3 stars maybe.

Review to come.

Content warning: Death of animals, death of parents, war


I read the first book over two years ago I think? So I barely remember anything that happened, except that the ending was very unsatisfying. So when I found out that a sequel came out, I decided to read it, hoping for a better resolution, which I ended up getting. But in order to get to that better ending, I had to slog through so many pages of dead baby animals, Peter's toxic masculinity and overall extremely unhealthy mindset, and Peter's "penance", which consisted of him imagining in great detail, over and over, about how he should have killed his former pet fox, Pax, when Pax was a baby.

This book is surprisingly dark for a middle grade book. The vast majority of the book is quite grim and

Spoiler

the scene where Peter almost shot Pax's daughter terrified and traumatized me although he fortunately didn't end up killing her.

The ending was a lot more wholesome than the rest of the book though, fortunately.

My favorite parts were the scenes with Pax and his daughter because they were so wholesome together and there was some adorable dialogue. The chapters in Pax's POV were overall superior; I dreaded Peter's POV so much.

Another problem I had was that I didn't understand anything about the war at all. Who was fighting whom? Over what? Why? What was happening. This random war is just thrown in with no explanation (unless there was an explanation in the first book that I don't remember.)

Anyway, I was going to give this book 3 stars for most of the book, but I'm going to be nice and give it 3.5 stars, rounded up, because of the ending and overall the plot wasn't bad.

I read this for school related purposes.

It was boring for the first half or so, then it got a little more interesting later. There was too much violence towards fish for me. The philosophical aspects were interesting I guess. I don't know why the old man thought talking to his injured hand would help anything.

I'm not going to write an actual proper review because I don't have enough strong feelings about it to do so.

4 stars

Only very minor spoilers ahead.

It took me seven months to read this book, which is quite excessive even for a 1,200+ paged book; Words of Radiance was 1,100 pages long and it only took me about 10 days to read it. I can't tell if that's because I read more slowly now than I did in 2019 or because Rhythm of War was less engaging than Words of Radiance. Probably both.

A lot of Rhythm of War was quite repetitive, and although the many scenes of Navani and the fabrials and emulsifiers and whatever else was probably interesting the first time, but after 10+ variations upon the same scene, it got boring quickly. Also, Venli's scenes, even the flashbacks, weren't very interesting to me, while in the earlier books the flashbacks were usually some of the most interesting chapters.

In many ways, this book was definitely the weakest installment in the series, but I'm not going to rate it less than four stars for a number of reasons:

1. Jasnah is canonically asexual. I repeat, my queen Jasnah Kholin is canonically asexual, confirmed by Sanderson himself. Obviously this is of interest to me because I am biased here, and also because Jasnah has always been an icon even before this revelation.

Spoiler

Also, Wit x Jasnah is the best romance subplot Sanderson has ever written and you can't convince me otherwise.

2. Kaladin and Shallan get some lovely character development, as always.

3. Even though Rhythm of War was a lot weaker than the previous three books, it still managed to impress me with its intricate world building and massive, sprawling plot, so I figured if it can impress me, it deserves four stars.

I am most definitely going to read book five whenever it is released, but I'm worried that it's going to be even slower than this one was, because I thought Oathbringer was slow and then Rhythm of War ended up being even slower.

My ratings of the previous books in the series:
The Way of Kings: 4.5 stars
Words of Radiance: 5 stars
Oathbringer: 4.5 stars

I read this because school forced me to, not because I actually wanted to read it.

Review to come maybe.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

Content warning: suicidal ideation, violence, war

I have read this book three times. The first time was when I was 12, then when I was 13, and then now. I paid more attention to it this time (because apparently I wasn't paying much attention at all the first two times, considering the fact that I forgot at least two major scenes completely) but I enjoyed it just as much as the first two times.

Part of my high rating might be because I am extremely nostalgic about this book, but it's a high-quality book regardless, although it does have a few minor flaws.

Characters:

Kaladin: His character arc and backstory are perfect. I loved his flashbacks (although I love all the flashbacks in this series.)

Spoiler

The flashback in which Tien dies almost made me cry.

His storyline was probably the most gritty and dark, at least in the first book, but his relationship with the men of Bridge Four was so wholesome. Bridge Four is my favorite found family in all of literature. They go from not even knowing each other's names and being hostile to each other, to eating stew around the campfire together.

Syl: She is so wholesome and I love her.

Shallan: She's always been one of my favorite characters in this series. She seems so cheerful and witty, but she has a very dark backstory. The fact that she was constantly accidentally saying rude things to authority figures was mildly annoying, but I didn't mind too much.

Dalinar: I like him a lot, although his chapters in this book were a little dry at times. He's a great dad, and also his relationship with Navani was sweet.

Adolin: I forgot that how annoying he was in this book, especially in Part Two. Especially in the scene when he yelled at Dalinar about how he thinks Dalinar is going insane.

Szeth: His interludes were interesting, but I don't really like him as a character that much. His only personality trait seems to be that he is honor-bound to always obey his masters.

Jasnah: She seemed kind of jerky at the beginning of this book, but later in the series she becomes my favorite character. I simply like smart characters, and Jasnah is very smart.

Wit: Wit isn't in this book very much, but I still love him. His speech in the epilogue about what traits people value most was thought-prevoking.

Sadeas: Sadeas is a traitorous snake and I hate him so much. Also, why is his name pronounced two different ways in the audiobook? I need answers.

Plot:

At first it seems like there are several unrelated plots going on at the same time, but later (especially in later books in the series) they merge together very well.

The plot is mostly standard epic fantasy fare, with big battles and special swords and political intrigue, but there are several interesting twists. Although it's 1,007 pages long, most of the book is engaging enough that it seems a lot shorter.

Setting:

The setting contains some of the best and worst aspects of the book.

On the good side, there is the detailed magic system (although we don't see much of it in this book), the well-developed world building. The cultures are unique, and the world itself is really cool. I love the Highstorms because they are both extremely important to the plot and very aesthetic.

On the bad side, there is the weird gender roles. If men are the leaders, it doesn't make sense that women are the only people who can read. If only women are engineers, then why are men the only people who can go to war? Since women can presumably invent war-related things, since only women can invent things, it would make sense that they might be able to be soldiers, but no.

Writing:

The writing style is practical and to the point. No flowery writing here. But it's still reasonably well-written.

In conclusion, this is a very solid traditional epic fantasy book that I highly recommend to anyone who isn't too intimidated by the length.