Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war. Additionally, Tor.com publicly released full part 1 of the book, including the prologue; it, and the accompanying discussion threads, can be found here. Since we all go to the same place in the end, the moments we spent with each other are the only things that do matter. The times we helped each other." Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.

The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men. Without spoiling anything, while I understand some readers had some negative thoughts about one of the central storylines here involving Urithiru, I thought it was a highlight of the book and I loved the intrigue that went into understanding the mystery of the tower. I also thoroughly loved the Kaladin family dynamic and the character development that went into the relationship between the family members here. Character development is yet another area in which Sanderson truly excels. So much of the plot in this installment revolved around divided minds. Whether that divide is between light and dark, or intellect and emotion, or the division involves hiding from the truth or the past behind a self-created fiction, almost every perspective character is dealing with an internal division of some sort. Some of these struggles are more evident and dramatic than others, for sure, but a giant part of the development for any of these characters is learning to forgive themselves and accept themselves.

For me, it was an enlightening and reliving experience that allowed me to connect and understand the characters and world in a more profound way. It was a cathartic experience and one that filled me with hope and light. There's no space for preparation or time to waste. It starts with a bang and it certainly sets the mood for the rest of the arc. Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar’s blood-soaked past and stand together―and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past―even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization. Eh, I'm bad at poetry. But it's a good story. No one is one-dimensional, and every perspective adds to the narrative.Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl. I love epic fantasies but Mr. Sanderson is taking his own epic time and wasting a lot of epic space. My strategy now: Wait til Mr. Sanderson finishes the entire series then read all the books, restarting and rereading with one and two. However, I just turned 52 and I may not be alive to read the end (seriously). Then there’s also Navani’s impressive character development; I feel like this is more of her book rather than Eshonai/Venli’s, and I honestly wouldn’t mind having more of her being in the spotlight. It was super intriguing seeing her inspects and do research on fabrials, sprens, and most importantly, her interaction with Raboniel was one of the key strengths of Rhythm of War. I’m not kidding; Raboniel is not only Sanderson’s most well-written antagonist so far but also one of the best antagonists I’ve ever read. The dynamic and chemistry of their interaction with each other in the pursuit of science, truth, and knowledge were magically compelling, complex, humane, and fascinating to me.

It will [get worse] but then it will get better. Then it will get worse again. Then better. This is life, and I will not lie by saying every day will be sunshine. But there will be sunshine again, and that is a very different thing to say. That is truth. I promise you, [redacted] You will be warm again.” Sanderson is justly lauded for his intricate and imaginative magical systems, but I need to give a shout out to the literary structure of these books as well. The five-part organization of each of the books in this series, interspersed with brief “interludes” from other, often unfamiliar characters; the frequently obscure (at least initially) quotes and epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter; the way the prologue and epilogue of each book echo the others but shed new light; and more. The amount of thought and work that has gone into this series, on multiple levels, is truly impressive. They're just so intelligently written. Most of the issues. If the idea behind Radiants is that spren are attracted to people who've been tested and tempered by trauma, this book really pushes that forward. The amount of time spent on mental and physical impairment is really unusual and commendable in epic fantasy. There were some things I didn't love--for example, having a mental illness doesn't make me inherently stronger than someone without it. *I* as a person have an amount of resilience and perseverance that can be changed daily by my environment, my health, and what I'm doing. Same with all people. You learn skills, you learn to weather certain discomfort, but I don't like pedestals of any sort. We're all in various oceans of crap, and we're all struggling against our own personal riptides, they just look different. I don't think we gain much by trying to compare what our oceans look like. If you see a swimmer struggling, just throw them a line if you can, and keep swimming.

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Then, while the story is swirling slowly, the throws tiny tidbits of varying kinds into the mix. A chapter here and a chapter there that have no relevance to anything nor anyone. So, in two books, he often presents a single chapter about a character/events that we never hear about again. If he plans on reviving such characters/events in the future, it seems somewhat pointless since Mr. Sanderson produces books in a series so slowly. I mean, it has now been 6 years since book one. It took him 4 years to give us book two. Is book three even in the near future (it's now June of 2016)? Those tiny interjections are basically wasted since they were so long ago. Adolin, being one of my favorite characters, didn't disappoint in making me incredibly interested in everything that was going on with him. Though probably the most subdued of them all and more centered on introspection rather than action it spoke to me and, for the same reason that it was so internalized, gave me a lot to think about. Just the level of insight that she allowed us to have into the immense history and legend of this world was worth everything.

A fragment of the Navani prologue, which can be found here, in which Navani tries to keep the party under control while searching for her suspiciously absent husband, and another version here, which continues for a little longer after the first reading ends and features a conversation between the two. After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move. Navani’s chapters were more uplifting and refreshing, despite the dangers of her situation. She finds herself a unique position where she can begin to exercise and develop her scientific talents more than ever before, but there’s a fascinating conundrum: will her scholarly efforts help her people or lead to their downfall? Navani’s perspective is distinct from others in this novel, exploring the advancing science of Roshar’s magical system. Her battles with the opposing forces are more intellectual and mental than physical.As much as I loved this book when I read it, as many emotions as I was led to have from the incredibly beautiful, raw, and honest depiction of trauma and healing writing this review is something that has intimidated me to no end for a long time. No one ever accomplished anything by being content with who they were… We accomplish greta things by reaching toward who we could become.”