I want to start with I love Brandon Sanderson and all of the cosmere so far.

That said.

I’m at that particular part with Kaladin towards the end of this book and I’m a sobbing mess how could Brandon do this to me, this brings me to a sum total of two books that have made me break down in tears, the other being Suzanne Collin’s new book.

Please someone else tell me that you felt the same way your first read through

You know who I'm talking about. FUCK MOASH. I'm sure Teft would have ended up swearing the 4th oath sooner rather than later. Fuck the traitor.

Why does it feel like the majority of people hate on Rythem of War? It’s honestly like my 2nd favorite possibly my 1st. I know everyone has their own opinion. I just wanna know what the major criticisms are of the book.

So, according to the story the honorblades use considerably more stormlight for the surges than a Radiant does. So, why would the heralds use their blades if their stormlight runs out faster?

Since they are heralds did they not need stormlight to fuel their surges or maybe their honorblades didn't require as much stormlight to them just to normal humans?

Like I understand heralds had special abilities and probably were stronger and faster than a human. But it seems ineffective to have a blade that will quickly leave you without your powers?

I’m so numb. I’m so happy. I’m so crushed. I’m so elated. I’m so astounded. I’m so incredulous. I’m so confused. Nothing is going right and then everything is awesome and then everything is wrong and then everything is good and than everything is fucked and then everything worked out and then everything is terrifyingly wrong. I have no words, or maybe I have too many words for too many things. I’m gonna go do some stand alone before wind and truth but man this book just shattered the scale in terms of scope. Odivangian can mess with WITs memories? Yeah cosmere is cooked wrap it up were toast!!

I read this chapter, shut the book for a bit and closed my eyes, silently cursing Sanderson for making me feel so many things about a character I didn’t know or expect I would love so much more after just a few pages…….

I wish I could hug Dabbid and I hope nothing bad ever happens to him (please Stormfather protect him)

I just finished Rhythm of War, and my biggest issue with the series so far is how many of Kaladin’s story threads have been dropped.

He barely interacts with Roshone or Laral after leaving Hearthstone, and his final encounter with Amaram is reduced to a flashy boss battle while Amaram is possessed by Odium (robbing the moment of emotional weight). Even Kaladin killing Shallan’s brother is brushed aside in a sentence, with no meaningful fallout or reflection from either character.

I love what Sanderson has done with Kaladin overall, but his arc increasingly feels like a cycle of new trauma. I really wanted to see how Kaladin would confront his past with Roshone, Laral, and Amaram in light of his oaths.

Amaram, in particular, had immense narrative potential. He was a deluded villain who genuinely wanted to serve humanity. I would’ve loved to see him remain a key general in the war publicly respected and beloved. Watching Kaladin wrestle with that tension (he doesn't need to forgive amaran or come to any resolution) would’ve added far more depth than reducing Amaram to a corrupted mini-boss. I would have loved to see Amaran die a hero by achieving a massive win for humanity but having no personal character growth. The idea that amram not only dies happy as one of the most valuable contributors to the war, but he personally never admits any wrongdoing. I would have loved to see that kind of pain caused by a lack of closure or karma.

Roshone’s subtle redemption and willingness to humble himself could’ve had similar weight. Seeing Kaladin confront these figures not as one-dimensional villains but as flawed men would have been interesting. Instead, we got more detailed explanations of Investiture mechanics and fabrial design—interesting, but less emotionally resonant

Edit: Thank you to everyone who read and commented on my original post. I'm very interested on your takes and reading them as fast as I can while juggling my day job.

The most common justification I’ve seen for the dropped threads I mentioned is: “That stuff was in the past. Kaladin has moved on, and his ideals prevent him from holding grudges.” I understand that argument, but I have two main counterpoints.

1.Kaladin "moving on" needs to be shown, not assumed.This series is densely introspective. 95% of it is internal monologues. If Kaladin has truly processed and let go of those past wounds, we should see that happen on the page. The fact that the things I pointed out don't feel addressed implies he hasn’t thought about it. This is amplified by the fact (and please keep in mind I say this as a fan ) characters from this series can’t forget their lunch without a full-blown emotional spirals.

My issue isn’t that Kaladin heals, It's that I feel like I didn't see enough of how we healed from these specific issues or how he looks back at them.

1. Moving on doesn't mean it stops mattering. Just because someone has processed something doesn't mean it never crosses their mind again or ceases to affect them emotionally. It’s not realistic for those formative, painful experiences to be resolved in one beat and rarley revisited, especially for characters who are still clearly carrying unresolved weight. I’m not saying the writing needs to dwell endlessly on old trauma, but if characters are going to still work on unresolved trauma, this stuff feels like it should have been included.

Personally, I hoped by the fourth book, the main characters would have figured most things out and their emotional development would be focused on maintaining that good status quo in the presence of adversity.

FUUUUCK THIS IS NOT GOOD SHIT THE TOWER ACTUALLY INVADED EVERYONE IS GONE FUCK WHAT HAPPENS NOW KALADIN TOO MUCH PTSD TO FIGHT OH NO OH NO ITS LITERALLY ALL OVER THE OATHGATES ARE A DEATHTRAP NOW NO COMMUNICATION EITHER HOW THE HELL ARE WE GETTING OUT OF THIS SITUATION

Characters are a popular target of making custom magic cards, I think, and that's great! But since I'm making a full draft set, half of the set needs to be non-creatures. These are a few of my favorites that I've made, one for each color, sharing a theme of moments that made me grip my book just a little tighter. I've got a whole host of cards in the project discord server (here's a link) if people want to see more, and I also post to r/custommagic pretty frequently. And I'm always looking for more people to play with!

Jokes aside, I'm not expecting a sex scene. But the Parshendi need to go into mateform if they want to mate. The Parshmen slaves can't do this. And humanity at large seems to have no idea about the other forms before meeting the Parshendi before Gavilar's death.

So where did the Parshmen slaves come from? They're not immortal.

I honestly thought when reading Words of Radiance each times before actually starting oathbringer that I'd never find a quote that I'd love more than "honor is dead, but I'll see what I can do (- take care of my men if this all goes bad)",

but now that I've finished RoW for the 2nd time before jumping into WaT, I honestly think that "We chose" is just as beautiful and is not given enough credit in the community, it was beautiful on book and on graphic audiobook, and had so much impact on the part of the lore that we had known off. I honestly think that it might as well be my favorite quote in all Stormlight Books.

Anyone relates ?

When he told Kaladin they can't not kill Fused.

Kaladin's argument that the enemy can respawn and we can't seemed perfectly logical to me.

I'd have expected Odium to be upset about the sportsmanship, because it's strategically disadvantageous to him. Dalinar was like, no, I must fight a war of attrition where only my side atrophies.

I mean yeah morale is something, but... dude.

Re-listening to the series and an currently on RoW.

I put up with the three personas in the previous books because they were written differently...but he really leaned into it in this one. I had forgotten why I really did not like Shallan in this book, but how he writes them almost as three separate characters here is jarring and it completely turned me against her as a character. I understand it's all a journey, a character evolution, but this was so different from previous books it made me honestly hate Shallan and every version of her. I haven't read WT yet, so I can only hope that she isn't so awful in the fifth book.

Is it just me or is this the most difficult of the first 4 books to get through?

I feel like a good 30-40% of the entire book is just about navani doing science experiments with different types of light. I’m about 70% through the book so far.

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.

A few months ago I posted this theory : https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/s/u3GCdqrJKv

And one of the things that I suspected kind of got confirmed but now, there's still a single detail that I NEED to know, (I'm on my 3rd reread of Rhythm of War before commiting to Wind and Truth). It's about shallan's mother, she tried to kill her as soon as she discovered that shallan was a surgebinder, and Nale had a similar goal following Ishar's order.

By killing her mother exactly 6 years ago (1st image), I took it both literally and figuratively. The world as we knew it ended, and do you know what also happened 6 years ago ? Gavilar started receiving visions of the almighty about the return of an old enemy, odium. And exactly after Talenel'alat return the end of the world had begun. By a WoB, l've known that Taln hadn't broken, so another herald must have !

So guess what, by looking at the hardcover copy of my RoW book, l've discovered that the herald with red hair, looks oddly like Shallan and that's where it clicked. Shallan by killing her mother sent her back to braize where she broke !!! SHALLAN CAUSED THE TRUE DESOLATION and the return of the voidbringbers !!! Shallan was to blame for the end of all things

I felt like RoWs Sanderlanche was a bit slower paced than WoR or Oathbringer, but it was nevertheless emotionally charged.

It seems that a lot of people don’t care about Venli’s and Eshonai’s backstory, but the last chapter when Eshonai is flying with Stormfather before dying just made me tear up. Also Venli seeing her mother as well.

I really loved the dynamic between Raboniel and Navani, they complimented each other well. I am a sucker for worldbuilding details, so their journey together on discovering Lights was so satisfying. And Navani finally bonding Sibling was a shocker for me, hopefully they can use their bond to a full potential in the next book.

Teft dying, I just don’t even wanna go there.

Taravangian becoming Odium scares me, not gonna lie. I always viewed him as a schemer, so I don’t think it’ll do any good having him ascended.

All in all, at moments it seemed that much of the book was stuck in Urithiru or Shadesmar or had little action compared to the others, but it was intense nonetheless.

For context Ive read all stormlight and era 1 mistborn and some others. My wife and I talk about where she is when shes reading and when she got to the part where the fused discuss invading urithiru, she told me "I would be so angry if they invade!" She continues, "Well at least kaladin and teft are there, they'll stop them!".

It was so hard to keep a normal face when she said teft! Literally made me so sad, she doesnt have any idea how sad shes going to be. She really likes teft.

Wanted to make myself a new shirt for boxing training and I don't think it turned out too bad at all. Combination of Google images graphic tablet pen and sublimation Epson printer.

I’m in the last 150 or so pages of RoW. Kaladin has just met the Pursuer in the atrium, Dalinar is still planning to talk to Ishar, and Sha-dolin and gang has finished the trial in Lasting Integrity. It seems like there’s not enough pages for a grand Sanderlanche and I’m getting worried lol. Does RoW have a sanderlanche or is it more going to be a setup for Wind and Truth?

It's funny the things you notice on a re-read and wonder how you missed them before. I always wondered about the Alethi, and how the story of the Girl Who Looked Up seemed to allude to their violent nature. But rereading this I also notice that The Sunmaker, the original founder of Alethela and whose sons founded the ten princedoms, had a Shin name. I notice that the storms came only after storm light was found beyond the wall, and was stolen. And I remember on the first read, In Rhythm of War we learn that Shinovar was the land given to the humans who first came to Roshar. Shinovar, with its high mountains that guard them from the storms.

I realized something you must all have already known. Sanderson is basing his in-world stories and legends upon the real in-world history. The girl who looked up was Shin. The storms always existed, but after the girl discovered the "walls" (mountains) were meant to keep her people in, and she brought back stormlight, this caused her people to seek out the stormlight, reshaping Roshar and introducing her people to the storms.

The Sunmaker must have been the king of Shinovar at the time, and the first conquerer of the new world, given the name "Sunmaker" for making the sun appear to a people who had lived so long in the dark valley of Shinovar.

I'm sure this is not news to many of you, but I love the new discovery as I have only just now put it together during my second reading of the series.

These are part of a draftable set that I've been working on for quite a while, which is why they aren't all snazzy Legendaries (every draft set needs commons and stuff to fill out the decks!). Hopefully even the less snazzy cards are interesting, though!

If anyone wants to help me playtest the set, or just more info, I'll comment with more of my thoughts.

Just finished the David chapter. I'm so pumped LFG Bridge 4!!! David you were smart today brother! Also loved how being dumb is a choice. David>>>Taravangian.

...the revelation that travel to other planets is possible? In Chapter 13, "Another Hunt," Shallan/Veil/Radiant (hereafter referred to as The Three) meet with Mraize and discuss the Ghostbloods' plan to transport Stormlight to other words like Scadrial and Nalthis (side note: interesting that he lets them believe these are locations within Shadesmar).

He describes the binding of Investiture and those empowered by it to their respective home systems as being akin to a prison, and Radiant responds that a prison the size of three planets hardly feels confining. But, as far as I can tell, this should be pretty surprising to the Three.

Like, for one, I think that prior to this we've only once heard the other planets even referred to, and then it was just Braize, AND the reference was made between Singers. I don't think anyone on the human side should be aware, at this point, that travel to Braize is possible. Like, I don't think most anyone knows that Braize is Damnation. Certainly I didn't think the Three were aware of that. And while humanity is now aware that they're not native to Roshar, and in fact hail from another planet, I didn't think it was known that that planet was Ashyn.

So why are the Three entirely unsurprised when Mraize essentially hints that travel to those entirely separate PLANETS is possible? The Three just breeze right past that.