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

Chapter 34 (A Flame Never Extinguished) 
Epigraph: “Since we are all essentially infinite, he needs no more power.” That is certainly one way to view it, but it feels bizarre to me. Infinite doesn’t seem like the right word to describe shards, in almost any respect. I’d like to get Sazed to expand on what he means and on what infinite means to him (or what he thinks it means to Odium).

They got Stump to help draft the diplomacy plans! That is a brilliant move and I highly approve. It’s possible that this will be diluted by having them ask advice from all the Radiants, but at least they are starting with the best choice.

Oh, never mind. It’s not an individual discussion but a council with all the Radiants. Oh well, it’s a good move anyway.

It’s fascinating to imagine Shallan sulking inside of herself. In contrast to the roles they played in Oathbringer, the aspects of herself in Rhythm of War are becoming more and more fleshed out as people, becoming true characters as much as any in the story. This musing by Veil about Stump’s characteristics and personality is one example of how she’s becoming fully realized and isn’t just a filter on Shallan’s thoughts and actions.

“Dreaming-though-Awake” is a very cool name for a spren. I want to know more about the truthwatcher spren and why that naming system exists for them. Delicious flavor to the worldbuilding, and a good reminder that Brandon has come to do it very, very well. Little bits dropped in like this pique my interest where less experienced writers will drop a chunk of exposition and potentially kill that interest.

How do they tell time in Shadesmar? The position of the sun never changes, and I don’t recall any other periodic changes that would indicate the passage of day to night. It’s been mentioned a little that it doesn’t turn to night like the physical realm, but they can still tell the difference. How?

Glad to see that Beryl has been exonerated in Veil’s mind at least. I’m curious if Radiant will agree (or if Shallan will emerge to voice an opinion) and how that will play out.

Shallan is starting to come out, and Radiant agrees with Veil. Shallan, please don’t discount Veil and Radiant’s contributions just because you are having an episode of crippling self-doubt. (Though I do love that self-doubt can manifest this way in such an externalized fashion.)

It was better than insisting on believing the lie. No matter how expert they were at that particular trick.
Yep, that’s a good way to put it, Radiant. I hope Shallan agrees.

Boots callback. It’s a reminder of the funny scene and the relationships, but also a mention of how far they’ve come since that point.

Shadesmar side has joyspren manifesting as a cyclone of color. That’s less animalistic than I was expecting, but also very cool. It does also make me wonder--the spren that have been described as dangerous so far include painspren and fearspren, among others. All of those have been ones associated with negative emotion. Is that just selection bias because others haven’t been showing up on screen or is there something to it? Would that joyspren be dangerous to the travelers? Are the predators and scavengers of the cognitive realm limited to those that are linked to negativity?

I want a picture of that horse thing that Notum is riding. Apparently Shallan agrees, because in the course of describing it she emerged and replaced Veil, without even realizing she’d done it. I’m curious though if the creature has an aura of emotional impact or something, because Shallan’s reaction is extremely strong even for someone filled with fear and self loathing. Or at least, it’s strong in response to this one specific thing and not everything else.

“Not all spren were imagined by men.”
Oh, cool! More Adonalsium creations. Was that a musicspren?

But wait, I’m confused about something. What’s up with Ryshadium? When Radiants or shardbearers cross over their spren manifest in their Shadesmar forms. But no musicspren appeared near Gallant when they went through the oathgate. Hmm. Fused either are their own spren or keep it trapped in a gemheart. Singers would presumably maintain the spren in their gemheart, not letting it manifest externally. So do Ryshadium have gemhearts for the spren to bond with? Radiants don’t, so it’s not required for the formation of a bond.

That also makes me wonder about Venli as a special case. Timbre is acting as jailor to Venli’s voidspren. Would that mean Timbre is stuck in the gemheart if they cross over to shadesmar and she can’t manifest directly? Or would the voidspren be released and Venli opened to its influence? Or would Timbre be able to maintain the suppression even when manifesting externally?

I honestly can’t tell whether it’s Shallan composing the poem about Adolin or if it’s Veil expressing Shallan’s thoughts through an expansion of her personality (presumably at the expense of the Shallan persona). Is this a cute shipping moment or is this an ominous harbinger of her own destruction?!

Oh, it was Shallan coming closer to the surface. Adolin could tell! Shipping confirmed. Yay!

Shallan is talking! Progress!

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“Ash’s brush of endless paint.”

That’s a wonderful addition to the list of swears. Thanks, Shallan.
Also, a starspren! Brandon has been cagey about those in the past. Here’s our first glimpse and it’s a giant flying chasmfiend. Calling it now, these are going to have a huge role to play in the back five books.

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“Holy halls!”

Another swear to add. This one is fun because of the phonetic similarity to our own “holy hell” in English but with the opposite meaning and an unironic use of “holy.”

Starspren are only visible when viewed from certain angles or locations. That’s bizarre for sure. What does that mean and how does it work? And now it’s landing on the clouds. Do these clouds function like those in the physical realm? The starspren was trailing them in the way one would expect to be described in physical clouds, but the straight lines leading to the sun are obviously something normal clouds don’t do.

Creationspren were hiding in the sketchbook satchel? That’s an interesting data point. They have learned that they can get food from this thing and have started following it around even when not in use.

The starspren is posing for its picture. That’s hilarious and amazing and also kind of concerning. What are they attracted to? How is the crisp visual appearance possible despite the distance? The response to attention at a distance is understandable and fairly normal for spren, as Shallan mentions.

D’aww, Shallan is so in love with Adolin that even the starspren can’t compete. That is a very sweet moment.