Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers.

Chapter 19 (Garnets)
Title: I really don’t remember what garnets do in fabrials. Are they the opposing-motion counterpart to spanreed rubies? I know they soulcast blood, but that’s not the association we care about for a Navani chapter.

Epigraph: Open exchange of scientific research? Looks like Jasnah isn’t the only one shaking up cultural norms and having a huge impact on Rosharan society. Industrial Revolution, here we come!

Oh, it was the suppression fabrial that had garnets in it. I’ll have to look up later if they have a known function in human-produced fabrials, though.

So, the suppression fabrial has a “corrupted” spren. I wonder if it’s specifically a Sja-Anat effect or something more general that could also be termed “corruption.

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The spren refused to talk to us, but didn’t seem as insensate as the ones in Soulcasters. This reinforces your theory that ancient fabrials--things like the pumps, the Oathgates, and the Soulcasters--somehow imprisoned their spren in the Cognitive Realm.

Hm. The oathgate spren didn’t get a lot of screen time, but they didn’t appear particularly trapped to me. I wonder if I (or the viewpoint characters) just missed something or if the Oathgates are different from other fabrials. Those spren certainly weren’t insensate. More importantly, the idea that the ancient fabrials also imprisoned their spren is a shocking one. Until now I had been operating under the assumption that ancient fabrials were constructed using the willing participation of their spren, hence the objection of Syl and others to the modern versions. Apparently that’s not correct. 

Assuming, then, that all fabrials utilize entrapped spren, what is the concern of the Navani’s mysterious pen pal? Merely the mass production aspect making fabrials more common?

Oh, Navani is asking almost that exact question, making basically the same observation about the oathgate spren. I’m glad she isn’t actually putting the threatening letter out of her mind. She does seem to be making the same assumption I was before about ancient vs. modern fabrial techniques. I wonder if I’m jumping to unwarranted conclusions or if she’s just not seeing the question that way yet.

“Masked Ones” as a name for lightweaving Fused is appropriate.

Navani, the regal matron and queen mother, is getting bodily dragged around the room by experimental tech, and everyone’s just fine with it. I love this think tank lab.

Wait, so the shardblade-blocking metal is pure aluminum? And they have identified it? Why not just call it aluminum earlier, then? Navani made a point about it being an unknown metal, which is what made me think it must be a different alloy. Was Brandon just having her speak in more general terms so that readers didn’t get bogged down in minutia, or is there a continuity hole here? 

Aluminum required investigation after the expedition to Aimia earlier in the year that I won’t get any more information about until I read Dawnshard! Aaaaaa! I’m feeling impatient here.

The weights in the giant shaft are obvious, and were basically my first thought. Using highstorm-rated windmills to ratchet them back up? That’s clever and gives a sense of real progress and industrialization. 

I love how excited Falilar and her other scientists get when they see Navani’s big picture. She’s inspiring a lot of loyalty among her people, like a true Kholin.

This naked aggression between Navani and Taravangian is unexpected. I was anticipating more of a spy thriller style deception and counter deception, but they are actually being rather open with each other. 

Trying to outplay Taravangian and the Diagram is essentially a losing proposition. You mostly have to hope that his loyalty to Odium and the holes in the diagram leave a loophole for you to slip through, or that he’s misunderstood something from the death rattles. The real problem is that our heroes don’t know that the Diagram exists, and they are still trying to play against him on the regular stage of politics. I expect that he’s three layers deep and twelve moves ahead, so it doesn’t really matter whether they come up with a reason why Taravangian supported their proposal.

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Lift was likely somewhere, judging from the state of the snack table.

That’s delightful, but would she really take something that had been set out for her? She’s much more into stealing than just being given stuff. Maybe they specifically uninvite her from these meetings to get her to come?
 

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Wyndle is famous on the other side on account of him figuring out how chairs work.

You go, Wyndle! 

Why don’t you want to send Lift as your envoy, Navani? She’d do great. She was able to reach Nale, so I have every confidence in her success with the honorspren. 

Oh, sad. They turned her down for real. At least they’re sending an Edgedancer--that listening is going to be crucial in making a successful gesture at mending relations. 

Shallan’s seeming reluctance as she volunteers herself and Adolin for the envoy--is that because she’s involving Adolin in Ghostblood business? Is it because she’s committing herself to Mraize’s mission? Or is it a calculated front for the purposes of the politicking at this meeting, trying not to appear too eager at this chance? I could see any of these being the case, and I kind of want Navani to be perceptive enough as (step)mother-in-law to see Shallan’s true emotions rather than the facade she projects for most people (a.k.a everyone, including herself).

Interesting to see the greater political concerns through Navani’s eyes, everyone concerned that the Blackthorn is one step from becoming Emperor of half of Roshar. 

Also fascinating that Dalinar’s book has become a religious text for disaffected Vorins. Not surprising at all, just a very fast development. 

I do love that the primary demonstratively romantic pairings are Navani/Dalinar and Fen/Kmakl, both older couples. It’s a nice shift from the usual young love of most stories. I particularly like the comfortable chemistry between Navani and Dalinar, as seen in her unbuttoning her left sleeve here.

Interesting comparison between Taravangian’s views of kingship to the ancient Radiants’ “watchers at the rim” imagery. I look forward to more engagement with Mr. T’s philosophy.

Hm, so Navani is going to stay behind, along with Kaladin, while the rest of the cast is off doing army or envoy things. So it will be the two of them up against the strike team trying to turn Urithiru against them. In light of that, I’m hopeful that one of the triumphant moments of this book’s Sanderlanche will be Navani having a scientific breakthrough and powering up the right defenses in the tower. Then again, that is a very thin defense against the Fused, and I’m still expecting them to come out on top in this clash. I guess we’ll have to see if that’s something that happens in the first few parts or if it doesn’t resolve until part 5.

And, that concludes Part One. I think I’ve laid out my expectations and interests enough going along that I don’t need a retrospective here. Onward and upward. (Also, since it’s the next page and I can see the interlude titles, can I just say I am absolutely stoked for Sja-Anat’s chapter? Oh, plus Syl and Taravangian? This will be a happening set of interludes. No random lighthouse keepers here. Can’t wait!)