Title: Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Published by: Gollancz
Published on: November 17, 2020
Pages: 1230
Journey before destination, you bastard.
--Chapter 110: Reborn, Part Five: Knowing a Home of Songs, Called Our Burden
I'm going to start this review by asking the same thing I've been saying the past ~8 years since I first read Brando: WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST, HONESTLY?
Rhythm of War, as opposed to other The Stormlight Archive books, began a year after the event of Oathbringer, which provides a fresh perspective to us readers. And the surprise doesn't stop there. Where previous books start off slow, RoW begins with a Sanderlanche. You read it right baby, Brando is throwing his A-game right in the beginning and I could not be more thrilled!
Our protagonists, led by Kaladin (mylove) ofcourse, traveled to Hearthstone to evacuate the people and save a Herdazian general called the Mink. This time, they did not primitively fly on the back of the Windrunners; rather, they utilised a flying machine that Navani and her scholars developed. Guess what they called it? THE FOURTH BRIDGE. And they used the original bridge, the one that our beloveds held up during their bridge run all the way back in The Way of Kings, as the foundation. I--
Battles ensued between the Radiants and the Fused. It is interesting to note that there were several types of Fused at this point (nine if I'm not mistaken), similar to there were ten orders of Knights Radiant. The new one that Kaladin battled in the air was the most dangerous one yet: he could leave his physical body and manifest a new one, albeit limited to three times before needing time to recharge. As if it wasn't enough, Kal was challenged into a battle by one fuckity arse we unfortunate souls have to call Moash, who later tricked him to enter a secluded room so he could use a device that sucked the power of a Radiant altogether, leaving Kal vulnerable. In the end, Kal managed to escape with Lift and returned to Urithiru.
Shallan became more entrenched with the Ghostbloods. After failing to murder a certain target, she was given another task to prove her worthiness to the organisation: killing a man called Restares hiding in Shadesmar. More specifically, in Lasting Integrity, the honorspren's hometown. Shallan was still pondering whether or not the task was worth her curiosity, when an urgent situation came to her attention. See, though the number of Windrunners had grown dramatically since Oathbringer, they still didn't have enough honorspren to bond with proto-Windrunners. According to Syl, most of her kind were still pissed at mankind for what happened during The Recreance and refused to help mankind. So Shallan, Adolin, and a few other Radiants, were sent to Shadesmar as diplomatic envoys for the honorspren.
On the other hand, Dalinar and Jasnah gathered up their soldiers to face the Fused in the battlefront of Emul. Still not trusting Taravangian and certain he would betray them, Dalinar planned a maneuver to ensure they were prepared.
But the meat of the story always comes from unexpected places. Leaving behind Urithiru only under the protection of several Radiants, Kaladin and Lift included, Dalinar entrusted Navani to lead them. But Navani had other problems in her mind. See, her research showed great progress, but a mysterious figure had been contacting her, chastising her for creating fabrials. And unbeknownst to them all, the Fused, led by a scholar named Raboniel, were on their way to take over Urithiru, control the Radiants, and end the war, whatever it took.
EGGLYSIS
At this point, we are expecting the same event being told through a different perspective yet again in the prologue: Gavilar's assassination. I love the direction Brando is taking, btw. With each prologue, my respect towards Gavilar keeps dwindling down.
RoW is a book on mental health. We readers have long known that Kaladin suffered from depression, Dalinar PTSD, and Shallan dissociative disorder personality was manifested thoroughly in Oathbringer, but this is the book where Brando directly addressed them. Particularly Kaladin. My dear baby, I want to apologise for complaining on the lack of Kaladin in Oathbringer, because Brando puts the spotlight on him again in RoW and boi did he go through hell. HE SUFFERED SO MUCH I COULDN'T I JUST WANTED TO HUG HIM AND PLS BRANDO LET HIM BE HAPPY PLS.
I'm still rather on the fence about Shallan's chapters, but they were not as obscure as those in Oathbringer. Her journey in Shadesmar became an interesting discovery to her past, though the twist was quite obvious, I daresay. Still, the trial that she and Adolin went through in Lasting Integrity was more intriguing than the whole Shadesmar journey in Oathbringer. Trial by Witness and Sacrifice are my favourite chapters of those two.
As we come to the climactic part of the story, where Urithiru was under siege and Kaladin had to fight the enemies without (most) of his powers, I need to unleash what I've been holding back since the end of the last book:
FUCK MOASH.
Seriously, everytime I started to feel sorry for him, he did something even worse that simply cemented his character as UNREDEEMABLE. I honestly don't know what Brando has in store for him, but I will never, ever, EVER forgive him for what he did in this book. It is unforgivable, despicable, and simply pure evil. Honestly, I hate him more than Raboniel here, and Raboniel is supposed to be the main antagonist.
Speaking of whom, Raboniel has got to be the most interesting villain Brando has ever written. We are introduced to her as an insane Fused; one who'd lived for so long, she started being weary of the world and going loco. But the more I read about her, the more I became fascinated. Her interaction with Navani was intense and honestly if not for the war I believe they would be BFF. In fact, they might have been already.
Raboniel launched herself at him, clawing up his body. Her legs didn't work, but she gripped [him] with talonlike fingers, snarling, and stabbed him repeatedly with the dagger Navani had left. The knife... was draining his Stormlight. [...] Move! Navani thought to herself. Raboniel was trying to buy time.
--Chapter 107: Uniting, Part Five: Knowing a Home of Songs, Called Our Burden
The ending tho. Dalinar has got to be the key, no? His confrontation with Odium was intense enough, but what later became of Odium got me biting my nails for the next book. I honestly wish that Cultivation knew what she was doing and hope that it's for the best of Roshar.
Oh btw, did anyone catch who Thaidakar is? The clue is Wit's remark.
"The Lord of Scars, Wit calls him. Well, when you next meet this Lord of Scars, give him a message from me. [...] Tell him... we're done with his meddling. His influence over my people is finished." She hesitated, then sighed. Wit had asked nicely. "Also, Wit says to tell him, 'Deal with your own stupid planet, you idiot. Don't make me come over there and slap you around again."
--Chapter 115: Testament, Part Five: Knowing a Home of Songs, Called Our Burden
HMMMM WONDER WHOM HOID HAD SLAPPED BEFORE HMMMMM.
Overall, Rhythm of War...
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