Book Review: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson's Rhythm of War is the 4th book of The Stormlight Archive series. I've been a huge fan of this series since it started and eagerly await each book. The books, however, are quite massive and intricate and benefit from multiple readings. I wish I had re-read the prior book, Oathbringer, before starting this one as there were many details I had forgotten! Still, it was good to revisit this world and see how the story is building up.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression

As the fourth book in what is likely to be a 9 or 10-book series, a lot of the characters and setting are well established. However, a curious aspect is that, as I understand it, Sanderson sees these a two 5-book arcs. As such, it does not suffer from the middle book drag that other series can have. In fact, there is plenty that is new and exciting to discover in this book, as well as new mysteries introduced for us to look forward to. Overall, this was a great addition and has set the stage to what is sure to be an explosive 5th book.

Plot

The plot of this book picks up about a year or so after the events in Oathbringer. Having not re-read that in a long time I had actually forgotten many important details of both in plot and setting. However, the story is focused enough that I was able to pick up quickly. There are two main arcs to the story, Shallan's and Kaladin's, though they of course feature many of the other characters too. They happen roughly at the same time and at times the book puts one 'on-hold' while focusing on the other. This isn't too bad as it stretches the tension a bit, though I did feel that because of that one arc effectively ended earlier than I expected. However, I guess this is better than having an avalanche of resolutions all at once as in some of Sanderson's earlier works.

Characters

As before, we have many of the same characters including Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Adolin, Navani, Jasnah, Wit, Venli, and more. There are a few new ones, particularly among the Fused, but mainly we have seen most of them. What we see instead is more focus on some that haven't been on the spotlight, namely Navani. In fact, I believe this is her book, even though many of the flashbacks are actually Venli's. Each character has a bit of a journey, though Shallan and Kaladin's seem the most personal and impactful. Some aspects of Kaladin's initial journey are a bit reminiscent of prior books, which I didn't enjoy as much, though his development does progress and the pay off is absolutely worth it.

Setting / World Building

Shallan's notes on Cryptic spren

This is Roshar, the mysterious world of humans and listeners/singers (formerly known as Parshendi). In this book, we explore a bit more the relationships between the singers and listeners as there are some subtle differences, not to mention the fact that some singers are Fused and have powers comparable to those of Radiants. One of the big focuses, however, is on fabrials, light, and the rhythms. Since this book focuses so much on Navani, and she is a bit of a scholar herself, we see a lot of interesting experimentation as she tries to see the relationships between fabrials and spren and the light from Honor, Odium, and Cultivation. She makes some fascinating conclusions which will likely pave the way for some interesting conflicts in the coming books.

Likewise, Shallan's journey takes her to Shadesmar yet again. We've seen Shadesmar before but we get to see one of the fortresses of the honorspren, their sense of justice, and many more deadeye spren. The discoveries there are equally cool so I look forward to seeing what comes from them. 

And in several parts of the book we also get more details on the Heralds. These enigmatic seemingly immortal creatures are generally insane, but their minds hold the secrets of the past, how the fight against Odium even began, the Oathpack, the binding of the singers, and so much more. Hints abound that the Shin homelands hold some secrets so I'm hoping we get to visit that in depth on the next book.

Final Thoughts

This was a great addition to The Stormlight Archive! I enjoyed the scientific discoveries Navani and other made in that they slowly peeled back some of the mystery of the world, but did so while retaining the framework of a story rather than as an info-dump or similar. As usual, we have some strong characters and an explosive plot so this was fun to read. I took it slow and steady, but could easily have devoted large chunks of time to blaze through this. I can't wait to see how the next book resolves some of the interesting issues raised in this one!