Rhythm of War

I've really liked this series, but this one clicked more than the others for me. It presents some perspectives that we haven't really seen up until now and there are some fun and interesting character interactions that really drew me in, like Navani and Raboniel. There are still a lot of archetypical hero moments and repeated story beats, but they are well done and fun to read.

I still think these books are way too long for my taste, but this one felt like much less of a slog compared to parts of the last book, Oathbringer. I'm not entirely sure why, it felt to me like chapters were pretty short and switched quite often to almost completely different storylines, so I never felt bored in one place for too long.

I find a lot of the god-tier rules and stakes really confusing though, and I'm not sure if that's on me or if it's because I don't know much about the greater Cosmere beyond this series or if it's intentionally opaque. I can understand the effect of certain things on the characters in this story, but a lot of the details and implications of them are muddled to me.

** Minor Spoilers **

The occupation of the tower is really well done and gives a lot of insight into several different types of characters, and allows interactions that we haven't seen before. Not everything is black and white in the conflict. Also, having Kaladin basically Die Hard-ing throughout the tower was fun.

I like almost all of the main POV characters. Adolin trying to prove himself in a world where his main skills have been rendered nearly obsolete. Shallan's personalities could have been very eye-rolling, but it works as a blunt representation of inner conflict. Dalinar is just a well written character who provides a good path into a lot of the macro-story. Navani teaches us a bit more about how the world works and is a more clinical insight into it. Venli lets us explore a lot of unseen history, allowing us to understand and sympathise with the “enemy”.

** Major Spoilers **

I'm kind of surprised that the three main storylines (Shadesmar / Dalinar at War / The Tower) didn't really converge to a finale. I thought that would bother me, but I kind of liked having them all with their own concerns.

The big fight once again being resolved by swearing a new ideal is a little bit much, but it was enjoyable still. The power creep in this series is getting wild though.