Shardcast: Rhythm of War Reactions 1

I liked the flashbacks but at the same time, I waited till I reached a flashback to put the book down for the day so... yeah, the flashbacks were often this book's weak point.

The Taravangian twist... I'm more split up about it, now that the novelty's worn off. Well, sort of, I'm always gonna go "Squeeeeeeee" almost everytime a book or show goes here's the big bad, now bigger and badder! I grew up on anime. I'm sorry! I was hoping after Rayse's unexpected death, which also feels a bit premature now, after all the build up from him killing so many other Shards, how dangerous Hoid thought he was even before Ascending... anyway, I was hoping after Rayse died and Taravangian picked up the Shard that we'll focus on all the other stuff. I'm a fan of dealing with Odium in the front 5, then dealing with the hatred and all the aftermath of thousands of years of war in the back 5. Because the big bad kind of takes away all the focus from that. It's easier to unite people against an existential threat. Going forwards would've been very difficult and very interesting without Odium providing everyone with an iron-clad reason to do so. The various peoples of Roshar are divided. The existing nations are divided. The very society is also still divided. Dealing with all that in peacetime or something close enough to peacetime would've been more...  excruciating. Instead we get the big bad immediately replaced and I don't know how I feel about that. And if Taravangian is dealt with in book 5, that would also feel premature.

Also we need more Fused characters that aren't one book wonders that keep being replaced. We didn't see any of the Fused we saw in Oathbringer. I mean aside from Leshwi. Where's Hnanan? Where's Hariel? Where's Turash? Now Raboniel and Lezian are dead too, and we have a new one called El. Are all the Fused characters gonna get in line one after the other for the next books?

Anyway, these are some of my complaints about Rhythm of War, since I was mostly just gushing about the book in the reaction threads, I thought I'd put these here.

When I think about it, Mr. T is actually highly compatible with Odium’s MO.

Odium: Give me your pain.

Taravangian: Let me take the blame of these crimes for myself. That is the job of a ruler.

Kelsier

Jasnah and Wit. The part of it I think is weird is that Hoid has been around for ages and lifetimes. Like yeah Jasnah is awesome and crazy intelligent, beautiful, and clever, but how can a near immortal like Hoid actually be romantically involved with someone who is just so human and possibly short lived comparatively. Just not sure I see that. But whatever, it’s okay.