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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 76

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 76 (Harmony) Title: It’s tempting to guess at a Scadrial connection, but that is supremely unlikely. If we’re lucky it will be an idea about harmonious blending of the various lights; otherwise it’s about “getting along” with Raboniel. Epigraph: Still no indication of the medium or audience. The speaker is still a cosmere-aware individual who considers themself a has-been. Restares is still a possib
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Chapter 75

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 75 (The Middle Step) Title: I don’t remember if we had a “first step” chapter with Shallan/Adolin before in this book. It’s probably worth going back to look, but I won’t right now. Epigraph: This could still be a letter, but I’m starting to think it might be something that will be said by one of the people we’re trying to meet: Either Ishar speaking to Dalinar, or Restares speaking to Shallan
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Shallan's Sketchbook - Part VII

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Shallan’s Sketchbook Part VII (Peakspren) Art here. Peakspren have clear ties to the Unkalaki (as expected). It’s interesting that their appearance draws from the full range of stone textures and colors. I wouldn’t have expected that degree of variety. I wonder how much it varies within single individuals, as opposed to across the population. I.e. does a single peakspren have limbs of different textures an
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Chapter 74

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 74 (A Symbol) Epigraph: Is this another letter? Is this Jaxlim’s sad goodbye given over the course of years? I don’t know yet. Venli considers attuning a rhythm of an emotion she doesn’t feel a lie not to others or to herself but to Roshar. I want a cryptic’s take on this. What kind of rumors are circulating about you two? Is it about loyalty issues? Sanity? Or (my first thought) shipping? That
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Chapter 73

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 73 (Which Master to Follow) It’s Part 4! Time for new PoVs, including my favorite collective in a single body! Title page indicates we’ll be getting the Shadesmar crew, Navani and Venli, plus Bridge Four. I’m slightly dubious about Bridge Four being given PoVs again–it worked before, but at the moment I feel like that’s indulging in character creep. I’m sure I’ll appreciate it when we actually get to tha
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Art: Alethi Glyphs

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Alethi Glyphs Artwork here. I’m not much into the glyphs and trying to decipher them. I have been far more involved and interested in the transliterative alphabets we got for Alethi and Thaylen in the past books, and trying to pull useful meanings from the encoded text. Glyphs are cool, but I am willing to let others do the work of puzzling them out and identifying phonemes.  Without looking closely at th
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Interlude I-9

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-9 (Taravangian / The Sword) Icon: Compassionate Taravangian is on top today. Title: Are we meeting Nightblood? I’m not sure how I feel about that. That’s a mood right there. Beautiful concision to convey his situation. A great line. Yes, as expected he’s trying to work through Szeth. It’s got to be tough manipulating people when you only remember your plan some of the time. It’s
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Interlude I-8

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-8 (Chiri-Chiri) Just want to say that the larkin image in the chapter header is delightful. Can’t wait to see what Chiri-Chiri looks like all grown up! I find it wonderful that Rysn and her ilk are called “soft ones.” That is such a flexible term, with potential to serve as insult, endearment, or anything in between.  Important! Chiri-Chiri notes the lack of rhythms in human conversation, s
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Interlude I-7

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Interlude I-7 (Szeth) Interludes! I have to say I am super thrilled that Chiri-Chiri gets the next interlude after this one, though I’m concerned about continuity and spoilers since I haven’t read Dawnshard yet. Oh well, that’s for later. At the moment it is time for Szeth… Hold up. Szeth-son-Honor? That is a changeup and a half. Someone’s internalized identity has been making leaps and bounds of progress s
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Shallan's Sketchbook - Part VI

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Shallan’s Sketchbook Part VI Highspren, art here. This page has less content than the other spren pages, probably due to the “enigmatic” nature of highspren. I’m left with a few specific questions, though. Perhaps most trivially: What is up with the branch in the bottom left corner? From the coloration I was going to guess that it was a growth in the cognitive realm, but that little ghostly spren floating
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Chapter 72

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 72 (Outmatched) Title: If this is a taunting reference to the way authorship of the Rhythm of War is a confusing mess, I’m going to be very mad. More likely it is simply a comment on the degree of the Sibling’s corruption. Oh, wait. I misread the title, thought it said “MISMATCHED”. Outmatched is much more straightforward–the Fused played Navani and she lost. Icons: double Palah. Reference to “learn
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Chapter 71

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 71 (Rider of Storms) Icons: Jezrien for Stormfather, Ishar for guiding? That’s mostly based on the fact this is a Dalinar chapter, and I thought in the last one that we were overdue for some tactical intel from the Stormfather. Epigraph: This feels like it should be deep and meaningful, but it’s kinda rambly. I guess I just have to wait for the last chapter to deliver the meaning (though at a guess
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Chapter 70

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 70 (Well) Icons: Double Shash. Based on my suspicion at the end of the last chapter, I’m going to guess that this indicates a trap or ploy on someone’s part, in line with the illusions created by Lightweavers. (Alternatively it could indicate violence based on the garnet=blood essence connection, but I find that less likely) Epigraph: I dunno. I got nothing. We’re back to research note mode, but the
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Chapter 69

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 69 (Pure Tones of Roshar) Epigraph: What the heck? Who is even the audience of this book? Up to this point it was self-directed research notes and musings, but now she’s addressing someone directly? It seems like something Ulim might have said as a taunt, but he’s waaay down the list of possible contributing authors. I am so confused right now about the framework and context of these words.  Hm, not
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Chapter 68

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 68 (One Family) Title: I can’t help but think of the song from Tarzan, “Two Worlds, One Family” That’s creepy–the listeners had tales of “souls of the dead said to wander the storms, searching for gemhearts to inhabit.” That’s remarkably accurate compared to most of what was handed down from pre-Recreance days. Unfortunately, it is very much true. Jaxlim bugging Eshonai for grandchildren is gre
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Chapter 67

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 67 (Song of Stones) Icons: Double Kak–we’re getting Willshaper shenanigans! Yay! Can I hope for power training for Venli? Epigraph: Who are you addressing? This is getting disturbing. Who is trying to prove intent with this? Am I being unreasonable to expect the escaped listeners to show up again? It’s been close to two years since the Everstorm was summoned, and you’d think that at least Odium
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Chapter 66

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 66 (Bearer of Agonies) Icons: Why Jez and Ishar, not Taln? Isn’t the title one of Taln’s primary epithets? Epigraph: Oh, lovely. Now we have an indication that the author of the main text and the undertext are probably the same person after all! Gah! Why is this so convoluted? I am really failing in my author sleuthing. Why would Connection be the thing that Honor neutered about the Bondsmith a
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Chapter 65

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 65 (Hypothesis) Icon: I’ve got no idea why Vev is here. Doesn’t connect to the title in any way I can see. Epigraph: Wait, what? This doesn’t sound like any of the people that I have postulated as authors of the main text. Who would be thinking of God in this way? Not Venli, not Raboniel. Not Jasnah, obviously, but I’m still favoring her for the undertext so that’s not an issue. Navani possibly, but sh
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Chapter 64

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 64 (Personal Reminder) Icons: Wit’s around somewhere. Epigraph: Maybe the undertext is Jasnah, rather than Navani? The writer can’t leave Greater Roshar, implying a spren bond. She also has access to Wit’s insight on artifacts like the one she describes. I’m a bit lost about what the chain might be, though. It’s from the “lands of the dead” which makes me think of Threnody first, though it could be Sel
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Chapter 63

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 63 (Practice) Title: I presume Kaladin will be practicing with the glove? Icons: double Chach. Obedience? Following instructions to practice? I dunno. Epigraph: Oh, that kind of sand. I’m not sure why Venli or Navani would have access to sand from Taldain, or who would have told Navani about how it works. Vasher maybe? There’s people around with the knowledge if they felt like sharing, and her schola
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Chapter 62

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 62 (Keeper of Forms) Alright, let’s see what this El dude is up to. Oh, not yet. Looks like we’re starting with Eshonai. So is warform achieved via painspren? I find it hard to believe that over the years of listeners going out into violent, deadly storms, not one has ended up attracting a painspren from injury on their way to change forms. This isn’t a form that should have stayed lost if it’s reall
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Chapter 61

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 61 (Oil and Water) Title: I presume this is about the stormlight/voidlight/lifelight that Navani is going to discover don’t mix well?  Icons: Betab and Shash, associated with the essences of oil- and water-based liquids this may be the most straightforward one we’ve had yet. Epigraph: Why are we talking about sand now? It’s the sand itself that’s interesting so it’s not anything to do with cymatics.
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Shallan's Sketchbook - Part V & Fashion Folio

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Shallan’s Sketchbook Part V (Reachers) See image here. I’ve gotta say that this spren in particular does not match what I would have expected. It’s very a different appearance than I feel matches my mental image for Timbre. In fact, I don’t have a problem at all with the descriptions of Reachers working on the ships etc. It’s merely the association with the physical realm form that creates the disconnect for m
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Chapter 60

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 60 (Essai) Epigraph: Oh look at that. Confirmation that the undertext is written by someone else. Presumably a human. Hello, Navani. Man, I have danced all around this thing. She's happy to see Rlain! But, because we can't have nice things, he's very much not happy to see Venli, if he even recognizes her. Also, a quick aside to remind everyone that "Mazish" sounds a whole lot like "Moash" so re
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Chapter 59

Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Index post here. Beware of spoilers. Chapter 59 (The Lattice of a Growing Crystal) Title: Growing, huh? I misread it as glowing at first glance. Icons: Not sure what Vev is doing, but Nale is there so I’m guessing Kaladin is in for a tough fight. Epigraph: I feel stupid for my comments on the last chapter’s epigraph. This one makes it obvious that I was right about this being Venli’s early research journal. Presumably from the title and subject
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