This has been bugging me for a long time.
Rhythm of War seems to tie some rather intricate knots at the ends of a few loose threads, but there is one chapter that to me completely rewrites a previous storyline and seems to be a rather glaring discontinuity.
In Words or Radiance chapter I-1 'Narak' we get our first perspective chapter for Eshonai as she returns from a skirmish on the Shattered Plains. Her leg is still wounded from her fight with Kaladin on The Tower. Towards the end of the chapter, she meets with her sister Venli and learns the Listener scholars have discovered how to adopt Stormform. Eshonai is shocked and disturbed at the implications for her people. She says she thought Venli was looking for other forms that would help their diplomats and scholars. Eshonai clearly is surprised and still wants to negotiate with the Alethi. Venli and Demid both convince her to reconsider, citing her battle with a Surgebinder as need for their people to gain more power for the fight to come.
Then in I-4 'Last Legion' Eshonai takes a gemstone containing a Storm Spren to Thude and Bila, then eventually the council of The Five. She again reprimands her sister for looking for forms of power in secret. Her leg injury seems to still be bothering her the same as the last time we saw her, implying not much time has passed since learning of Venli's new discovery. In fact when reading WoR, it seems like it might be the same or next day. We know these events take place about 2 months before the battle for Narak, thanks to the countdown that appears in Dalinar's rooms.
Here's where the discontinuity is.
RoW chapter 88 'Falling Star' is set 18 months before the events of the main story. So about 4 months before the battle of Narak. Venli comes to Eshonai during a Highstorm and reveals to her sister that she has managed to capture a Storm Spren for the first time in a gemstone. Eshonai is not only unsurprised, but expectant. She isn't horrified as much as frustrated. She goes into the Highstorm and vents her anger to the Stormfather - though he doesn't respond - and she encounters Timbre for the first time.
This would mean, based on Eshonai's reactions and Venli's discoveries, the order of these chapters would have to be: WoR I-1, then RoW -88, then WoR I-4. I have a hard time placing them in this order for a few reasons, namely that the interludes in WoR are only a few months before the battle of Narak, and 'Falling Star' takes place about 4 months prior the the battle. Tt puts a Highstorm between WoR I-1 and I-4, despite it not seeming like more than a day has passed between them. It also means Eshonai goes into a Highstorm with her leg still injured. To me the way the sisters treat each other and discuss their plans also doesn't lend to this timeline. It would also mean that between Timbre choosing Eshonai and Eshonai gaining Stormform is the matter of about 1-2 weeks.
I'm mostly curious what other people think about the Eshonai/Venli perspective timelines, and if anyone has a way to reconcile them. Their chapters are some of my favorite in WoR and Oathbringer, but in RoW they seem a little too human, and their stories shoehorned between already established events.
