Rhythm of War is bad. Like, really, really bad.

[Nitpicking]

I have my severe criticisms of Rhythm of War, but ... if you hated it that much, why did you even finish it?

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

Personally, I loved Rhythm of War. I found it to be better than the previous three books that came, and it was what really sucked me into the cosmere. I think it is an incredible book and one of Sanderson's best, though that may be an unpopular opinion. I don't find the character development to be repetitive, merely realistic. And being able to see the Fused from Venli's and Navani's perspectives in that way was completely necessary, as they are kind of the main enemy that the characters will be interacting with, and enlightening. I also think it's hard to maintain the same style as The Way of Kings, as at this point in the series you are already very comfortable with all the characters, worldbuilding, and plot. 

[Jult]

On 8/16/2025 at 11:25 PM, The-Rizzler said:

Yes, and last.  After such a train wreck of a story I’m done with Stormlight Archive and Sanderson.  What a huge disappointment after such an amazing start.  

I'm also curious to know if you've read any other non-Stormlight Cosmere novels? If you haven't, I'd suggest doing it. Stormlight, in particular, references other Cosmere events extensively. And not being familiar with those may be part of the reason that this book fell flat for you. I'm gonna dance around spoilers for other series as much as possible, but I'll tag this next bit for any purists:

Spoiler

• Learning about Fabrials is more interesting if you've already read Mistborn Era 1
• Seeing Vasher and Nightblood is more interesting if you've read Warbreaker
• The birds that Mraize and Gereh (now Lift) have are more interesting if you've read the Sixth of Dusk
• Seeing Lift rescue Vasher is more interesting if you've read Mistborn Era 1

There are other examples too, but you probably get the point. I don't know if this would turn RoW into an amazing book for you (it IS the weakest of the 5 in my opinion), but it may elevate the book to a point where you don't hate it.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On 8/16/2025 at 10:00 AM, The-Rizzler said:

None of the Tower sequences, including any of Navani’s chapters, had any sense of impact because Sanderson decided to throw a ton of named parshendi at us out of nowhere and then expect us to care.

I don't think Brandon wants you to care about these specific Parshendi. I think their purpose was just to help readers transition from seeing Singers as the 'faceless bad guys' into a people with their own culture, thoughts, and feelings. I agree that many of them felt unrelatable. But I do think they were necessary. And, yes, Moash leading the assault would have been more impactful, but that likely would have stolen the spotlight from the Singers who were admittedly already easy to overlook. More of a teaser than a spoiler for WaT (seeing as you already read a synopsis, I doubt you'll be concerned):

Spoiler

Humanizing the Singers does pay off in the next book. And will likely be even more important in the back half of the series.

As for the 'repetitive' mental health stuff with Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar. Yeah, they relapse but so do people in real life. And it can be frustrating to see them repeat mistakes, but that's true to real life too. If they magicked all their issues away in the first few books, it would have felt cheap to me. The fact that they are locked in a continuous struggle with their issues makes them more relatable and realistic. If they spent this whole book just being "cured", they start to be very boring one-dimensional characters.

[SpartanBrigade He/Him]

1 hour ago, Jult said:

• Learning about Fabrials is more interesting if you've already read Mistborn Era 1
•  

Spoiler

Curious about this wdym?

 

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

14 minutes ago, SpartanBrigade said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Curious about this wdym?

 

Spoiler

I was also wondering why

 

[bmcclure7]

On 8/15/2025 at 5:41 PM, The-Rizzler said:

Wow, what happened?  What a huge drop in quality.  At first I thought maybe I had been pranked and someone replaced my hardcover with a mental health diagnostic manual, interspersed with a civil engineering text book.  But no, that's literally the book.  And it's told from Venli's perspective?  She's the most unlikeable and uninteresting character I've ever read.  What's going on?  Where did Sanderson go?  What happened to the character development, the pacing, the quality of Way of Kings?  I have never felt more bored reading a book before.  Pages 1 to 1,100 were an absolute slog.  That's not cool.  Why do we have to suffer through another book of Kaladin moping around before remembering Tien for the hundredth time?  Why do we have to suffer through Shallan coming to terms with yet another secret?  Who the hell are all these Fused and why should I care about any of them when they are all, along with their hierarchy, all vomited onto me at once?

I think I'm done with this series.  It was so, so good.  But now?  No.  Just... no.

Funny, I thought the fused were the best part of the book that and what happened to odium. But seriously the fuse were great as someone who has always been curious about their background and powers. It was good to see more of them.

 

I do admit that I can see why the part about the lights was a little boring. I didn’t mind it personally, but was far from my most favorite. I did skim some of it.

 

Kal inventing therapy felt a little bit out of place and corny however, after seeing how on the nose it was in future book I can appreciate it being better than that

 

Edited August 20, 2025 by bmcclure7

[Jult]

3 minutes ago, SpartanBrigade said:

  Hide contents

Curious about this wdym?

 

Bigger spoilers so anyone who hasn't read Mistborn Era 1 and 2 shouldn't open it:

Spoiler

Fabrials react to metals in ways that parallel their Allomantic properties (Iron attracts things, Steel repels them, Pewter enhances stuff, Tin diminishes stuff, Bronze detects things, etc.). I personally found this tidbit fascinating because I love to see interactions between the different magic systems (or glimpses of the larger systems that they are all a part of).

I feel like this stepped fabrials up from "magical doohickeys that do what the plot needs" to "well-defined devices that we could understand the building process of". And I love that kind of detail. Plus, it gives us a fairly good way to speculate on the functionality of any mystery Fabrials that pop up in the future (assuming someone mentions the type of metal it's made of).

I'm very excited to see the future of Fabrials. I want to see how the additional metals from Mistborn Era 2 interact with them. And I hope we eventually get to see larger scale devices that combine Rosharan Fabrials with Malwish Medallions. Cosmere engineering is cool.

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

7 minutes ago, Jult said:

Bigger spoilers so anyone who hasn't read Mistborn Era 1 and 2 shouldn't open it:

  Reveal hidden contents

Fabrials react to metals in ways that parallel their Allomantic properties (Iron attracts things, Steel repels them, Pewter enhances stuff, Tin diminishes stuff, Bronze detects things, etc.). I personally found this tidbit fascinating because I love to see interactions between the different magic systems (or glimpses of the larger systems that they are all a part of).

I feel like this stepped fabrials up from "magical doohickeys that do what the plot needs" to "well-defined devices that we could understand the building process of". And I love that kind of detail. Plus, it gives us a fairly good way to speculate on the functionality of any mystery Fabrials that pop up in the future (assuming someone mentions the type of metal it's made of).

I'm very excited to see the future of Fabrials. I want to see how the additional metals from Mistborn Era 2 interact with them. And I hope we eventually get to see larger scale devices that combine Rosharan Fabrials with Malwish Medallions. Cosmere engineering is cool.

Storms I completely missed that. That’s really storming cool. Thanks!

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

2 hours ago, Jult said:

Bigger spoilers so anyone who hasn't read Mistborn Era 1 and 2 shouldn't open it:

  Hide contents

Fabrials react to metals in ways that parallel their Allomantic properties (Iron attracts things, Steel repels them, Pewter enhances stuff, Tin diminishes stuff, Bronze detects things, etc.). I personally found this tidbit fascinating because I love to see interactions between the different magic systems (or glimpses of the larger systems that they are all a part of).

I feel like this stepped fabrials up from "magical doohickeys that do what the plot needs" to "well-defined devices that we could understand the building process of". And I love that kind of detail. Plus, it gives us a fairly good way to speculate on the functionality of any mystery Fabrials that pop up in the future (assuming someone mentions the type of metal it's made of).

I'm very excited to see the future of Fabrials. I want to see how the additional metals from Mistborn Era 2 interact with them. And I hope we eventually get to see larger scale devices that combine Rosharan Fabrials with Malwish Medallions. Cosmere engineering is cool.

Oh wow I hadn’t even thought abt that that’s really cool

[bmcclure7]

On 8/19/2025 at 5:48 PM, The-Rizzler said:

lol yup, I assumed so as well.  I read a plot summary instead of wasting any more time on this trainwreck and I am glad I did.  Even a *summary* was a slog to read through - I can't imagine anyone enjoying reading 1,300+ pages of that drivel.

It had his moments it was good and bad. The end of the confrontation I think was amazing. However, before there was at least one twist I felt needed more not set up exactly but detail. Additionally, there was everything with Kal regardless of my own thoughts about the reliability of therapy in the real world I don’t think it fits in the fantasy world it just breaks immersion. Therapy is a modern concept built for modern world it doesn’t make sense in a world that’s not modern.  Additionally, for the shin storyline, Sanderson really went hard on the value relativism that he sometimes sneaks in as a theme in his stories. Personally, I really dislike this since I find value relativism self-contradictory and inconsistent. The fight scenes were good though a lot of action this book. And we finally got some answers for the origin of the desolation. It’s always nice when we have questions answered. Retribution is fantastic villain one of my favorite Sanderson has made. 

Edited August 22, 2025 by bmcclure7

[Nitpicking]

13 hours ago, Jult said:

Bigger spoilers so anyone who hasn't read Mistborn Era 1 and 2 shouldn't open it:

  Hide contents

Fabrials react to metals in ways that parallel their Allomantic properties (Iron attracts things, Steel repels them, Pewter enhances stuff, Tin diminishes stuff, Bronze detects things, etc.). I personally found this tidbit fascinating because I love to see interactions between the different magic systems (or glimpses of the larger systems that they are all a part of).

I feel like this stepped fabrials up from "magical doohickeys that do what the plot needs" to "well-defined devices that we could understand the building process of". And I love that kind of detail. Plus, it gives us a fairly good way to speculate on the functionality of any mystery Fabrials that pop up in the future (assuming someone mentions the type of metal it's made of).

I'm very excited to see the future of Fabrials. I want to see how the additional metals from Mistborn Era 2 interact with them. And I hope we eventually get to see larger scale devices that combine Rosharan Fabrials with Malwish Medallions. Cosmere engineering is cool.

SPOILERS for Tress of the Emerald Sea

Spoiler

We also see that sprouters use implements made of allomantically-active metals in comparable ways, e. g. iron shields attract spores and steel trowels repel them.

 

[SpartanBrigade He/Him]

23 hours ago, Jult said:

Bigger spoilers so anyone who hasn't read Mistborn Era 1 and 2 shouldn't open it:

  Reveal hidden contents

Fabrials react to metals in ways that parallel their Allomantic properties (Iron attracts things, Steel repels them, Pewter enhances stuff, Tin diminishes stuff, Bronze detects things, etc.). I personally found this tidbit fascinating because I love to see interactions between the different magic systems (or glimpses of the larger systems that they are all a part of).

I feel like this stepped fabrials up from "magical doohickeys that do what the plot needs" to "well-defined devices that we could understand the building process of". And I love that kind of detail. Plus, it gives us a fairly good way to speculate on the functionality of any mystery Fabrials that pop up in the future (assuming someone mentions the type of metal it's made of).

I'm very excited to see the future of Fabrials. I want to see how the additional metals from Mistborn Era 2 interact with them. And I hope we eventually get to see larger scale devices that combine Rosharan Fabrials with Malwish Medallions. Cosmere engineering is cool.

Oh woah that went over my head lol
Thanks

Also it is ironic that this fellow made the thread to rant against ROW and we just ended up finding new layers to enjoy lol

Edited August 21, 2025 by SpartanBrigade

[Jult]

10 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

SPOILERS for Tress of the Emerald Sea

  Hide contents

We also see that sprouters use implements made of allomantically-active metals in comparable ways, e. g. iron shields attract spores and steel trowels repel them.

 

Ooh now THAT is something I didn't notice. 

59 minutes ago, SpartanBrigade said:

Oh woah that went over my head lol
Thanks

Also it is ironic that this fellow made the thread to rant against ROW and we just ended up finding new layers to enjoy lol

That's the beautiful thing about the Cosmere. There's always more to discover. I was hoping to help OP find a layer that they'd enjoy. It's clear they really liked the first few books. I get the impression their ranting is less about them hating the book and more about them hating that they hate it.

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

5 hours ago, Jult said:

Ooh now THAT is something I didn't notice. 

That's the beautiful thing about the Cosmere. There's always more to discover. I was hoping to help OP find a layer that they'd enjoy. It's clear they really liked the first few books. I get the impression their ranting is less about them hating the book and more about them hating that they hate it.

I too missed it. There’s always another secret…

7 hours ago, SpartanBrigade said:

Oh woah that went over my head lol
Thanks

Also it is ironic that this fellow made the thread to rant against ROW and we just ended up finding new layers to enjoy lol

I was thinking along similar lines too lol.

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

31 minutes ago, ChipsAHoid said:

There’s always another secret…

*screams*

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

37 minutes ago, ChipsAHoid said:

There’s always another secret…

Mistborn era 1 spoilers

Spoiler

Kelsier was only around for one book and yet he still manages to have some of the coolest quotes in the cosmere

 

[Kansas Stormcursed he/him]

1 minute ago, Honors ghost said:

Mistborn era 1 spoilers

  Hide contents

Kelsier was only around for one book and yet he still manages to have some of the coolest quotes in the cosmere

 

Spoiler

Dude. Even if you don't like Secret History, acknowledge it exists

 

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

4 minutes ago, Honors ghost said:

Mistborn era 1 spoilers

  Reveal hidden contents

Kelsier was only around for one book and yet he still manages to have some of the coolest quotes in the cosmere

 

Full Cosmere spoilers

Spoiler

Oh there’s way more than just that

 What abt Stormlight

 

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

2 minutes ago, Kansas Stormcursed said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Dude. Even if you don't like Secret History, acknowledge it exists

 

No I will not acknowledge that book I hated it. Buutttttt unlike @The-Rizzler I will not let one book Brandon wrote that I pretty severely disliked ruin my view of him or that series

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

1 minute ago, Honors ghost said:

No I will not acknowledge that book I hated it. Buutttttt unlike @The-Rizzler I will not let one book Brandon wrote that I pretty severely disliked ruin my view of him or that series

That’s the spirit!

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

2 minutes ago, ChipsAHoid said:

Full Cosmere spoilers

  Hide contents

Oh there’s way more than just that

 What abt Stormlight

 

Spoiler

Oh yah there were tons of cool ones from stormlight but when I think of rly cool cosmere quotes I always remeber kelsiers “I represent the one thing you will never kill….” Quote

 

Edited August 22, 2025 by Honors ghost

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

4 minutes ago, Honors ghost said:

 

  Hide contents

Oh yah there were tons of cool ones from stormlight but when I think of rly cool cosmere quotes I always remeber kelsiers “I represent the one thing you will never kill….” Quote

 

Spoiler

Fair enough I was merely pointing out that there was more than one Kelsier book

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

10 hours ago, ChipsAHoid said:

  Hide contents

Fair enough I was merely pointing out that there was more than one Kelsier book

Spoiler

Wait There are? I’m not done w era 2 but I’ve read the first two of era two and they didn’t rly have kelsier and other than that the only other ones are book one of era one and seceret history right?

 

Edited August 22, 2025 by Honors ghost

[ChipsAHoid He/Him]

1 minute ago, Honors ghost said:

Wait There are? I’m not done w era 2 but I’ve read the first two of era two and they didn’t rly have kelsier and other than that the only other ones are book one of era one and seceret history right?

Spoiler it lol

Spoiler

I meant Cosmere as a whole 

 

[Hoid Slayer He/Him]

On 8/15/2025 at 5:41 PM, The-Rizzler said:

Wow, what happened?  What a huge drop in quality.  At first I thought maybe I had been pranked and someone replaced my hardcover with a mental health diagnostic manual, interspersed with a civil engineering text book.  But no, that's literally the book.  And it's told from Venli's perspective?  She's the most unlikeable and uninteresting character I've ever read.  What's going on?  Where did Sanderson go?  What happened to the character development, the pacing, the quality of Way of Kings?  I have never felt more bored reading a book before.  Pages 1 to 1,100 were an absolute slog.  That's not cool.  Why do we have to suffer through another book of Kaladin moping around before remembering Tien for the hundredth time?  Why do we have to suffer through Shallan coming to terms with yet another secret?  Who the hell are all these Fused and why should I care about any of them when they are all, along with their hierarchy, all vomited onto me at once?

I think I'm done with this series.  It was so, so good.  But now?  No.  Just... no.

Hi

So, I'm a little late to this, but I just wanted to address some of your points

Personally, I did feel like Rhythm of War was a sort of drop in quality - in terms of pacing, character development, and more - from the rest of the series. But, to me, it was still a great book. And it got us where we needed to get for Wind and Truth, which is in my opinion an absolute literary masterpiece.

I'm not gonna be one of those people that just suggest going ahead and finishing the series if you're going through a bad spot though: that's YOUR choice. So I want to kind of brief you on what is to come, spoiler free.

In terms of pacing, I think Wind and Truth is a huge upgrade. There are no slow sections. However, if you really disliked the mental health-heavy aspect of Rhythm of War, you will only see more and more of that.

On 8/16/2025 at 9:00 AM, The-Rizzler said:

You just described the first 1,100 pages of a 1,200 page book.  Yes, the last 100 pages were excellent and everything I expect from the series.  But pointing to 100 pages after an 1,100 page slog doesn’t qualify a book as good.

 

And no, the Navani chapters were not good.  None of the Tower sequences, including any of Navani’s chapters, had any sense of impact because Sanderson decided to throw a ton of named parshendi at us out of nowhere and then expect us to care.  That’s not how character development works.  A far more meaningful Tower assault would have been one led by Moash, for whom there *is* an emotional impact for Navani.  For where there already is a context for the reader to remain vested with.  Keep Gavinor in the Tower and have Moash hold him hostage to move Navani along.  Now we’re interested.  But instead we get Fused/HeavenlyOnes/stone walkers/who honestly gives a crap at this point it’s all just so boring.

Personally, I didn't have any problems with the villains in this book - other than Rayse. For it being his final entry, I would've like a lot more into his inner motivations - but I guess that deep dive was saved for Taravangian.

Finally, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but your stance does seem quite negative and confrontational. I understand wanting to vent, but fansites like this should be places for peaceful discussion and debate, not unilateral hate posts.

On 8/19/2025 at 8:12 PM, ChipsAHoid said:

Like how is this possible”