Rhythm of War

This is my second time reading through this book. It is still my favorite of the Stormlight Archive that I've read so far.

I am once again deeply impressed with the narrative choices made in this book. In a fantasy book especially, it is refreshing to acknowledge the mental health toll of constant fighting, and to portray a very real trend in which veterans retire to serve other veterans as they navigate their trauma. I also find that the relationship between the queen and her captor develops with nuance and believably.

I am also blown away by the world building. It is quite something for a magic system to have enough depth that a novel could reasonably portray the scientific process in discovering its (not entirely real world) mechanisms. The blend of real world and fantasy physics makes for a balance of believably and novelty.

Overall, an excellent book.

A #fantasy where mental health takes centre stage! Shallan's dissociative disorder is particularly well done. Solid fare as usual, with some interesting sciencing, though the cosmic machinations are overly obscure. Very inefficient at 1200 pages.

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This was a great addition to The Stormlight Archive! I enjoyed the scientific discoveries Navani and other made in that they slowly peeled back some of the mystery of the world, but did so while retaining the framework of a story rather than as an info-dump or similar. As usual, we have some strong characters and an explosive plot so this was fun to read. I took it slow and steady, but could easily have devoted large chunks of time to blaze through this. I can't wait to see how the next book resolves some of the interesting issues raised in this one!

Check out a more in-depth review at my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-review-rhythm-of-war-by-brandon.html