Rhythm of War: Book Four of the Stormlight Archive (The Stormlight Archive, 4) Paperback – October 26, 2021

This isn’t a review about the book itself, but my kindle version will randomly jump to the chapter list at the very end. It’s happened twice so far no matter what I do and at the same place. At the end of part 1, when I hit the next page to go to the interlude it takes me all the way back to the chapter list. And the same thing for the end of the interlude to go to part 2. It takes me to the chapter list when I hit the next page. The only way I can get to the beginning of the interlude or start of part 2 is by finding it in the list of chapters. I am not sure if it’s like this for the whole book but it’s very annoying. I can’t just go to the next page it jumps around.

Is it even possible to give these books less than five stars? Is it even allowed? Every time we are blessed with a new book in the Stormlight Archive, it becomes one of the best books I've ever read. Plain and simple. They're just that fun. They reach those heights, that level of epic.A forewarning, this review will be unfettered praise.I somehow seem to forget just how much I love this series between installments. It's only natural I suppose, to need to immerse yourself in something again to remember just how much it grips you, but still, I seem to forget. It's just such a good story. Every little piece of it. The more we learn the more fun it is, and it is already a massive, interwoven, deliciously complex story. I can't get enough. And so when a new installment appears, I am consumed. Not just in the story itself, but the universe of which it is part. The story, the Coppermind entries, the WoB, all of it. Consumed.Rhythm of War starts extremely strong. The one year time-jump makes catching up to the new norm a very fun experience. Our favorite characters are challenged in new and distinct ways: by forcing them to re-examine what it means to uphold their Oaths, by requiring them to face truths at the risk of losing the love around them, by pushing them to shed doubt in the face of danger, by challenging them to seek freedom when it would be so much easier to give up. In a series known for upping the ante with each new book, this installments still feels fresh; like an important piece of the puzzle, and a natural extension of the story. One gets the sense that Brandon knows exactly what he's doing...And so I was enthralled. Having just finished it, I still am. There's nothing like the last stretch of a Sanderson book. He may be the only author who leaves you with more questions than you had when you began, but I thank him for it. He takes you up to the highest highs, and let's you ponder the future, marinating in the experience. His books are just so cool. And that sounds trite, but it's really not. No other books make me sit back and think "Damn, that is so cool" as often as Sanderson's. It's just a fact. And no they aren't literary masterworks or Pulitzer Prize winners, but the complaints that I used to see--hell, the complaints that I used to have--about his books are hard to apply these days. His skills have grown in noticeable and appreciated ways as things like character development and emotionally charged scenes become a major strong point in his work.I go on and on about Brandon's worldbuilding, everyone does. But there's a damn good reason for that. Because as much as he is growing in other areas, worldbuilding and plotting remain his major strengths. He builds the kinds of worlds that are so interesting you stay up thinking about one little piece of them when you should be sleeping. Roshar--and the greater cosmere in general--is an incredible place to visit, and one that grows more enticing by the page. It is science-fiction flavored fantasy in the same way that something like Dune is fantasy flavored science-fiction. And for someone like me, that's a homerun.No review of this book could even come close to summarizing all my thoughts on it. Installments of the Stormlight Archive are massive, and each one is a lengthy experience. A lot runs through your head during a thousand pages; more than a thousand. Plus, to truly review this book I would need to delve into the most massive of massive spoilers. But I will say this...There is no doubt that the Stormlight Archive is Brandon's best series; he admits this himself. 'Magnum Opus' may be the term thrown around down the line. As such, this is the series where he's really starting to open things up, as far as the greater cosmere is concerned. It’s still on a small enough scale that you don’t have to have any idea what I’m talking about, but the connections are flowing. He is no longer being coy about the existence of other planets, and the ability to travel to and from said planets. It’s right there in the text, and it’s all starting to come out. So what that does is get readers who may have never read any of his books other than Stormlight really excited for the cool things they’ve yet to discover. And it also offers a hugely rewarding reading experience for those who have read the other cosmere books, as we piece things together and notice all the "hidden" gems. The balance Brandon has achieved in this is nothing short of remarkable.I won't pretend his books are for everyone. Sometimes people want something more, and what's more subjective than one's reading material? But if you're looking for a fun world to immerse yourself in, with a master storyteller at the helm, pick up a book by Brandon Sanderson. Maybe I'll see you on the other end of the rabbit hole.

The character development and story telling is superb. The twists and turns will keep you reading and as always, the action is so good, I found myself rereading pages more than once. I'm ready to start the 5th book....here we go!

Another huge, impressive, fast-moving book in what is one of the best fantasy series of the last decade, that would be a 5-star review with a better focus on the edit and a few limitations on intentionally confusing the reader. I give it a big recommendation for fans of high fantasy, with the hopes that some of these issues will be cleared up (though, to be honest, I'm going to read the rest of the series even if those persist).The fourth book in the Stormlight Archive series sees all of the main protagonists going through personal crises. Dalinar, Radiant Bondsmith and king of Urithiru, the mystical city of Radiants, is struggling both to understand his powers and to maintain the alliance of nations against the threat of the Fused, the enemy that arose from the strange race of former slaves now infused with powers from the dark god Odium, and also trying to outthink the traitor-king Taravangian. Navani, Dalinar's scholar wife and former sister-in-law, works tirelessly to study fabrials, the gems capturing magic spren that allow feats of wonder like flight (not to mention the full functions of the city itself), but despite making great advances, she still views herself as fraudulent, a scholar in name only. Kaladin Stormblessed, Radiant Windrunner and Captain of Dalinar's armed forces, has a mighty bout of battle-shock, freezing against an enemy in the worst of times, causing him to suffer one of his dark times of self-doubt and nihilism. Shallan, Radiant Lightweaver and wife of Dalinar's son Adolin, is beginning to lose herself to the two other "faces" she wears under her illusions, giving way to a nefarious third alternate persona that may hide a secret from her past, and leading her into taking missions for a mysterious secret society that promises her the answers she seeks. Adolin struggles to find his purpose, when it seems all those around him are bursting with special powers and divine responsibilities while he spends his days studying the latest fashions and the now-obsolete art of dueling. When the Fused manage to invade and occupy Urithiru while Dalinar is away in the west prosecuting the war, thereby cutting off the alliance from use of the teleporting powers of the Oathgates, all of these main actors, and their hundreds of supporting characters, are left to resist as well as they can during their most difficult personal times.As always in this series, and indeed with every other book by Sanderson I've read, there's a metric ton of action equal to the multifarious interlacing storylines. If you like war stories, there's lots of fighting; if magic is your thing, that's there on virtually every page in multiple forms; if political intrigue is up your alley, this story presents so many factions and internecine plots that you may need a flowchart. The plot moves quickly, and the book is hard to put down, with character arcs that are mostly satisfying for what is essentially one of the middle books of this incredibly lengthy planned series. Sanderson obviously has planned the series in such detail that he's got thousands of plot points to dole out over the course of ten 1200+ page books, even if his plan is still inchoate and undiscernible to the reader at this point in the story.It does seem that there's an almost intentional confusion of magic systems and histories on the part of the author, so that the entire backstory leading up to the current page is never solidly formed in the reader's mind, as every few hundred pages a new revelation throws everything the reader previously understood on its head. It also seems that the author is trying to form a Grand Unified Theory of Nerdiness by attempting to combine high fantasy, urban fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, and political thrillers into a single tale, to the point where at times the efforts seem slightly disjointed. A corollary to this is that a series of this size and scope that might see a handful of years between new books NEEDS to have an appendix with a Dramatis Personae and a glossary; while there's a short description of the various magic systems at the end of this book, there's nothing to remind the reader who all the hundreds of characters are and what their positions/powers might be. And I've said it before: the fact that Lift, one of the absolute best characters in the entire series, doesn't have a larger, central role in the main narrative is unforgivable, and to wait 550+ pages in this book to reintroduce her is a mortal sin -- if she's good enough for a stand-alone novella, she's good enough for a few dedicated chapters in a book more than a thousand pages long.As for mechanics, I was less than pleased. The book is rife with split infinitives, the use of "the times where" (vs "the times when"), spelling mistakes (like "rifled through" instead of "riffled through"), subject/pronoun disagreement, employment of em dashes when literally any other punctuation mark would be more appropriate; the use of "reveal" as a noun; and other grammarian pet peeves that disturb my zen. I understand that in this permissive era of writing, many of these are guidelines rather than rules, but the use of colloquial internet-English in a high fantasy takes the reader out of the "high" part of the fantasy in a way that is completely avoidable by following a few grammar, punctuation, and syntax rules. On top of this, the unbelievably impressive illustrations in this book are nearly ruined by accompanying text that is so difficult to read because of font and font size (EVEN IN HARDBACK SIZE) that they may as well be written in alien script.Listen, I love this series and most other things by Sanderson I've read, but I can love a thing and want it to be better. So, it's a 5-star story (with a HUGE RECOMMENDATION for fans of high fantasy), with some troubling plot issues and some seriously problematic editorial issues. I'm investing a boatload of time in reading these massive tomes of his, and I hope he respects that time investment enough to cure some of these foibles. Overall, though, big ups to this series.