Review: Rhythm of War


Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another masterwork by Brandon Sanderson in his Cosmere. I will say that, at times, some of the story seemed to drag, particularly character growth of the main characters. But not only is this made up by the incredible payoff at the end (I literally kept waking up the night I finished it as my brain obsessed over the epilogue and what it means for this series and the Cosmere as a whole), but the reader needs to consider this is book 4/10 in a planned series. Even with Sanderson having planned Stormlight as two five-book arcs, that would still mean that the climax of the arc would lie in the next book.

The book continues Sanderson’s tone for the series – a serious drama punctuated with humor, particularly whenever Wit is involved. Whereas the first three books in the series could have been read without any knowledge of the further Cosmere, the reader TRULY will be missing a LOT of details if they haven’t read through Mistborn, Warbreaker, White Sands, and Elantris. Key points in various storylines have “easter eggs” that really resonate (no pun intended) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY harder than mere easter eggs if the reader knows the references.

This entry answers SO many questions and ties so much together from the Cosmere. It sets up the Stormlight series for a huge climactic confrontation. And, near the end, provides incredble character growth. And, I’ll admit that chapter 108 had me tearing up. If you’re a Cosmere fan you already have this book. And if you aren’t…. you would’t have made it this far (1700 pages when I converted to PDF).

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