Rhythm of War Full Book Reactions

[lordofsoup]

I hate Lirin.  Someone should stab him already. He makes Kal so much worse.  He is clearly a servant of odium

Edited November 17, 2020 by lordofsoup

[Jess]

Oh man, I think this might be my favorite SA book yet. But I do have one minor complaint I want to get off my chest: I wish there had been more Willshaper stuff. I understand why there wasn't, both Venli's character and her circumstances were working against fun displays of her powers. But still... I remain burningly curious about applications of Transportation other than just going to Shadesmar.

[DracostarA]

14 hours ago, Eternal Khol said:

I have recently obtained a chain from the lands of the dead, said to be able to anchor a person through Cognitive anomalies.

So the chapter 64 Epigraph is interesting. We finally know about the chain in Celebrant from Oathbringer. 

It appears to have originated from Threnody, but the reference to 'Cognitive anomalies' could relate to Nalthis and the Cognitive Anomaly we saw in its star system.

[IllNsickly he/him]

I have to say... I absolutely do not understand the ‘Spoiler’ mentality. I have the Audio version because I spend so much of my time staring at a windshield. 
 

Reading this thread has only made me MORE excited for the rest of the book. 
 

I’m only about 12 hours in right now. I absolutely love all of the teasers and am excited to find out how they all come about.

[Snoopie]

I'm a lurker, not really much of a poster. I'm not going to be able to get to this book for about a month or so.

Can someone please tell me, because I am dying to know, how does the Adolin/Maya situation resolve? Does it resolve? Does Adolin become a radiant? Does Maya get revived and is she his spren or does it take a sour turn?

I don't mind spoilers but I don't need too much details either. Simple cliff-notes would be more than sufficient - thanks!

Edited November 18, 2020 by Snoopie

[Harbour he/him]

18 minutes ago, Snoopie said:

I'm a lurker, not really much of a poster. I'm not going to be able to get to this book for about a month or so.

Can someone please tell me, because I am dying to know, how does the Adolin/Maya situation resolve? Does it resolve? Does Adolin become a radiant? Does Maya get revived and is she his spren or does it take a sour turn?

I don't mind spoilers but I don't need too much details either. Simple cliff-notes would be more than sufficient - thanks!

He didnt become Radiant nor revived her, but they became closer and Maya seems to somewhat synchronized with him. He is definitely closer to reviving her/becoming Radiant than in OB, but is not there yet (if ever will, obviously).

[Eternal Khol he/him]

23 minutes ago, Snoopie said:

because I am dying to know, how does the Adolin/Maya situation resolve? Does it resolve? Does Adolin become a radiant? Does Maya get revived and is she his spren or does it take a sour turn?

Shallan and Adolin go to lasting integrity(Honorspren city/fortress) to convince the Honorspren to start bonding again. And shallan has a side mission of hunting “restares”
 

the Honorspren put Adolin on Trial for using the dead Shardblade as a weapon.

Just after they finally find Adolin “guilty”, Maya comes to the rescue and Talks!!, saying “we. chose”  and “You. Cannot. Have. My. SACRIFICE!”

meaning that the Radiants didnt betray the Spren during the Recreance. Both the spren and Radiants decided the spren needed to die, lest destruction on the level of Ashyn happens again)

at the end of the novel, Maya isnt revived yet, but she is bonded to Adolin(not a Radiant bond) and she can kinda talk a little bit, and get a few words out(its really difficult for her and exhausts her pretty quick)

Edited November 18, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[SturmOgre]

11 hours ago, Ptolema said:

Did I misread that or did he try to bring spren into the Physical Realm? What O_o

Yeah, it seems like he's trying to get them to manifest physically. I wonder if those spren are properly dead, or if the experiments are the cause of those unaccounted-for deadeyes Adolin and company encountered in Shadesmar. 

[Snoopie]

Thanks @Eternal Khol and @Harbour

You've made my day. I can happily wait the month before I get to start reading now!

Edited November 18, 2020 by Snoopie

[ThurgreatMarshall]

Part 5 was excellent. It didn't really feel like a Sanderlanche compared to Oathbringer (or the original Mistborn), but very satisfying nonetheless. 

[Harkain he/him]

1 minute ago, Beltway2A said:

Part 5 was excellent. It didn't really feel like a Sanderlanche compared to Oathbringer (or the original Mistborn), but very satisfying nonetheless. 

It wasn't the Sanderlanch that got me this time but the plot twists.

Oh boy was that a wild ride at the end.

[+Child of Hodor]

I didn’t put together that Thaidakar is Kelsier although I should have. Lord of Scars and Hoid having slapped him around before makes it obvious and that he’s a CS that’s struggling with his limitations. Mraize saying he sent an avatar is annoying and makes it sound like he’s a Shard, but I don’t think he is right now. 

Kelsier continues to be a huge jerk. 

On the Glyph page before Ch 73 we find out Cultivation’s name, I think. “Koravari” or Koravellium Avast “She who brings the dew at dawn”.  Some speculated that her name was Dawn, it’s not but that weren’t far off in a way. 

Also she’s a dragon. Hoid says he knows only 1 dragon on Roshar and she keeps her form hidden. New Odium Big T sees her after ascending and senses she has a true form she’s hiding deep down. We know Hoid knew all the vessels pre-Shattering so he probably meant her.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Child of Hodor

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

*screams*

*screams some more*

Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaandoooooooonnnnnnn!

How can you just causally drop the names of all the shards we didn't know???

How can you kill off Rayse in Book Four???

How dare you confirm that tinfoil-hat theory about Restares's Thadakar's identity?????

Edited November 18, 2020 by Necessary Eagle

[+Child of Hodor]

Just now, Necessary Eagle said:

*screams*

*screams some more*

Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaandoooooooonnnnnnn!

How can you just causally drop the names of all the shards we didn't know???

How can you kill off Rayse in Book Four???

How dare you confirm that tinfoil-hat theory about Restares's identity?????

Hey that’s my tinfoil hat theory! Kalak is a coward who was involved with Gavilar so the leader of the Sons of Honor running away and hiding fit Kalak quite well.

I read someone recently wrote of Brandon that he often does what you expect he just gets to it way faster than you’d ever expect. Odium getting a new vessel was coming, but wow that was fast. Goodbye Rayse we hardly new ye.

I think we are still missing 2 shard names unless I missed them. We were missing 6 and got 4. Whimsy is the most surprising. 

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

Just now, Child of Hodor said:

Hey that’s my tinfoil hat theory! Kalak is a coward who was involved with Gavilar so the leader of the Sons of Honor running away and hiding fit Kalak quite well.

I think we are still missing 2 shard names unless I missed them. We were missing 6 and got 4. Whimsy is the most surprising. 

wait I meant Thaidakar. but Restares too.

okay maybe not all the missing shards, but I think most of them?

[Harkain he/him]

3 minutes ago, Child of Hodor said:

Hey that’s my tinfoil hat theory! Kalak is a coward who was involved with Gavilar so the leader of the Sons of Honor running away and hiding fit Kalak quite well.

I read someone recently wrote of Brandon that he often does what you expect he just gets to it way faster than you’d ever expect. Odium getting a new vessel was coming, but wow that was fast. Goodbye Rayse we hardly new ye.

I think we are still missing 2 shard names unless I missed them. We were missing 6 and got 4. Whimsy is the most surprising. 

real question is in the WOB where Brandon says he'd take ingenuity, was he referring to invention or a different shard?

[+Child of Hodor]

2 minutes ago, Harkain said:

real question is in the WOB where Brandon says he'd take ingenuity, was he referring to invention or a different shard?

I think he decided Invention is the name he liked better for that shard. Inventiveness and Ingenuity are pretty much the same thing.

Definition of ingenuity

 

1a: skill or cleverness in devising or combining : INVENTIVENESS

[Vulcronos]

We got Invention, Valor, Mercy, and Whimsy for sure and I think Foil on the very last page is a candidate though I am not sure how a Shard would struggle to control something unless the Aethers predate its arrival on the planet or come from another Shard.

I hate the idea that Thaidakar is Kelsier.  He fought for survival and helped people, especially the abused and downtrodden.  He helped first the Skaa then the Southern continent.  The Ghostbloods aren't about helping anyone.  Its all about power and power through trade.  My only idea is that Kelsier has spent so long focused on survival is that is all he can plan now, get Stormlight free my spirit so I can do more.  Could be a tragic story but the aspect bit made me think of someone more powerful.

 

I do think Cultivation is a dragon which is fun.  Did we ever find out why no one reached out to her or the Nightwatcher to ask for there help since Dalinar knows where she is?

I have been wondering how Brandon is going to split the first 5 and last 5 books.  I thought it might be a break between a Roshar focus and Braize/Ashyn in the later books.  I considered a break between restoring Honor and defeating Odium.  Now with a new Odium, one cleverer and even more interested in escape and putting things "to rights" in the cosmere, I wonder if it back half will be even more outwardly focused as Odium escapes or other Shards get more involved.

 

[ScootYaBoot]

What a wild ride that was. Four new shards named, Thaidakar and Restares sorted, my boy Teft , Sazed's epigraphs, worldhopper joining the main story (Felt), Chiri-Chiri can speak (???), Cultivations vessel is named (Koravari), and lord.... "We. CHOSE."

[HipsterStick he/him]

I'm okay. This is all good. I'm okay.

I'm okay.

I'm-

Guys I'm not okay.

Spoiler

 

• Thaidakar is all but confirmed to be some kind of Villainous!Kelsier. And he has a sick title- 'The Lord of Scars'. 
• Taravangian KILLED RAYSE?!?!? AND TOOK HIS PLACE?!?!? Storms...
• Mercy is a Shard? Mercy was there when Ambition was shattered? Mercy has something to do with the shades on Threnody?
• Chasmfiends are- they- they're just- they're sentient? What is going on?
• Who got the wooden horse to Kaladin? And how?
• Honestly, I'm most concerned about Taravangian. The man is an evil genius, and while before he'd possessed the capacity to feel positive emotion, this seems to have been subsumed by fury. Most terrifyingly though- he tricked Wit. He outwitted Hoid. 

 

Storms... How is this going to end? Probably not well.

Besides the mind-blowing reveals, the book- well, let's just say it was definitely a 'middle book'. And honestly, I was expecting it to read accordingly, so I wasn't overly disappointed. Still, there were some moments where it felt like a chore to read- almost to the level of WoK Shallan chapters- and the pacing was WACK.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised at parts. I really, really ended up liking the character of Raboniel. In the end, she was fascinating. Also:

Spoiler

Thaidakar as Kelsier was a reveal worth all of the frustrating moments...

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by HipsterStick

[spitfireky she/her]

I just finished a complete marathon read of RoW and my jaw has been stuck to the floor for the past twenty minutes.

Freaking out over:

Spoiler

Thaidakar=Kelsier?? Maybe?? WHAT?? Honestly I'd just love to see him in another book, he's one of my favorite cosmere characters.

Taravangian killing Odium, Ascending, and OUTWITTING Hoid. I have chills...

The implications of Ishar experimenting with bringing (unbonded?) spren into the Physical Realm are obviously not good, but why's he doing it?

I know Cultivation was never set up as a paradigm of morality but how she was talking with Taravangian towards the end has me worried.

The fact we got the names of FOUR more shards??

I wonder what the pacing of SA5 is going to look like, especially with the contest of champions seeming like a perfect culmination point for part one of the series. And from the events of this book it's only ten days away.

Going off of the champions' contest, the obvious choice is Kaladin vs. Moash, but what would other combinations be? With there being such an emphasis on Dalinar stepping back from battle in this book, I don't think he's gonna be it.

We also got a confirmation that Dova=Battar and Restares=Kelek, but have Vedel and Chanarach been seen at all in the past few books? Or did I miss them?

Taravangian using Nightblood to kill Rayse has me leaning to the theory that Nightblood is a Dawnshard with the Command "Destroy"

I thought it was interesting that Honor and Cultivation's Vessels had the same suffixes on their names (Tanavast and Koravellium Avast). Is "-Avast" a sort of surname on Yolen?

 

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by spitfireky
forgot to add some reactions

[Eternal Khol he/him]

13 minutes ago, spitfireky said:

I know Cultivation was never set up as a paradigm of morality but how she was talking with Taravangian towards the end has me worried.

Ive been worried about her since Oatbbringer

When Dalinar meets her, she said in that she controls all things that can be cultivated, “Even the thorns”

I took that to have a dual meaning in that she’s referencing the Blackthorn(Dalinar) and also any sort of general “evil” or bad being/force

Edited November 18, 2020 by Eternal Khol

[spitfireky she/her]

3 minutes ago, Eternal Khol said:

Ive been worried about her since Oatbbringer

When Dalinar meets her, she said in that she controls all things that can be cultivated, “Even the thorns”

I took that to have a dual meaning in that she’s referencing the Blackthorn(Dalinar) and also any sort of general “evil” or bad being/force

I wonder what her actual intentions are, like if her plans are completely confined to Roshar or that she has designs similar to what Rayse-as-Odium's were in terms of thinking of the full cosmere.

[mbondy]

20 hours ago, Parallax said:

Is the status of the Sibling explained? Is it associated with a shard (like Stormfather & Nightwatcher) or is it just an immensely powerful spren?

I believe that it said the sibling is a combination of honor and cultivation, this is why it uses that combination of stormlight (honor) and lifelight (cultivation). I think it was called "towerlight"

[Harkain he/him]

14 minutes ago, spitfireky said:

I wonder what her actual intentions are, like if her plans are completely confined to Roshar or that she has designs similar to what Rayse-as-Odium's were in terms of thinking of the full cosmere.

To cultivate the cosmere maybe?

Sazed said in the letters that a shard can't really resist their Shardic intent for too long so assumably something relating to cultivation.

Might be trying to pull a "through war they'll grow stronger" sorta deal but not sure. Honestly what she thought she'd get out of Taravangian ascending we probably won't find out until either book 5 or Brandon lets something slip in a WOB.