Stormlight 4 Readings and Info

[Pagerunner he/him]

Tor.com preview chapters have begun: https://www.tor.com/series/rhythm-of-war-brandon-sanderson/

We're starting to accrue bits and pieces of Stormlight Four. Here's what we've got so far, aside from the . (Fair warning, the earlier it is, the less continuity editing it went through.)

• March 30th, 2019. Planet ComicCon. A chapter about Lirin. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/386/#e12628
• May 15th, 2019. Bonn, Germany. A rewritten version of the Lirin chapter. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/388/#e12676
• July 20th, 2019. Video reading at SDCC. A scene with Venli. https://www.tor.com/2019/07/20/sdcc-brandon-sanderson-stormlight-archive-4-excerpt/
• August 31st, 2019. DragonCon. Part of the prologue, from Navani's viewpoint. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/394/#e12852
• October 15th, 2019. ICON. More of the prologue. https://clyp.it/lidyohcy
• November 26, 2019. Newsletter exclusive fiction. Stormlight Four excerpt.
• November 26, 2019. Starsight Release Party. Eshonai flashback, very rough in continuity. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/402/#e13303
• December 10, 2019. Amazon released the publisher's summary. (This is the out-of-universe summary, not the back-cover in-universe text.)

Quote

After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage.

Now, as new technological discoveries begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.

• February 15, 2020. LTUE, Provo, Utah. Lift interlude. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/412-ltue-2020/#e13628
• July 7, 2020. Newsletter exclusive fiction. Syl interlude.
• July 23, 2020. Kaladin scenes from chapters 7 and 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lRDdxUy5iE
• July 2020. Amazon released an updated publisher's summary.

  Quote

  
  After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.
  
  Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.
  
  At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.

   

• August 6, 2020. Newsletter exclusive fiction. Dawnshard prologue.

Brandon's also been regularly releasing lengthy update posts. I'll summarize the goodies from each of them:

• January 2nd, 2019. Discussing outlining in broad terms. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/absjnj/stormlight_book_four_update_1/
• February 6th, 2019. Update on outline progress. Tentative title revealed: The Rhythm of War. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/anttqr/stormlight_book_four_update_2/
• April 16th, 2019. Introduces the concept of plot "Arcs," which focus on relatively isolated groups of characters. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/bdzor2/stormlight_book_four_update_3/
• June 20th, 2019. Part One (of five) written. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/c30ijp/stormlight_book_four_update_4/
• August 26th, 2019. Arc Two written. Graphic of which Arc fits in with which Part. (https://i.imgur.com/tcE4p4Q.png). Flashbacks may switch from Eshonai to Venli. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/cvvs75/stormlight_book_4_update_5/
• November 6, 2019. Purely a writing speed update, no juicy bits. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/du30gp/stormlight_book_four_update_6/
• January 10, 2020. Book's done. Brandon might take a break from revisions to write a Rysn novella dealing with Aimia. https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/emxhgo/stormlight_book_four_update_7/

And then, we've got various miscellaneous tidbits.

• January 5th, 2018. One-year gap between Book Three and Book Four. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/315-general-reddit-2018/#e8979
• September 19th, 2019. Wit will have a cooler epilogue than usual. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/360-legion-release-party/#e10802
• August 28th, 2019. 90% confidence on Rhythm of War title. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/379-general-reddit-2019/#e12847
• September 9, 2019. Kaladin and Jasnah will share a scene: https://twitter.com/BrandSanderson/status/1171220837103362049
• September 26, 2019. Flashbacks will be a mix of Venli and Eshonai. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/380/#e12961 and https://wob.coppermind.net/events/380/#e12962
• October 15, 2019. We'll learn more about how fabrials work. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/395/#e13408
• October 18, 2019. We will get pictures of all Radiant spren except Bondsmiths. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/397/#e13108 and https://wob.coppermind.net/events/398/#e13249
• October 18, 2019. Potentially more Azure. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/397/#e13137
• October 26, 2019. Two more fashion pieces for the art. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/398/#e13250
• January 10, 2020. Rysn interlude hasn't been written yet. Content will depend on whether or not her novella gets written. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/406/#e13578
• January 25, 2020. During a YouTube Livestream, a first look at a Taln art piece in the style of OB's four Heralds. It may go in Stormlight Four, it may not. https://imgur.com/a/Dl7G3PA
• January 25, 2020. Shallan's sketchbook pages will be Radiant spren, both Physical Realm and Shadesmar appearances. Nazh will have a second page of glyphs. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/411/#e13869
• April 1, 2020. Venli/Eshonai are the flashback characters, but there's a third character who have a viewpoint focus in the present storyline. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/415/#e13633
• June 12, 2020. The "pillar of the outline" scene is one of two or three through the entire series. The next one won't be until Book 7 or 8. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/408/#e13813
• June 16, 2020. Rysn has a "very different sort of interlude" that references but does not spoil the planned Dawnshard novella. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/430/#e13976
• June 16, 2020. We will meet a new Lightweaver named Stargyle. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/430/#e13985
• July 28, 2020. Part 1 is plotted like a climax of a book, relating to the events that occurred in the intervening year. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/406/#e14086

I will endeavor to keep this up to date as new information or additional excerpts come out. If there’s something new, or anything important I’ve missed, please feel free to ping me.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Pagerunner

[Solant he/him]

Not all heroes wear Mistcloaks. Thank you!

[Rask]

I really like 'rhythms of war' as a tittle. We were always mostly sure that a Listener flashback book would be called 'rhythms of something'.  

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

@Pagerunner I think you missed this tidbit:

Quote

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Szeth starts book four in jail, Dalinar instructed him to go. Compared to Oathbringer, his role in the book is smaller, closer to book one in scope. His role in the spotlight is mostly saved for book five.

From the latest DragonCon I believe.

[Karger he/him]

13 hours ago, Solant said:

Not all heroes wear Mistcloaks. Thank you!

Don't be ridiculous.  Some wear shardplate.

[Kramerfarve]

Anyone else getting stoneward vibes from the herdazian general? In first WOB Lirin mentions that the herdazians are fighting a losing battle, “In Herdaz, men could claim to fight for freedom, but how free were the corpses they left to bleed into the storm waters?” and Brandon says the guy will be important? 

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

17 minutes ago, Kramerfarve said:

Anyone else getting stoneward vibes from the herdazian general? In first WOB Lirin mentions that the herdazians are fighting a losing battle, “In Herdaz, men could claim to fight for freedom, but how free were the corpses they left to bleed into the storm waters?” and Brandon says the guy will be important? 

There are a couple different theories on him. I think Stoneward and Dustbringer are the popular ones. I’m thinking Dustbringer, based off this WoB:

Questioner

Any new Dustbringers in Stormlight Four?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there will be.

[Pagerunner he/him]

Added the latest reading to the list. No transcription yet, just the audio; I'll update the link once it gets transcribed.

[Bigmikey357 he/him]

Yep I'm thinking Dustbringer too. They have Abrasion for a surge and he's always slipping out of handcuffs...

[Aon Tia she/her]

4 hours ago, Bigmikey357 said:

Yep I'm thinking Dustbringer too. They have Abrasion for a surge and he's always slipping out of handcuffs...

Ok yes 

Good observation 

[Kramerfarve]

On 10/15/2019 at 5:53 PM, Bigmikey357 said:

slipping out of handcuffs

To be fair, Stonewards would not have too much trouble either, being able to shape and reshape objects. As a fledgling radiant, it could be manifesting as a little stretching here or there in a handcuff. 

[Karger he/him]

The latest newsletter just released chapter one's rough draft.

[Pagerunner he/him]

I've updated the original post with the latest excerpts, Update Six, and some WoBs from October/November signing events. (The Starsight release is still being transcribed, but I'm pretty sure I already found all the ones relevant to Stormlight Four and transcribed them already, so I don't expect too many more to pop up.)

[+robardin he/him]

On 9/8/2019 at 3:01 PM, Toaster Retribution said:

@Pagerunner I think you missed this tidbit:

Szeth starts book four in jail, Dalinar instructed him to go.

From the latest DragonCon I believe.

It's not funny, Szeth thought to himself, how many things begin with me intentionally getting thrown into prison.

Wow, thought his strange, black Shardblade. Vasher used to think it was funny!

Who is this 'Vasher' the Blade has mentioned several times? Szeth wondered. But before he could pose the question to the sword, one of the guards looking through his possessions pulled it out to examine it, undoing its clasp as he did so. Suddenly, the other guards began to fight to seize it from him...

Edited January 29, 2020 by robardin

[Pagerunner he/him]

I'm hearing that Brandon read a new Lift interlude today. If anybody stumbles across a recording of it, please let me know.

[Ciridae]

Any news on the Lift reading? I saw there are two WoBs on Arcanum talking about it.

[Pagerunner he/him]

On 2/21/2020 at 5:46 AM, Ciridae said:

Any news on the Lift reading? I saw there are two WoBs on Arcanum talking about it.

A summary has surfaced on Reddit, but no recording yet.

 

[Wander89 he/him]

On the new YouTube AMA, he confirmed that Book 4 references some parts of Wandersail so he trying to get that out before the Book 4 release. I'm really hoping we get that.

[Goatbringer he/him]

On 3/1/2020 at 11:21 AM, Wander89 said:

On the new YouTube AMA, he confirmed that Book 4 references some parts of Wandersail so he trying to get that out before the Book 4 release. I'm really hoping we get that.

Ohhh that would be an early birthday present!

[quadbox]

There's a recording of him reading a lift interlude (not sure if the same one or not) here on the brandon and dan show, skip to 41:30 for the reading

[Karger he/him]

22 hours ago, quadbox said:

There's a recording of him reading a lift interlude (not sure if the same one or not) here on the brandon and dan show, skip to 41:30 for the reading

It seems to be the same one.  We now know that Lift also got a boon from Cultivation.  If she gets near Taravangian she can start to blow his cover.  I also think she got some form of immortality from Cultivation.  Also why do we think Rock is missing?  Where has he gone?

[Iarwainiel I she/her]

Today Brandon tweeted the UK cover for Rhythm of War - here it is:

 

[+robardin he/him]

On 3/5/2020 at 6:12 PM, Karger said:

It seems to be the same one.  We now know that Lift also got a boon from Cultivation.  If she gets near Taravangian she can start to blow his cover.  I also think she got some form of immortality from Cultivation.  Also why do we think Rock is missing?  Where has he gone?

What do you mean here?

 

[Karger he/him]

2 hours ago, robardin said:

What do you mean here?

Lift detected Dalinar's boon via smell.  Presumably she can do the same with Taravangian.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Karger

[+robardin he/him]

5 minutes ago, Karger said:

Lift detected Dalinar's boon via smell.  Presumably she can do the same with Taravangian.

Ahh... I forgot that.

We know Dalinar got his boon directly from Cultivation, as did Taravangian, yeah? So if it's the direct touch of Cultivation that makes one "smell" like the Nightwatcher to Lift, that would indeed be something that could happen.