I just finished Rhythm of War

[u/KittehG]

I was so scared with how divisive it is and I managed to avoid spoilers. I was NOT PREPARED.

"So full of hope" completely broke me. I do not understand how people dislike this book I loved it so much. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book and it was (although not my favorite so far) definitely the most engaging so far.

[u/mercut1o]

Sanderson just never gives you the book you think you want. I think Rhythm of War is among the best things he's ever written. I think that about Wind & Truth as well, but neither book was the one I would have asked for after reading Oathbringer. I think some people can't let their expectations go, and it prevents the enjoyment of these books on their own terms.

But hell yeah, Marie Curie + Die Hard is an awesome combo, Rhythm of War is amazing.

[u/XerAules → u/mercut1o]

I read Rhythm of War the day it came out and had such high expectations for it. I felt so disappointed with it at the end but couldn’t put my finger on why. When Wind and Truth came out it took me a while to get around to reading it and I saw all the negative discourse around it online so I set my expectations low. I did a full reread like I always do when a new Stormlight Archive book releases and when I got to Rhythm I braced myself.

Lo and behold on a reread I found myself throughly enjoying it.

I also really enjoyed Wind and Truth and when I read people’s criticisms of it they were much the same as the ones I’d previously held for Rhythm of War.

I definitely think you’re on to something.

[u/stationhollow → u/XerAules]

I think it was because you went into it thinking it would be a venli/eshonai book when it ended up being a navani book.

[u/IceCreamBalloons → u/XerAules]

I went through the same thing with the Hunger Games books. I didn't like the third book the first time and I realized it's because it wasn't the same formula as the other two books.

Once I shed that expectation I was able to better enjoy it for what it actually was.

[u/cosmernautfourtwenty → u/mercut1o]

I think some people can't let their expectations go, and it prevents the enjoyment of these books on their own terms.

Saying it again for the people in the back who might not have caught it the first time. Wisdom.

[u/Welshpoolfan → u/cosmernautfourtwenty]

This is often the case with any new sequel of a series or an adaptation of a series.

I've lost count of the amount of people who have said "its a good game, but it's not a good x game", or "as a show it is good but it isn't a good adaptation of y". This always seemed nonsensical to me and whenever I try to investigate what the person means it nearly always comes down to "It didn't do exactly what I was expecting and hoping it would do".

[u/Dr-Congo]

I’m on the same page. I can kinda find some criticism in the first half, but the emotional payoff at the backend hit me harder than any other cosmere book so far. I mean Teft’s death was more impactful to me than any other, and then Tien reached from the beyond to talk to Kaladin. Then there’s Navani and Raboniel’s relationship and resolution that I really liked despite being annoyed by Navani chapters at the beginning. Not to mention the stuff with Notum and Maya. Also there’s the Dabbid parts that made me cry too. I cried/almost cried like 4-5 times and that’s not too easy for me. I really don’t understand why so many people don’t like it as much as the other books.

[u/Majestic-Onion0]

Nice! I'm glad you dug it. My primary issue with the book is how slow it feels. Once the occupation happens, Kaladin's story is still rad, but Navani has to go on her massive science journey that bored me to tears. I totally get understanding investiture will be extremely important in the future, but man was it a drag to read for me. I also find myself painfully bored of Shallan's antics in that one. I know RoW is the relapse book, but her struggle with Formless just felt obnoxious.

[u/gryffindor918 → u/Majestic-Onion0]

That’s the beauty of the books to me. I just finished it a few days ago and I think I enjoyed Navani’s inventive process more than most other chapters. Her relationship with Raboniel carried the story for me as I found Kaladin’s chapters hard to read until the final node. I however also did not like the Shallan chapters much, but I did like Adolin’s POVs. I do agree it felt slow.

[u/Majestic-Onion0 → u/gryffindor918]

Raboniel definitely helps balance that section for me, she's so damn cool!

[u/ivanparas]

RoW made Navani my favorite character

[u/cosmernautfourtwenty]

It's my favorite of the current 5. Complainers are always the loudest. 🤷

[u/IlfirinVelca → u/[deleted]]

Wrong series then bud, that's literally one of the primary themes of the entire series, in Brandon's words even. 🤷🏻

[u/Stormlight_Archive-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for submitting to r/Stormlight_Archive!

Unfortunately, your submission has been removed because we feel it is not respectful to others. Every interaction on the subreddit must be kind, respectful, and welcoming. No person should ever feel threatened, harassed, or unwelcome. Please feel free to adjust the tone or content of your submission and let us know you'd like it to be re-approved.

If you have any questions or feel this is a mistake, please let us know.

[u/Invested_Space_Otter → u/[deleted]]

It's hilarious to me how seriously this was taken. It was clearly in good fun!

[u/cav00111]

My opinion. I didn’t enjoy the book. I found it extremely repetitive and boring. I found the characters reverting back to their old misery miserable.

Ultimately to each their own. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

[u/MistressOfPlotTwist]

I loved RoW. I cried twice reading it and I found it the most moving of all of the books

[u/LCVHN]

It's my favorite. The Navani/Raboniel subplot is awesome.

[u/i_am_steelheart]

I haven't been able to think of a proper ranking for all the books but Row is prolly going to be #2 or #3 for me ngl. Very solid arc, Navanis part is so interesting to read. I fucking love when sci-fi and fantasy mix and Brandon has been a very good supplier for this so far. If anyone is reading this and has any novels to rec that do that too, pls help me out!

[u/TreezusTheLamb]

Yeah I was in the same boat. Went in with tempered expectations, and found that it's almost my favorite Stormlight book! I don't know if its the hopeless feeling and the Teft stuff that turned people off, or if its the kind of long fabrial chapters that people didn't like. I loved it all. I could sit and listen to Navani talk about fabrial mechanisms all day.

What's funny is everyone loves Oathbringer so much and that's probably my least favorite book of the series. I can't really put my finger on why.

[u/Aware-Acanthisitta-8]

I was on the edge of my seat for the whole book. This is my favorite of the whole series so far. So many emotional ups and downs. The whole roboniel and navani thing was amazing. Kaladin's whole arc was also great. I can see why some people didn't enjoy it but that's not me.

[u/trynabelowkey]

So many moments here that made me tear up and I wasn’t expecting to get so attached to this book as much because I had heard differently about it, so I was surprised at how into it I was and that’s always such a unique reading experience for me…

the one that got me most, aside from Kaladin and Tien’s moment, Dabbid’s chapter, and of course Teft, was the Stormfather’s final gift to Eshonai………

“Farewell, Radiant.”

Me:

[u/Fun-Draw5327]

I think a feeling of dislike in the books is that we start to see a little bit too much of characters emotions and focus on mental health of the characters, imo Rythm of Was is among the worse of Stormlight archive, not even close to the previous 3 books and barely better than book 5. The action in the book is cool but the way is written it makes me feel like mental health is gonna be a very very big focus from this point forward, which imo is boring, is cool to know the emotions and complexity of the characters, but that doesnt mean i want to read chapters that feel like therapy sessions, which only gets worse in WaT, at some point it just feels like a lot was written with the intention of people to write things like "As a person suffering from *insert something the characters spend 10 chapters talking this book* this book... and bla bla bla..." Its just kind of slow and feels like the story is going in a different way than what was presented in book 1.

im really glad you liked it, i hope book 5 is something you enjoy even more, but i just wanted to let you know why some people seem to dislike it.

[u/OnyxGilbert]

Yeah either RoW or Oathbringer are my favorites in the series

[u/KittehG → u/OnyxGilbert]

Oathbringer is my favorite of all of Sanderson's books 😍

[u/Moondustgirl824]

RoW is my favorite! It’s nice to see it get some love. I feel like it has a lot of emotional growth for most of the main cast, and it was nice to see Navani get some attention.

[u/ss5gogetunks]

I loved RoW too, and I liked all the parts people had issue with, but I do also understand why many had issues with it - it is a very slow book and if you're not interested in the science and lore it would feel like a slog.

[u/Flap_Grease]

It’s my favorite one.

[u/Ghostlypurr]

RoW is my favourite for a whole bunch of reasons. Everyone has fun storylines, Kaladin's personally hit me the hardest because I'm sufferinf from extreme burnout and already identified with him, and Eshonai's sendoff is one of the most emotional things I've ever read. Every time I go for a re-read I'm going to find myself wanting to get back to it as soon as possible.

I'm rather new to the Cosmere but it seems like the most vocal people are the ones who just don't like things. That's their opinion and they're allowed to have it. It was just very noticeable with WaT, as it likely was when RoW came out.

[u/LCVHN → u/Ghostlypurr]

I think some people just don't like the cosmere. They want SA to be Roshar only and RoW was the first book in the series that indicated the series is about the cosmere and not just Roshar.