Book Review: The Rhythm of War
After three years of waiting, the fourth book of the Stormlight Archive arrived last November. It’s almost like a birthday present for me! And damn if it wasn’t worth the wait.
It’s been a year since the events of Oathbringer, and the war with the Singers rages on. Neither side seems able to gain the upper hand — the Fused cannot be truly killed, but the ranks of the Radiants are growing and fabrial technology is giving humanity advantages they’ve never had before. In an effort to seize the initiative, Adolin and Shallan travel to Shadesmar to convince the honorspren to bond more Windrunners; Dalinar and Jasnah lead an all-out war effort, taking the traitorous Taravangian with them; and the Fused, led by their premier scientist Raboniel, plan an attack on Urithiru itself.
Does that seem like a lot? It’s always a lot with Sanderson. The book is over 1200 pages! Again! And this book is half Die Hard and half extended courtroom drama.
Let’s check in on our favs. Kaladin…poor man. He’s struggling with his depression and his PTSD, and he has to step away from being a Windrunner for a bit. He needs the time to come to terms with himself, though he doesn’t get much peace out of it before he is called upon to be extraordinary yet again. Though somewhere, in all that, he does figure out something important about who he is.
When we left Shallan in Oathbringer, she seemed to have found some measure of stability between herself, Veil, and Radiant. But here, she is once again destabilizing, struggling to cope with the pressure on her, with a fourth alter lurking below the surface. And there’s a traitor in the Lightweavers to deal with too, just in case you thought the internal conflict wasn’t hard enough.
Adolin, meanwhile, is struggling with getting out from under his father’s expectations. Adolin doesn’t want to be only a great warrior, although he is. He wants to solve problems his own way, and his arc is all about finding the strength to do so, to recognize that he is his own man. The problem, of course? Convincing a bunch of recalcitrant honorspren that humans are worth taking a risk on.
Unlike previous novels, Dalinar largely takes a back seat here so that Sanderson can focus on Navani. Left behind in Urithiru, working on her fabrial research, Navani’s arc is about building her confidence in who she is. She has spent so long neglecting her passions and wants in life in favor of what others needed her to be: a wife, a mother, a queen. She doesn’t believe she can really be called a scientist. And yet an unlikely research partner here will drive her to a huge realization and a new partnership born of mutual need.
The fifth major POV is Venli, and this is where the book falls down a little for me. At this point, Venli knows the Fused aren’t helping her people; we saw her come around to that in the last book. This is her starting to work against them, trying to build an out for those Singers who don’t want to be a part of this war. I just…I didn’t find her chapters that engaging. Especially given that she is the flashback POV. The flashbacks were some of the best content in Words of Radiance and Oathbringer, but here they fall flat as they largely retread ground that’s already been covered.
And lest I be remiss in my duties, the cast expands once again, giving us new characters or giving us our first direct looks at characters we’d heard about only in passing. The biggest of these is Raboniel, the Fused scientist who plans and leads the assault on Urithiru. She is just an utter delight, vicious and intelligent and manipulative and yet oddly sympathetic in places — truly, a fantastic antagonist to focus on. Leshwi is also an excellent addition, a counterpart for Kaladin in the ranks of the Fused, but also one of the saner Fused who seems to recognize the strain of an unending war and doesn’t seem particularly thrilled to keep pursuing it.
Speaking of pursuing, there is also a new Fused called the Pursuer who is…something.
The book has Sanderson’s normal pacing structure, though admittedly the first part of the novel is not as strong as it could be; it spends a lot of time catching us up on what’s happened in the gap year and moving pieces into place. But parts 2 through 5 are a wild ride, so I’m willing to forgive the long setup.
It’s incredibly difficult to talk about this book without spoilers because of the sheer volume of activity that occurs within its pages. But there is so much going on. I can confidently say that the climax does not disappoint — we see several characters say new words, we get huge revelations about the world. There is a particularly shocking thing that happens at the cosmic level that will blow your mind. And where does it leave us? Well, Odium and Dalinar have a deal, you see. But you’ll to read to learn what the terms are and where it’s taking us for Book 5.
Rhythm of War is not quite as good as Oathbringer, in my opinion. That book benefitted from the strongest flashback arc and a really powerful redemptive narrative. But I’d probably put Rhythm of War just under Oathbringer; it has more forward momentum than either The Way of Kings or Words of Radiance, and the emotional journeys for the characters are stronger.
And if you don’t end this one hyped to find out what happens in Book 5, then I don’t understand you as a person. Absolutely wild ending. I laughed. I bawled my eyes out (multiple times). I cheered. Can’t wait for the next one.
Grade: 4.5/5 stars
Memorable Quote:
““He’s different, isn’t he?” Syl said. “Worse, because his own mind fights against him.”
”Different, yes,” Dalinar said, leaning on the railing next to her. “But who is to say what is worse or better? We each have our own Voidbringers to slay, Brightness Sylphrena. No man can judge another man’s heart or trials, for no man can truly know them.””
