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

Okay, so first I want to say that the key I was using switched the L and R characters in the Alethi women’s script, which made this transliteration much more difficult to puzzle out until I’d realized the error. 

It is interesting to see what sounds are used phonetically and which English spellings are directly transliterated (e.g. the C in “space” uses the K/C letter, while the one in “entrance” uses an S) but we already knew that there are nonstandard spellings by comparing Jasnah and Navani’s writings, so it probably doesn’t tell us much. 

I will also say that when I read Alethi women’s script, I frequently mistake one height of character for another (e.g. A for O, or P for B). It makes me suspect that their language is constructed in such a way that homonym-like words in which a single vowel or consonant differs are either rare or are linguistically related to one another. Then again, that’s probably just my own outsider’s view. “Why are their letters so similar? Don’t they know that’s confusing?” “No, they handle it just fine, in the same way that you don’t get confused between a P and an R despite the similar shapes.” “Oh, okay, I’m just a dumb foreigner. Sorry.”

Anyway, I don’t have much to say about the notebook pages themselves. I do think it’s cool to see that these engineering solutions are iterative as one would expect--for example, Navani’s comment about switching from two wings to four fins. As for the spren entrapment, it’s nothing that wasn’t already in the chapter (in contrast to WoK where everything was new and a cool reveal for those who took the effort to decipher the pages) but the whole thing feels much more ominous when written in a foreign script. 

I’m sure the translations are circulating already. Still, here’s what I deciphered:

Fourth Bridge (image here)

• The Fourth Bridge is not as pretty as my fanciful designs but it is thrilling to see the ship coming together.
• The final build follows these designs with some changes my engineers suggested
• Cutaway showing levels below main deck for carrying people and supplies.
• Kaladin’s old bridge embedded in the deck.

• Possible design for next iteration of sky carriage.
• Maybe add soulcast crystal over the top.
• Stairs might fold up into a table to save space and weight
• Latest tests show we need four fins instead of two wings

• Main entrance works like a drawbridge.
• I hope the fans will lessen some of the horizontal load.

The Arnist Method (image here)

• The Arnist Method begins with luring the spren to the gem.
• For example, to attract a flamespren create a fire nearby.
• Allow the spren to inspect the gem.
• Quickly drawing out the stormlight pulls the spren into the gem.
• The spren becomes trapped inside.
• Anist hoop
• A pewter cage surrounding the gem can be adjusted by twisting rods hooked to eyebolts.
• The thicker the cage the more heat the fabrial generates.