Jump to content
  • entries
    151
  • comments
    0
  • views
    8677

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

Interlude I-10

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-10 (Hesina) Alright, I’m excited for Hesina to get a turn. She’s been far more in the background than Lirin and needs a bit of time in the spotlight. Icons: Vev. Because loving is pretty much what we need from her right now. Tomat? Where is that? Oh, it’s her hometown. I don’t think we knew its name before. And we see that her parents are both high nahn and also forceful enough personalities t
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 97

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 97 (Freedom) Icons: Nale. This one confused me at first, but in addition to Justice, Nale is associated with Confidence. Navani’s research coming to a head and giving her a shot of self confidence along with something tangible to contribute is a good fit for that herald to head the chapter (assuming that’s where it’s going, based on the preceding notebook page. Epigraph: So it’s both. Mishram (and t
ccstat

ccstat

0

Navani's Notebook - Part IV

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Navani’s Notebook Part IV Art here. Looking at the pictures before translating anything, I love the beauty of the scientific instruments, the musical equipment, and the spren or light being channeled through that tube. It feels like a naturalist’s notebook, and it’s wonderful. I can’t tell if the cymatic pattern drawn at the bottom has any similarity to the ones depicted previously. I’m going to guess no, bu
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 96

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 96 (A Thousand Lies) Icons: Vev again. Loving? Healing? Coming after the previous chapter, let’s hope it’s thematic healing for Venli. Epigraph: Wait, what? Why are we supposed to let Ba-Ado-Mishram out? (And presumably Yelig-nar as well, or any others that are caught.) Is it out of sympathy because “trapped forever” is a fate worse than death? Or is it because that’s a bad outcome for other reasons
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 95

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 95 (What She Truly Was) Icons: Forgot to do this part before I’d read a couple pages already, but Chach is appropriate for the association with destruction. Also for the inverted virtue of bravery→cowardice. Sad to see all of the listeners overwhelmed by the new form. Venli’s familiarity allows for resistance, which is fortunate for her. Heck of a time to have a change of heart or moment of rea
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 94

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 94 (Sacrifice) Icons: Vev. Loving? Epigraph: Now you’re just being a tease. “Oh, yes, I know the secrets of the Recreance. I will tell them to you after five more paragraphs of filler to fit into epigraphs, so that the readers don’t learn anything interesting.” Resolving not to let Shallan rescue him would be the right answer if it weren’t tinged with such dejection and feelings of worthlessnes
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 93

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 93 (Strong Enough) Title: But strong enough for what? To attack a herald, or to let her husband be taken, or to face her own truth? Not that last one, since Formless hasn’t been around long enough to deserve that climax, but she could still go either way. Oh, who am I kidding. She’s on the downslope right now. She’ll make the aggressive choice. Icons: Nale. Presumably because Kelek is rendering judg
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 92

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 92 (A Gift) Icon: Vev. Just Vev. Loving/Healing, presumably, and that’s something that Venli needs more of, so I’ll support this. Epigraph: Why is Kelek explaining this to his would-be captors? I’m not sure sharing this information is a good idea. Interesting to note that yes, capturing one in a gem cuts off their bonds. So I was wrong last chapter in speculating about Syl. Venli is recovering/
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 91

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 91 (Worth Saving) Icons: Jez and Vev–healing and windrunners. Looks like a Teft chapter. Epigraph: Okay, this one is worth quoting.  This is sure sounding like Shallan/Formless will go through with it, which is how we get access to this note. But there are a couple things that make me think it’s misleading, beyond Brandon’s penchant for doing that. First, the apparent audience of the note. It
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 90

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 90 (One Chance) Icons: Four this time. Jez, Nan, Ishar, Shash. Notably, Palah is absent so I don’t think Maya will show up this chapter. Epigraph: I wonder if it would make a difference if he knew that the current threat to his life and freedom was coming from a different quarter than the Fused? Also, don’t do it, Shallan. I’m once again curious about the political situation of Lasting Integrit
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 89

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 89 (Voice of Lights) Icons: Kelek and Palah–Learned and Builder for Navani doing science things? Epigraph: Kelek thinks he’d be even more insane/fallen with more memories of his failures across his long life. I can’t really say he’s wrong, but it feels like the memories are incidental to his mindset.  That’s got to be rough for Navani to be out of contact with everyone. Is she still allowed to
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 88

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 88 (Falling Star) Icons: Three again. Kelek doubled, with Nale and Chach Lightning being the key to catching stormspren...–I’m going to presume that it’s just a strong enough resonance with the nature of storm spren to pull them across, not that the power and mundane energy in lightning is enough to thin the barrier between realms.  It’s pretty badass (are we still correcting that to bad chull?
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 87

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 87 (Trial by Witness) Icons: Another triple icon set. I’m starting to think I am putting too much stock in this supposed departure from the norm. I’ll keep tracking it to see if anything important shows up, but in all likelihood this was just how Dragonsteel decided to do a more-or-less random set of chapters. Anyway, this time it’s Palah doubled, with Jez and Nan opposed. Epigraph: I suppose that l
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 86

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 86 (The Song of Mornings) Wow. Watching the near-genocide of her people convinces Venli she made the right decision to incite this war? I am not a fan of this mentality that Ulim is effecting in her. (And I hope he really is to blame, because thinking of that as her native thought process is creepy and disgusting.) Yes, she’s feeling glee when looking at their losses. That is an Odium-influenced pas
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 85

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 85 (Dabbid) Icons: Chach (obedient/brave) and Vev (healing) makes sense as attributes of Dabbid and his actions in working to heal Kal Epigraph: meh. Nothing to comment on I’m not sure how I feel about Dabbid’s continued mutism being a deliberate choice to hide his mental slowness. It makes a lot of sense for the character and is a great examination of belonging, but it also feels like a retcon
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 84

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 84 (Scholar) Icons: Another 3-image header, with Palah being repeated, and Jez and Chach each getting a single instance. Am I reading too much into this? Palah being learned matches the title of scholar and the research Navani will be doing. Chach for destruction or bravery, Jez for protection? I’m not sure why this one deserves another departure from the established pattern. Epigraph: Hmmm. Does th
ccstat

ccstat

0

Navani's Notebook - Part III

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Navani’s Notebook Part III Art here. Okay, first thing to note, before I translate anything, is that this is almost certainly Shallan’s gemstone dagger from Mraize. And yet, this is Navani’s notebook. So how did it get delivered to Navani for study? Were the notes made during the course of this book (presumably in part V when the cast reunites)? Or Is this based on descriptions and sketches from Shallan, or po
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 83

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 83 (The Games of Men and Singers) Icons: Vev for healing, Kelek for Willshaper shenanigans? Epigraph: It feels like a partial homage to Bilbo’s “butter scraped over too much bread” line, though it could just be coincidence with the similar underlying idea. The name of the tower being Ur came up back in chapter 49, but Venli confirms here that Ur has the same meaning as one would expect from Earth
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 82

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 82 (Knife) Icons: Back to two heralds, following the usual pattern. Kalak and Nale. Hmm. Epigraph: Why was the previous one so long, and the rest of these relatively short? This one would be impactful if we hadn’t already had the 7000 year figure floated twice in the story recently. Yes, irony and all that, but the important information here is that Gavilar was a member of the Sons of Honor,
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 81

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 81 (Trapped) Hm. I’m not sure I get Eshonai’s mentality yet. Why would she need to reassure herself that warform wasn’t a prison? Where are we in the timeline? It’s a good opening, but I need some context. I didn’t realize that Rlain was part of Eshonai’s warform circle. Did I just miss it before when he was mentioned, or is this his first appearance in the flashbacks? He and Eshonai share a warines
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 80

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 80 (The Dog and the Dragon) Title: You mean an axehound? What are you talking about, Wit? Stop making up animals. Icons: As expected, Jester/Fool matches the title. Not sure why Jezrien is there. Epigraph: Yes, Jezrien was trapped in a gemstone. I like that Kalak is critical of the singer’s cleverness in taking 7000 years to figure that out. Kal feeling like the wind hates him because of p
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 79

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 79 (Open Wound) Bridge Four chapter. Not Teft yet, I’m guessing. Probably the group out on campaign. Epigraph: Now we get an actual substantive excerpt to play with, since we’ve been introduced to Restares who is now confirmed as the author of these epigraphs. Seems a little abrupt to give up the illusion so suddenly. I would have put the Jezrien mention in the previous chapter, perhaps. Regardless,
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 78

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 78 (The High Judge) Epigraph: At least we know the mysterious person is writing, now. A letter or a journal, or something physical that they are recording themselves. Icons: This may be the first instance in four books so far of a chapter headed by 3 different icons rather than 1, 2, or 4. To my knowledge, if one of the icons was mirrored, the other always would be as well. Nale (judgement/justice)
ccstat

ccstat

0

Shallan's Sketchbook - Part VIII

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. (Do I even need to be warning about spoilers any more? It's taken me a much longer time to get through this liveblog than I expected, and it's now well past a year post publication. IIRC, though, the big stormlight books have an 18 month spoiler period here on 17S, so I guess I'm still within that cautionary period.  Shallan’s Sketchbook Part VIII (Inkspren) Art here. These inkspren are much more angular
ccstat

ccstat

0

Chapter 77

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 77 (The Proper Legality) Icons: With a title like that, what would you expect besides double Nale? Woah, we’re already at the feast? I was expecting some other visits to show up in the flashbacks before we got all the way to the fateful night. I guess it’s time to see how involved Venli was and where Szeth’s employment actually came from. Interesting that they’ve noted several times that the ti
ccstat

ccstat

0
×
×
  • Create New...