Rhythm of War

Book Four of the Stormlight Archive The Stormlight Archive, #4

by Brandon Sanderson

Hardcover, 1088 pages

English language

Published Nov. 14, 2020 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-2638-6
Goodreads:: 49021976

(143 reviews)

After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar's crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.

Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin's scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.

At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.

9 editions

nex3 reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War'

4 stars

I'll admit: I found this one a bit less the-juice-y than Oathbringer! To be sure it absolutely got its hooks into me and was fun the whole way through, but the real emotional intensity was extremely concentrated in the dense series of climaxes in the last act. I'm not complaining about those—they got me crying more than once!—but the way the whole thing builds to that one moment feels more like a magic trick of the sort Wit muses on in the epilogue than a deeply felt narrative.

I guess I'm just sad because this feels a bit more like Classic Sanderson, fun and good at the structure of the story but lacking a bit in the texture. But I can't complain too much when I'm already checking the library to see how long it'll be before I can borrow Wind and Truth.

Pretty Greene Leaves 🌿 reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

None

5 stars

This is my second time reading through this book. It is still my favorite of the Stormlight Archive that I've read so far.

I am once again deeply impressed with the narrative choices made in this book. In a fantasy book especially, it is refreshing to acknowledge the mental health toll of constant fighting, and to portray a very real trend in which veterans retire to serve other veterans as they navigate their trauma. I also find that the relationship between the queen and her captor develops with nuance and believably.

I am also blown away by the world building. It is quite something for a magic system to have enough depth that a novel could reasonably portray the scientific process in discovering its (not entirely real world) mechanisms. The blend of real world and fantasy physics makes for a balance of believably and novelty.

Overall, an excellent book.

paven reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This series keeps me interested.

Nuryta reviewed El ritmo de la guerra by Brandon Sanderson (El Archivo de las Tormentas, #4)

Review of 'El ritmo de la guerra' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Un gran libro, en extensión y en contenido. En esta ocasión Sanderson nos presenta varias historias simultáneas que son de gran importancia para la trama general, dando también oportunidad de conocer y desarrollar aún más a muchos de los personajes.

Un elemento importante es el manejo de los trastornos mentales, sobre todo postraumáticos, que se representan en varios personajes primarios y secundarios y que no hay duda, se operan con maestría poniendo en evidencia que incluso la persona más valiente e importante en nuestras vidas puede verse afectada por situaciones difíciles, donde algunos se dejan morir, otros se quedan estancados y unos pocos, siempre con ayuda oportuna, logran salir adelante.

Es difícil describir los acontecimientos, la guerra sigue desde diferentes lugares y se aclaran muchos eventos del pasado que son importantes. El mal permanece en el papel de Odium, aunque de cierta forma se transforma y reafirma aquello de que el poder corrompe aún a aquellos que con cierta sabiduría estaban luchando contra él. En fin, que diré lo más sutilmente algunos spoiler. Pues surge un nuevo creador de vínculos. Se busca y de alguna manera se logra el apoyo de los spren de honor. Shallan se enfrenta a sus demonios. Los sangre espectral se reinventan ahora al parecer sin el apoyo de Shallan. Kadin al fin entiende que no es capaz de salvar a todos y eso le hace alcanzar algo que pensaba no querer. Y mucho mucho más que los seguidores de la saga deben leer y analizar. Pues el ritmo de la guerra es ya, un ritmo que siguen los oyentes, pero también los humanos, los spren superiores y todo aquel que esté dispuesto a trascender y enfrentarse a la sombra que amenaza con cubrir este y otros mundos.

Wild Woila reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Mental health in a fantasy!

4 stars

A #fantasy where mental health takes centre stage! Shallan's dissociative disorder is particularly well done. Solid fare as usual, with some interesting sciencing, though the cosmic machinations are overly obscure. Very inefficient at 1200 pages.

BookReview #Books #Bookstodon

karlhungus reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I don't think the book is bad, i'm just not into it...

m9p909 reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Sanderson is the goat, this book like all his others is fantastic.

Nadia reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

aaaaaaaaAAAAAAA

Michael P reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A slog of a read, it was just so big. But a great addition to the series.

kaeawc reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Kept me gripped and entertained while revealing more of the Stormlight universe

5 stars

Really enjoyed all the character arcs, especially Navani and Taravangian. Was wondering at the beginning of the book how there could be 10 books total for Stormlight, and the ending was a fun surprise. The series seems to be pulling a bit from Mistborn in terms of inspiration, which being another favorite doesn't seem like a bad thing.

Comtief reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Brilliant.

Daniel Darabos reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It's fine. I still love the story, the world, and the characters. I felt it lacked the momentum of the previous books.

We're just stuck in Urithiru for the whole book. Kaladin gets the usual treatment: suffer physically and mentally, then BOOM becomes a superhero at the end. While this kind of happened before, it's almost comical here.

Shallan was okay, and Shadesmar felt more interesting than last time. Though why disavow the Ghostbloods instead of double-crossing them?

Adolin's story was super awesome! Twists, fights, heroism, compassion, and huge plot progress! The best.

Navani and Raboniel were a good pair. The fabrial trickery was great and I would not have minded more of it. There was a lot of exposition along this storyline, but it's a bit dry. I care about tones of Roshar and hybrid lights, but not "edge of my seat"-care.

Venli's backstory was okay and revealed a few things. I still love how Gavilar's assassination is coming together. The conflicting motivations and all that. I didn't feel like the story had any strong moments, but I still appreciate the character development. How ambition drives her to betrayal then to the realization that she was used and as a result she is now disillusioned in ambition itself.

Dalinar wants to train as a bondsmith, but then doesn't. That resonates with my life experiences! Still it's not the best story. The revelation from Ishar is mind bending, but it would have been so much better to put it at the start and then investigate throughout the book!

Taravangian is super cool as always.

In the end I felt like the "Sanderson Avalanche" did not happen in this book. When Venli says "I know someone who could help" and goes to free Lift, I thought that was it! We're on! But then Kaladin just wakes up and goes, "what should we do? give up maybe? or just think this through a bit more?"

Strakul reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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!

Check out a more in-depth review at my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-rhythm-of-war-by-brandon.html

cargide reviewed El ritmo de la guerra by Brandon Sanderson (El Archivo de las Tormentas, #4)

Review of 'El ritmo de la guerra' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Me da la sensación de que a Sanderson se le da mucho mejor hacer cosas más condensadas, pero sigue haciéndolo muy bien aquí.

cannotbechanged reviewed Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Review of 'Rhythm of War' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I really liked it. I don't want to spoil anything and am hesitant to write much in a review. Was this perfection in a book? No. Was this a dumpster fire of a book? Again, no. This is very much a Brandon Sanderson Stormlight book that continues and expands the story of his characters.