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About this blog

I'm going to post my reactions and analysis of Rhythm of War chapter by chapter as I go through. Contains spoilers for RoW, obviously, and for the Cosmere in general as I'll probably be theory crafting as I go.

Entries in this blog

Chapter 58

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 58 (Spanreeds) Icons: Jez and Chach...a Windrunner stealing a ruby-powered fabrial. That fits. Epigraph: Modern scientific theory, huh? Thousands of years of tradition. Well, at least the undertext of Rhythm of War is authored by a human. And one working with Raboniel at that, which leaves Navani (duh) or one of her staff (unlikely). So much for my recent change in theory. Is there any reason to think
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Chapter 57

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 57 (Child of Odium) “All song and no crescendo” is one of the few idioms that really doesn’t work for me so far. Its parts don’t fit the role they’re given in that phrase, and it feels like it’s an attempt to port a familiar phrase into another culture by simple substitution. I’m gonna give this one a thumbs down. That’s uncomfortable how Eshonai is fitting into the blindspot humans have for their p
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Chapter 56

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 56 (Nodes) Epigraph: You know, I’ve been blithely assuming that if the in-world Rhythm of War text is modern that it would be written during the events of the current book, but there’s no reason that must be the case. If Venli is the author then this might well be her research notes from the Shattered Plains when she was working toward Stormform. Going by my (admittedly spotty) memory of the epigraphs so
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Chapter 55

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 55 (Friendship with the Open Sky) Epigraph: Yes, between this one and the last one, I’m heavily leaning toward Raboniel as our mystery author. Disturbing. “Spren are immortal, even if you kill them.” Thanks for the cheery thought, Syl. Is this the first time we’ve gotten a name for Syl’s previous Radiant? I don’t remember reading the name Relador before, but I’ve also been going through this book
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Chapter 54

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 54 (The Future Become Dust) Icons: Palah and Chach, truthtelling and destruction. Matches the title well. Epigraph: Combining Voidlight and Stormlight, and realizing they aren’t antitheses of one another… I want to say that this feels too scientific/scholarly for Venli, but the previous flashback just reminded us that was precisely her position before she set off the listener apocalypse, so it would be
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Chapter 53

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 53 (Compassion) Header icons: Jez and Vav. Protecting and Healing. That matches the title, at least. Epigraph: Welp, this very nearly rules out a human author for the epigraphs. Not entirely, though, since the undertext isn’t necessarily written by the same author as the main text (as far as I remember it’s sometimes something akin to footnotes not intended to be read aloud, but sometimes also a not
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Chapter 52

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 52 (A Path Toward Saving) It's cool that Venli is devising a written language for the listeners from scratch. I forgot that she was basically their head scholar before all this. Oh dear. The senility is setting in, and it's so much more apparent in someone whose role in the community is to remember the oral tradition.  That contrast of the sisters standing on the scout tower is a good image. Very symbol
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Chapter 51

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Note: Hey hey! Look who’s back after a ridiculous hiatus. Yes, it’s me! Hopefully the next chapter reaction will be delayed by days rather than months. But you aren’t here to read excuses, so let’s get right back into it.  Chapter 51 (To Sing Hopeless Songs)  Epigraph: Maybe it’s just Venli’s chapter icon sitting above this one, but the epigraph is feeling more like a singer/listener than Navani. Still a
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Chapter 50

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers.   (Side note: Many apologies for the long delay. Between an intense work schedule and spending time on writing, it took me forever to get back to this. Hopefully I'll be able to make meaningful progress and not keep you waiting forever. Also, I want to actually read through this book. It's honestly a weird feeling to take this long to get through a cosmere book. I feel like I'm going to miss out on all of the
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Chapter 49

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 49 (Soul of Discovery) Epigraph: Yes, I would expect someone in your situation to have trouble focusing on the right knowledge, when everything is so tangled and obfuscated, and you must hide your discoveries. Good luck, Navani, I believe in you! Busywork to buy yourself time to think and get organized. Makes sense, but Raboniel will anticipate this. I vote for boldness! Is Navani mistaking Ven
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Chapter 48

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 48 (Scent of Death, Scent of Life) Flashback time :-) Still 9 years ago, by the heading.  I love that Eshonai describes the humans as living relics. That perspective is utterly at odds with the human conception of things, not only in the ethnocentrism each side brings with them, but also because the listeners have an oral history that tells them about the humans, while the opposite is obviously no
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Chapter 47

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 47 (A Cage of Forced Spirits) Epigraph: and now we’re citing the undertext. This really convinces me that despite the title we are dealing with a human author rather than a listener. New working theory: this is Navani’s research notes while working under Raboniel. The comment here about “answers are all that should matter” is her own doublespeak and misdirection while working under the enemy; the prev
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Chapter 46

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 46 (The Weight of the Tower) Epigraph: I still don’t know who this could be. In a fit of insanity I almost assigned it to Taravangian, but Raboniel is still the best fit despite everything. I don’t believe it’s her, though. I guess Venli could fit, at a stretch--we were just reminded she does research. Oh, wait. Is this her memoirs / study journal of her early form research? That could actually work well
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Chapter 45

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 45 (A Bold Heart, A Keen and Crafty Mind) Eshonai flashback! Notably, we haven’t seen any flashbacks in the first two parts of the book. Does that mean that Eshonai’s bits are going to be confined to part 3 only, in a departure of format from the previous books? Or does it mean that her parts were too spoilery to include until after the Urithiru invasion? It’s really hard to imagine the second one bei
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Chapter 44

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. PART THREE!  Here we go. I’ll note again that I’m hyped about the inclusion of Eshonai in the POV list at the start of this section. And also Renarin, obviously. He has been horribly underrepresented so far, and I’m hopeful that he’s actually a regular viewpoint rather than just once or twice. I don’t feel confident that we’ll actually get answers about Glys yet, but maybe we’ll be fortunate.  Also, if t
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Interlude I-6

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-6 (Taravangian) Title: “A boon and a curse” Surely that doesn’t mean we’re going to see him on a bad day, right? Hmm, actually I don’t think I paid any attention to the chapter icon last time. It’s similar to the kings you see decorating many playing cards. There are two, one upside down compared to the other. One is holding a sword with eyes open, another has eyes closed/sad and grasps a vine or can
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Interlude I-5

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-5 (Lift) Lift! It’s Lift! Hooray!  I know Lift is a divisive figure among Stormlight readers, but while she occasionally feels a little over the top she almost always lands really well for me. I’m excited to see what she’s up to now. My main worry is that she’ll be dropping lots of hints about Dawnshard, which I am still waiting to read until after finishing Rhythm. (I don’t actually know if Lif
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Shallan's Sketchbook - Part IV

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Shallan’s Sketchbook Part IV (Cultivationspren) Cultivationspren! (Image here) First thought on seeing the page is, "Why no Mayalaran?!" I guess it makes sense to not feature a personal connection like that in a scholarly work, especially if Adolin might object, but still. It would be nice to get her picture. At the same time, these living spren are great to see. That upper left portrait looks like it could
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Interlude I-4

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-4 (Vyre) Here we go. Vyre. You know, Brandon is really going to have to sell me on this interlude. I am not the most ardent hater of Moash in the fandom, not by any stretch, but on top of being an unlikeable traitor (who kept eye contact with Kaladin while murdering proto-Radiant Elhokar, grrr!) he’s so much a pawn of the forces around him that it’s hard for me to get invested in what he’s doing. 
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Chapter 43

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 43 (Men and Monsters) Epigraph: That is a remarkably welcoming way to ask Hoid to stop sneaking into your house. With the invasion becoming an occupation, Brandon has successfully parlayed the tension of imminent conflict with the Pursuer into suspense over when he will encounter Kaladin. This is an unusual emotional shift, since I’m more used to the clock ticking down to add tension instead of addi
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Chapter 42

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 42 (Armor and Teeth)  Epigraph: come on, say something new. Before moving on, I should give my prediction for how the whole pillar issue is going to resolve. I don't think novani or ribonel would get what they want. Teofil was instructed to destroy the garnets and thereby remove the suppression effect, presumably from both Radiants and Fused. I predict that Navani will succeed in her task to help th
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Chapter 41

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 41 (The Most Dangerous) Epigraph: And now you say it doesn’t matter? Then why did I spend the last three chapters theory crafting about your semantics, Sazed? Hmm? Maybe you should only drop meaningful hints and not make fun of the fans who want to analyze your words exhaustively. Ever think of that? Venli must know that she is a main character, because otherwise choosing to stay close to the Lady o
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Navani's Notebook - Part II

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Notes and translation relate to the original image here That pillar is much smaller than I was imagining, especially after the action scene where Shallan evicts Re-Shephir. See artwork here, here, and here. I expected at least a double-height vaulted ceiling, but no, this looks like it’s only 12 feet high or so. Also not much like I imagined. I had in mind more of a gyroscopic form factor.  
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Chapter 40

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 40 (In For All) Epigraph: So (in Sazed’s opinion) it sounds like we have an Ati situation here, where Rayse is merely a personality overlay on the destructive will of Odium. “It’s been thousands of years. Rayse isn’t going to stick to his personal goals that long. He’s been subsumed.” I am really worried about how many of the soldiers are going to die now that Navani gave them orders and there’s no
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Chapter 39

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 39 (Invasion) Is this the first chapter with dual herald icons? Jez and Vev… I don’t know what the significance should be. Epigraph: Odium is more dangerous than Rayse because it has distinct intentionality? I don’t think I’m following the reasoning even though I trust that Sazed is probably right. I like that in conjunction with Kaladin’s realization of a meaning for “strength before weakness”
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