict. When the characters we’re rooting for win or lose a battle, we can see its effects clearly. It’s a staple of epic fantasy to have a large (even immense) scale of events that shorter series can’t attain, and Sanderson fully embraces this and uses the greater scale to its fullest effect.

It wouldn’t be a Sanderson book without at least a few major plot twists. When they came, they felt like events that you could’ve (perhaps should have) seen coming, though personally I didn’t manage to predict any of the major ones. Sanderson does a great job of answering questions while also raising new ones, and in Rhythm of War, Sanderson answers (at least in part) several longstanding questions, which naturally give rise to an equal number of new and equally compelling questions. Those, along with a few (okay, more than a few) unresolved plot threads, serve to keep expectations high for future books in this series.

Sanderson is justly lauded for his intricate and imaginative magical systems, but I need to give a shout out to the literary structure of these books as well. The five-part organization of each of the books in this series, interspersed with brief “interludes” from other, often unfamiliar characters; the frequently obscure (at least initially) quotes and epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter; the way the prologue and epilogue of each book echo the others but shed new light; and more. The amount of thought and work that has gone into this series, on multiple levels, is truly impressive. They're just so intelligently written.

Overall, Rhythm of War is a strong addition to the STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE and, for the first time, it feels like there’s an end in sight to the series, however distant it may be. If I have any real complaints, it’s that the immense length of these books doesn’t feel entirely justified to me; I tend to think that Sanderson could have edited them down by, say, three or four hundred pages without really taking anything material away from the experience. Still, the STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE is easily my favorite series of epic fantasy to date (yes, I have in fact read a few others). Being introduced to these characters and this world has been an illuminating and enjoyable experience, and I look forward to the STORMLIGHT books still to come.

3.5 stars

Even in this craptastic year, Brandon Sanderson delivers. Granted, he’s obviously been intermittently working on Rhythm of War for a while and he definitely had plans to release it this year prior to things going downhill, according to his ongoing blogs and social updates, between that and the Stormlight novella (which I have yet to read), he has definitely not slowed down just because the world is on fire.

That said, I did find this book to be the weakest of the four thus far, and it’s likely due to a lot of the structural choices. The prior books focused on such major characters, fleshing out a different character’s past in each book, while also not neglecting to give the major characters that don’t have as much key development something to do. This one, however, is a bit more of a mixed bag.

The spotlight characters for the book, Eshonai and Venli, haven’t had much time in the spotlight prior (not that they haven’t been present and fairly prominent), so it was odd for them to suddenly be in leading roles. However, Sanderson does have a way of making it so you do care about them, even if you didn’t before, through the exploration of their backstories.

Navani is also a more compelling character in this one. I always did like her romance with Dalinar, as weird as it is due to their familial connection, but I also see why some didn’t like her for her interactions with Dalinar’s late wife in the flashbacks of Oathbringer. However, with her now being a more central character in her own right, I felt like I understood her more and even came to like her as a character, exploring her past marriage and her reflecting on it.

The other lead characters, like Shallan, Adolin, and Dalinar did feel a bit sidelined, especially as, with the way the book is structured, you’ll often be able to tell when a character has been dropped for a section, and then you won’t see them for a while, and then they pop up again. Shallan in particular had a lot of missed potential, with her multiple personalities, with that even being highlighted as something Sanderson consulted with a sensitivity reader for. Not that these characters don’t have good moments but they were overshadowed by the more prominent newer characters. Dalinar, most prominently, is also barely in it, even though the last book saw his relationship with Navani develop.

I did appreciate that there was some secondary focus on Kaladin and his mental health, something I’ve admired since The Way of Kings.

And while I have a complicated relationship with the interludes, because they sometimes only further add to my confusion about these random characters who weren’t important enough to be POV characters in the main parts, I liked seeing some of the perspectives in this one, like a super sweet one from Syl’s POV (I’d love to see her as a main character in the next book, or at the very least more interludes?!) and the perspectives of Kaladin’s parents, further fleshing out his family dynamics, which complements the character development and exploration for Kaladin. And there are some other characters this late on that I’m beginning (finally!) to get used to seeing, and it’s fun to see how it all comes together.

While this is not my favorite, it is still a solid installment in a fabulously epic series. If you loved the series so far, you’ll likely still enjoy this one at least for some aspects.

After the monumental conclusion of Oathbringer, we venture further into the stories of not only Stormlight's heroes, but its villains as well. As is typical of Sanderson, the intricacies of morality are explored to such depths as to make one question who to root for. The examination of mental health, the fear that develops for our favorite characters, and the hatred for the vile and the oppressive is all brought to life through vivid fantastical imagery, an incredible, edge-of-your-seat pace, and an expansive world you don't want to stop learning about.

What can I say? It is Sanderson. He continuously puts out superb work in a consistent basis. The thing I love about Stormlight is that it combines humor, socio-economic issues, magic, fantasy, and real emotive storytelling. The scope of how epic this series is can’t be contained into words. I can’t wait to read the rest!

Sometimes when I’m pondering a review of Brandon Sanderson, I feel like I’m back in one of those classic middle school conversations.

Me: I heard you like Brandon
Also Me: Maybe I do
Me: Do you like like him?
Also Me: I said I liked him.
Me: Yeah, but like, like like?
Also Me: I don’t know. What’s that like, like like?
Me: It’s like, you stay up all night thinking about how much you like him
Also Me: Well, I do stay up all night because of him. But I think it’s just because his books are so long.
Me: Would you like die if he stopped writing?
Also Me: I don’t think so
Me: Do you think about him when you’re reading other writers?
Also Me: No.
Me: Oh. Well, then you like him, you don’t like like him.
Also Me: Sooo, I just want to be—
Me: Yep. You just want to be friends.


And that’s sort of where I stand with the newest STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE book, Rhythm of War. It’s a 1200-page book that I finished in 3 sittings and that I (mostly) fully enjoyed (nearly) the entire way. It’s got enough worldbuilding for several worlds (which makes sense since it’s all part of his multi-world “cosmere”). Big battles and one-on-one duels. Strategy, tactics, and betrayals, oh my. It’s got magic. And science! It’s a murder mystery. It’s a courtroom drama. It’s Diehard! It has humor. And darkness (lots of darkness). It has heroes. It has villains. It has some in between. In other words, it has lots and lots to like. But I can’t say I like liked it. But more on that later. Some potential spoilers for the first few books to follow, but none for Rhythm of War. I’m not going to go too much into plot as there’s so much of it (did I mention 1200 pages) and so much leading up to it. But I will outline structure, which follows the same pattern of prior books, and very basic elements.

The prologue, as we’ve seen before, brings us back to the night of Gavilar’s assassination. In doing so it reveals a bit more of what was happening that night and why, but also (of course) throws up more questions, some of which get answered in the course of the novel.

The interludes offer up a point-of-view that offers up a complicating view of the character (who will remain unnamed). I’m not quite sure how much of a surprise it’s supposed to be. I guessed who it was before it’s laid out for the reader, but I’m not sure Sanderson was really trying to hide who it was. It does offer up a nice move in the overarching storyline.

As before, we have a series of flashback chapters. Here though, rather than focusing on one character, we get dual flashbacks for Venli and Eshonai. As with the other ones, these do a great job of deepening the characters as we see motivations, goals, relationships we just were unaware of before, casting characters we thought we knew in a different light. We also get to see the culture of the Singers pre Human contact, which is both fascinating and deepens our sense of them as a people and also of this planet.

As for the Epilogue, I’m not going to say anything save it involves Wit and really throws a great wrench into the narrative machinery.

As noted, I’m not going to go into the plot much because of its complexity and because it’s nigh impossible to do without spoiling at least a few major narrative points. I will say that one strand involves Adolin and Shallan journeying to the honorspren city of Lasting Integrity in Shadesmar in an attempt to convince the honorspren to join humanity in its battles against Odium. Along the way, Shallan’s dissociative disorder continues to both complicate and ease issues depending on the situation as she moves toward an attempt to resolve or better deal with it. In a somewhat similarly toned arc, Kaladin has to deal both with PTSD and his unresolved conflict with his father, all while, as one might imagine, events prevent him from truly being able to focus on himself. Other strands I’m not going to say anything about, save that we learn much more about the Fused, leading to events and revelations that wonderfully complicate things and also land with some true emotional punch. And while I had some issues with execution, Navani’s storyline introduces science and engineering to the fantasy, a mix I always enjoy and wish more genre author employed.

Sanderson has always been an excellent plotter, and this holds true in Rhythm of War. He’s thrown a bunch of balls, flaming torches, and chainsaws up in the air and keeps them circling around in a mostly mesmerizing pattern, each following its prescribed path and ending up where it always needs to be. He shrewdly tosses in twists and turns at just the right times, has surprises in store but also drops enough hints that many of them you could see coming or at least see how they arrived in hindsight. He balances the grand spectacles and the quiet moments well, offering up blockbuster action scenes full of speed and flash and color and even sometimes literal explosions. All very big screen cinema. And then you’ll turn the page and find yourself in a quiet character-driven indie movie, or maybe a one-character stage play with a bare stage and dim lighting. And it all mostly works.

I say mostly because I did feel that parts of the novel dragged a bit. One’s mileage, for instance, may vary on the length and number of fight scenes using surgepowers (or the like). Some fans will absolutely eat them up and then look in the fridge for more. I confess I could have done with fewer and often shorter ones (I do realize that it’s sort of like complaining about car chases in the Fast and Furious movies). I loved the idea of Navani’s science work; I’m not sure I needed the detailed play-by-lay of it all (I lie. I’m sure I didn’t). I really like how Sanderson has his characters wrestle with interior demons — PTSD, dissociative disorder — but it’s a fine line between spending a respectful amount of time on it (i.e. not I’m sad in chapter two, all better in chapter four!) and spending too much time on it, and here I thought both storylines went too long in the same mode and tone, especially as the reader is pretty sure where they’re going to end up. The same was true of the trial, which had what I think was supposed to be a big surprise but which I thought was actually pretty easy to predict in terms of its resolution.

Finally, the one thing that always seems to get in the way of my, well, like liking Sanderson, and it’s something I’ve commented on in the past, is that while the plotting almost always propels you forward smoothly, the reading is a little too frictionless for my personal liking. Everything is just sort of “out there, but — and I realize this is highly subjective — I like a bit more subtext in my fiction. I like having to work a bit to dig out a character. I get that Kaladin has PTSD, or “battle fatigue” as they call it here. I get it from his reactions to events. But I also have to get it from his interior monologue (multiple ones). And his discussions (multiple ones) with Syl. And his discussions (multiple) with his father. And with Dalinar. And with Wit. And in his dreams. And with some of his compatriots. And then I get to see it mirrored in another character. And in a whole group of characters. It’s all just too blunt for me. The same was true, to a lesser extent in numbers but not in bald statement, for Shallan’s internal struggle. I mean, at one point, we get a metaphorical name actually explained to us. I get that it’s a revelation for the character, but it still was just too on the nose for me.

So take that for what it’s worth. The story is absolutely a fun read, an interesting read, mostly a compelling read despite some bogging down here and there. It’s rich and complex and is more than happy to flip the gameboard to rejuvenate itself and not go down the same sold easy-to-predict paths. And it deals in a serious manner with serious topics. Beyond the aforementioned interior conflicts, it explores questions of governance, of sexism and racism. It portrays science as both boon and bane and calls into question unchecked technological “progress.” It explores an indigenous culture torn from its roots and then asks what happens when they are given power over their enslavers. It’s not my favorite book in the series (that would be Words of Radiance), but Sanderson, besides being amazingly prolific, is also amazingly consistent, almost always falling for me in the 4 to 4.5 range. I like him. And if I don’t like like him, well, maybe I’d say to him, “it’s not you; it’s me.”

Since I often find it a bit difficult to be unbiased when reading a new Sanderson book I figure I the first thing I should do here is get my obligatory fanboying and my sometimes blind praise of the series out of the way first. The Stormlight Archive has easily become of my favorite book series in the last decade and I’m always ridiculously excited to read each new book as it released and Rhythm of War was no exception. Yet as excited as I was when I received my copy in the mail it still took me almost three days to actually start reading Rhythm of War once I had received it and I couldn’t figure out why I was so hesitant. Until I sat down and started reading and then found it nearly impossible to stop reading. On my final day of reading, I actually started around 10 PM and didn’t stop again until I had finished it at almost 7 AM and I think I’m still feeling the effects of the lack of sleep.

Now if I step back and try and look at Rhythm of War and the Stormlight Archive as a whole in a more analytical manner I think I would say that this is probably one of the better books in the series. One of the criticisms I have about Oathbringer whenever I reread the series is that other than Dalinar I didn’t think there was a lot of character development and that is definitely not the case here. I thought all the major characters in Rhythm of War grew and evolved in some pretty satisfying and surprising ways instead of just remaining unchanging and stagnant throughout the book.

I don’t want to really talk about the plot or anything that happens because I wouldn’t want to spoil things for anything for anyone but GODDAMN! So much happens over the course of Rhythm of War that it honestly left my head reeling a bit at times as I tried to keep up and follow everything that was happening. I don’t think anyone will be able to read this book and say that nothing happened or that there were no surprising elements to it because I can’t tell you the number of times I found myself on my feet in shock or surprise.

I will say that there were some issues I had with the pace of the book at times and I thought the last quarter of it was a bit of a mess. As events started to speed up and more and more characters started to come together I thought the way the viewpoints were broken up was a bit confusing at times and there were a few viewpoints that I don’t think were in sync with the rest of the book and featured characters doing things that we had already seen the repercussions from in previous chapters. I could be wrong though and my rush to find out how the book was going to end might have just meant I read the end too fast to properly process everything.

All in all, I think Rhythm of War was everything that you would expect from Brandon Sanderson and the Stormlight Archive. I can’t wait for the next book in the series and by the time this review goes live, I’ll probably be listening to the audiobook as I walk to work every day.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a TEASE! I cannot wait to read more with this! I was hesitant to read this before getting Dawnshard, but I honestly couldn't help myself!

Chapters 1 to 19 of Rhythm of War makes up of the first part. It features perspectives from Shallan, Venli, Dalinar, Kaladin, and, most importantly, Navani. Navani’s chapters focus heavily on fabrials and their construction. A lot of answers and hints to answers are given in these first 19 chapters. The epigraphs are everything!

It’s hard to review a Sanderson book without just gushing about how amazing everything is since he’s a talent writer. This first part sets the tone for the novel moving forward. Things have changed since the ending of Oathbringer, so readers are playing catch up trying to absorb as much information as possible. There are also a lot of hints at what’s to come plot wise that make me simultaneously excited and anxious.

I’m very grateful to have received the partial galley even though the chapters are being released on Tor’s website on a weekly basis. Now begins the long and torturous wait until November 17.