My daughter kidnapped my copy of Rhythm of War, so I haven’t been able to start it yet. So, I appreciate this spoiler free review, which has me inspired me to hurry up and get started, probably in January. Great to hear your take- thanks, Mike!
No spoilers: I think this is very easily the weakest book in the Stormlight Archive, which still makes it pretty good. I feel however that a book like this was kind of necessary before book 5 wrapping up this broad arc of the story. Especially with *redacted* becoming *redacted*... there’s some big potential for a big climactic finale for this part of the story. ... But yeah, part 3 of this book is probably a series low point.
Reviews like this is why I love your channel, Mike. I don't need any author-worship; I need honest reviews that I can relate and know that I go in well-informed. Thank you, sir!
Great breakdown as usual Mike. 100% agree that parts 1, 2 and 5 were amazing - I just happened to also love 3 and 4! Absolutely agree the specific character death in this one was absolute sucker punch. Also - might be my favorite of your Stormlight intros yet!
Intro is fire once again. We had very similar feelings on this book. I'm one of those people that holds the unpopular opinion that the mental health stuff didn't work for me. You hit the nail on the head as to why though. I'm cool with that being in the book as it's integral to the characters, but this was the first time it felt extremely heavy handed to me where it became "Sando is trying to drive a point home" rather than just "character development". I don't need that in any book.
RofW was my least favorite of the series but I still rank it a good 7.5/10. All of the Navani tech was a little much and I'm a scientist 😅. What elevated this book for me was all the heart-touchin, tear-jerker moments. Can we just all agree that Dabbid is beautiful? I just wanted to give him a hug. And as someone who has suffered from life long chronic depression, I really found myself amongst the pages.
It was bloated, and Venli chapters dragged. He managed to make it flow much better than Oathbringer. The last 2 Stormlight books need to be chopped in half.
I can see how writing all these books, and also a fourth in a series of gargantuan epic installments-- bound to have a miss... not even a miss, but just some boring parts. It happens, no one needs to brandish the pitchforks! I look forward to reading the series tho. Boring parts and all! Because I may find enjoyable what others didn't care for
I agree with a lot of your disagreements with the book. I feel like BS could have waited to release this until spring of 2021 but he felt people needed this book with how this year has gone.
It was a good book overall but certainly not my favorite Stormlight book (unpopular opinion: TWoK is still my favorite). Stormlight isn't even my favorite series of Brandon's. Still not sure how all of this will wrap up. For me he doesn't always stick the landing (anyone who has read Calamity would know this). I felt like if the book was about Venli it should have been ALL about her. That was what disappointed me and I feel it was due to some push back he got early on when he announced it was Venli/Eshonai flashbacks.
Dang its weaker than oathbringer??Not gonna lie thats kinda disapointing Oathbringer was a 7/10 so its still a good book but way too big for the quality if the story in it..
Glad you enjoyed it as much as you did. Was maybe a little bit more middle of the road for me but that was probably because I was reading it at the same time that I was reading a Bakker and a Michael Fletcher book and I perfer those two authors over Sanderson. I'm hoping that with the Thaidakar reveal at the end we will be getting more Ghostbloods; I've been really interested in them and what they are up to since Words of Radiance...looking forward to reading Malazan with you in a couple of weeks. Keep up the good work.
Man the climax to this one was my favorite but I don’t like how in part two the invasion happens and I kept thinking they’d fight it off quick, but it wasn’t till part 5 that it really gets going again
Kindly review these two fantastic books, "Just Eat the Worm" and "Higher is calling" by Maxwell Adekoje. Thanks! Incredible read 📖 with massive nuggets for 2021. ❣
Im worried about this one, i liked Oathbringer more then most people, even the Shadesmar part, but i have the feeling i will drop this one, i hate Venli, and i have 0 interest on singer/listener culture.
When I finished it I was so tempted to just read it again, but I reread Elantris and Warbreaker instead. I will reread all the mistborns before book 5.
Ever since Shallan brushed off getting shot in the head by saying " oh bother" I've been getting more detached from the characters. I don't wanna say RoW was so bad idk if I'll continue the series, but i really struggled to finish this book. I probably would have shelved it, but I already spent time relearning so many people and places and events after a long break. The pacing is a real mess for me in RoW and some of the payoffs lately have not been worth it. Things have really dragged since halfway thru Oathbringer. The flashback formula was always risky, unfortunately this time it was not enjoyable at all. I also usually enjoy deep dives into fictional technology but combined with the informationa dumps in the flashbacks it was not entertaining. And I also agree that the real world commentary was too heavy handed.
Kinda yeah. I admit I didn't originally find the story being dragged too much, both this and Oathbringer - but thinking about it more, it's probably more due to my reading style, how I tend to just skip the boring stuff, reading maybe paragraph a page to make sure I'm not skipping anything interesting. Guess that's why I wasn't annoyed with flashbacks - I just didn't read them ) Character arcs, mainly Shallan's and Kaladin's ones, seem repetitive - my first reaction to Shallan's deal was "Goddamnit it woman, who did you kill this time?". On its own, I quite liked it, but in the context of the whole series... it's just too similar to the stuff they've dealt with before and them taking it so badly, imo, undermines their arcs from previous books. I feel like this book is supposed to be the emotional lowest point for the first 5-book section of the series, a place where characters directly confront their demons time and go into the final act as better people - not fully free of issues, but much more ready than they were before. I think that Brandon wanted to do with Shallan and Kaladin the same as he did with Dalinar in the third book, to make their storyline more about their internal problems than their actions in the moment, but missed the mark a bit, made their issues a bit less relatable for most people. Plus it being a bit repetitive, as I mentioned above. However, while the setup was kinda meh, I did like the resolutions. Partially in a "Glad it's over" sense, but for the most part, I actually liked the messages the stories portrayed. Also, it gave other characters the chance to shine, most notably Adolin really shows what a great friend and husband he is. His stuff with Maya was also great, to the point that I consider its payoff one of the greatest moments in the series. I also quite liked Shallan's other two personalities, who, yeah, are basically two separate characters. Also, the Navani stuff, yeah, it's great, nothing to add here, other than that I personally didn't mind the science class stuff (not because I skipped it, I genuinely like this sort of things). And overall, I liked this book, probably more than Way of Kings. Oathbringer is my favorite so far, though mainly due to its final. Words of Radiance is a weird one for me, while I can see how it may be a better book overall, I tend to like stories based more on their high points rather than the average quality, and imo high points of that book weren't quite as epic as some of the others.
Just finished the book. I actually liked this better than oathbringer in terms of the structure of the book. Oathbringer has an amazing, epic ending, but I couldn’t get through the beginning for some reason. RoW has the most fast paced beginning. I agree parts 1,2 and 5 are the best in this book. This one also made me cry so much whereas the others got me excited. For me it’s WoK > WoR> RoW > OB.
So glad this is spoiler free. I’m rereading all of Stormlight right now minus the novellas (though I’ve got them) and am right near the end of Words of Radiance and am really excited to go right into Oathbringer and Rhythm of War as going back to Roshar has made me fall in love even more.
I really enjoyed the book. I did think the flashbacks were the least enjoyable of the books but I still enjoyed them. I enjoyed part 3 well enough but I also thought it was slower paced. If I were to rank the books so far from most to least favorite I would go WoR, Row and O tied. And TWoK last. I love good worldbuilding though which is why I tend not to mind the slower paced stuff.
Oh nooo! I’m worried! I’m only on chapter 20 and I am afraid for who is going to die! (I ideally like no deaths at all in my stories, especially main characters - I like it to all work out, happy fairy tale ending for everyone, lol!)
I’ve yet to read or listen to any of ROW yet, but here’s how I look at these large tomes, when you have a 1000+ page book there’s going to parts you love and parts you hate. There’s going to be everything in between. That is awesome because things that will affect me, or get me in my feels will be completely different than another person. Having the many many words gives something for everyone. Like some parts of WOT I can’t stan, but other folks love. Different strokes for different folks. 💯
Ughhhh I’m on part 3 now and you saying that there is a major character death literally is bringing tears to my eyes 😭 I don’t even really care for Shallan but if it’s her I would cry my eyes out! I’m so attached to everyone in this story!!
This confirmed my decision that Rhythm of War isn't something I'd enjoy. By halfway through Oathbringer, I found myself struggling to keep reading at half of the POV changes, especially the flashbacks, since I completely didn't care about the story or character he was switching to. It sounds like that gets even worse in this book. Plus, the singer chapters have consistently been among my least favorite, right after the mental health stuff. Since those issues had already dropped Oathbringer to the level of "okay if you really liked the first two," I guess I'm done with the series.
